As I turned the corner to get gas for my “Shade of Gray” vehicle, I was struck by the line of white cars filling up, so I frantically pulled over to the curb and took a shot. One of the cars had sadly just started to move but whatever…
As I was putting the camera back down I suddenly for some reason thought of Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club and his iconic line so here we are. (And if you haven’t seen the movie, it certainly is an excellent one.) Nothing too classic in the way of cars in this pic, but the Toyota love does seem strong in these parts.
Oh, and what does the Costco Buyers Club get you in the way of go-juice around here in Northern Colorado? Below are the current prices. That’s in United States Dollars per gallon, each of which equates to 3.78541 liters for most of the rest of the world. Prices have been trending up a bit lately but not too significantly. What’s your local rate today?
$3.51 for diesel in SoCal. $3.19 for regular unleaded. Gov Brown just keeps adding taxes to fix the roads. Yeah, right. I’ll see a fleet of brown station wagons in a parade, equipped with manual transmissions no less, before the roads are fixed.
$1.25.9 per litre for diesel here now, gas varies on grade and I havent bought any for a month or two but was paying or my company was paying(it was their fuel card) $215.9 per litre pre Xmas in Christchurch.
I paid $2.69 at Costco the other day and $2.89 at a neighborhood pump. But that’s Full Serve! (no self serve in Oregon).
I was going to ask you about that – The law in Oregon changed recently so that in some rural locations (or places with small populations?) you can now self-serve if I read that correctly. Has the price of fuel been reduced noticeably since the labor component is now unnecessary?
I think the impact of the new law is quite limited yet. And I doubt the prices will change much; it allows them to be open more hours mainly, without the additional staffing. It’s not going to make any impact in the Willamette Valley, where the overwhelming majority of Oregonians live.
I haven’t gotten to Oregon but I’ve been to New Jersey a few times and it’s annoying that there’s never, ever any more than one pump jockey no matter how big the gas station. At this point I just fill up at the last chance before crossing the NY/NJ state line.
When I used to travel up to Maine from Maryland, to avoid New York City, we would go to the top of the Jersey Turnpike (the US Autobahn) and go up the Palisades Parkway to the Tapanzee Bridge.
To get there, we’d connect via US 9W, and I would always stop at this Mobil Station in New Jersey. Knowing this stupid law about no self serve, and being paranoid about an attendant scratching my car, I would jump out of my car and quickly grab the pump handle and start fueling. When confronted, I’d usually play dumb, even though ignorance of the law is no defense. A few times, the attendant would just let me pump anyway, only casually mentioning the no self serve rule.
But the reason for filling up in ‘Jersey? The same reason you fill your canteen before crossing the desert. Gas was always much cheaper in New Jersey than NY, CT, MA, or RI (if I was going that way). Typically, I’d gas up again in NH, as that was usually cheaper than Maine.
It’s been a long time since I’ve gone up to New England, so I’m not sure if the prices are still skewed that way.
The price difference isn’t what it used to be, something like 10 cents a gallon last spring (and that was comparing NY Thruway prices with a competitive stretch of Rt. 23 in NJ)
Between that and having a car built for expensive gas in an era of cheap gas makes the difference <$1 per fill up. Worth it to avoid the aggravation of forced full serve. That being said, gas is cheaper in rural Vermont than NY or Burlington (home) so when I make the trip I leave with whatever’s in the tank and fill up at Fair Haven just before the VT/NY state line so I’m only adding a few gallons before entering NJ.
I seem to remember Connecticut being the highest price, so a NJ fill up saved me from the high prices along the Merritt Parkway.
As to the QOTD: here in Nottingham Maryland (just northeast of Baltimore) the BJ’s Wholesale Club has Regular at $2.459 (down 2 cents from yesterday), and Premium at $2.849 per gallon.
According to Gas Buddy, the Costco over in White Marsh a few miles away has regular for $2.399, so it looks like prices are nudging down a little again.
Most of the non ‘member price’ places around here are at $2.479 to $2.599, with a few higher priced places at around $2.699
Although the BJ’s I mentioned above prices their hightest gas about 39 or 40 cents higher than regular, most gas stations around here sport a 50 to 60 cent ‘premium’.
Merritt Parkway gas prices are outrageous.
We’re paying about $1.20 CDN per litre in the Greater Toronto area. About $4.50 per US Gallon.
The cheapest here in Erie, PA is $2.62 today, but most stations are $2.75-$2.85. Yes, PA has the highest gas tax in the country.
Here in my part of Dallas, you can get a gallon of regular for $2.199
Using the formula that a gallon is 3.7854 liters I come up with 58 cents (USD) per liter.
Note – one place claims $2.139 per gallon but I wouldn’t go there a dollar, so….
I paid $2.79/gal for mid-grade in the truck today at our rural Caseys. When I’m in town, I try to hit the Costco for “high test” in the SS.
Man I haven’t thought about Casey’s in 20 years. We don’t have those in the northern part of IL but I used to go to the one in the Champaign-Urbana area all the time when I was in school.
As for gas prices, I couldn’t tell you as I fill up so infrequently, but I remember around 3.50 or so for 93 octane normally. Whenever it’s much higher or lower I tend to notice, I suppose. (The Mini requires the high-test stuff.)
93 is running around $3.20-3.30/gal around here right now.
$1.04 canadian per litre which includes 6.73 cents per litre carbon tax in edmonton
$2.69 yesterday @ Costco. As Paul mentioned, no self-serve in Oregon.
My last fill up was 1.21 per litre for regular. So, at $0.79 on the dollar, that works out to about $0.96 USD per litre. At 3.78 litres in a US gallon, I am paying $3.61 USD per gallon. Premium her is super expensive. It’s about $1.40 per liter which works out to $4.18 USD per US gallon.
Regular gas is about the same price here in Bangkok at the Shell station I can see from my balcony: Gasohol 91 (10% ethanol, the standard stuff here) is 27.93 baht, inclusive of Bangkok petrol tax. US$1 = THB30-32 on average (today it’s at 31.66).
So in Bangkok, 1 litre of petrol in less than US$1. Diesel is roughly the same at THB27.24 / litre.
All those white vehicles made my 1st guess Arizona.
One thing I like about Costco is, they maintain anti card-skimmer security tape on their pumps and check them regularly. Many other stations either lack this or don’t maintain it.
Here in Tucson, their supplier is Western Refining. Regular $2.19/g.
Fun photo. Paid $2.59.9/gal Thursday in the rural middle of Illinois. Nearby towns are ~$2.50/gal.
Let me lift a little bit the price bar: in Sao Paulo, bigest city in Brazil, you’ll pay no less than R$ 4.00 per litre ( around US$ 4.60/gal ) on gas. I realize Europe’s may be even more expensive but at least there the roads are excellent and safe, and on top of that, cars are much cheaper than here.
1.28 per litre Canadian in the BC Rockies. Works out to about $3.75 per US gallon after the exchange. Mid grade and premium go up from there. I don’t know how much of that is tax but it’s a very substantial amount. Here it’s all self serve. If there’s a full service station left anywhere in the province I don’t know where it is.
And now that our boneheaded provincial government has managed to ignite a trade war with our neighbors in Alberta, where virtually all of our petroleum comes from, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if they (justifiably) decide to turn off the tap for awhile. Glad my wife insisted on a Honda….
Wait…there are intra-province trade wars in Canada? I’ve never heard of that one before.
Doesn’t happen often but the potential is always there. Restrictive trade laws intended to protect local markets and industries, or create an artificial barrier that allows great differences in taxation, exist in all provinces.
Other laws exist to protect supposed cultural differences or fall under the heading of environmental protection.
Once in awhile someone trips over one of these laws or a government will use one as a weapon in a political fight with the neighbours. Sometimes it’s almost easier to do business with another country than with another province depending on what business you are in!
Filled up for $2.21 tonight in Lexington KY.
$2.34 per gallon for 87 octane E-10 regular in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the Kroger pump with a 3 cent discount for a store keytag.
I once filled up in Kinston, NC Hwy 11 and West New Bern Rd. This was the location of the cheapest fuel in this town. There was a line on the gas station at the SE corner of the intersection. There was not one single car on the gas station at the NW corner of the intersection. I wondered if it was open! Price difference: $o.o2 per gal. If my fill is 20 gal, then my savings are $0.40. If I wait for 30 minutes to take my turn this amounts to $0.20 per hour. While I filled up at the NW corner I looked over at the other gas station and wondered how many miles they drove to save $0.40.
Wasn’t it more like this?
Well yes, McConnaughey is the link between the line and the Buyers Club, just not in the same movie… :-). How does one play such diametrically different characters, I wonder. Or, is it possible that Ron Woodruff actually IS what became of David Wooderson once seriously humbled after contracting AIDS? Spooky. (Of course Ron Woodruff was an actual real person, while Wooderson was…well, everyone knows a Wooderson in real life.). Food for thought.
Actually, Wooderson was and is a real person. At least he was in 2004, with a son at Harvard. If he had any autoimmune concerns, this article does not mention them:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45614-2004Dec7.html
The mountains and low laying clouds in the picture makes a beautiful background. It must a been a stunning view before the generic suburban strip mall moved in and ruined it.
It’s still there. I-25 is just on the other side of the lot behind the pumps. Nothing to obstruct the view from there. Or from the road starting a quarter mile south for the next five miles or so. Tons of views around here, they make for a nice backdrop when one actually deliberately takes a picture of a gas station! (-:
Exact location is E. Harmony Road at Weitzel Street on Google maps (facing SouthWest)
We have one last full serve gas station, which even has repair bays and the little cord that when you run over it makes the bell “ding-ding!” in the repair bay.
It’s a Chevron.
They even, and no I’m not making this up, wash your freaking windshield as they pump your gas! Had mine washed on my last fill up.
The staff wear uniforms.
Gas is currently $3.70 a gallon, but it’s California, well flyover California, but we still have to play by their rules.
My last fill-up was about $5.20 AUD in US gallons. Well, they’re Australian gallons, but you get my drift. Actually, come to think of it, they’re Bahraini, but I’m digressing.
White was a hugely popular colour here because of the climate. In the state of Queensland, for example, you simply couldn’t sell a dark car (it’s tropical up there). Even with the universal adoption of airconditioning, white seems to have stayed on.
For years, I would read in English magazines that white was a joke colour, one for Transit vans only, which no sighted person would buy privately. I wonder if that has changed?
Silver seems a popular colour here especially on ex JDM imports my new car is silver or as I prefer to call it roadgrime grey it doesnt show the dirt except for the alloy wheels turning black, if I paint the rims matt black I’ll never have to wash it LOL.
Out here, it seems Black, White, and various shades of Gray are THE dominant new car colors. Which is another way of saying the new car spectrum generally looks like something you’d see on the screen of an old Black and White TV.
“Manny the camper wants to buy some white” – Frank Zappa, Wind Up Workin’ In A Gas Station
Regular Gas (87) has been running between $2.50 & $2.65 the last few weeks in Lansing depending on what day and which station. However we seem to have a price war going in my little town as it was $2.28 this evening. Worked out nice as I was planning to fill up this weekend anyway.
My green Olds, and some guy’s navy blue SUV would have added some variety at pumps, but road salt white is the default color this week.
In Munich, they are (per litre in euro and per US gallon in US dollar)…
€1.21-€1.24 ($5.26-$5.82) for regular diesel
€1.26-€1.40 ($5.91-$6.57) for premium diesel
€1.25-€1.43 ($5.87-$6.71) for regular petrol (95-octane; 91-octane in US)
€1.35-€1.61 ($6.34-$7.55) for super petrol (98-octane; 93-octane in US)
The difference between regular and premium diesel is the latter having more additives to improve the engine health.
Remember most of price is due to taxation, which goes to the extensive public transportation and road network system.
If our fuel taxes were actually used for roads, I could live with higher rates Stateside (Fed rate on gas is still 18.4¢/g; State rates vary). But local politicians are as fiscally undisciplined as the public generally.
Average in the UK is £1.21/l which works out as $6.38 per US gallon.
Here in Wisconsin, we are running between $2.69 and $2.71 depending on where you go.
$2.39 for 87 octane here in the Missouri state capital. Last weekend I paid $2.34 for 87 octane in Cape Girardeau.
Of course, our state gas tax hasn’t been touched in 22 years.
$2.18 for the cheap stuff in Gallup, NM which means Costco in Albuquerque will be really close to an even $2.00 a gallon.
I’ve got a Costco membership and there’s times I daydream about a move to Albuquerque just so I could fill up there all the time and run over there whenever I felt like it.
It’s funny-when I lived in the Bay Area, gas was expensive (still is,) but there were lots of other ways to get around; in the ‘Burque, gas is cheap but driving is the only way to get anywhere. C’est la vie!
$2.29 at a Fry’s on the eastern edge of Phoenix.
I’ve noticed the cheap fuel in Albuquerque when traveling. I usually hit the fuel stop on Tramway Road on the north end of town; I think it may be indian/casino territory that makes the pricing there lower.
I was in Albuquerque once for business a few years ago, and while I don’t remember the exact cost of gas, it was so much cheaper than the Bay Area, that I was actually motivated to take a picture of the sign at a gas station. I think a full dollar less than at home, and particularly cheap diesel. In California, prices vary tremendously over very short distances, just like our weather. Regular is currently running $2.95 – 3.50 a gallon in the Silicon Valley to Monterey areas. My smallish college/beach town is fortunately at the cheaper end of the spectrum.
Wow,we pay 22 cents per Litre& yet every body complains.
Prices are hanging around $2.45- $2.50 here in SE Wisconsin; clubs are only a few cents cheaper. I work in Illinois, and for the first time I can remember gas is actually 5-10 cents cheaper in the Zion-Waukegan area.
I can’t believe the spread on the Premium, at the closest Costco to my house it is currently $2.79 for Regular and $3.09 for Premium and ocassionally the spread is less, but I’ve never seen it more than that 30 cents, no diesel at that store.
Now the closest Costco with diesel gets $2.89 for it while their gas is $2.76 and $3.02.
My kids live up near the Canadian boarder, going to College and you see the effect of the high prices across the boarder at the local Costco. Weekends and nights BC plates make up a lot of the vehicles in the line and many of them will pop open their hatch, trunk or tail gate and pull out several 5 gal cans and fill them up to take home with them. It always shocks me when I’m behind that SUV with a luxury badge and BC plates and out hops a woman in a nice suit, high heels ect and she’ll pop that hatch and pull out here 4-5, 5 gal cans and start pumping. Personally I can’t imagine driving around with 25 gals inside my vehicle, especially and nice new and expensive vehicle.
Here in Erie, PA, at the station I filled up at today, $2.79 for regular and $3.29 for premium…and you can guess which my car uses! The regional supermarket chain I filled up at (Giant Eagle) has a mere 10-cents-per-gallon discount for every $50 you spend.
I filled my white Honda Fit at Costco last week, so I guess I fit the profile. The car has a 10.9 gallon tank, so I have no idea how much the gas cost – it just didn’t matter. If I were still filling a 35 gallon Ford Club Wagon you can damn well bet I would know how much the gas cost. 🙂
That sounds a bit like an uncle of mine, many years ago.
“I don’t care about rising gas prices, as I’m always filling the tank for 25 guilder”
That’s funny – I was the same way when I had my Fit. Although it seemed I was stopping for gas every other day… At least the truck (40 gal tank) can go ~400-500 miles on a fillup, even if it does take the better part of a Bennie ($100 bill) to fill.
Yeah when you buy gas 30 gal or more at a time you do tend to pay attention to the price. I needed gas in the F250 last week and despite the line up at that Costco I still went there because other stations in that area are ~25 cents per gallon more. On the plus side sometimes it will be 2 months between fill ups on it. On the down side that was the second fill up in about a week because I’ve needed the pickup for a number of things recently.
I forgot to comment on all the white cars: looks like the Niedermeyer’s driveway (3 whites).
3 white vehicles in my driveway too, though I’ve got the excuse that those are a former state or county F250, E150 and P71.
$2.61.gal for 87 octane Vancouver, Wa.
Dallas Buyer’s Club is not terribly acccurate and Jared Leto’s character is made up for the movie. I was bummed when I found that out.
In Barcelona, I just paid 1.339 €/liter of Unleaded 95 to fill up my motorbike. Fully serviced (inside the city and in small gas stations it is usually the norm, here). I could get a liter for about 1.20 if I was in the outskirts or getting it from a supermarket (self-serve).
So let’s do the math: if it’s 1.22 dollars per euro, and 3.785 liters per gallon, that’s 6.46 bucks per gallon.
Spain is rather cheap compared to other places. The last time I was in Italy (June ’17) gasoline was about €1.7/l.
I drive a Prius now. At 450 miles per tank, I fill up about once a month, maybe every 3 weeks. I don’t even pay attention to the price of gas anymore. When I need it, I buy it.
I have two friends that have bought nothing but white cars for 45 years. For some reason they just love white. They say they’re easy to keep clean, but I dunno. I don’t dislike white, but at new car time there always seems to be something more appealing. I’m sure manufacturers would now love to make all their cars white (or one other color) given their penchant for standardization.
As seen in the photo the regular price is cheaper that the Costco regular pricr in central NJ, the premium price is few cents cheaper here. What really brothers me is the increasing differences in the prices of regular and premium over the years. That makes me hesitate to buy another car that burns premium gas — For that my current favorite VE GTI can take both wirh minor power loss with regular as VW stated. Anyone can put some thought why the premium gas gets such premium these days, is it much costly to produce in refinery? Or the big gas companies take t he advantage of the consumers?
Most cars Down Here Are White Mainly Because Of The Heat& Also For Domestic Car Makers Is Probably Cheaper To Paint A Car White.White Cars Are The Cheapest Compare To Other Colors.Most Expensive Colors Are Red&Grey.