Remember when gas used to cost just 32 cents?

Wonder if the employee who set the pumps at that will be getting an xmas bonus this year...

 

I remember the summer of 1986 when I saw 59¢ at a station outside of Texarkana. Life was good in '98 too, when I had a Sam's Club card and enjoyed myself some 72¢ gas. I could actually afford to commute an hour.

For a trip down memory lane, gas was only $1.72 a gallon on St. Patrick's Day 2005. It was over $2 at month's end.

 

You were driving on St. Patrick's Day?
Were you one of the endangered, or one of the endangerers?

 

During a gas war in my town when I just started driving, gas went all the way down to 17 cents a gallon, and made my $1.20/hr minimum wage job seem fine. For ten bucks I could fill up the car, buy a 12 pack of beer , a package of cigarette's (40 cents) take a girl to the drive in and still have change.

 

"Dishonest?"

Does the owner honestly expect someone to say "Gee, despite the fact that we've been teetering on an energy crisis for some four years now, not to mention that it's Christmastime and I'm on a budget to make sure my family and children have a holiday worth remembering, I think I'll just keep driving until I hit a Cum & Go that has gas at a good, honest $1.99 a gallon?"

I hope Santa leaves that myopic toad a rancid, ginger scented grumpy in his Christmas stocking.

 

I was working in a gas station in 1978-79 when another Middle East crisis shot gas prices over a dollar. All the station owners shit bricks because the pumps only went up to 99.9. They had to switch to liter pricing (3.79 L = 1G) which of course threw the average buyer for a loop -- although some of them were thrilled because all of a sudden, gas went back to 26.4.

 

Dammit, In Exile! Did you have to remind me of the year I turned 23 and the EFFin' gas was selling for 19.9 cents a Gal. AND THERE WAS NO DAMNED GAS WAR? THAT WAS THE EFFIN' EVERYDAY PRICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I recall as a kid gas regularly being in the 19.9 range. There were periods where it was more expensive (like 26.9). Seriously, you could fill a 15-gallon tank for 4-5 dollars.

When I bought my first car in 1979 I remember gas being 62.9. I remember a time during college (1981) when it was all the way up to 117.9. And like others have mentioned, there was that collapse in price in 1998 where it got down to 89.9.

It seems to have been on its way down a little lately. One of the themes always seems to be that when it goes up, it's Bush's fault. When it comes down, it's just the market.

It would be nice if OPEC just let the market act instead of them acting to cut back delivery every time the price starts to come down.

And back to this subject, yes, I think it's dishonest to jump on a mistake like that and have people calling their friends and having them coming from all over. They had to know it was a mistake. The one recourse the owner has is that all the purchases had to have been done by credit card because the station was closed. He'll at least be able to find out who the dishonest folks are.

 

Gas was right around $1.15-$1.20 when I started driving in June of 2001. I used to be able to fill my car up for $15-$20 each time, but now it's taking $30-$35 every time I have to fill up.

 

When I was a kid, my dad used to buy it for 19.9 cents a gallon. When I started driving in 1975, it had shot up to around 55 cents a gallon.

For what it's worth, on Sept. 11, 2001, it was 1.63.9 at my neighborhood Chevron. Last night it was $3.21.9.