MetaChat - Ugh

oh, the gas map

posted by special-k 07 June | 16:30

Ugh. I've paid $4.69 but not $5 yet. I heard that the airlines are now paying more for jet fuel than for labor. (!!!)

posted by Claudia_SF 07 June | 16:38

Gas and milk prices are the two things I don't even pay attention to since I buy them both no matter what the price. And since gas prices in one area are almost always the same, I go by convenience more than price. Maybe in a few weeks from now when I'm most likely out of a job I'll be singing a different tune.

That gas map is incredible though!

posted by Slack-a-gogo 07 June | 16:43

And I thought it was bad that it just went to $3.89. Anyway you go, it sucks.

posted by redvixen 07 June | 16:45

It's about £5 a gallon (imperial, not US) here.

posted by essexjan 07 June | 16:48

When I bought my house I made sure it was close enough to work so I could walk or bike. People at work thought I was nuts paying extra money for that. Now, they think I am a little less nuts, or rather, they still think I am nuts, but for other reasons.

posted by eekacat 07 June | 16:48

Yeah eekacat, I live about a mile from work. I bike/walk everyday to work, the grocery store, bars, etc. Summer is when I have to go to my field site (~100 miles) and that is starting to suck.

posted by special-k 07 June | 16:56

I know a couple of storm chasers that have spent over two thousand bucks so far this season on gas. They go together and split the costs, but still.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 07 June | 17:00

heh, eek I was just going to say my colleagues have stopped thinking my teammate and I are nuts for riding to work every day. I've actually had people ask me how easy it would be to start bike and/or bus commuting...

change is a-coming. it makes me very sorry for those like special-k who work in situations that demand they drive. ugh.

posted by lonefrontranger 07 June | 17:21

I pay 2.20 USD a LITER* man. Shut the fuck up you and your damn gallons and silly low prices have nothing to bitch about.

* for info there's 3.78541178 liters to a gallon, making my gallon cost....... Oh you add it up. A lot more than yours anyway.

posted by dabitch 07 June | 17:26

and yea, jan's got a point. before we USians go all agley about this subject, please recall that your Euro bretheren have been paying through the nose for gasoline for decades. I vividly recall spending almost 2DM per litre for gas in Germany in 1992, which at exchange rates then, translated close to 8 bucks a gallon.

we are spoiled in this country. very, very spoiled. I think I read where the French have been paying the equivalent of US$7.15/gallon for years.

posted by lonefrontranger 07 June | 17:26

* also take into account that a US dollar is worth diddlysquat these days

posted by dabitch 07 June | 17:27

yep, dabitch, little over 8 bucks a gallon.

so yeah, whine if you want but keep in mind it can always be worse.

posted by lonefrontranger 07 June | 17:28

I've never quite understood why we pay so much more, part of it is taxes designed to prevent us from using gas friviously and if we use it, pay for stuf (like roads) that need to be funded. The low low price of US gas has always been explained by the fact that you have oil. But that has peaked thirty years ago, right?

posted by dabitch 07 June | 17:30

Our dependence on foreign oil is killing us. I'll give $10 to whoever can figure out to make a car that runs on water.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 07 June | 18:04

Water not good. Probably even more limited than oil. Think hydrogen.

posted by netbros 07 June | 18:10

Air. Anyone who can make a car run on air.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 07 June | 18:24

netbros - how about a car that runs on salt water, and emits desalinated water? Now THAT would be quite an invention.

posted by muddgirl 07 June | 18:25

If salt could be used as an energy source; now that really would be something, wouldn't it?

posted by netbros 07 June | 18:37

Contemporary America was kind of built on the idea that gas would always be as cheap as water and that you could drive two blocks to the mailbox to drop off your mail, drive 50-100 miles each way to work, etc.

The times, they are a-changin'

posted by jason's_planet 07 June | 20:13

I paid 4.10 the other day. We have a Toyota Tundra. We're seriously thinking of trading it in for a compact car. We'll have a compact and keep my Honda CR-V. We should have bought the Prius when it was available at MSRP.

posted by LoriFLA 07 June | 20:46

It just creeped over $4/gal here, but I'm quite cranky about it because my parents seem to be dulled to that fact and keep wanting to send me out for meaningless errands. (Which is just part of the reason I'm trying to GTFO ASAP)

posted by sperose 07 June | 21:02

What j_p, essexjan, and dabitch said. Our cheap gas was never sustainable and now has us painted into a corner. Now's the time to do whatever you can to reduce fuel consumption: live closer to work, sell your car and rent or use zipcar when you need it, get on the bike more often, carpool, get strategic about your errands, do a community errand pool where you make one run a week and buy for friends...we've been skating a long time on artificially low gas prices, and passing the buck to others. Now's the time to redesign our infrastructure and reexamine our habits.

posted by Miko 07 June | 21:23

Still under $4.00 a gallon here in PA but unless I'm traveling, I fill up about once a month. I'm another crazy walker who's co-workers think is insane.

posted by octothorpe 07 June | 21:47

One of these days, it's going to cost me $20 to fill my bike.

I'll give $10 to whoever can figure out to make a car that runs on water.

BZZT! Wrong answer.

Air. Anyone who can make a car run on air.

Wrong again.

Now's the time to do whatever you can to reduce fuel consumption: live closer to work, sell your car and rent or use zipcar when you need it, get on the bike more often, carpool, get strategic about your errands, do a community errand pool where you make one run a week and buy for friends... Now's the time to redesign our infrastructure and reexamine our habits.

Ding ding ding ding!

Though as has been said time and again, those most powerless to do anything about this are the ones who will be hit hardest.

posted by Eideteker 07 June | 21:50

Wow, I was bugging out when it passed $4 here a couple weeks back.
But, I think $4 in Buffalo money is like $9 in NYC.

Although, in all honesty, I spend less on gas than I did on a monthly bus pass and averaging a cab a week when I'd oversleep and miss my bus.

posted by kellydamnit 07 June | 23:14

Though as has been said time and again, those most powerless to do anything about this are the ones who will be hit hardest.

What eideteker said. Yeah, that's the problem. Real estate prices and rents have gone sky high here and in many other urban areas, so the poor people have moved farther and farther out, to where there are no bus lines and it's way too far to commute by bike, if there were even safe roads for bikes. They counted on cheap gas to get to work. Now what are they going to do? The rural and semi rural poor are between a rock and a hard place. Food bank requests around here have gone up some insane amount in the last six months while supplies are dropping just as fast.

That's the difference between the US and Europe - the US is just much, much bigger and there is no mass transit infrastructure at all outside the Northeast corridor and, I guess, parts of California. There are lots of places here that it is literally impossible to get to without a private car - no bus, no train, no airports within four or five hours and not even any taxis. All that has to change and it's going to be chaotic as hell.

posted by mygothlaundry 07 June | 23:16

mgl is totally right. I'm in the northeast, and even though it's not a major city, it is the second largest in NY, and our mass transit SUCKS.

I lived without a car for something like three years. If I overslept by 10 min and missed my bus I'd be two hours late to work, since that's how frequent they were. Or I'd pay something like $30 for a cab.
We had to take a cab to the grocery store, which cost us in more ways than one. When things ran out mid-week we would pay crazy corner-store prices, since a $10 round trip cab ride would be silly for just cat food or whatever. And since we are a $10 cab ride from one store we went there, even though the one a little further away is cleaner, nicer, and cheaper. Having a car has cut maybe $50 a month off our average grocery bills.

posted by kellydamnit 08 June | 00:05

Yeah, I'm traveling about 80 miles/day to get to my internship while living at home, and I'm going through about 15-17 gallons of gas per week at around $4.50/gal. I wish I could take public transit, but it already takes me over an hour to get to work. Using public transit, it takes me about two and a half hours, which is just not feasible at all.

posted by unsurprising 08 June | 01:08

I walk to work so gas prices don't affect me that much. Saying that, I think us Europeans need to understand the sheer size of the u.s. I live in a town where I can get to pretty much any amenety available, by foot, in less than 40 mins. I doubt that there's anyone in the states that has this privilege. Everything is much more widely spaced apart and as a consequence the fact that gas is half the price it is here is wiped out by the distances involved.

posted by seanyboy 08 June | 04:04

or what mgl said.

posted by seanyboy 08 June | 04:06

of more concern is the fact that I planned on going to st. Kitts this march. God only knows how much extra that's going to cost.

posted by seanyboy 08 June | 04:30

I've definitely reduced my car use. Yesterday I went shopping, and drove to the station, where there's a car park that's free on Saturdays a short walk away, and then got a bus to Ilford. It cost me £1.80 in total. The cost of driving to Ilford, including parking, would have been at least £5 and, for the length of time I spent there, probably nearer to £10, as the parking there is charged by the hour.

I make each journey count - a supemarket run will also include a gym visit, if possible, or some other errands.

I feel for my friends in Ohio - they have no option but to drive everywhere and I know it's hurting them badly.

posted by essexjan 08 June | 04:55

We're paying about $1.50 per litre. It's almost tripled in the eight years I've lived in BC.

The mister drives to the Westcoast Express as part of his morning commute but it's only 13 km from home. The train costs $269 per month, but it's less than gas would cost. It's rough because it makes his commute about 4 hours per day, but it's worth it. He's working on being able to work from home a couple times per week.

As for having to drive everywhere:
We have a small strip mall within walking distance - our vet is there as well as a Subway, a Quick-Shop kind of store (way expensive) and a few other stores that are useless to us. Even in a small city like Abbotsford most things are too far away to walk and public transportation is useless.

I'm so glad we just bought the Versa. Between the mister's commute and the driving we have to do for shopping, etc. we should have to fill up only once a month.

posted by deborah 08 June | 13:14

Is gas more expensive in other countries than in the US because they don't subsidize it, or because it's heavily taxed, in order to pay for socialized medicine or something?

posted by small_ruminant 08 June | 19:23

07 June 2008