Diesel prices

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by c214dick

I'm surprised that there have not been any more reports of "drive offs" from the gas stations for non payment. I guess most of them have gone the prepaid route. Louise and I went to breakfast yesterday and reg was 354.9. When we came out it was 363.9. I did top off the Dodge yesterday for 409.9=$27 OUCH.

As disturbing as it is to say it, 409.9 would be welcome here. Here in Monument Valley the only station has diesel at 4.379 as of two days ago, last time I checked. At Mexican Hat, 23 miles from here, the only station is a Shell with diesel at 4.299. Again, two days ago. We top off whenever we go through Mexican Hat.

[c214dick]

And the latest from Northern Illinois is...425.9 - 441.9. That does not include Chicago, Just my neck of the woods. I have found from my travels that the prices seem to rotate geographically. When it gets raised in one zip code it stays lower within two zip codes away. When the other zip code catches up the higher one stays the same or becomes even a little lower.

The funny thing is that Wisconsin has a higher tax than Illinois now and Wisconsin is usually cheaper by at least 10 cents/gal. Go figure. At least we've decided that a lot of our summer ventures will be in Cheesehead country.

[ols1932]

I hadn't intended to jump in here but I just have to. What good does it do for us to rant and rave about rising fuel prices? None of us have any control over it and no one will listen to us anyway. I think it just causes us to fret, speculate and concentrate on something that will not help us until OPEC decides that they've bilked the world of enough of their finances. Those of us who are fully into the lifestyle will just adjust accordingly and still continue to travel. I guess if you are having to maintain a stick house as well, then that's a different story and you probably have to decide how far away from it you are going to travel.

Please don't take offense to this. I'm not pointing at anyone, just find it dreary to keep reading the same negative posts all the time. Don't want to stop reading because if I do, then it will probably mean I won't be posting from my experiences.

Orv

[skypilot]

Diesel here has been 4.499 for a little over a week; unleaded now at 3.499. At lunch CNN reported that government economists expect gasoline to reach 4.00 or possibly higher by May 31 and come down a bit by late summer. No mention of diesel but they also had a spot on the Airlines and it looks like another 100 increase in air fares is being attempted by one (or 2) of the lines. If the others follow suit, then the rates will stick, if not, the these two leaders will drop their fare increases as well if they are to remain completitive.

I have to agree with Orv but at the same time I also remember an old adage we had when the Inspector General was doing a unit evaluation and was conducting the 'requisite troop bitch session'. Commanders always wanted to send people who had no complaints so that they wouldn't get dinged. IG was a smart Colonel though -- wrote up the final inspection report saying (to the effect) that this unit has one of two problems -- either the morale was so low that the troops had given up even trying to change things, or the commander was such a control freak that he overstepped his authority with damaging results to his unit. Went on to say he thought it was the later and his philosophy was that a person who complains still has a feeling that they can get some results (all is not lost so to speak). Perhaps someone with some authority will hear their complaint and be able to do something, anything, about it. When they feel that there is no relief, i.e. all is lost, then they quit complaining.

So, as I see it, we still have a lot of people on this forum who are hoping that someone is reading this (or may get a snippet of it) and will do something - even if it is just to recognize that the problem exists!! (As someone else mentioned, these people who keep saying they 'were surprised' by the ...... (pick an event)' obviously aren't reading or doing google searches on this topic.)

Off my soap box, time to go ----- somewhere --- I forgot!!! Oh yeah - fill up the car before gas goes up again -- CNN just reported national average higher than here so prices will be raised within the hour!!

[scattershot]

ols1932, that's a good point. It's simply supply and demand, like anything else. They have it, and if you want it, pay the price. I just don't understand the reason for the insane price jumps recently. It does irritate me, though, that oil exploration and production seem to have come to a halt due to obscure environmental regulations. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to go back to the "bad old days" where you couldn't see across the street for the smog, but there has to be a happy medium somewhere.

I guess it's just human nature to grumble.

[c214dick]

Nothing wrong with griping. It's what keeps me young. Louise will disagree as she is just the opposite. And they say opposites attract. FYI, the title of this thread is Diesel prices so if anything good can be said about them have at it.

[lwcdg]

My stock is paying dividends.

What I don't understand is the slowing of production. Or is it I do understand - drive up the prices even more.
Chuck

[Waynem]

Venting! Just venting.
Barrel of oil is at $117. A year or so ago it was $20 a barrel. I see a trend.
What I don't understand is why diesel is a higher price than regular gasoline. Oh, yes I do, as with all the prices, one word. GREED!

In a conversation today it was mentioned, and I tend to agree, the majority of military vehicles run on diesel. Where do they get it from? I wonder what it cost the military for a gallon of diesel.

Someone mentioned that the refineries have cut production to 80 something percent. I guess the DEMAND went down and they don't want to saturate the market with a surplus.

I'd sure like to know the name of the 8 or 9 people that control the economics of the world.

[Trailer Trash 2]

They must need more money to build that new resort in Arabia the one that looks like the world map. so they have to rais the $$$ per barrel.
Has anybody heard about the oil co in the US selling there diesel abrod to other countries for more money, and only at 80% production here in the US.

[JH Sechelt]

Your right....Supply & Demand.
On a news report yesterday it said, China is adding 14,000 cars a day.......yes, per day.
thats 5,110,000 per year. If the demand in North America goes down a little, it isn't going down in China.
Not to mention India or other parts of the East.
Hold on we are going for a ride !!

J&D

[c214dick]

We used to be the big dogs in the world's economy and now we're just puppies. Whatever we do to conserve is going to be eaten up by other countries. Oil production may be down but that doesn't mean that useage will follow suit. Fortunately for some of us we can weather the storm by conserving a liitle more, (less eating out, less WalMart....)

[Icehouse]

Talk about a price jump. Last week in Seward, $4.59 a gallon. I just got home from the post office and it's now $4.70. I'm glad this baby is parked!

[richfaa]

I Wonder how long it will take our Government and business leaders to accept that we live in a Global economy and we need to learn how to compete in one.The USA no longer calls the shots. We are but a player in a very large and expanding global economy..and we do not know how to play.

[Waynem]

To bad we have more import than export on all commodities.

[skypilot]

Don't know how much the Army pays but I do know that the increase has put a serious dent in the operating budget -- commanders are looking at ways to minimize driving time of heavy equipment and all to maximize training dollars and use. One LT was telling my wife that they were thinking of only taking one platoons equipment out, and basically leaving it out and then have the next platoon use it instead of driving / transporting the tracks back and forth. Would save several thousand dollars in fuel and other transportation dollars - making that available to buy fuel for manuevers in the field. Everything is up -- rations, replacement uniform items, all is up as well. So even the military is not insulated (some probably because of contracts written earlier) from this rapid increase.

On a slightly different topic - I was speaking to an econ professor neighbor last night -- said that they keep thinking the oil price will come down as the price adjusts -- speculators are driving it up and at some point it has to realign itself. It has been feeding on itself for some time (much like the housing market - where you increase your price by a minimum of the 7 to 10 percent realter fee - so even if you make nothing yourself, you have to cover the transaction fee). The oil speculators are doing the same -- buying then selling and raising the price at least enough to cover transactions fees. Add profits (greed) on top of that and it keeps feeding itself until, like the housing market, people no longer can afford to buy and the bottom falls out.....

By the way, diesel here running anywhere from 4.059 to 4.499; I-70 had 4.079 and 4.099 at several stations as seen yesterday.

[richfaa]

There was a article awhile back that said that the military In Iraq is paying as much or more than we are at home for fuel as fuel is provided by private contractors..not the DOD. What is wrong with that picture.

Sky pilot..Good post. I am wondering how long the speculators can keep it up before something burst.. There are billions of $ at play here and theyt can not afford to see the price go down.

[Waynem]

It's strange that if you do a search on "oil profits percentage," you get 2006 and earlier with an occasional article on 2008 and 2007.

[c214dick]

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gassta...?zip=&src=Netx

This seems to be the most accurate I've found to date. Put in your zip code and it will display the area gas stations with all available gas and diesel prices. It's updated nightly.

[richfaa]

Not buying diesel..The 6.4L is parked in the driveway and does not have to move till May 26th for the Northeast MOC Rally..if it moves then...It is bad enough paying 3.599 for gas for the Honda although it gets 30mpg+.We will have to move the camper for the black tank install but that will be less than 4 miles round trip.

Flash...I am so excited... GB announced that our 1200.00 rebate check will be in the mail Monday. That means we can buy almost 3000 miles worth of Diesel at this hours prices.. If we all do that it will bring demand up and increased demand means higher prices.We will be happy because we are on the road..The big oil companies will be happy because they can raise the prices and our Governmnet will be happy because we are spending that money and solving the problems with our economy...I can't wait for the check to get in the bank..

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Cool Beans Rich,

You can get 3000 miles on your govt $$

I figure Al and I can get about 2500 to 2600 miles on the same govt $$. (Figured on what we paid Tuesday on the turnpikes which was close to $3.50 a gallon for gas.)

Cool Beans!

P.S. IF I did the math right! HA HA HA