Why are gas prices so high (and why do they keep climbing)?

Eric

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Last week we were a bit below $6/gallon. Just saw the morning news for L.A. and we've hit $6.65 & $6.95. Not as high as Mendocino but yikes it's climbing fast. Better to fill up sooner than later.
Right now it appears there's no end in sight. Aside from filling up our own cars the cost of diesel is going to impact everything else, semis, ships, etc will all pass that down to the consumer. Hope all this shivering in our boots over Putin is worth it.
 

The-Real-Deal82

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It’s £9.40 ($12.38) a gallon currently in the United Kingdom. It’s set to go higher again in the coming days. The prices I am seeing from my American friends are the stuff of dreams and count yourselves lucky for now.
 

rdrr

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It’s £9.40 ($12.38) a gallon currently in the United Kingdom. It’s set to go higher again in the coming days. The prices I am seeing from my American friends are the stuff of dreams and count yourselves lucky for now.
The problem is that some of your American friends have Super Trucks with 43 Gallon fuel tanks and 14 miles/gallon (estimated). We are going to start hearing louder and louder screaming from them soon.
 

BigMcGuire

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When I lived in the high desert - most people I knew that lived up there did so because they couldn't afford the rent in LA - but worked in LA. That's 90+ miles of driving one way. I feel for those people because it's going to hit them really hard.
 

Herdfan

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The problem is that some of your American friends have Super Trucks with 43 Gallon fuel tanks and 14 miles/gallon (estimated). We are going to start hearing louder and louder screaming from them soon.

You won't hear a word from me. I can get close to 20 if I slow down a bit: 78 > 72 makes a huge difference.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Right now it appears there's no end in sight. Aside from filling up our own cars the cost of diesel is going to impact everything else, semis, ships, etc will all pass that down to the consumer. Hope all this shivering in our boots over Putin is worth it.

This also means less people going out, supporting local business, and paying bills. This is far from just go out and get an EV and move closer to your work in the next couple weeks, as if that’s a realistic possibility for most people.

And this is possibly something that should be said in another related thread, but it sure seems like we’ve already shot our worst case load. What’s left on the table other than full scale war if this doesn’t stop Putin?
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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It’s £9.40 ($12.38) a gallon currently in the United Kingdom. It’s set to go higher again in the coming days. The prices I am seeing from my American friends are the stuff of dreams and count yourselves lucky for now.

This comparison has been made for decades. It’s all relative. Even with higher overall prices in other countries they’ve still somehow managed to have a middle class and above. Tell you what, we’ll take your higher gas prices if you’ll take our healthcare expenses.
 

Eric

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Every time I see the title of this thread this is all I can think of...


1646849017881.jpeg
 

Herdfan

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Some stations have already hit $4.99 for diesel. Topped off tank yesterday at Sam's for $4.69.

In 2008-09, diesel hit slightly over $5 and I expect it to do it again. The good news is my current truck gets much better mileage than my 2008. That thing was a PO :poop:.

One thing I do, since we buy so much stuff at HD, I go to Kroger and buy HD gift cards in $500 increments. Kroger gives double fuel points on gift cards, so that $500 gift card saves me $30 on a full fill. On the personal side, I buy OG and Texas Roadhouse gift cards for the same reason. I probably should buy them for everything I pay for monthly like Netflix, Spotify etc. but that seems like a lot of trouble.
 

rdrr

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Some stations have already hit $4.99 for diesel. Topped off tank yesterday at Sam's for $4.69.

In 2008-09, diesel hit slightly over $5 and I expect it to do it again. The good news is my current truck gets much better mileage than my 2008. That thing was a PO :poop:.

One thing I do, since we buy so much stuff at HD, I go to Kroger and buy HD gift cards in $500 increments. Kroger gives double fuel points on gift cards, so that $500 gift card saves me $30 on a full fill. On the personal side, I buy OG and Texas Roadhouse gift cards for the same reason. I probably should buy them for everything I pay for monthly like Netflix, Spotify etc. but that seems like a lot of trouble.
Good little tip on the Kroger cards. I just checked Stop n Shop and no such deal, and the nearest Kroger is in VA, so that ain't happening.
 

The-Real-Deal82

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This comparison has been made for decades. It’s all relative. Even with higher overall prices in other countries they’ve still somehow managed to have a middle class and above. Tell you what, we’ll take your higher gas prices if you’ll take our healthcare expenses.

I pay around £980 ($1289) a month in PAYE, National Insurance and other deductions. Our healthcare is only really free for those who don’t work. The cost of living is going up for everybody and we are one of the most taxed in Europe to be fair. We also pay more for petrol and diesel than most of Europe. £1.71.9 a litre in my town for diesel tonight.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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I pay around £980 ($1289) a month in PAYE, National Insurance and other deductions. Our healthcare is only really free for those who don’t work. The cost of living is going up for everybody and we are one of the most taxed in Europe to be fair. We also pay more for petrol and diesel than most of Europe. £1.71.9 a litre in my town for diesel tonight.

Our unemployed poor just die. I don’t think it’s a case of they find out they have cancer and then get laughed out the door, although that wouldn’t surprise me. I think it’s more they can’t afford checkups and preventative treatment before something becomes a death sentence. They might also only have access to bottom shelf treatment. Our homeless aren’t checking in to Stanford Medical Center. There’s also a lot to be said for not having to keep a soul crushing job just because they provide insurance.

But mainly my point is, those gas price differences from country to country have always been there. I believe in some countries where the industry is nationalized those residents pay close to nothing for gas. Also relative.
 

lizkat

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Some stations have already hit $4.99 for diesel. Topped off tank yesterday at Sam's for $4.69.

In 2008-09, diesel hit slightly over $5 and I expect it to do it again. The good news is my current truck gets much better mileage than my 2008. That thing was a PO :poop:.

One thing I do, since we buy so much stuff at HD, I go to Kroger and buy HD gift cards in $500 increments. Kroger gives double fuel points on gift cards, so that $500 gift card saves me $30 on a full fill. On the personal side, I buy OG and Texas Roadhouse gift cards for the same reason. I probably should buy them for everything I pay for monthly like Netflix, Spotify etc. but that seems like a lot of trouble.

Still holding just a wee little grudge against HD for attempting to foist off a load of flood-damaged lumber onto one of my brothers. He had had an order outstanding at the time of the massive summer 2006 floods. Good thing he was home when the drop was attempted.

"Well but some of it's for a pool deck, right?" one of the HD managers wanted to know later on. This while the driver had been asked to step into the kitchen and enjoy some iced tea until the bro could make a few phone calls and derail HD's plans.

My brother nearly went into the red zone on that query. I mean those lumber stacks had sat at HD out in the open and near the Susquehanna River, water from which had gone way out of its banks and had also been fouled by storm sewer system overflow on the south side of Oneonta after the flood. All this before drying out enough to try to unload on a customer.

That got straightened out right quick, but the incident became part of my family's "remembered tales" for keeps, and all of us living around here still do business farther up the road at Lowe's instead of HD. The customer is not always right, but the store is always wrong to try to shift shoddy goods to a customer as if the materials were "first" quality. Even if a company makes good later on, doesn't completely erase the ill will from initially having been stiffed. So even now when I see some deal at HD and think oh I could use a new whatever whatever, next thing comes into my head is remembrance of that lumber.

On the price of gas, it's a triple whammy for the generations still trying to find a job that will pay the bills, find a place to live that will not eat whatever's left in that prospective paycheck after groceries, utilities and debt from school. Daunting. So yes, the question of how long Americans will put up with the blowback on them of sanctions on Russia is a fair one. Empathy is one thing but its implementation in the more physical world is usually something else again.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Still holding just a wee little grudge against HD for attempting to foist off a load of flood-damaged lumber onto one of my brothers. He had had an order outstanding at the time of the massive summer 2006 floods. Good thing he was home when the drop was attempted.

"Well but some of it's for a pool deck, right?" one of the HD managers wanted to know later on. This while the driver had been asked to step into the kitchen and enjoy some iced tea until the bro could make a few phone calls and derail HD's plans.

My brother nearly went into the red zone on that query. I mean those lumber stacks had sat at HD out in the open and near the Susquehanna River, water from which had gone way out of its banks and had also been fouled by storm sewer system overflow on the south side of Oneonta after the flood. All this before drying out enough to try to unload on a customer.

That got straightened out right quick, but the incident became part of my family's "remembered tales" for keeps, and all of us living around here still do business farther up the road at Lowe's instead of HD. The customer is not always right, but the store is always wrong to try to shift shoddy goods to a customer as if the materials were "first" quality. Even if a company makes good later on, doesn't completely erase the ill will from initially having been stiffed. So even now when I see some deal at HD and think oh I could use a new whatever whatever, next thing comes into my head is remembrance of that lumber.

On the price of gas, it's a triple whammy for the generations still trying to find a job that will pay the bills, find a place to live that will not eat whatever's left in that prospective paycheck after groceries, utilities and debt from school. Daunting. So yes, the question of how long Americans will put up with the blowback on them of sanctions on Russia is a fair one. Empathy is one thing but its implementation in the more physical world is usually something else again.

This is also another talking point for the isolationists/anti-globalists hot off the heels of related Covid problems like PPE shortages and manufacturing and shipping issues. Not exactly a high point for interdependence. Maybe the programmers at FaceBook and Apple can fix everything.
 

lizkat

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This is also another talking point for the isolationists/anti-globalists hot off the heels of related Covid problems like PPE shortages and manufacturing and shipping issues. Not exactly a high point for interdependence. Maybe the programmers at FaceBook and Apple can fix everything.

I figure that we the bystanders, the citizens around the world, have to muddle along for awhile and put up with sanction blowback's inconveniences or real hardships. These are nothing compared to the misery being experienced by Ukrainians. They have all those inconveniences plus the horrors of war, of bombs dropping on their hospitals and homes, the prospect of lost harvest, of starvation, decimation, all while Putin stis in his bubble and talks like he's just doing what must be done, as if disciplining an errant child. Jesus! It's all so infuriating and frustrating. And so, so dangerous.
 
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