$2.99 Gas...Finally! (Sioux Falls, Lennox: places)

[SDHomesteader]

Yeah I don't know whats going on with the gas prices. Price Gouging maybe. Maybe they miss their record profits and want them back. All I know is its pissing me off to and personally I think it needs to finally be regulated, a cap put on profits since such a widely used commodity and literally affects so many people.

[Jammie]

Well, I have a guess on this one, but who knows what the real answer is. I was reading that several places had laid off people who were in the oil industry. Right now I'm thinking of the Odessa/Midland area of Tx. Once prices go back up, they'll be able to put a lot of people back to work again. They are probably lowering the amount of available oil in order to drive the price up. I'd guess the govt. will nearly have to turn a blind eye to it in order for the oil industry to hire their employees back. Kind of a vicious circle.

I'm still wondering why nothing in the stores has dropped at all. Who's getting the profit now that gas is much cheaper then $4 a gallon. The excuse when everything skyrocketed was because of the price of transportation.

[SDHomesteader]

Well I think it all boils down to just greed. Pure and simple. They know we need food, so why lower the prices. I would gander that about 80% of this country has no idea how to grown their own food and are highly dependent on Grocery stores and such. So why lower the prices back down to adjust them for Transportation costs. We've paid the prices in the past so they know we will continue to just keep paying the prices. Its not like we can boycott the grocery industry, too many people just don't know how (or in some cases have the space) for a garden or such.

I've heard the same thing on the Oil company layoffs, 2 stories actually today even. One lady up here in harding county, her husband laid off, Another lady at Walmart today whose brother was laid off recently, Both worked for the oil companies.

[belami28]

Go to Gasbuddy.com, they explain the pricing on gas. Time to put plugs & new air filter in a few of the cars around here. Will be trying a can of Sea Foam while I'm at it!

[Jammie]

OK, obviously I was smoking something when I said gas was 2.90. It's actually 1.90 and that is for super unleaded. Regular unleaded is 2.00~all rounded off, of course.

[Chris19]

Most places around Sioux Falls are $1.89 for the super unleaded but there are a few places that are $1.85 and $1.86. Just have to look around.

I make a quick trip to Yankton to eat out and to get outta town for an evening early this past week. Gas was about a nickel cheaper there than in Sioux Falls and about a nickel or so higher in Freeman and Parker than in Sioux Falls.

[DannyBanany]

$1.79 in Rapid City. I was really liking those $1.25 prices...

[R_Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

oil is almost at its all time low for the past 4 or 5 years, it keeps going down, WHY IS GAS GOING up. I rode my bike by the gas station at 11 am, rode back home by it it was up 2 cents, drove by it later that day, it was up another penny. This is pissing me off.

It's a commodity - the wall street jocks love playing with all the resources - oil, mineral, etc. So it goes up and down daily. What the airline companies and the gas station companies do is buy up certain amounts, hedging that the prices will go up and they will make a little money on the deal. When they guess wrong, they lose a ton of money, because they have expensive oil/gas that has to be sold quickly. If they guess right, they've got money in the bank. It's all a game. Has always been a game.

Why both grocery stores and gas stations don't lower or raise prices right away has to do with how much they hedged on the commodity. If I have a hundred boxes of Wheaties that i paid an extra 100 bucks for during the high gas prices, I have to sell those boxes at a dollar a box higher than i usually do to make up for it. So even if the prices on gas dropped today, I still have an extra $100 I need to make up for.

This is why so many airlines were sucking wind there for awhile. They had hedged wrong on the prices. The ones who were able to give good prices on airfares were the ones who had guessed right. (Obviously this is a simplified version of the commodities market and hedging, but you get my drift!)

PS - Hey Jammie - had to put that smiley in there to make you proud! Thanks for helping me figure that out!

[Jammie]

Way to go!!! I'm very proud of you.

[wiccanwoodworker]

I payed $1.88 on Friday at Sam's Club. But that is here in PA and I may be moving to Rosebud soon. It all depends how bad the hospital wants me.