mapsedge: (eyebrows up)
mapsedge ([personal profile] mapsedge) wrote2008-10-12 11:20 am
Entry tags:

Fuel prices

Gasoline (that's petrol, to my friends across The Pond) was $2.59/gal this morning at the QuikTrip at 23rd and Noland in Independence.

The price has been steadily dropping by about .01 per day for the last month.  If it were to continue at that rate - and I've no illusions that it won't for much longer, but it's fun to speculate - we'd be looking at less than $2.00/gal by Christmas.  I think that's possible, but unlikely to dip much below that.

[identity profile] zianuray.livejournal.com 2008-10-12 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I notice that food prices shot up when gas prices did, with the excuse of transportation costs. Prices here in south-central MO are still way up, though. Have you noticed a drop in your area?

[identity profile] billthetailor.livejournal.com 2008-10-12 07:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, in some products; milk for instance. However, just as it took a while for food prices to rise in response to the cost of fuel, I think it will take a while for prices to drop. The link between fuel and food comes with a long rope, and it takes a while for a change in one to reach the other. That said, areas far from major cities and/or highways will see the price drop happen much slower: the cost of transportation of goods is higher in rural areas, and (on average) 80% of the price of an item is in getting it to its destination.

[identity profile] iarraidh.livejournal.com 2008-10-13 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, it will change - drastically.

In mid November at the latest the rise will escalate.
Thanksgiving is the largest spike in travel, so expect the gas price to go well above $4 by then.

It will stay inflated until all the sleds have returned from over the river and through the woods from grandma's house, and when holiday travel ceases in January.

A new benchmark will be established before spring travelling.

It's never a question of how bad the oil companies are fucking us; it's a matter of girth.

Audio reference points

[identity profile] iarraidh.livejournal.com 2008-10-13 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
Let us speak of Attack and Decay...

Prices rise in a steep attack profile. This is excused as anticipating what they will pay in expenses for the near future.

When costs drop, the Decay is a much more sloping curve.

Joe gas charges you $3 a gallon because he anticipated paying that next week..
If he anticipates payning $2 next week, he charges you $2.50...

they bleed you

Up 3 steps, back 1
Gain = 2
Edited 2008-10-13 01:45 (UTC)
themadblonde: (politics & poker)

oh...

[personal profile] themadblonde 2008-10-13 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sure they'll start going back up as soon as the election is over.