The community of gas services has decided to kick us when we’re down…
Log. Monday December 2 2002-Get up for school, Get in my car, Drive to the gas station, check pockets, take my $25, fill up on regular at $1.65 p/g and with the $2.20 change buy a coffee and a muffin. *Now I was set until Friday when my check came in and I filled up again.
Log. Monday February 24 2003- Get up for school, Get in my car, Drive to the gas station, check pockets, take my $25,half fill my tank with $2.05 p/g, look over to the coffee bar and muffin rack and sigh. Tighten my belt and be on my way. * Now I was set for two whole days until Wednesday.
On Wednesday I have a great plethora of choices. Should I break down and ask my parents for money or borrow from my friend and put up with the constant 10 ton rock (that $10 would become) held up above my head.
Or even better I can get a ride from stinky Steve or carpool with the guy who’s always late. Yes ,I know what you’re thinking they all sound so great. Gee, its going to be awful hard to chose.
This my friends, is an honest reality that’s brought to us thanks to our friends at Shell, Mobile, Chevron, Arco, and your local independent. And lets not forget our pals in the Middle East. If its not famine, turmoil, or suicide bombers its warfare and weapons of mass destruction.
I don’t now about you but I’m so happy that I can broaden the opportunities for that poor child of a gas station owner.
There is no question that we are being gouged. The average self-serve pump price for regular gas in California jumped 9 cents to $2.012 for the week that ended Monday and the statewide average is 48 cents higher than at the end of 2002.
Not to mention that the nations highest gas price is here in our own state in Novado, California with $2.37 per gallon of regular 2.47 for plus and 2.57 for premium. Wow, now that’s extreme but the way prices are climbing, it’s conceivable that by Christmas we could be reminiscing about the day prices were in the $2 range.
Because nothing we can do will really affect the prices now, we have to be smart about getting gas. First fill up in the morning a well known way to make your gas go the extra mile. Also fill up as much as you can when you do.
Not that I don’t think taking a bike to work, carpooling, or the bus isn’t a good way to save money, it just isn’t going to help the guy who works 20 miles from his home.
But we must stand against this adversity and remember that the gas companies have decided to kick us when we were down that they took advantage of our sittuation and that they had no concern for our state of being.
