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Introducing: Bill Eby!

2 comments Wednesday, 05-27-09 | Posted By Ed Aboufadel | Announcements

2 Responses to “Introducing: Bill Eby!”

1. on 27 May 2009 at 4:22 pm 1Nate84

   Just wanted to say welcome to the Game Bill from a fellow Hooser!! As Indy is a little closer than Michagin, I’ll look forward to seeing your posts.

2. on 27 May 2009 at 5:48 pm 2paxman356

   First, I would like to thank Patrick. He came to me not long ago with the idea of joining TheGasGame.com. I would also like to thank Ed for accepting me as well. I don’t have nearly the experience these two do. I think I am where they were when they first started this website: curious about the fluctuations of gas prices in my area, and taking the time to document these changes.

   A little about me. I grew up in Northern Indiana in Plymouth, Indiana. This is a stone’s throw to Michigan, and I have visited that state many times. Work, school and love drew me south to Indianapolis, where I currently live. The love of my life and I have been together for almost 9 years, and married for 5 of those years. Our first child is due in October.

   I am a frugal man at heart. I drive a 1997 Saturn because it was cheap to buy and cheap to run. My wife has a 1995 Geo Prizm (Toyota Corolla) for the same reason. Buying gas a cheap as possible is just one way for me to be frugal.

   I also love statistics. This grew out of a love of numbers and sports, but give me a spreadsheet and some numbers to play with and I can go at it for hours. I started seriously in the prognostication of gas prices only in November. Since then I have grown in experience, something I hope to use to your advantage here on this site.

   I will try to post here three times a week, or as necessary. The days I post should be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Monday and Wednesday are key, because 75% of the spikes I have seen in Indiana come on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday is also the day the Department of Energy’s report on oil and gas stockpiles comes out. Friday I may give a recap on where the week, and what we might see for the coming week.

   As for what’s going on currently with gas prices, all I can say is… it’s nuts! There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the rise in prices we have seen. Demand has not spiked up, and while there have been some kinks in the supply side as far as gas goes (there have been a few refinery fires this month) it shouldn’t be causing the rise that we have seen.

   We had a low Chicago spot price of $1.31 on 4/22. Today the Chicago spot finished above $2 for the first time in a while. There are many factors adding into this. Some blame hedge funds that had gotten out of oil when the economy looked bad getting back into oil and driving up the price. Some blame the refinery fires. Some even blame North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, along with other world events. No matter, it has gone up in a big way the last month.

   Let us remember, this site is here because of one group of stations… Speedway. They have a unique way of pricing in states that they have a lot of stations (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and to a lesser extent Illinois and the Twin Cities in Minnesota). It is predicting their movements, spikes or price adjustments, that we are here for. For the time I have been tracking them they seem to follow the market up and down, and the only unfairness comes in those enormous spikes up in price, sometimes 20-30 cents at a time.

   Tomorrow we could see a spike up, which would be a second spike up this week. The margins I see in Indiana point to this. But it is that second spike in a week that causes me concern. If a spike does come, it could be in the $2.75-2.85 range.

   Again, thanks to all of you, and I hope to help save us all a lot of money in the future!

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