Damned gas stations marking up premium!

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
06/18/2014 at 12:09 • Filed to: None

Contained herein is a semi-pointless rant about the price of gasoline. And some awesome hair.

Back in ancient history times of 2001, when I was but a wee 19 year old with a jewfro*, I could fill up the '92 Integra GSR I was driving at the time with premium unleaded for cheap. Like less than a dollar a gallon. It was glorious. Times were good.

Now, after inflation, multiple wars, hurricanes, recessions, and whatever else, gas is expensive. We all know this. But what really bugs me is gas stations have all decided they need to price gouge on premium just a liiiiitle bit more.

Where gas stations used to charge a price for regular, and jump up by 10 cents to mid-grade and premium, now they've changed those 10 cent jumps to 20 cent jumps. There were a few remaining holdouts here in Madison who were only doing 10 or 15 cent jumps, but no longer. Every single gas station in town has jumped on the bandwagon. I'm screwed.

Damn you gas stations!

* - I'm jewish which is why I can call it a jewfro. When in doubt, if you are unsure of a white person with a fro's religion, err on the side of not calling it a jewfro. FYI.

(Even with a jewfro, I was allowed to be a camp counselor and be entrusted to care for people's children. It was a jewish summer camp.)

DISCUSSION (33)

spanfucker retire bitch > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:12

Everytime I feel like complaining about the price of gas, or someone I know wants to complain, I simply point them to the prices in Europe, or hell, even north of the border in Canada.

We should enjoy the relatively cheap ass gas while we have it, even with greedy stations and their price gouging.

dinobot666 > spanfucker retire bitch
06/18/2014 at 12:16

The price Europeans pay for fuel is oftentimes less than what we pay for fuel in the US. It's the taxes that are added on to the fuel in Europe is what makes the final costs so high.

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:21

I do have to wonder why the mark-up is so high, its literally the same cracking process at the same levels as...ever. I guess refineries have to buy energy to crack the fuel which costs money, but it seems like a pretty big gap.

duurtlang > dinobot666
06/18/2014 at 12:21

That distinction doesn't matter much when you need to fork over your hard earned money to fill up your car. $8.75 for a gallon (US) regular 95 RON in my home country now.

Klaus Schmoll > dinobot666
06/18/2014 at 12:21

We still have to pay the taxes nonetheless.

Party-vi > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:21

Gas isn't expensive - it's just not as cheap as it used to be, but is still cheap. Go live in Australia and pay a few dollars more per gallon, or Europe and pay twice as much. Driving a car that requires premium? You have to pay to play.

Klaus Schmoll > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:22

If you want to complain about gas prices, I invite you to come to Europeland.

spanfucker retire bitch > dinobot666
06/18/2014 at 12:24

We pay taxes on our fuel as well. Your distinction is noted, but pointless nonetheless as it's still how much you pay at the pump.

Saying "well their gas costs less, but they pay way more because of taxes" is pretty meaningless. It doesn't change the final cost.

Textured Soy Protein > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2014 at 12:25

My theory is that because gas stations pretty much just break even on fuel and make most of their money on all the other crap people buy at gas stations, price gouging on the mid-grade and premium lets them eke out a little more from the gas.

willkinton247 > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:27

Our gas is actually subsidized, which allows it to be so cheap.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > spanfucker retire bitch
06/18/2014 at 12:27

Don't blame the gas stations. The profit margin on gas, for the stations is VERY low. They make most of their money on the goodies and services inside. If you are going to blame someone, blame the big gas companies.

Party-vi > dinobot666
06/18/2014 at 12:27

I'll sell you my car for $500 if you agree to pay another $7,000 in taxes. C'mon, that's cheap!

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:29

which makes me so happy I don't have to buy premium anymore...now I just buy a LOT more regular! oh and diesel.

Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:29

I don't know if it's nationwide, but Shell gas stations where I live have $.20 off premium on Tuesdays.

spanfucker retire bitch > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast.
06/18/2014 at 12:33

If you are going to blame someone, blame the big gas companies.

Oh, I do.

ColoradoTaco > dinobot666
06/18/2014 at 12:41

Taxes or not, they're still paying more

Textured Soy Protein > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2014 at 12:53

Yeah, my Grand Cherokee takes regular, but it gets such crap mileage, so I did a little math.

135is
22 mpg * 12 gallon typical fill-up = 264 miles per tank

$3.999 today's price for premium * 12 gal = $47.99 per tank

$47.99 / 264 = $0.18/mile

Grand Cherokee
16 mpg * 17 gallon typical fill-up = 272 miles per tank

$3.599 for regular * 17 gal = $61.18 per tank

$61.18 / 272 = $0.22/mile

So it turns out the Jeep still costs me more in gas even though it takes regular. Particularly in the winter when it's averaging more like 13 mpg.

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 12:55

be happy you only get 13 in the winter. 13 is my everyday.

Textured Soy Protein > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2014 at 12:59

One time I actually managed to get it all the way up to 19 mpg . That was about 95% long-distance highway driving though. The trip computer was showing 18.9 average mpg and I was like "come on let's get that last 0.1 mpg!!!"

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 13:00

I got 15 once!

Mustafaluigi > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 13:04

The funny thing is that unless you drive a lot of miles or get horrible gas mileage the price even at $0.40 more a gallon for the average person doesn't add up to that much at the end of the year. I had a coworker refuse to buy the car he really wanted because he realized it took premium fuel. (welcome to the turbo life) Lets say you drive the average 12000 miles a year. Your car gets on average 20 mpg. 12,000/20*0.4=240 So it costs $240 dollars more a year to have to use premium. Or less than $5 a week. In my coworkers case he drives less than 10,000 a year so the difference is even less. So brew a cup of coffee in the morning and skip Starbucks once a week.

Textured Soy Protein > Mustafaluigi
06/18/2014 at 13:15

My Grand Cherokee takes regular, but is still more expensive to fuel than my 135is that takes premium. Math here .

McLarry > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 13:25

I always figured it was different marketing strategies or some such thing... some stations might up their regular price a bit, but use the bump in revenue to lower the premium price a few cents, while most others seem to just raise the premium price through the roof because nobody really pays attention to it except the ones that buy it. Some places even throw an extra jump in there... 87 - 89 - 91 - 93, with a 10-20 cent jump in price for each, charging you even more for that extra jump to the same quality. The result is wildly varying prices, which really doesn't make much sense. The Gas Buddy app is a good help for us 93 octane folk...I'm looking at the app now; around here, regular varies by around 20 cents / gal and premium varies by over 50 cents / gal. Yeesh.

Textured Soy Protein > McLarry
06/18/2014 at 13:28

Yeah I use Gas Buddy almost every time I fill up. When some stations around me were still doing smaller jumps for premium, Gas Buddy was super useful for finding those stations. But now every single station that shows in Gas Buddy is doing the 20 cent jumps.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 13:32

Don't you dare bitch at me about gas prices, I pay ~$4.50 for regular.

dinobot666 > spanfucker retire bitch
06/18/2014 at 13:47

They could simply lower the taxes on their fuel and it'd be about the same!

boundish > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 13:54

come to norway at fill up your tank for 9 to 10 $ per gallon or 15 nok per liter , theen complain .

DipodomysDeserti > spanfucker retire bitch
06/18/2014 at 14:15

Europeans also make a lot more money on average than Americans.

DipodomysDeserti > Textured Soy Protein
06/18/2014 at 14:15

Kinja'd!!!

I'm liking this kids stage presence.

stuttgartobsessed > Textured Soy Protein
06/19/2014 at 00:49

Um, I just paied $4.75/gal in WA for Ethanol-free 92 octane. 11.5 gal cost me roughly $54. so worth it though to protect the SPICA fuel injection pump. This is at least 50 cents more, if not 75 cents more, than the normal 92 octane stuff. #classiccarproblems #firstworldproblems

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > Textured Soy Protein
06/19/2014 at 03:35

If the gasoline was less than $1 for premium before, and that was 20c more than regular, that would put regular at 80c at most.

Regular: 80c
Mid-grade: 90c
Premium: $1

From there, there was a 25% increase to from regular to premium.

20 / 80 = 25%

I just filled up yesterday, and normal premium was $3.979 / gal. If it's 20c increases between grades, that would make regular $3.379 / gal.

$3.979 - 2 (20) = 3.379

Now, the increase from regular to premium is less than half what it was in 2001.

40 / 3.379 = 11.84%

Looking at it by percentages, we are getting premium for less of an increase now versus before. And percentages are really the way to view price increases, as absolute numbers don't maintain a reference point.

Textured Soy Protein > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
06/19/2014 at 11:37

Except $3.979 - $0.40 is $3.579, not $3.379 like you have here. Which makes the increase in price from regular to premium only 11.18% more expensive instead of the 11.84% you have. ;)

Anyway, I see your point, yes the percentage increase is smaller, but that doesn't change the fact that the actual increase in cost is higher.

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > Textured Soy Protein
06/19/2014 at 14:48

Wow, I must have been tired to do math that stupidly, haha. But yes, that only further proved my point.

Another thing, is that the cost of gasoline has risen 379%, while the premium for premium has fallen to half what it once was!