Fun with gas prices...

[VenomX]

I got tired of customers complainign about the price of gas so I decided to have some fun.

Our gas is now at $3.589 a gallon.

Customer: Can you believe the price of gas?
Me: Yeah its getting up there.
Customer: Its that damn Bush! blah blah blah...
Me: I hope it keeps going higher.
Customer: WHAT!? Are you nuts?
Me: Nope, people are still driving all over town just to be out driving around. Its not high enough to make them change their ways. Maybe when it hits $4.50 they will change.

I am not kidding you when I say we have people that come in over and over again all day and night getting $5 or less each time. Sunday night I worked 9pm to 7am and this one guy came in 15 to 20 times getting $3 each time. It started pissing me off. I wish we had a button...
Ok, its 6am, this guy is going to work so he gets gas for $2 a gallon. Ok, its 2am, this guy is just driving around town doing who knows what all night, and was just in here 30 minutes ago, he pays $7 a gallon.

[edible_hat]

Customer: Can you believe the price of gas?
Me: Yeah its getting up there.
Customer: Its that damn Bush! blah blah blah...
Me: I hope it keeps going higher.
Customer: WHAT!? Are you nuts?
Me: Nope, people are still driving all over town just to be out driving around. Its not high enough to make them change their ways. Maybe when it hits $4.50 they will change.

I'll have to try that next time someone whinges at me about our prices. We're over AU$1.50 a liter right now (somewhere around US$6-$7 a gallon, I can't be bothered doing the exact conversion right now).

We're getting a lot more IOUs. To the point where serail offenders go "I left my money at home, what I usually do is leave my mp3 player as security". There's not a lot we can do since they've already put the fuel in their car.

So we're thinking of making a list of repeat offender's number plates and forcing them to pre-pay.

[Boochan]

I'll have to try that next time someone whinges at me about our prices. We're over AU$1.50 a liter right now (somewhere around US$6-$7 a gallon, I can't be bothered doing the exact conversion right now).

Not that high actually (Due to the fact we are almost at the same value as the USD), Roughly about US$5.40 a gallon), and we are apprently still the 4th Cheapest Western Country to purchase fuel at, with the UK Paying close to $9-10 a Gallon.
It doesn't help the situation when the media is all over it, and the government has done Sweet F.A to help the situation (Fuelwatch won't do anything, unless you count 1 or 2c difference between Perth and the Eastern States a big difference). Wouldn't really want to be a Gas Station Cashier at the moment, purely because I'd have to listen to the same old shit every couple of customers.

Not that theirs that much time to chat, but if people are really whingeing then you have to remind them of how tough the rural areas and farmers are doing it, paying A LOT more then city drivers, and having to fill their farming equipment with expensive Diesel ($1.70/L here in Perth at the moment). Of course, it won't get through to enough people, as if the US Dollar wasn't as weak as it is at the moment we'd be paying $2/L, if not more..

[edible_hat]

Fuelwatch won't do anything, unless you count 1 or 2c difference between Perth and the Eastern States a big difference

According to one guy on the news, Fuelwatch has ended the discount cycle in Perth. So the highs may be slightly lower than elsewhere, but the lows are a lot higher.

if people are really whingeing then you have to remind them of how tough the rural areas and farmers are doing it, paying A LOT more then city drivers, and having to fill their farming equipment with expensive Diesel ($1.70/L here in Perth at the moment). Of course, it won't get through to enough people, as if the US Dollar wasn't as weak as it is at the moment we'd be paying $2/L, if not more..

True that. Last week I had a customer thrilled at paying $1.47 a liter. He said he hasn't seen it that low for months, since he's from Roxby Downs where it's $1.70-$1.80 for unleaded.

In Adelaide, unleaded hit $1.55 this week and diesel's been in the $1.60-$1.65 range for about a month.

[Slytovhand]

And I heard on the news yesterday they're expecting it to go up again as the price of oil has gone up.

"Why's the price of petrol so high?'
"Because I saw you coming "

"When's the price going to come down again?"
"Straight after you leave".

Of course - that's probably best only with the regular customers...

Then again...
"How come petrol is so expensive?"
"Because you're prepared to pay it".

Slyt

[XXDarrienX]

Its more the idiots that have cash to burn in the hummers and other vehicles like that that are not hurting for the gas unless it gets to some absurd level.

[Bright_Star]

People complain about the rising cost of gas but they haven't done anything to alter their driving habits. Gas could be $10.00 a gallon & people will STILL be driving the same way. Old habits die hard.

[digilight]

Its nutty, around here its hit at 3.73 a gallon (the lowest price) to 3.99 a gallon (the highest price) and these are both for regular unleaded. I've drastically changed my driving habbits, nail the cruise control on the freeway at 65. Hell I drive the grandpa car, might as well drive like grandpa too.

[greensinestro]

Me: Nope, people are still driving all over town just to be out driving around. Its not high enough to make them change their ways. Maybe when it hits $4.50 they will change.

You know what? That is absolutely true. I fill up my SUV once a week, and by Friday, I put in another $10 to get home, and maybe have enough to run a couple of errands on the weekends. It's a little sad, being my family and I don't go out much on the weekends anymore, due to the price of gas. We have the neighborhood pool, and/or can find things to do around the house. Sometimes we make short trips to the movies or the mall, but that's about it. No more driving miles out of my way to the beach, to the flea market, or just going out for a family drive. Too bad others can't do this, or we can maybe have more affordable gas prices.

[blas]

I'm not going to have a car for several more days. I filled up on Tuesday, it shit the bit on Wednesday. So I guess if I can find ONE positive thing about these horrible past few days........I got gas BEFORE it went over $3.53 a gallon and I will still have a practically full tank when my car is operational again.

I love having a 10 gallon gas tank smaller car. More single or coupled people should drive small vehicles. It's very practical.

[Andara Bledin]

Its nutty, around here its hit at 3.73 a gallon (the lowest price) to 3.99 a gallon (the highest price) and these are both for regular unleaded. I've drastically changed my driving habbits, nail the cruise control on the freeway at 65. Hell I drive the grandpa car, might as well drive like grandpa too.

Depending on the car, 65 might not be the best speed, although it is the limit in a lot of places.

My ex's car got it's best mileage at 72 mph. It had one of those digital odometers that you could change over to check mileage. It was fun to see how high you could make it go on one particular downhill near the place we were living while in neutral.

But we've never driven much to begin with. And for some things, instead of driving, we can take the bus for a day out. Although we're actually close enough to the local mall to walk. We've done that before when the last scheduled bus decided it wasn't going to make it's last return because it was running late. Gah, I hate that line.

^-.-^

[jerkface11]

It can be fun to try and explain how OPEC production controls, limited refining capacity, environmental regulations, and inflation all conspire to raise the price of gas. It's always futile though usually ending with the whiner saying that the government should do SOMETHING! Maybe make the oil companies sell below cost? Oh no that's illegal. Maybe make the oil companies build more refineries? Oh wait they won't let them. Ooh we could use our own oil. Whoops congress won't let us drill for it.
I didn't intend that to sound like the government wants gas to cost a lot. However now that I put it all in writing it looks that way.

[edible_hat]

I love having a 10 gallon gas tank smaller car. More single or coupled people should drive small vehicles. It's very practical.

My co-workers are always amazed at the relatively small amounts I use. Last fill was just under $30, that got me to and from work for 6 days as well as to and from the shops and various other driving-related tasks.

[Slytovhand]

It can be fun to try and explain how OPEC production controls, limited refining capacity, environmental regulations, and inflation all conspire to raise the price of gas. It's always futile though usually ending with the whiner saying that the government should do SOMETHING! Maybe make the oil companies sell below cost? Oh no that's illegal. Maybe make the oil companies build more refineries? Oh wait they won't let them. Ooh we could use our own oil. Whoops congress won't let us drill for it.
I didn't intend that to sound like the government wants gas to cost a lot. However now that I put it all in writing it looks that way.

Oh come on now!!! You know you can't have an intelligent debate or discussion with SC's!

My 'cars' co-worker refuses to do anything about his 8 cylinder gas guzzler, even though it means not showing up to work because he can't afford the petrol to get there.

And don't even try to have a decent discussion about non-fossil fuel cars... "they don't have the same power, so I'm not trading in my 300 HP for anything less!!!". It's the old 'we aren't as bad as others, so we shouldn't have to change anything - they should' argument... which fails every time!

Slyt

[blas]

You might want to tell your little friend that V8's are hard to work on. Actually, the easiest cars to work on are 4 cylinders, like my car. So even though he wants major power, he's not only paying out the wazoo with gas, but with repairs......gaaah!