Old gas pumps can't handle ever-rising prices

Why buy premium? You're not driving a racecar.

Might as well be, runs like crap on anything less.

um.. not gonna happen and even if it did they would sit back in their palaces and laugh..

Yeah they don't need to rely on us anymore to buy their product they have China and India as well and world demand overall is increasing, we are just a minor cog in their oil machine now.

Time to wean off, or in the present case quickly get off the Black Sugar. The fossil heroin is our casket.

Kick the Habit

Let's all walk and maybe OPEC countries will get the signal.

This is about the speculators and that game isn't nationalism but profits that unite all the sides.

Equilon Enterprises LLC, Motiva Enterprises LLC, Equiva Services LLC, and Equiva Trading are part of an alliance that was formed by Shell Oil Company, Texaco Inc., and Saudi Aramco.

That's what drives the price of crude on the global market, plus US military consumption.

Very true, the speculators causing this. There is not that much more demand compare to pre Bush years when oil was 12 usd a barrel.

But the OPEC countries could help drive the prices down by dumping oil on the market to scare off speculators.

USA and European nations can sell oil contracts to drive the prices down. It would be wiser for America to sell oil contracts at a loss than to pay its military to supervise a sectarian war in Iraq.

There is not that much more demand compare to pre Bush years when oil was 12 usd a barrel.

Those are two exagerations to serve your argument. Oil has not been $12 per barrel since the early 1970's. In the later Clinton years. it did dip below $20 for a very brief time.

Chinese demand has grown tremendously and is growing faster in recent years.

The Chinese demand for oil increase every year by 7,5%, with its daily oil consumption of 7,6 million barrels. According to government figures China's oil imports in 2006 rose by 14.5 percent.

It might be a sign that inflation is too high as well.

Back when gas was about a dollar a a gallon it was $20 a barrel, now the price is $3.75 a gallon and a barrel of oil costs, what about $115, $120 so do the math we should be paying $5+. The reason this is so bad is the Fed has messed things up so royally and are wages are not keeping pace.

Talk about Shock 'n Awe it's more like Shock n' Yall.

Talk about Shock 'n Awe it's more like Shock n' Yall.

If gas prices and inflation weren't so depressing, I would be laughing right now.

Back when gas was about a dollar a a gallon it was $20 a barrel, now the price is $3.75 a gallon and a barrel of oil costs, what about $115, $120 so do the math we should be paying $5+.

Not quite. The pump price is not a pure multiple of the price of a barrel.

As the price of a barrel rises, the shipping costs, refining costs, and taxes remain relatively constant. The final delivery cost rises a bit since it is delivered by trucks that run on the fuel they are delivering.

There was just an article in USA Today last week about what goes into the pump prices. If I can find it, I will seed it.

I know the details I was just trying to make it simpler for everybody. OPEC is raising the price but not as much as the Fed is with inflationary practices. Not everything is cut and dry but maybe a simple math equation would peak peoples interest enough to investigate further. It clearly shows that something is not right and that it could be worse.

I wrote and article on this a about a month ago

Worse? Next month OPEC will stop using Petro Dollars and will switch to Euros and Yen!

Wait another year and OPEC will not sale oil to USA because it supports Israel.

Put your walking shoes on and start walking. You will need the practice.

No Oil for American imperialists!

That's just business. If the store needs the pumps to bring the feet into the store, they will upgrade them. If not, why go through the aggravation? Many of the stations are only allowed to make a slim profit on their gas.

A friend of mine who owns a service station told me that he was only able to make a few pennies a gallon. He gets his fuel from an oil company and has to price at or below the other stations in his neighborhood. Gas is pure commodity. Brand means little to a consumer who can get an equally good gallon for a penny or two less.

Regarding Lenard's comment that I quoted above, it doesn't need to be that way. When the price of an item shoots up as aggressively as gas has, the system can and should make allowances for these just-scraping-by vendors. It seems easy enough: the stations post a notice stating that, because of the pumps' limitations, gas prices will be calculated at the register using the posted price per gallon. Either that or the government should support these small businesses by offering them meaningful assistance in getting the pumps upgraded.

All gas isn't equally good. Especially with today's sensitive fuel systems, where you get your gas can make a significant difference in your car's performance.

A handful of stations have stopped selling gas entirely and just become convenience stores only. I know of 2 in my area that have removed the pumps. The profit is gas is not being made by the stations.

There are some stations here that have had to close because of environmental rules that make them replace the old underground tanks. As long as they do not use them, they can leave them in the ground. It costs $250,000-500,000 to replace them - simply not cost effective.

Time to buy an electric powered car?

The Toyota RAV4 EV was powered by twenty-four 12 volt batteries, with an operational cost equivalent of over 165 miles per gallon at 2005 US gasoline prices

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car

If you drive 100 miles a day 360 days a week it will cost about 7,200 usd a year in gasoline, but with an electric car it will cost you about 1,000 usd a year. That is 6,000 usd in savings every year.

I do not know the cost of the car, but guessing maybe 10,000 usd higher than the regular engine. So money back in less than 2 years.

The math is approximate and check the cost of electric car to regular car.

36,000 miles per year is on the very high side. The average is about half (or less) of that.

How long do those batteries last? And, how many thousands does it cost to replace them? That would have to factor into the TCO for the life of the car.

Jay, I did not look at the details but a closer attention is worth a while for car owners. Especially if you buying a new car.

Also car pools is a great idea if you already own a gas car.

36,000 miles per year is on the very high side. The average is about half (or less) of that.

Depends... I put 283,000 on a car in 3 years. Currently I do about 20,000 a year though.

DbZ: I think that you are still on the high side. I do about the same and find that most people I know do closer to 12-15K per year. The Federal Highway Administration puts the figure at 12,900 miles per year.

I did not look at the details but a closer attention is worth a while for car owners.

I mentioned that because I see many articles touting the benefits of hybrids and plug-ins without mentioning the additional costs.