We paid $70 to fill the gas tank today !!!

[Heddi]

Okay, before anyone gets their undies in a bunch, it wasn't our car. It was my husband's company truck which they let him use this weekend to drive to and from a 3-hour-away 2 week trip he's on.

It's an old Suburban--early 90's or late 80's version.

He came home this weekend and had to fill up before he headed back to Portland, OR for another week of training.

Thankfully, the Co. also let him use their gas card, but still.

The gas was low-grade and $2.55/gal. It took about 15 minutes to fill, and for a while we didn't think that the pump was even working.

In the end, it was $70 and a few dollars to fill it.

It had about 1/8 of a tank when he pulled up to the pump :-/

Thankfully also, our own private car is a little Mazda Protege. Gets great gas mileage, and even with these prices it doesn't hold more than about $23 if we pull in with fumes. Of course, I remember in 2002 when we couldn't put $15 in it without some spillover.

This is insane.

Again, I'm thankful that it's not OUR truck, or OUR money that had to fill it. But it was his company's, and because he works for a national company (very big company), they have FLEETS of these things. When he's in town, and goes to an out-of-town job (several times a week), they drive large Ford cargo vans full of people and equipment. I think his local office, which is smaller than most, has about 8 of these vehicles in the fleet.

At some point, the increase of gas prices is going to affect his job, or at least the raise-and-salary portion of his job. Because of the nature of his job, the company HAS to do out-of-town events regularly (they're a national health-care type company). They HAVE to transport not only the cargo vans, but the larger moving-type vans to haul equipment TO and FROM every event.

That's gonna affect us. And it's gonna affect ALOT of people whose companies spend tons of money on transportation and fuel.

We're already seeing increased prices at the grocery store (at least I am), which makes me happy that we have our own garden so at least we don't have to buy tomatoes for $2.50 a pound, or green peppers for $1.50 each.

Still, though......$70 to fill a tank?

How the FUCK do people in SUV's do it? How do they do it? They must be making a FUCK more than we are, and I can tell you, we hardly make any money at all.

What in their lives is sacrificed to pay for the cost of Gas? I'm honestly interested to know....

[wake.up.america]

1. Gas is even more expensive where I live,

public transportation is much better though.

[Heddi]

11. I wish we had public transportation

I loved that about Seattle. AND the fact that most companies subsidized your bus passes. I paid $5 a month for the equivalent of a $90 monthly bus pass. I could take the fucking ferries with that thing, I think.

Alas, eastern Washington has no bus service. No metro. No trains. THere are busses here, I think about 10 in the fleet. They start running at 7am, stop at 6pm and only run half days on Sundays and not at all on holidays. Plus the route is so limited, and the runs so infrequent that it makes it impossible to get ANYWHERE without spending half a day on your trip alone.

god, when we lived in Seattle, our gas bill was ZERO. WE'd fill the car maybe once a month, twice if we went to Ikea....

[DanCa]

2. Ouch... and gas is 2.53 a gallon out here in Il.

See there's an upside for me not being able to drive.

[Heddi]

9. Premium was $2.95

Remember when gas increased by .10 for each increase in grade?

Like

Low 1.10
Mid 1.20
High 1.30

Today it was

Low $2.55
Mid $2.75
High $2.95


TWENTY cents? Come on.

I remember in I believe 1989, gas was $0.89 a gallon. My mom said that pretty soon it was going to hit $1.00 a gallon and it would never go down.

Shortly afterwards, gas hit $1.00 a gallon and never went down.

Wise woman, she.

[LifeDuringWartime]

46. gas was under $1 here until very recently

upstate NY. i'm 18 and can remember seeing 89¢

[bluestateguy]

3. Remember Clinton era gas prices?

And we didn't even have to start phony wars to get cheap gas either.

I don't think the pinprick airstrikes Clinton ordered in 1998 and 1993 really count.

[Maple]

4. Your gas is cheaper

than any place else in the world.

You're being subsidized for political reasons.

[Heddi]

8. I understand that completely

I suppose to me it's more like sticker shock because it's sudden and all at once. As much as gas prices have risen in the last 2 years, I can tell you that our income hasn't risen.

I suppose that we pay more for milk than alot of other countries. HOwever, can you not see how paying $2 a gallon today, then $4.50 a gallon in 2 months could sort of be a shock to people who really depend on that milk (gas)? Or who need the milk just as much, and use it just as sparingly as they did 2 months previously, but can't afford the sharp increase in price over a very short amount of time?

My mom works about 40 miles away from her house. There is nothing she can do about it. Living in the rural united states, there is no public transportation to take her from home to job and back. There are no rail lines or other modes of subsidized transportation. She has the most fuel efficient car she can afford, but is quickly being priced out of her job because she can't afford the gas (and she doesn't drive a gas-guzzler either). She's being forced to either work her same job but part time from home, or go through the rigamarole of quitting the job she's had for 20 years and start looking for a new career at 50 years old. Ain't gonna happen.

[Maple]

10. Oh I realize it's a shock

but it would be even more of a shock if you paid the actual world price of things.

Gas in Canada is about $4.00 a gallon and has been for some time...and the annoying part is that we have more oil than Saudi Arabia.

[Heddi]

12. You're completely right

Hubby and I were having a conversation the other day about globalization and the Walmart-ifcation of the country and the world. (He's not a natural born liberal :) I've had to work on him some.) He was like "Well, what's the big deal if someone in Bangladesh makes $2 a year making shoes" and I'm like "Well, because if they DIDN'T make $2 a year, we might have to buck up and actually PAY more than $45 for a pair of shoes, ya know"

I had to just grind on him that we, as a society, would collapse if it weren't for the cheap labour provided both overseas AND in our own country. IF we had to pay American workers $7 an hour to make Nikes, those shoes that now cost $110 (on $2/week labour) would cost...who knows? I mean, at a point, they would be priced out of the market. NO ONE is going to spend $400 on Nikes, but that'd be about what they'd have to charge for them to meet the same profit. But they'd never be able to charge that because no one would buy them.

Same with fruits and veggies---people are so happy to lament the "illegal" workers in our country, but I guaran-damn-tee you they'd lament more about having to pay $3 for a head of lettuce (Because the worker was paid min wage instead of pennies), or $5.00 for a pound of tomatoes.

How do Canadians that live in rural areas deal with the gas prices? Are there Canadians that, like Alaskans, get $$ for the oil drilled from beneath their feet? Or do they just suck it up and pay outrageous prices for gas and do without in other areas?

[Maple]

14. Well in Canada

we have the Alberta oil sands...more oil there than all of Saudi Arabia...and we have some conservative...what else?...bunyocks who think of themselves as brilliant, as though they did this via sheer brainpower....they get lots of oil money in their province, but none personally, and happily pay big prices for the tankfull without it ever dawning on them they are being screwed.

All of Canada could have cheaper oil, but they reject that idea.

We could easily supply the US, and you could tell Saudi Arabia to go piss up a rope, but they reject that too.

All they see is dollar signs in their eyes as the money goes to the provincial govt.

And yes, they have homeless, and many other problems provincially.

I can't explain it...heads too far up their asses as far as I can see.

[Heddi]

15. God, that's just insane

It's like a drug addiction. I don't know---someone who is a heroin junkie, say, and who has the knowledge and ability to produce heroin 400 times cheaper at home, but who STILL chooses to go to the pusher on the street and pay jacked up prices for their junk.

It's just insane. WHY won't Canada do it? Not necessarily for my American benefit, but for CANADA's Benefit? Why be stuck to some foreign teat that does NOTHING for you in return?

That's just insane.

How do you feel about drilling in the Artic Circle? Even though I know the oil is "ours", I don't know if I agree with it just because of the limited draw and the limitless environmental damage done. And it won't save us from the Saudi's at any stretch......

[Maple]

18. I know

We tried to fix it back in the 70s with a 'national energy program', the NEP, but the world price of oil finally fell putting Albertans out of work, and the 'conservatives' there have blamed our federal govt ever since...even though it fell everywhere.

Since then there is a major uproar if anyone even mentions the price of oil....and threats to 'separate' or 'join the US' if any kind of plan gets some headlines.

We could drill in lots of places...there is lots of oil...just no 'cheap' oil anymore. So it's either $100 plus a barrel from now on...or a new form of energy.

I'm holding out for fuel cells. We've had the technology for over a century...but even though we could put men on the moon...somehow we just can't seem to figure out fuel cells.... :eyes:

[Heddi]

19. yup

but even though we could put men on the moon...somehow we just can't seem to figure out fuel cells.... :eyes:

completely right.

Same with our inability to fund health care for all citizens. We have no problem spending BILLIONS on a war, but can't spend 1/2 of the amount to give people some fucking free doctor visits.

My motto is: We are more than happy to spend billions to find creative ways for people to die, but very reluctant to spend billions to find creative ways for people to live.

it's like bizarro world...where up is down, black is white, logic is illogical.....

[Maple]

20. Absolute agreement

A trillion a year on war globally.

A surplus of food for the first time in history.

But somehow, someway...we just can't seem to manage to get the food to the starving...much less to anyone else...or shelter and clothes, education and healthcare.

Drives me nutz...all of it is completely possible. We just don't do it.

Everyone on earth should, and CAN, have all these things...but all we ever get is war, war, war.

I am so sick of this stupidity....

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Is gas really $4/gallon in Canada?

One Canadian poster the other day said it was 94 cents/liter in Canada. Assuming s/he meant Canadian cents, then the price would be in the neighborhood of 77 US cents/liter which, multiplied by 3.76 (the number of liters in a US gallon, which is smaller than a Canadian gallon), would put the US dollar price at around $2.90/gallon.

[elare]

36. It's up to 99 cents/litre now ...

and since most of us in Canada are paid in Canadian dollars, not US dollars, the US price per litre is pretty irrelevant.

[Art_from_Ark]

42. However, the US price is relevant when you're comparing costs in the US

which is the theme of this thread.

[babylonsister]

5. I hear you, Heddi. My husband works

for an airline; the price of oil skyrocketing isn't helping any airline at all. I'm sure every form of transportation is suffering.

[Heddi]

13. I never really thought about what 'transportation' was until he worked

here.

He works for the Red Cross. They go on blood drives throughout the state. Each blood drive requires at least 2 Ford Econo-line vans to carry the staff, and 2 moving-style trucks to carry the equipment. Plus, added to that, after every blood draw a courier drives from whichever point in Washington to the headquarters in Portland---sometimes, that's upwards of an EIGHT HOUR TRIP each way.

And his office is small, but they have out-of-town blood drives every day of the week.

Portland is regional headquarters and do three times as many blood drives, with three times the staff.

THAT is alot of fucking gas in just ONE week for ONE office.

Amazing. And they have to drive there and drive the blood down to Portland. There's no other way to do it.

I suggested the tubes like they have at the bank, but no one was listening :eyes: :)

[blue sky at night]

6. I made a post earlier........

On the same topic. It is more about the Political Cost vs. the Monetary Cost of our fuel. More on that later:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1684273&mesg_id=1684908

[karlrschneider]

7. I'm in a real dilemma. Most of my income is from the sale of crude oil

out of wells I worked on with my dad since I was 9 years old. So it's to my benefit when the price goes up but of course I have to buy the gas that's refined from it (or some oil that comes from who knows where).

I've spent a lot of time in other countries and I have to concede that we pay less than most do, with a few exceptions. But having been in the "awl bidness" for about 50 years, I think I can say with confidence that we really are running low (not 'out'...yet) and it ain't gonna get much or probably any cheaper from now on. Just my take on it, feel free to disagree...:eyes:

[dutchdemocrat]

16. In Holland

Gas costs are some of the highest in the world at over US$6.00 per gallon or 1.30 euro per litre (four litres in a gallon)

That's why I ride a bike everywhere. Thankfully it's flat - the whole country.

Bikes locked at the train station in Groningen, Netherlands.

[Heddi]

17. I love The Netherlands. I wish I knew dutch so I could be a nurse there

:)

Hubby and I visited The Netherlands a few years ago. Stayed in Amsterdam for a few days, then took a day trip to Delft and The Hague and saw Madurodam :)

I was floored when we went by some station...not sure which one (not central station---this was in the middle of the city) and like America, there were multi-tiered levels for parking, but unlike America, the parking wasn't for cars but for bikes. Hundreds, I swear THOUSANDS of bicycles.

How can you find your bike in all that mess? All the ones I saw around the city were the same -- black and silver :) It would get confusing, I'd think.

Our hotel was right next to Dam Square, and we had just gotten off the plane and booked down in our hotel and we went out walking behind that Palace or whatever in Dam Square, and I realized that I was walking on the train tracks, and there are cars and busses and trains and bikes and people EVERYWHERE. I loved sitting at the bar across from our hotel in the afternoon and watching everyone coming home from work on their bicycles, with kids on them and everything.

I told my husband that renting a bike in Amsterdam would be like renting a car in Tokyo. TOTALLY intimidating. Those bike riders don't take any shit...they ring the bell twice and if you don't move, you're ground into the pavement :)

Plus, you all have those teeny tiny smart cars, which I just adore :)

[dutchdemocrat]

21. English is used more and more in Holland

With over 5000 university courses in English and the fastest growing expatriate market for English speakers in Europe, Holland is exploding with foreigners. There is a lot of work.

Check out this list of agencies for English speakers looking for work in NL.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=related:www.undutchables.nl/

Paint your bike as pink as possible if you want to find it!

[Heddi]

23. Wow. Living there, do you think it's reasonable

for a nurse (like I'll be in a year) to be able to work in NL without knowing Dutch?

I really really wanna live there. It was just so great. The only country I've ever visited (and I've only visited three) that I didn't want to leave at the end of vacation.

I love the hooks on the houses. We were lucky enough to stay a night at a private house renting a room, having to carry our things to our room on the *top* floor up those tiny windy staircases.

mmmmm. Heaven on a stick!

[rman]

29. Just so that you're prepared

As far as i'm concerned you're welcome, but we do right now have a RW reli government that supports Bush, thinks it is a good thing to break down the welfare state, and argues labor laws must be relaxed so that we can stay competitive in the international market. Also we have a media that thinks such things as the Downing Street Memos are to much of an American issue to report on.

[dutchdemocrat]

33. They Dutch Fundies will be gone

In the next election - without a doubt. 'harry potter' is reviled in the NL at this point.

The government is not nearly as polarized as the US which basically has only two parties - so pushing through huge changes rapidly is less likely with a weak coalition of multiple parties.

[rman]

37. We can only hope

the next government will reverse many of the anti-social policies put forth by the current government.
The big party in the next government will probably be the labor party (PvdA), which isn't as much of a labor party as it once used to be. They are leaning to much towards neo-liberalism for my taste, and certainly more then they used to.

[dutchdemocrat]

32. I am not sure about nursing without Dutch

I don't think it would work out in NL without Dutch.

How about the Cayman Islands? *laugh*

http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jobs/cym.html

Most international jobs in nursing seem to be in Australia and the Middle East.


The Dutch Health Care System:

The total costs of our health care system amounts up to about 30 billion US$ ( 9 % of our Gross Domestic Product). Hospital Care is available for every citizen and should be in within a 30 minutes range at the most. In the Netherlands almost everybody is covered by medical insurance. We distinguish two sorts of medical expenditure costs; the costs of normal medical care and the exceptional costs associated with long term or advanced treatment where the risk could never be borne by individuals or private insurance. Normal medical care expenses are covered by the Health Insurance Act. Every person whose annual income is below a statuary ceiling (about 36.000 US$) and all recipients of social security benefits, are compulsory insured under this act. About 63 % of the Dutch population is covered by the Health Insurance Act. Those who are not compulsory insured, have a private health insurance. Other costs not in the medical insurance package, are covered by the compulsory national insurance scheme under the Exceptional Medical Expenses Act (AWBZ). Everyone living in the Netherlands (irrespective of nationality) and all non-residents who are employed in the Netherlands and are subject to Dutch income tax, are covered by this Act.

SNIP

http://www.levv.nl/vcpv/english1.htm

[Heddi]

44. We're actually looking at the US Virgin Islands

because my husband as well wants to be a nurse and they seem to be the only "state" (not really a state, but you know what I mean) in the US that doesn't have years-long waiting lists or super duper competitive programs.

I think I could live in the Islands for 2 years while he got out of school.

I'm currently on the lookout for a "Medical Dutch" class which I think would be very hard to come by.

Thanks for the info :)

[Heddi]

25. oh my gosh that link is PRICELESS to me

thank you thank you thank you!

If nothing else, it gives me hope that there IS hope of living overseas.

I'm still interested in taking Dutch language classes. Such convoluted words, though! They make my tongue tied!

[rman]

27. Thankfully, it's small

It's only a minor exaggeration to say that the average commute in the US will bring you half-way across the country in Holland.

[dutchdemocrat]

34. Bikes on Trains

That's how we get around the long distances. Amsterdam being 2.5 hours from me by train to the south.

I used to bike to work in London, UK every day when I lived there.

In the bigger cities it's more likely for the urbanites.

However, our system in Holland for division of auto, bike and pedestrian traffic is the best in the world with split lanes much of the time.

Typical auto, bike and pedestian split in NL.

[flordehinojos]

22. do you know how much it cost to fill that same SUBURBAN tank back in the

late 90s or early 2000--before bush and his power grab got pushed on us and the iraqi people?

[Heddi]

24. Probably alot less

I remember back in 2000 we had a honda civic and my god...$10 completely filled the tank. I would assume that $25 would easily cover a suburban!

[bobbieinok]

26. old enuff to remember gas ca $.35/gal, no self serve, and premiums

for buying the gas

[flordehinojos]

40. i had a VW way back wehn .. it used to run forever on $1.00 of gas in the

tank--the tank was filled with less than $5.00.

ancient times--just about!

[gasperc]

41. remember gas <$1 in '85-'86

I didn't drive all that much then but it was better than $1.35 which was pretty killer back then.
Just put $35 to fill my Rendevous yesterday, the most ever, but I have to say it gets good milage overall. Friends with Envoys are getting reamed for $45-$55 bucks a fillup

[Biased Liberal Media]

28. NW WA state: $2.71/regular most expensive, least $2.67/regular

that I've seen so far.

We own a gas guzzler but before my head is ripped off, it was all we could afford, and a used car at that. unfortunately, my car that gets better gas mileage (A Buick) kicked the can, but at this rate, I'm not crying over it.

We're trying to conserve as much as possible. Oh yeah, and siphoning the gas out of the Buick before we tow it to the junkyard, Lol.

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. It's not that much more

Say you travel 15,000 miles a year. If your car gets 30mpg, you use 500 gallons; if it gets 15mpg, you use 1000 gallons. At $2.55 a gallon, that's $1275 extra a year. Say $2000 difference, in pre-tax income. So, they need a job paying $2000 more than you get. If you personally hardly make any money, is it that surprising that someone else makes $2000 more than that? It's about £3.50 a day. Perhaps they don't smoke, or use Starbucks, or have a couple of beers in a bar every day - there's lots of ways we can get through $1275 a year without much to show for it at the end.

Of course, there is the cost of buying a huge SUV as well - which probably costs them more than $1275 a year when averaged out. But rising gas prices will matter to them more as they continue to go up.

[Heddi]

43. yeah but that's just for one car

I know alot of people that have an SUV or even TWO, or an SUV and then a mid-sized car, and I can tell you that none of these people make $2000 a year more than I do--hell, most of them make LESS than we do (and we don't make a high salary).

We only have 1 car between us--a Mazda--and I've already had to adjust our budget in the last few years for increasing gas prices. Used to be, we could budget $40 a month for gas ($480/yr). Now, we're having to budget $75/mo for gas ($900/yr). That's just for one tiny Mazda that gets close to 30 mpg.

If you had 2 SUV's at the cost of $4000 a year in gas, that's a SIZEABLE portion of your budget going to gasoline.

[fujiyama]

35. It's a good thing you don't drive one of those all the time

I've heard that people are driving those monstrosities less and less because of these prices. If I remember correctly, Ford is even stopping the production of those idiotic Excursion (which if you can imagine is even larger than the Expedition).

So in a way it's a good thing. While it certainly sucks to pay almost 3 bucks a gallon, it's sort of funny in a way to hear these people complain about the prices (the way I see it is if a person can afford a 30k+ vehicle, they should be able to afford $3 gas)...and of course it's good for the environment if people are driving fewer of these gas guzzler behemoths around.

[Lannes]

38. My case isnt as bad

My car holds about 13 gallons.Used to take about 15 bucks to fill it up.Now its close to 25.Fortunately it gets good mileage but the days when I could pop in a couple of bucks worth when its low and have it last about a week are gone.

[Heddi]

45. Remember when you could put $5 in the car

and get at least 1/4 to 1/2 a tank, you know, if you were poor or whatever.

Ha.

Now, $5 won't even get you 2 full gallons.

What a fucking joke.

[europegirl4jfk]

39. 70 Euros ($85) here in France to fill the tank...

...of our middle-class car, a Renault Laguna. That's just insane! Believe me or not, I was happy when I "only" payed $70 on gas for my trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back with my rental car during my last visit to the US in June 05. But yes, I remember earlier trips to the US when I could fill a tank for $10. *sigh*