Gas for $2.29!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Prices continue to drop here in VA.

[kd5cpl]

$2.27 here near my house here in Oklhoma City for the past several days. Can be found a little cheaper in other parts of town. Didn't even go up for Labor Day weekend!

73, Gary

[John Holotko]

Hah, lets wait till after Novermber and let's  see if the prices keep dropping or if they don't start going up again.

[W8EJO]

Wholesale is down to $1.60 as of 9/11.

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/cfutures.html

I  paid $2.15 in Dayton on 9/10.

Isn't capitalism great. Get government controls off production & watch it drop even further.

[Bill, KD0HG]

I wish those price-cutting side effects of capitalism had been in play the first 8 months of this year...I really do...

[WA1GFZ]

What is fuel oil doing?

[WBear2GCR]

On Friday it was still $2.85 in NY.

Grrrrrr...

            _-_-WBear2GCR



PS. I'll bet it goes up after Nov 6th... bet.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Bitch when it goes up. Bitch when it goes down. You guys are a trip!

[KB2WIG]

I wonder if the new oil discovery in the Gulf has anything to do with this? Just think how much oil may be found if we can drill for it in the US.... We cant drill off the coast of Calif, Fla and most of the east coast. Alaska? Forget that untill oil goes to $180 a barrel.  Then we'll have the 'demand' side working....   klc

[W3RSW]

Started dropping before labor day. Figure that.

Don't forget to look at http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

I think people are simply driving less, believe it or not.
Well we better enjoy the stability while it lasts.

Biggist thing affecting gas price (even bigger than 'summers over') is that it is no longer driving oil price upwards via marketing speculators. The tail was actually wagging the donkey all summer.   .. well, ever since Katrina. : /

Normally price/bbl oil drives trailing gas prices.
Singing to the choir but it is interesting, huh?
 

[W8EJO]

Biggist thing affecting gas price (even bigger than 'summers over') is that it is no longer driving oil price upwards via marketing speculators. The tail was actually wagging the donkey all summer.  

The futures markets for both gasoline & oil are marketplaces of constant and continual speculation. This speculation continues today and will continue into the future.

The reason prices are falling for both unleaded gas & crude oil is simply that today's (as well as anticipated future) supply is outpacing projected demand.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I heard that M&M's are going up in price.

[W9GT]

Down to $2.24.9/gal here.  Seems very strange that it dropped so fast.  It even dropped significantly before the Labor Day weekend.  Isn't it interesting that this occurs right before the elections?  Isn't it also interesting, however, that as much as the media was hyping it, we didn't get all those hurricanes they were predicting this year so production wasn't affected by weather disasters.

Seems like the oil industry (speculators) might have been hedging their bets just a bit and got caught with excess supply.  I guess you can pick your conspiracy theory or blame the party of your choice.  Fact is that it is nice that gas is down in price, but remember just a short time ago we were in shock over $2.00 gal. prices!  Now everyone thinks that would be a tremendous bargain.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[W8EJO]

Fact is that it is nice that gas is down in price, but remember just a short time ago we were in shock over $2.00 gal. prices!  Now everyone thinks that would be a tremendous bargain.

73,  Jack, W9GT

It is a tremendous bargain!

As a 16 year old kid I paid about 40 cents a gallon when I first started driving in 1963. 40 cents in 1963 is equivalant to $2.58 today. So anything less than $2.58 is cheaper then it was in 1963.

http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html

[k4kyv]

Seems like the oil industry (speculators) might have been hedging their bets just a bit and got caught with excess supply.  I guess you can pick your conspiracy theory or blame the party of your choice.  Fact is that it is nice that gas is down in price, but remember just a short time ago we were in shock over $2.00 gal. prices!  Now everyone thinks that would be a tremendous bargain.

That reminds me of what you would hear during the 50's when our perpetual "enemy" was communism instead of terrorism.  Marxist strategy for world conquest was "Two steps forwards, one step backwards.  Two steps forwards, one step backwards..."

Right now I am more concerned about heating fuel than gasoline.  I can still cut back on car usage if necessary, but don't look forward to setting the thermostat below 60° F this winter.  Haven't checked the local price of propane recently, but I'd almost bet my modulation transformer that it hasn't taken a comparable drop in price.

Besides the upcoming elections, another factor that may influence industry's perception that it is in their best interest to lower gasoline prices, is all those unsold SUV's sitting around at car dealerships.

[k4kyv]

As a 16 year old kid I paid about 40 cents a gallon when I first started driving in 1963. 40 cents in 1963 is equivalant to $2.58 today. So anything less than $2.58 is cheaper then it was in 1963.

http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html

When I was that age, the price had been hovering around 29.9¢/gallon for several years (yes, they used that 9/10-cent gimmick back then, too).

According to the same inflation calculator, that would be equivalent to $2.02 today.  So anything more that $2.02 is more expensive than it was in 1959.  In the early 60's, the local companies would sometimes engage in "gas wars," when I can remember it dropping to about 20¢ per gallon for short periods.  This was a weapon used by local distributors to keep new competition out of town.

[W9GT]

Seems like the oil industry (speculators) might have been hedging their bets just a bit and got caught with excess supply.  I guess you can pick your conspiracy theory or blame the party of your choice.  Fact is that it is nice that gas is down in price, but remember just a short time ago we were in shock over $2.00 gal. prices!  Now everyone thinks that would be a tremendous bargain.

That reminds me of what you would hear during the 50's when our perpetual "enemy" was communism instead of terrorism.  Marxist strategy for world conquest was "Two steps forwards, one step backwards.  Two steps forwards, one step backwards..."

Right now I am more concerned about heating fuel than gasoline.  I can still cut back on car usage if necessary, but don't look forward to setting the thermostat below 60° F this winter.  Haven't checked the local price of propane recently, but I'd almost bet my modulation transformer that it hasn't taken a comparable drop in price.

Besides the upcoming elections, another factor that may influence industry's perception that it is in their best interest to lower gasoline prices, is all those unsold SUV's sitting around at car dealerships.

I believe it is called "Price Desensitization"  ask the marketeer of your choice.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[wa1knx]

I wish we have 2.29, we filled in vt at 2.69 yesterday. hope its low next month
when I drive back to tucson. it used to be that a gallon of gas tracked a pack
of butts. i over heard a guy paying over 5 bucks for a pack! glad i quit my 3-4 pack
a day habit over 20yrs ago! (of course they are taking the hell out of smokers now)

[John Holotko]

Biggist thing affecting gas price (even bigger than 'summers over') is that it is no longer driving oil price upwards via marketing speculators. The tail was actually wagging the donkey all summer.   

The futures markets for both gasoline & oil are marketplaces of constant and continual speculation. This speculation continues today and will continue into the future.

The reason prices are falling for both unleaded gas & crude oil is simply that today's (as well as anticipated future) supply is outpacing projected demand.

Yeah,until after election day then the demand goes up and supply goes down.

[Tom WA3KLR]

One year ago gas here was $1.859.  Now people are tickled to death that it is only $2.519 after coming back down from $3.169+.  

Happy about a 36 % increase in one year.  You gotta admire the gas company executives' strategy.

[W8EJO]

Yeah,until after election day then the demand goes up and supply goes down.

If you know that for sure, mortgage your house, buy all you can & make yourself rich. I think 42,000 gallons is the minimum contract size. At $1.60 thats only $67,200. Of course it fell today to $1.5965.

[W1RKW]

I locked in my fuel oil for the next two heating seasons at $2.49/gal.  Hopefully it won't drop well below that for that time period otherwise I screwed myself. 

I installed programmable thermostats in all 4 zones in the house.  I have them programmed so that when we're away the heat will be turned down to the minimum that the thermostat will do.  My neighbor last year heated his house which is slightly larger that our house for half the cost of what I paid last year by doing this.  So hopefully I can spread the cost of heating out 1.5 to 2 times.  We'll see.  And if all goes right next year I will be sporting solar collectors on the house to supplement the heat bill.  And hopefully the winter will be mild too.

[W8EJO]

I locked in my fuel oil for the next two heating seasons at $2.49/gal.  Hopefully it won't drop well below that for that time period otherwise I screwed myself. 

I installed programmable thermostats in all 4 zones in the house.  I have them programmed so that when we're away the heat will be turned down to the minimum that the thermostat will do.  My neighbor last year heated his house which is slightly larger that our house for half the cost of what I paid last year by doing this.  So hopefully I can spread the cost of heating out 1.5 to 2 times.  We'll see.  And if all goes right next year I will be sporting solar collectors on the house to supplement the heat bill.  And hopefully the winter will be mild too.

Smart moves. Beware of the water heater also.

I just sold my Toyota 4Runner (15MPG) & bought a used GEO Metro 3 cyl., 5spd,(45MPG) for commuting.

[W1RKW]

Smart moves. Beware of the water heater also.

I just sold my Toyota 4Runner (15MPG) & bought a used GEO Metro 3 cyl., 5spd,(45MPG) for commuting.

Shouldn't be a problem.  The water heater is part of the boiler system so it will be cycling on and off when it needs to. Plus the basement is insulated and doesn't get below 50 in the dead of winter.  I think we should be OK.

[k4kyv]

Get an on-demand water heater.  No wasted energy keeping 50 gallons or more of water hot in an tank.  Turn on the  hot water, and the heat exchanger comes on instantly, heating the water as it flows through.

That's about the only kind of water heater used in Europe for many decades.  They are becoming more common in the US now.  Not too long ago I noticed Lowe's had them.