# What's the deal with gas prices in the short term? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-gas-prices-in-the-short-term/852931 "2020-04-30T23:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-gas-prices-in-the-short-term/852931/1 "2020-04-30T23:28:20Z")
From the news reports, it looks like there is too much oil in the world, at least above ground, and no place to store it. Before I offered my bathtub for storage, I checked [gasbuddy.com](http://gasbuddy.com) for automobile gas (petrol for you Brits), and a station near me had regular at $1.08/gal last Tuesday, 2 days ago. Today (Thursday) I drove by the station at 8AM and the sign said $1.19. Same price at another station of the same chain. I picked up some groceries, and went to the first station to fill up. The price was now $1.35. The attendant said it wouldn’t be going up for at least a few hours. I just checked gasbuddy, and the same station now (at 6PM) shows $1.45. So what’s going on? Is there a storage shortage or not? I know of no news in the last 48 hours that would affect prices this much this soon. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-gas-prices-in-the-short-term/852931/2 "2020-05-01T00:46:55Z")
You may live in a location which does a lot of price cycling. The coronavirus drop put a damper on that for 2 months, but it looks like the local stations are doing their thing again today-Gasbuddy shows Milwaukee as going up 22 cents, but the local average there had gotten all the way down to 1.17. It may happen here [NE FL] too next week, the price drop curve has flattened out this week. The local refineries may also be going thru spring maintenance, which can often mean a price jack. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-gas-prices-in-the-short-term/852931/3 "2020-05-01T01:35:41Z")
I just checked my gas receipts and the last gas I bought was in late March, from the same station as the OP, for $1.89/gal (let’s ignore the 9/10 cents, shall we?). By today, I couldn’t benefit much by the price reduction, as I haven’t been driving much – haven’t left the house for the last 10 days, and only twice in the last 20. So the cheap gas price is bittersweet – if I don’t need gas, having it available cheaply isn’t much to crow about. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-gas-prices-in-the-short-term/852931/4 "2020-05-01T01:39:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > By today, I couldn’t benefit much by the price reduction, as I haven’t been driving much – haven’t left the house for the last 10 days, and only twice in the last 20. So the cheap gas price is bittersweet – if I don’t need gas, having it available cheaply isn’t much to crow about. Same here. I last bought gas in February and have half a tank. Though prices here are far from cheap, just somewhat cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-gas-prices-in-the-short-term/852931/5 "2020-05-01T03:09:53Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > …if I don’t need gas, having it available cheaply isn’t much to crow about. It’s annoying how that works. It would be a lot more helpful if things got cheaper when we all wanted them.