What might you do differently in response to the rise in gas prices?
Posted at 5:00 AM on February 28, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(49 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Environment/Energy, Transportation
Gas prices rose last week to an average $3.48 per gallon in the Twin Cities. Experts say the price could go significantly higher. Today's Question: What might you do differently in response to the rise in gas prices?
Comments (49)
OUR POLITICIANS ARE IN THE BACK POCKET OF THE BIG OIL COMPANIES
Stay home (do within when without), walk (5 miles or more a day as recommended), rent the Green Bikes in Minneapolis for $60 a year, ride the bus/train, car pool ... review my priorities.
@pan
Sorry, you can't compare the United States with Munich Germany. Germany has a valid mass transit system, as with the rest of Europe, where you can go anywhere in the country on a train, we don't. Germany, like other European countries is far more compressed than the US. Germany evolved out of the 'one man drive alone' couture.
But seriously, is there any comparison in Minnesota to say taking a train from Mankato to Little Falls?
How many Germans make a run to their equivalent of Menards to bring home a load of sheetrock and plywood?
I can tell you exactly what we would do. We just moved to Munich where Gas is over $7/gallon. You buy only one car - drive it only when you have to. You get a good bike, you buy a basket for the bike, you get your kids biking, you buy one car, you only drive when absolutely necessary, you get a home located close to mass transit..... I will never complain about 4/gallon gas again...
Don't blame the gas station. The LAST(!) thing gas station owners want are high gas prices. In fact, a recent news report had a station owner stating he makes even less money when gas is at $3+ /gal.
Believe it or not, gasoline has the lowest profit potential of any product a gas station has for sale. Less than chips, pop, cigarettes, candy bars, etc. It's ironic that they are called "gas stations" at all.
Don't take it out on the employees either. It's not like THEY are members of OPEC! Remember, gas station employees probably make barely a few cents over minimum wage and they too are as, if not more than, impacted by high gas prices than you are. They don't want to hear yer bitchin'.
You want to complain? It's all the fault of the government. They are solely to blame because they continue to be bond-servants of Big Oil. They have yet to learn from the 70's oil crisis, led by the nose by Detroit with gas-guzzler SUV's and trucks.
Funny thing how we have vilified Big Tobacco and smoking but have done NOTHING to break our addiction to petroleum. Here's a start. Hennepin County: No petrol-fueled vehicles allowed on county property.
I actually think it's good that gas prices go up because it forces me and others to be conscious of waste out of financial necessity. For our family of 5, that means greater efficiency. I combine errands by location and think ahead more so I don't have to replenish things as often. I also try and set up carpools for all my kids' athletic activities.
we are saving our money to give to the oil companys, my wife and i stopped spending, if we dont need it we dont buy it!, we are using our food stores from the pantry, and freezers up and only going to cherry pick grocery adds, i from this point on vow to not spend a nickle inside a gas station on anything ever again!!!! we are not going to support the economy by spending our money!!
we are saving our money to give to the oil companys, my wife and i stopped spending, if we dont need it we dont buy it!, we are using our food stores from the pantry, and freezers up and only going to cherry pick grocery adds, i from this point on vow to not spend a nickle inside a gas station on anything ever again!!!! we are not going to support the economy by spending our money!!
Nothing. I already drive very little, and am at a point in my life where I just fill the tank when it needs to be filled.
I am building a cellular teleportation device….got the plans off the net.
I have however seen black helicopters over my house,…. Be carful.
I have begun to take my frustrations out on the innocent clerks who takes my stinking money. No more friendly chit-chat and other pleasantries, just a glare .I do have a bike that is all fueled up and even shinny too, just itchinf for its rubber to hit the road. What else can we do? drive less and talk about it with as many other fuel price slaves as possible.
I have begun to take my frustrations out on the innocent clerks who takes my stinking money. No more friendly chit-chat and other pleasantries, just a glare .I do have a bike that is all fueled up and even shinny too, just itchinf for its rubber to hit the road. What else can we do? drive less and talk about it with as many other fuel price slaves as possible.
When the snow melts I'll be riding my motorcycle more. Until then I guess I'll be driving my truck less and staying in watching Netflix.
I parked my truck and use my husbands 30 mpg car to do the family errands. We'll still use my truck to pull our pop-up camper this camping season, but we'll be camping closer to home and going less often. We shall also walk more. High gas prices are a good incentive to walk instead of drive.
Besides laugh at my friends with trucks? I'll drive less, bike to work, and take vacations within MN instead of flying.
Combine trips.
And get (even more) politically involved to support candidates who are serious about mass transit and kick up my political contributions to those who are serious about investigating corporate fraud and crimes.
Time to return to capitalism in the USA.
The party's over. Dollar-three-eighty gas is nuthin'. I'm part of the international transition movement, trying to build a life in south Minneapolis that can survive peak oil, etc., and last.
I keep a log of miles and gallons. Reduce speed and try to make my car get better mileage.
I'm fortunate that my urban dwelling is close to many of the places I need to go.
What I will do is continue to shake my head and be highly disappointed by the fact that our society cannot fully comprehend the danger and the massive scale of our oil addiction that may be poised to cause significant economic harm in the coming years if we have entered a world oil production plateau or, worse yet, the beginning of a supply descent. The U.S. could be a wonderful leading innovator by aggressively moving forward with many "silver buckshot" solutions, but sadly, business-as-usual interests, political spin, and short-sightedness keeps us stuck in the quagmire.
I will do what I've been doing for years to combat high gas prices;
I drive slower (at or slightly below posted speed limits), I accelerate slowly to keep engine revs low, instead of racing to red lights, I *coast towards them (usually by the time I get to intersections the light is green again, therefore I don't lose my momentum - abrupt starting and stopping kills your mileage).
Not only do these techniques save gas and wear and tear on your vehicle, they also make driving much less stressful. Just remember to stay in the right lane unless you enjoy being flipped off......
*I drive a car w/a manual transmission, I don't recommend coasting w/an automatic.
Normally, my wife and kids and I take several camping trips each summer, dragging our camper with us (we tented for years, so no catcalls from the peanut gallery :P).
This year, we are going to be utilizing a seasonal campsite, so that we only have to make one trip at the beginning of summer and one at the end. In between, we will either drive my wife's car (30+ mpg) or my motorcycle (40+ mpg) to get to and from work, shopping, and camping.
It's a small sacrifice to not add to the billionaire oil companies' profits.
I balance gas prices with little perks here and there such as $20 slippers, marked down to $15, minus my $10 Penneys coupon: Voila: $5 slippers. But I agree that these price hikes are too soon --anticipatory -- and that gas guzzling is bad for the environment. PW in Rochester
Cry!
I have for most of my adult life tried to live within a few miles of work. Unfortunantly i bought a house 5 years ago. My home was about 3 miles from my work, and less than 3 blocks from the Northstar rail station. I thought I would be covered for the future.
Unfortunanly I was laid off a couple years ago, and the only job I could get in my field is a 130 mile round trip commute. I'm upside down on my mortgage so moving is not an option, unless I just walk away from it. Last year I traded my truck in for a car that got 30 MPG. This weekend I traded in that car for one that gets 38 MPG.
The only practical thing to do is keep looking for a different job closer to home, or that I can get to using mass transit.
Drive less, car pool, buy a smaller car, don't support a car for your teenager (You would want big truck anyway for safety), drive slower, combine trips, take transit, live closer to work.
I'm not sure it makes much of a difference. The world runs on gas and we will soon be priced out of using it like we are use to. I would sure hate to be part of a family out in the burbs right now. Your life is about to get very difficult. The only reason prices went down at the end of 2008 is because the oil companies realized the high prices were about to hurt their republican buddies in the election. They acted too late though. Now they are doing it on purpose so the dim witted independents turn on Obama in 2012.
The prospect of high gas prices caused us to purchase a more fuel-efficient car before it was too late. Glad we did!
I also secretly am fine with high gas prices, although I do wish we had been investing in alternative fuels for the past 20-30 years... so that by the time this gas hike came around the US would be prepared. I guess being anything other than short-sighted isn't an option for the U.S. though. Such a shame.
Well, as I only live about 2.5 miles from my office, it won't affect me too much. I might decide to ride my bike when the weather gets warmer.
Friends/family who live in the 'burbs don't understand why we chose to live in the city. But there are real advantages! Between public transportation and having many necessities located within an easy bike ride, we could pretty much give up day to day driving if we wanted to. And even now, driving for most trips, we only fill our gas tanks about once or twice a month.
i am not a big car person so it doesnt bother me that much-i take metro and walk/run everywhere!
I drive a larger truck that gets about 16 mpg so I'm a bit dismayed at the uptick in price. But I also think it is good for our country to catch up to the rest of the world and what most people pay for transportation. It will help us look more seriously at mass trans and carpooling, as well as make us think twice about all the unneccessary trips we take for small chores.
I use my truck to deliver large objects for other folks and will pass gas prices on in my delivery costs. I also have a longer trip planned for summer and may cut some of the stops I planned to make, as well as spend more time plotting my route to cut down on the milage. I have always conserved gas by accumulating driving chores and plotting the shortest route from store to store; I will probably add more to this habit to accommodate 4 or 5 short trips. Overall, I expect it is very good for us to limit our driving, with an upside of less pollution and dependence on foreign oil.
And I check this web site more:
http://www.minnesotagasprices.com/
When looking for a job, look a damn lot closer....
Can not afford gas as it was.
Speculators are fast to make prices rise, slow to fall.
And never do the translate that price increase into a refund back to the consumer when the 'expected crisis' never comes....
Honestly the amount of refund due to us customers for problems that NEVER were is monstrous!
And its not like the Oil industry needs the money, being the each of the top 10 businesses in the WORLD.
(And they gripe when they have to pay back when they pollute... its not like they are in any lack of money... and it is money 'owed'. And I am not just talking the BP spill that is on going, but the Alaskan spill from Exxon, and pretty much everything Koch does...)
Drive less, and slow down on the highways.
Drive less, and slow down on the highways.
I have no influence with the gas companies, and I can't do anything to bring peace to the middle east except pray, so my only choice is to to be as careful as I can be and drive as little as possible.
The first thing I plan to do is to stop listening to media outlets that dwell on the subject of rising prices. I believe this actually contributes to increased prices as people are lulled into thinking these price actions are inevitable.
The fact that all sellers raise prices even if their storage tanks are loaded with cheaper gasoline is bad enough but to have MPR inoculate us just rubs salt into our wounds.
As heard on the Ignobell prize awards program, "Please stop -- it's boring!"
I bought oil stocks years ago when it was $14.70 (When Bush was a Gov.) Now it's around $100.00 and I'm looking forward to more increases. At that time I figured "If ya can't beat 'em....Join em!!"
The first thing I plan to do is to stop listening to media outlets that dwell on the subject of rising prices. I believe this actually contributes to increased prices as people are lulled into thinking these price actions are inevitable.
The fact that all sellers raise prices even if their storage tanks are loaded with cheaper gasoline is bad enough but to have MPR inoculate us just rubs salt into our wounds.
As heard on the Ignobell prize awards program, "Please stop -- it's boring!"
I secretly rejoice every time gas prices rise. Cheap gas over the last three decades has been bad for America. It's kept us addicted to petroleum imports and encouraged the sale of too many gas-guzzling SUVs. We learned nothing from the energy crisis of the '70s. If gas prices had stayed high since those days, we'd have had our fleet of high-efficiency cars long ago, and popular support for public transportation would have been much higher.
Since our cheap gas is partly due to the ability of our military to keep sea lanes open and oil producing countries compliant with our wishes, there should be a $2/gallon tax on transportation fuels that's dedicated to funding the military. Far from blaming Bush for high gas prices, I fault him for not proposing a "patriot tax" on gas after 9/11 to at least partially fund the wars he was about to lead us into.
Gas prices remind me of the poor lobster. If you throw him in a pot of boiling water, he screams & struggles before dying. If you put him in a pot of luke warm water & set it on the stove, he lulls himself to sleep in the warming waters, and dies without a fight.
Oil company executives clearly eat a lot of lobster.
I'm bundling my trips to reduce excess driving. I also bought new tires this wekend, which should help my mpg a bit.
At work, we always drive on E85, not gasoline. It's about 70 cents cheaper per gallon than regular unleaded right now. Cleaner-buring, largeley renewable, much, much cheaper.
I won't do much anything differently. I budgeted for gas to be around $4.00/gallon for 2011. As we enter spring, my lifestyle automatically changes to driving less, walking and biking more, and using my moped (80 mpg) for the few errands I make without the kids. It's important for me to remember that from an environmental, human cost and political point of view, gas is a real bargain at anything less than six bucks a gallon.
The economy has been so bad for so long at my house that things like going out to eat or going to movies have disappeared years ago.
This isn't a semi-recovered recession; it's a depression.
If gas prices go too high my fear is that I may have no choice but to tell my employers that I can't afford to go to work.
Of course, that's employment suicide and I likely wouldn't do that.
My substitute teaching job requires me to be at various different schools on any given day.
Public transportation doesn't exist where I live, and even if it did it would be expensive and cumbersome at best; inadequate at worst.
I might reject days that have multiple schools assigned so that I have time to bike to the 20 or 30 (depending on which school I'm at) miles to work. This, of course, would further limit my already meager pay.
My other job after work is about another 25 miles one way.
All this biking would require more time and leave me exhausted and sweaty; it might also require me to sleep overnight at my second job after they close so that I can be closer to the next job in the morning.
Thankfully, the Koch brothers are doing well.
If and when spring arrives -- and if the potholes get fixed -- I'll be using my motorcycle as my main means of transportation. At 45 mpg, I won't be worrying about gas prices very much.
My beef is with the gas companies who raise prices in anticipation of something occurring. It's a political response to an economic transaction. As consumers we are paying more and more for "future" expectation rather than actual consumption.
It used to be as prices increased / or decreased, the effect on consumer prices would have to work its way through the system and let the less expensive gas work its way through the supply chain. It's funny how long it takes for prices to consumers to go down.
It's smoke and mirrors for corporate enterprises to see early profits. As consumers we are without power or influence. It's a cost for being alive at this point in time.
I'm considering trading in my 11-year-old car for a hybrid. Also, I will continue to support candidates who support public transportation.
Get a different second job; I am exploring the possibility of switching from delivering pizzas to working as a security guard.
Drive less. Vote for politicians who favor mass transit.
I am going to blame obama and the far left democrats just like the idiots on the left blamed bush and the republicans last time we had $$4.50 a gallon petrol.
I plan on taking the bus and riding my bike. I'm not interested in throwing away cash even if I do sacrifice a bit of convenience and time.
I plan to continue to push for a real system of rail and buses that can quickly take you where you want to go in the Twin Cities. Of course it will all be in vain because it goes against the greed of the modern political climate. Far be it from us to actually invest in our future and a project that would benefit a large swath of society, not to mention the environment. When all we seem to care about is ME, ME, ME, MY money, and protecting the rich, sensible projects like this can not move forward.
Those in power speak fondly of the patriotism of 'Greatest Generation'. When will they stop to see that their patriotism was rooted in a desire to do good for their communities and nation? They were were willing to endure personal sacrifice to invest in the common good. Will our society learn the valuable lessons from this generation before they are gone?
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