Gas Prices
Gas price fluctuations are as mysterious to me as most economic indicators in this country. But while I generally accept that there is some sense to economics, simply above my level of knowledge, I confess to being truly flummoxed by local anecdotal evidence on the gas price issue.
While I spend most of the week in and around a military post, I spend my weekends in Atlanta. For months and months, particularly when gas prices hit their peak in the summer, I always filled up my tank around the post, where gas prices were consistently 20-30 cents cheaper than in Atlanta. If it was $2.89 per gallon in Atlanta, it would be $2.69 around here. This remained so consistent that I thought it was as close to a rule as gas prices allow.
But come the fall, when the end of summer driving led to a sharp decline in gas prices, the gap began to narrow. All of a sudden, gas was only 10 cents cheaper here. If it was $2.29 in Atlanta, it was $2.19 here. Alright, I said, perhaps the gas stations in Atlanta had just been taking advantage of the high prices during the summer, while the competition posed by AAFES gas stations kept the prices relatively low around the base (AAFES does pay tax on gas, unlike most other products, so there is only so low they can go).
This weekend, the whole theory exploded in my face. While driving around the city with my wife, we were both excited to see gas prices below $2.00 for the first time in months. She was disappointed when we accidently took a different route home and thus could not stop for $1.97 gas. When I got ready to drive back here last night, I saw that my tank was more than half full. So I decided to wait until I got down here to fill up, assuming that I would be welcomed by gas prices around $1.87 or so. Imagine my surprise, then, when I pulled into my favorite gas station and was greeted by a price of $2.09 per gallon!
As far as I am concerned, this heralds the end of the world and I am going to enjoy a real Dr. Pepper instead of a Diet Dr. Pepper before all of us cease to exist.
