Low cost gas?

Our local Costco (Burlington, WA) had regular at $1.999 last Monday. Since the State gas tax is in the mid 60-cent range (and going up again next year), this is quite remarkable.

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I will miss the $1.899 gas in TX as we have arrived in MI where the average is around $2.339. However, it all still sounds pretty cheap compared to our time in CA where it still runs close to $3.009 in many places.

Gas in the $1.70s is not uncommon here in TX. Last week I paid $1.80 at several Flying J's. Diesel is about $.20 more.

I agree with GasBuddy.com as your friend.

There is a bunch of political comment I'll not make here but.....

In several places I'm reading how there is no COLA for Social Security reciepients (IE ME) this year.. This thread is why.. Low Cost Gas. NOTE that I am NOT complaining.

I will miss the $1.899 gas in TX as we have arrived in MI where the average is around $2.339. However, it all still sounds pretty cheap compared to our time in CA where it still runs close to $3.009 in many places.

My family has been in the fuel distribution business for more than 40 years, currently my brother is the general manager. They have always been distributors of one major brand. As other have said his gasoline tankers will fill up at the rack lined up with tankers from many other companies however they do add their required additives for that brand at the rack during fill up. Now whether those additives enhance performance he cannot guarantee but he will tell you that at their branded stations are checked regularly by the national brand and those additives better be at the correct level or you risk your contract. I imagine other national brands are the same way.

Distributor owns most, of the stations and sets the prices.This is the reason everyone in our area is at the same price and same situation in Indiana and Michigan after Shell bought out the other Distributor many years ago.
They do price according to what someone else who owns stations might be competing with. One exit has a Pilot and it set the price and everyone else follows. It is cheaper down the road a bit.
One of the stations is only open for a few months sometimes. They get some to operate it and charge say 6,000.00 a month on the lease. the station might only clear before paying themselves 8,000.00. so they close up. Try to set the price at something lower to get traffic and Distributor won't deliver gas.
Additives are added when they load the fuel at the tank farm. Label on truck doesn't mean anything.
Pilot stations generally use their own trucks but load at the same tank farm.
All Distributors get their fuel from the only tank farm here now. Use to be three Operators. More and more Low cost Distributor owned stations/convenience stores don't put in any additives. I add the Chevron stuff from WalMart.
Some Shell gas advertised as tier two or three or whatever, 93 octane makes the engine ping, in our little car. They lead you to believe there is no ethanol, in the premium, but there is, unless they advertise it does not.
There are three stations, right here, that sell no ethanol gas, no additives, and they charge a lot more, for fuel, that cost a lot less but isn't with subsidized ethanol.
Exxon Distributor but most of the stations sell ethanol blend.
Exxon label, on a Convenience Market, usually means Exxon owns it, now, but it is the same gas as everyone else except with the specified additives, if any by Exxon loaded on the tanker at the tank farm.
Each Distributor buys fuel form the same tank farm. Deliveries to tanks of 87 octane, and 89 and 93, in this area are in the lines from ports and refineries in slugs.
Obviously even with the pigs there is some mixing and the real octane is variable. this is the reason Cars now have knock sensors and so on and reprogram engine operating paramaters in computers, and why your car may run like s--- in some parts of the Country from the same brand and octane.
None of it is really 93 octane. A load of lead free acing gas 104 octane or even 98 octane and the little car comes on like gangbusters, after computer adjusts.

www.gasbuddy.com is your friend! I never buy fuel without checking there first. If your rig is long, Google Earth is often helpful to avoid tight/backing/turning situations. Most refined gasoline is intermixed and comes from the same tanks with the exception of ARCO, at least in California. The additive portion may vary from brand to brand. A few years ago ARCO had their own pipeline but they may share that now too.

Chum lee

I posted on here 2 days ago and it dropped $.08 again yesterday to $1.99

I used to drive gasoline tankers I would load at a Chevron Refinery and deliver the gasoline to various other gas stations. That's why you see a lot of gasoline tanker trucks without a big name oil company printed on there equipment. Another example is here in the Pacific Northwest we get our crude oil from Alaska all the gas stations do! It maybe a different station but it's all North Slope Oil.

They add it later but it is a secret like the recipe for coke or Bush beans. They may even add it several weeks later. Seriously I think the bigger stations that have fuel that sits for the shortest time is best. I did fillup at a small country station once with my car and was missing in a half hour. The car engine that is. Water in fuel is the biggest issue and that is easily remedied. I agree that cheap gas is just less expensive.