How high’s the gasoline, mama?
$3.65 per gallon and counting!
This is the sign I was confronted with this weekend: The cheapest form of gasoline was $3.65 per gallon. That’s a bit above the nationwide average of a little bit above $3.47 per gallon. We would do well to follow the advice given by the side of this sign: Stop engines.
With a month still to go until Memorial Day, it seems quite likely that the cost of gasoline will go above four dollars per gallon sometime soon.
What’s the cost of gasoline where you are, and how is it affecting your behavior?
$3.50 where I am, and the effect is pretty straightforward: I don’t drive around town as much.
It goes up 2 to 3 cents each day! We’re up to $3.35 in the Lancaster area, but as you go toward Philadelphia the price steadily climbs to $3.47 and above for REGULAR.
Now if i had a golf cart . . .
i’m much more conscientious about going out with the car. Either it has to pay me to do so (like going to work), or i’m much more efficient about the route, the stops, and the speed limit in between. i’ve found that by going 55 in my Civic i get about 38 miles per gallon. Lately i’ve been calculating the dollars per mile ratio, which makes it a little more tangible (right now it’s about 63 cents per mile).
i don’t know how people are going to keep up when EVERYTHING goes up (except our salaries of course) when gas keeps rising. Dog food has jumped $5 for a 35 lb (formerly 40 lb) bag of kibble.
Maybe i’ll start eating with my dog. [If it gets too desperate, will i have to consider eating my dog?] When is it going to stabilize? This is totally unsustainable, and when people get desperate they practice uncivilized behaviors, so it’s more frightening than terrorism. At what point will people start to crack?
Stay tuned.
As I mentioned previously, when I started my new job in February I had to start taking the bus to work because there was no parking available in downtown Charleston (SC) for me (or else it was outrageously expensive). My monthly bus pass is subsidized by my employer so the $100+ per month that I would be saving in gas and parking encouraged me to try the bus. I love it! There is no way I would go back to the hassle and expense of driving and parking downtown. With gas prices continuing to rise, my savings continues to go up. There’s a new parking garage being built which will mean that parking will become available for me in October when it’s done. I don’t think I’ll take it and I’ll stick with the bus.
By the way, SC has the cheapest gas in the country at about $3.35 per gallon of regular.
Good for you, Mark. You’re doing us all a great service. Keep it up.