Life's A Gas (at least in California)

[dales]

Paid $4.30 a gallon for regular grade gasoline today on Memorial Day.

What is the cost of gasoline in your area?

[Crackpot]

3.09 about average for a holiday weekend in a non-recession year.

[Bicycle Bill]

I'm in southwestern Wisconsin and I don't know; but I got some a couple weeks ago and it was $2.79⁹ back then (low grade, 10% ethannol blend).
According to the GasBuddy app, the same stuff is running between that and $2.99⁹ now, depending on the station and location (close to or away from the Interstate).

-"BB"-

[Joe Guy]

I've seen anywhere from $3.94 to $4.49 for regular here on the SF peninsula this weekend. The places where it's under $4.00 are crowded and there are only a couple of places where it's that low. Of course, I was out yesterday, not today, and for all I know the cheaper priced gas might be over $4.00 now.

[Gob]

Diesel £125.54 Unleaded £122.74 per litre.

[Scooter]

Uh, I'm hoping you've misplaced the decimal there. 125 pounds per litre sounds just a tad steep.

[Gob]

oopsy!!

Diesel 125.54p Unleaded 122.74p per litre.

[Sue U]

Gasoline here is generally around $2.95/gal, +/- a coupla three pennies, except at Costco where it is $2.85.

[Big RR]

We're generally 10 to 15 cents higher, but I haven't been to a costco gas station lately, so I'm not sure there.

[Econoline]

It's generally ~ $3.20-$3.30/gal around here.

[Burning Petard]

Here in New Castle County Delaware, it is about the same as Sue. $2.95 and 2.79 at Costco. That is for 87 octane unleaded, 10% ethanol. 93 Octane is higher than Diesel.

snailgate

[datsunaholic]

$3.65 today at Freddy's.

[Long Run]

We are a bit less in Pdx than Seattle area, $3.39 for regular yesterday in lower cost stations. I still only use about 30% of the gas I did 15 months ago.

[MGMcAnick]

oopsy!!

Diesel 125.54p Unleaded 122.74p per litre.

So what's that in dog years?
Is diesel higher than gasoline there?

I filled up at Sam's Club Saturday @ $2.699 US gallon. I don't think it has changed since. Most stations are about 15¢ more.

Edited to add local price.

[ex-khobar Andy]

oopsy!!

Diesel 125.54p Unleaded 122.74p per litre.

Using current exchange rate ($1.417 = £1.00) and 1 US gallon = 3.785 litres/liters, £1.2274 per litre = $6.58 per US gallon for unleaded.

[dales]

That's cheap compared to this NorCal operation,

This Northern California gas station has the most expensive fuel in the country
Freda Moon
,
SFGATE
June 2, 2021
Updated: June 2, 2021 4:29 p.m.


Mendocino is known for its Victorian architecture and striking setting on the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean in rural Northern California, 155 miles and three and a half hours north of San Francisco. But its beauty is not the only thing that has put Mendocino in the national spotlight in recent months. Now the small coastal town of about 1,000 people has another distinction: the most expensive gas in the entire United States.

The sole service station in the tiny pastel-hued village, Schlafer’s Auto Body & Repair, is currently charging $6.73 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, according to the station’s owner, Judith Schlafer. According to Patrick De Haan, head of Petroleum Analysis at the travel and navigation app GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices, that whopping per gallon figure makes Schlafer’s the single most expensive gas station in the entire country.


De Haan notes that this particular service station has been on GasBuddy’s radar for some time. “t appears to be priced much, much above the average for as long as we've tracked this station,” De Haan wrote in an email.

A recent call to the service station was unexpectedly answered by Schlafer herself. The business has operated in Mendocino since the 1930s, according to Schlafer, and her ex-husband’s family took it over in the 1940s or ‘50s. Now 70, Schlafer has worked at the family business since 1968 and has run it herself since 2004.

This clifftop town had the most expensive gasoline in the United States on June 1, 2021.
This clifftop town had the most expensive gasoline in the United States on June 1, 2021.

Walter Bibikow/Getty Images
When I asked whether she’s received complaints about the cost of fuel at her station, which sells Chevron fuel, she laughed with barely concealed resentment. “They say, ‘you’re ripping us off,'” she said of her customer’s criticisms. “I tell them, ‘If you want to take my seat and my helm over, you're welcome to do so.’”

Running a small town, independent gas station is “a real hard business,” said Schlafer. Because she buys in comparably small quantities compared to high-volume stations in the city or places like Costco and Safeway, the price she pays, she says, has gone “sky high.” For years, she said, she carried up to $80,000 in debt for the Chevron gasoline she was buying. “I said, ‘I can't keep going like this.’” Now she prices it to pay for a truckload in 10 days.


Another contributor to the high costs, she says, is the fact that her station sells only gas and offers basic maintenance, like wiper replacements and brake light repairs. Other stations, she notes, have convenience stores. “It's really hard up here to stay in business,” Schlafer said. “I don't have a convenience store to mark up the food and the trinkets.” At one point, she said, she was offered the opportunity to attach a convenience store to the station, but it would have cost $100,000. She didn’t have it, she said.

Schlafer, who raised her kids and grandkids on her income from the family business, said she kept her station “old-fashioned.” It used to be, she said, that she had 19 employees, many of whom were mechanics. But contemporary vehicles are more difficult to service. “The dealerships want them back,” she said. “The normal repairman can't fix them.” She’s now down to just two employees.

When I broke it to Schlafer that I’d confirmed her station was selling the most expensive gas in the country, she didn’t believe it. She said she’d heard from customers about one station in Virginia that was charging nearly $9 a gallon. Another, out in the desert, was charging the same, she insisted. Regardless, she said, “It has to be that way, or I’d be out of busin

[Long Run]

Almost $7 per gallon, her rationalizing story is Murder She Wrote. They might Bragg about the price up the road.

[Gob]

Is diesel higher than gasoline there?

Yep.

[Crackpot]

It is here too. Though it inverts sometimes