So, when will the gasoline buying panic begin?

Gasoline prices around here jumped 10 cents a gallon for regular just from yesterday to today. Been ratcheting up before that, but I really didn't take note of it much. Normally when prices go up every day, people buy as much gasoline as they can TODAY thinking it will just be more expensive tomorrow. Which gets people to topping off their gas tank every day, leading to lines, and gas stations running out.

Fortunately Connie and I really don't have to go out much, only to the post office and to do curbside pickup at Walmart for groceries every week or three. So not much we can do to cut down our driving any more than it already has been. Oh, I did take the vette out Saturday just for a drive, though. First time in 2022, and last year I think I only put 285 miles on it, so I guess a little bit of frivolous driving is excusable.

With the yard work we have been doing, we are using battery powered tools, having mostly gotten away from gasoline powered tools.

So price increases for gasoline really aren't going to affect us very much. And on top of that, both Connie and I are on Social Security, so basically we pay for the gasoline with government money anyway. But for some people, this is going to be a real crunch on their income paying over $4 a gallon, with no idea just how high it will go.

Whatever happened to the USA being an oil surplus producing country, able to sell surplus to other more needy countries? Doesn't the government believe that the country being oil independent is a damn good national security plan? Or is it (putting on my conspiracy hat) that SOMEONE in charge of such decisions is able to make more money via importing oil than having it produced here locally?

I mean, I had to pay $5.99 a gallon today over here on the CA coast, $4 a gallon sounds pretty nice right about now! In all seriousness, I've never been so tempted to hop on the electric bandwagon, even with a hybrid, I still pay over a hundred a week with work commutes.

The problem will be snowballing. When I was a kid, during one of the gasoline panics of yesteryear, my dad owned a service station. He lamented that he could not raise the prices per gallon to the customer quick enough to be able to pay for the next tanker truck of gasoline he needed to refill his underground tanks. So he was winding up losing money every day. So the sellers HAVE to increase the price they charge a LOT in order to try to predict what the cost to them will be when their current stock runs out. If they guess wrong, they could be out of business pretty quickly. This is a tough game to play.

The price of gas for personally owned vehicles isn't really a big issue for most households. People will adapt by making fewer trips, switching to a work-from-home job or one that permits a compressed schedule (4 10's or 9 9's) to cut commuting costs, or by cutting discretionary spending in other areas.

The price of diesel (now over $5/gal in some states) will cause more pain because it affects the cost of everything that gets shipped, or there will be "fuel surcharges" added for services such as trash collection or when you have a plumber/HVAC tech/appliance repairman/etc. come to your home.

Filled up at $4.09 this morning. At 4:45 this morning and only one at pump. I may ask to go to 4 10's like Melinda mentioned if price sky rockets. I do 52 miles round trip now Mon through Fri.

I've been seeing these stickers showing up on gas pumps lately, pointing to the price display. I laughed at first, but lately it isn't feeling so funny. They may be elsewhere, but Connie and I really don't go much of anywhere else except maybe the post office. Had to actually go inside during normal business hours to pick up some tooling that was too big to fit in the parcel lockers.

And been going down to the seafood market now and again to stock up on fresh local shrimp and grouper. Oh yeah, had to run down to Just Fruits and Exotics the other day so we could get fertilizer for the fruit trees. Both are outside engagements with the sellers. Wound up spreading 120 lbs of fertilizer around. We have LOTS of fruit trees.

Amazon has those stickers for sale, if anyone is interested.

https://www.amazon.com/100Pcs-Biden-...09DD41B2K?th=1

All four vehicles are pretty much with full tanks of gasoline right now. I hate to see what it would cost putting gasoline in the vette since I use the highest octane available for it.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

They may be elsewhere...

You should get out more.

Originally Posted by bcr229

You should get out more.

Not quite yet. Still too much lying and "officially" stated BS being slung around about this COVID stuff for my tastes. I am still in "better to be safe than sorry" mode.

I sure am glad I have my bicycles and tricycle. I am slowly getting stronger and cycling more after my bouts of Covid and getting my diabetes managed, and I expect to see more people out there on bicycles before too long.

There will be more motorcycles on the roads too, so keep a sharp eye out when driving.