Posted: 6/1/2006 8:51:22 PM EDT
 $113 to fill up my truck today  2 different transactions becuase it went over $75 the first time  Donations can be made to the PITY PETA GAS FUND When is this crap gonna end? Guys 2 states over and down are payin $2.69 for unleaded yet the pump prices here are all at $3? Let alone diesel prices.. ouch..hate to say it, but this may put a crimp on my trip to Joseph, or at very least cut into the beer and gun rental funds...a bunch
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I understand your pain. The 440 in the motorhome drinks it down to the tune of 7-1/2 per gal. Looking at a Holly TBI to try to get 9 out of it. Is anyone old enough to remember when camping was supposed to be a cheap family thing to do? I'm ready to sell the friggin thing and buy a condo in Ensenada. In the end I'll save money and maybe even make some.
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Out of morbid curiosity, I did a quick and dirty 3 minute google search for minimum wage and fuel prices.....1976 vs. 2006 1976 min. wage= $2.30 gas per gal. = $.75 roughly 32% if my non-existant math skills work.... 2006 min. wage= $7.50 gas per gal. = $3.05 ( what it averages around me ) roughly 40% of the min. hr rate... So.........................has it really gotten that much more expensive to drive, or have we been spoiled for too long? BUT....... I call  to posting record profits, while jacking the price up....profiteering anyone?
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Just so I can play the devils advocate here, but I would like to see data on these "record profits". Lets take a couple of guesses here: Can we assume that the use of gasoline is continually on the rise? It follows that as population goes up, that gas sales will also increase at a similar rate, due solely to more people driving. If the oil companies were to cap themselves at a profit percentage, say 10%, which I feel is completely reasonable, then profits would continually go up as a function of rising gas sales. By this I could come to the conclusion that even if the oil companies didn't engage in price gouging, they would still make more profit, in actual dollars, than they did the year before. Hence, every year, they would make "record profits". But then again, I don't have a degree in business, or economics, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night... |
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First, if you're driving a house there you aren't camping. Second, the oil companies are for profit companies. They are in business to make money. They have a product and will sell it at what the market will bear. I personally have changed my driving habits to use less gas. Some people have to drive, but many drive way more than is necessary. |
My truck has a 38 gallon tank, if empty ( it pretty much is ) that would be $114 to fill it up @$3/gal. I get about 13.5mpg average. For me that's 4.5 miles per dollar. Needless to say I dont drive my truck very much anymore.  Damn, that's $8 for a roundtrip to work  I really miss driving my truck, it just feels so right. Cars suck, tiny econobox cars really suck. 
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 Yeah. wanna go camping and save gas? Buy a tent... |
...and pop it up in the back yard |
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The Exxon numbers can really throw you, since they are so large, but thier margin is really not unreasonable. They sold about $371 Billion in gas for their year, and made about $36 billion in profit. That's only 9.7% gross margin! I know $36 billion looks like a huge number, like they are screwing us, but they sell A LOT of gas. In their 4th quarter, they made just over 10% gross margin, so there has been an increase since Q1, but their average is still 9.7% To put it in perspective, Citigroup makes 15.7% gross margin, Altria (Marlboro cigs) makes 22% gross margin, and Merck Pharmacuticals makes 25%! I personally blame the traders on the market driving up the cost of a barrel of oil every time a bomb goes off somewhere. It is likely the increase in goss margin since Q1 has been because of the Katrina devastation, and may subside as the gulf coast refineries come back to full capacity and increase gas supply in the US. None the less, I still hate filling up my car!! The world hasen't changed that much since sub $1.50 a gallon gas. |
Damm that must hurt. |
| A 10% profit margin on $3/gal gas is 30 cents, Look how much money the fed and state governments make on a gallon of gas. Its not the oil companies getting rich, its the government. I'm so glad all that money went to public transit in portland.... talk about inefficiency.. |