January '25 Inflation highest in a year

[disneysteve]

It's both ..... the bird flu + inflation.
It would be really unlikely that prices will get back down to those of a couple years ago even when they get the bird numbers built back up.

Sure. There is always inflation. But after the last round of avian flu, prices came back down to $1.99 like they were before. Maybe this time they won’t drop quite that far due to general inflation but more like $2.19 or so which I think most people would be happy with. It would be a lot better than the $4.99 we’re paying now.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Last week gas was $3.99 in Los Angeles. Tonight I paid $4.49 here we go again.

[ua_guy]

Last week gas was $3.99 in Los Angeles. Tonight I paid $4.49 here we go again.

Seems odd that the price jumped $0.50 in a week. Did you visit a location that's notoriously expensive for gas?

[QuarterMillionMan]

It’s the same one i usually go to and it’s one of the cheapest called G & M oil. I didn’t notice until I was pumping the gas because out of habit I drive right in.

[disneysteve]

Last week gas was $3.99 in Los Angeles. Tonight I paid $4.49 here we go again.

That's odd because gas prices have been falling here. I filled up yesterday for the lowest I've paid in quite a while, $2.73.

[QuarterMillionMan]

It might be G & M oil raised their prices by .50 cents from last week because I just saw an ARCO nearby is $4.29.

[disneysteve]

It might be G & M oil raised their prices by .50 cents from last week because I just saw an ARCO nearby is $4.29.

It always amazes me when stations that are literally across the street from each other are charging 30 cents more than the other. And people are still going to the more expensive one. WHY? Why would anyone intentionally go to the station charging an extra 30 cents/gallon when there's a cheaper station 40 feet away if that? Is brand loyalty really that strong? Even if you have their credit card and get 5% off or 10 cents a gallon off it's still costing you more.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I wondered about that too and thought maybe it is business customers. Let's say some employee Joe is driving for ACME company and has a Chevron credit card for gas Joe cannot go to ARCO for $4.20 gas and has to go to Chevron for $5 gas and Joe doesn't care since Joe is not paying for the gas. These are my choices and my next fill up will be ARCO at $4/20.

[disneysteve]

I wondered about that too and thought maybe it is business customers. Let's say some employee Joe is driving for ACME company and has a Chevron credit card for gas Joe cannot go to ARCO for $4.20 gas and has to go to Chevron for $5 gas and Joe doesn't care since Joe is not paying for the gas.

That actually makes sense. I could understand it if that's the case. For individuals, though, it's insane.

[Fishindude77]

In many cases they are at the higher priced gas station because they like their convenience store offerings over the one next door.
I built quite a few convenience stores for several different owners. They all tell you ..... Having gas and gas pumps is just a necessity to get folks in here to buy $1.50 fountain sodas and $10 cigarettes (and all the other over priced junk they sell).
They don't make near the margin on their gas sales they do on all the other stuff.

[disneysteve]

In many cases they are at the higher priced gas station because they like their convenience store offerings over the one next door.
I built quite a few convenience stores for several different owners. They all tell you ..... Having gas and gas pumps is just a necessity to get folks in here to buy $1.50 fountain sodas and $10 cigarettes (and all the other over priced junk they sell).
They don't make near the margin on their gas sales they do on all the other stuff.

I think that's the Wawa model around here. Their gas price is almost always higher than surrounding stations but people go there because of the store. Heck, I do it myself sometimes especially when on the road. Good food, clean bathrooms, friendly staff, good rewards program, self checkout, etc.

In the example I was thinking of, though, neither station has a store. One is just consistently 30 cents/gal more than the other.

There used to be a station nearby that was always about 75 cents/gal higher than the one across the street. I always figured it was a front for something. They didn't have a store either.

[QuarterMillionMan]

In Hawaii no gas station has bathrooms so when I moved to Los Angeles I was surprised seeing a bathroom in a gas station but not so much in the city but the gas stations further outside almost always have bathrooms. Question for everyone when filling up gas do you lock your doors? If you don't you might want to start doing it. You can thank me later.

[ua_guy]

In Hawaii no gas station has bathrooms so when I moved to Los Angeles I was surprised seeing a bathroom in a gas station but not so much in the city but the gas stations further outside almost always have bathrooms. Question for everyone when filling up gas do you lock your doors? If you don't you might want to start doing it. You can thank me later.

That's generally good advice. Gas stations can be busy places and it's easy to get distracted (15 questions at the gas pump requiring input, screen playing loud advertisements, lots of people coming/going). When nobody else is with me I just hit the lock button on the fob as soon as I get out and close the door. I've been approached a few times at busy travel plaza type places. People asking for money or help, with some sad story to go along with it. Wouldn't take but a few seconds of diverted attention for someone to open a door, reach in, and grab something like a backpack or laptop. It's not that I distrust people, it's that there's no reason to afford a high level of trust or expect security in that situation.

[Fishindude77]

[QUOTE=QuarterMillionMan;n751795Question for everyone when filling up gas do you lock your doors? If you don't you might want to start doing it. You can thank me later.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely. Generally have a firearm in my vehicle, don't need a thief getting his hands on that.

[disneysteve]

Question for everyone when filling up gas do you lock your doors?

Yep, especially because my car has an annoying setting (which I can probably turn off) where it unlocks ALL of the doors as soon as I shift into Park. I literally NEVER want that to happen. I need to check my manual to see how to disable it.