Just plug in your zip code and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip code area. It's updated every evening.

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gassta...?zip=&src=Netx

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but is it really worthwhile to drive 15-20 minutes out of your way to find a station selling gas at $0.05 less a gallon? In the end it may save you about $1 to 2 dollars per tank. I don't know about you guys, but my time spent driving around has a monetary value too.

Yeah, the price of fuel is getting out of control and it's frustrating. The increased cost doesn't impact my family because we only spend about $140/mo in fuel right now. It frustrates me because I feel like the oil companies are simply taking advantage of people. Their profits over the past two years is damning evidense.

 

+1
It's a big game to them. I bet they will keep jacking the prices up till summer....then...start lowering the prices but still keeping them at an all time high (but still less than the previous months). Mind games! Hoping we will forget or just be content with having "cheaper gas"

 

its really not the fault of the oil companies per say. it is really just a product of a free market system in which commodoties are brokered and traded. the instability in the oil producing nations cause fears that sometime in the forseeable future something serious will disrupt the oil supply making it even more expensive than now. All the traders buy it up now before the prices go super high, but they create a shortage in current production and drive the current price up by a smaller margin.

so if we really want less expensive gas we have to do whatever we can to increase stability in oil producing nations, find alternate sources of oil, reduce our need for oil, or end the free market system and become communist

 

I have no degree in economics, but the simple argument that "it's a free market" vis a vis Capitalism, is overly simplistic. If it were that simple there would be no laws against price gouging.

Now I agree with all of the sentiments:
Find alternate sources of oil - (I feel find alternate sources of ENERGY. There is a difference, but there are alternate sources of OIL, too)
Reduce our need for oil
end the free market system and become communist - I include it in the quote for fairness (though I think you were being somewhat facetious) but we could not afford the associative health care costs.

 

good point, and I did mean alternate sources of oil. The most feasible remedy for our problem is to perfect a process that already exists which can turn any carbon based matter to clean oil. the part of oil that makes it so polluting is due to the fossilization process, fresh carbon makes clean fuel. This would require no infrastructure change at any point the end user comes in contact with, only on the production side.

I also feel the understanding of the free market system and how these prices are fueled by speculation is far from overly simplistic, the overly simplistic angle is to assume that it is due to oil companies manipulating price. if anything it is caused by political leaders manipulating supply to cause instability.

i guess with such a complex issue any explanation in a few sentences will be too simplistic, but the best simple version is that prices are based on speculation about the future oil supply as is the case with all commodoties on the free market system. Just like the frozen orange juice in trading places.

 

i indeed was being facetious

 

see the carbon matter in fossil fuels is not derived from atmospheric carbon which is finite, so when burned it adds to the amount of net carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These clean oil sources are biofuels meaning they derive their hydrocarbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide and when burned they only release the same carbon dioxide that was taken from the atmosphere and do not increase the net amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

 

[QUOTE=DaveB]Don't take this the wrong way, but is it really worthwhile to drive 15-20 minutes out of your way to find a station selling gas at $0.05 less a gallon?

Did you type in your zip code? I can pass the lower price stations in my area on a normal day.

 

So wouldn't you just see the lower price while you were driving?

 

No buts its worth to go 3 minutes out of the way or to time yourself to get gas as you are going by a certain place or be aware to stop somwhere.

 

I think this is actually pretty helpful...its good to kno as strtsk8r said...you may be in the area..i kno i do that..if im at like a 1/2 tank and chevron is cheaper in one part then another ill just fill there if i have the time

 

If you save $0.05 a gallon, that's less than $1.00 saved on a fill up. Include the cost of driving out of your way, the savings are even less. Not worth the time and effort IMO.

 

Absolutely, first, since there are so many gas stations close by that it would only take me an extra minute or two. I'm not sure where you live but nothing is that far away here. Second, since I don't have the time (or patience) to drive around and compare prices, this actually saves me time.


I spend nearly that amount weekly on my work car ('05 RAV4) which I have to fill up every 2-3 days. I haven't even driven my G in over a month and I last filled it up @ $2.69/gal. Now it's between $3.29 & $3.39 around here.

Having just started a business, I've been on a tight budget and every penny counts.

I've even considered selling my beloved G......sigh

Thanks for the link junyea, very useful.