Filling Up on Monday Morning
20 comments Sunday, 05-20-12 | Posted By Ed Aboufadel | Predictions
Sunday, May 20, 2012, 2:30PM: We are pretty much in the exact same spot we were a week ago. After a price hike that reached higher than usual, one that was not embraced universally by retailers, retail prices have fallen to equal to the cost to retailers (estimated at $3.67). Last Monday, we got a price re-set, although re-sets usually occur when prices are a dime below cost. Since Speedway and friends are being more aggressive lately, I am anticipating that they’ll try again on Monday or Tuesday, to either $3.79 or $3.89. The wildcard is that the price of oil dropped 5% last week, but that didn’t affect wholesale gas prices in the Midwest. (NYMEX prices dropped a dime since last Sunday.) Nevertheless, I am going to fill up Monday morning at $3.65 or so, predicting a hike. –Ed Aboufadel
I predict $3.99 – just because it’s a holiday weekend – LOL!!!
10:04 a.m. Tuesday
It’s the Tuesday before a major holiday weekend (Memorial Day). That means it is time for a Speedway reset:
$3.899 in Michigan
I saw a Speedway changing the price on their manual sign about 9:45 this morning.
They “need” this increase to pay for the free tea they will be giving away on Friday. Yes, this Friday, May 25 is Free Tea Day at Speedway.
Here are the GasBuddy pre-reset prices averages, as they were at 10:08 a.m.:
$3.713 Fort Wayne ($3.679 lowest at 14 locations)
$3.706 Michigan ($3.389 lowest at 2 Admirals and Murphy USA in Sturgis)($4.099 highest at Detroit Metro Airport BP in Romulus and a BP at 32725 Franklin Rd. in Franklin)
$3.705 Indiana ($3.359 lowest at 6 locations in Madison)($4.179 highest at Marathon in Seymour)
$3.688 NATIONAL AVERAGE
$3.687 Grand Rapids ($3.619 lowest at Admiral and Marathon in 2100 block Plainfield Ave. NE in Grand Rapids)
$3.685 Kalamazoo ($3.599 lowest on Gull Rd. in Kalamazoo Township and Comstock Township)
$3.639 Evansville ($3.569 lowest at Sam’s Club and $3.579 at Marathon on N. Weinbach Ave.) – Evansville is in Speedway’s region, but has no Speedways, so this city is useful for comparison purposes
$3.628 Ohio ($3.389 lowest at 5 locations in Sidney)($3.999 highest at 1 location each in Richmond Heights, St Paris, and Lancaster)
$3.613 Cincinnati ($3.439 lowest at Murphy USA in Amelia and Sam’s Club in east Cincinnati)
The Chicago spot finished yesterday down 2.94¢ (-0.99%) to $2.9401. That put various Michigan spike lines at:
$3.741546 with no rack adjustment, plus 10¢ Speedway summer surcharge
$3.641546 with no rack adjustment
$3.506446 with -13.51¢ Indianapolis rack adjustment
$3.495846 with -14.57¢ Detroit rack adjustment
As noted above, the Michigan average fell to $3.706, 6.4454¢ above the spike line with no rack adjustment. So, my earlier suggestion of completely ignoring the rack adjustments and adding 10¢ is shown to have merit (at least for the spring and summer).
As far as Speedway’s Free Tea Day Friday, I don’t see anything on their website about it. This has also been the case with other giveaways they’ve done; nothing on their website. Since all Speedways are corporate owned, this promotion should be taking place at all 1,350+ locations. Searching social media, one person on Facebook says the promotion is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. From last year’s Free Tea Day, it was a 22 ounce tea and no purchase was required.
Reset to $3.799 in Ohio
I meant to include the following in my last post. A 20-year-old woman (@theMISFITgirl_ on Twitter) proudly posted her 1:31 a.m. Sunday (May 20) vandalism of a Speedway Free Tea Day marquee: http://twitter.com/#!/theMISFITgirl_/status/204082008954126338
If you are curious where this occurred… I looked through her Tumblr and Twitter accounts. It appears she is a student at the historically black, publicly funded West Virginia State University in Institute, West Virginia, northwest of Charleston. There are no Speedways in Institute, but there are 3 nearby:
* 524 Campbells Creek Dr., Charleston
* 2 Green Rd., South Charleston
* 400 Maccorkle Ave. SW, South Charleston
It appears 26 of Speedway’s 44 locations in West Virginia (59.1%) reset to $3.799 this morning, including all 3 Charleston locations.
Is Speedway watching?
Recall what I posted 6 days ago:
http://www.thegasgame.com/2012/05/15/another-screwy-price-hike/#comment-3752
This error has been fixed.
What Speedway clearly does not watch is diesel prices. I’ve recently seen a Speedway sit with diesel at $4.099, while their competitor across the street had diesel for $3.999 then $3.989. It was like this for well over 2 weeks. I know diesel sales are only a fraction of gasoline sales, but it is quite clear Speedway makes no effort to match competitors’ diesel prices. This also reinforces my belief that Speedway corporate initiates individual Speedway locations lowering their gasoline prices based on competitors prices from credit card sales, not from individual station managers manually checking the competition and reporting it to corporate for approval to lower their prices. As I’ve said before, Speedway is incredibly fast to match competitors that have lowered their regular gasoline prices.
I’ve noticed that the diesel price is not of huge importance. I was told though, when we do “price surveys”, to check the regular price and the diesel price. Sometimes, the issue is that those who give the station permission to drop the price to match a competitor have left. The shift leader or manager on hand must send in a price survey to corporate once a competitor has dropped their price. So often enough, the store will keep the higher price until someone is available the next morning to give them the go ahead to drop.
But as for Speedway monitoring The Gas Game, I’m doubtful. While it’s difficult to speak for corporate, none of the employees in my store- or any others that I have asked- seem to have even heard of Gasbuddy or The Gas Game.
And you should note . . . oil is down below $92 a barrel now.
Oil
91.669998
-0.90
-0.97%
Bloomberg’s 2:34 update puts the Chicago spot down 9.26¢ (-3.15%) to $2.8475.
New York gasoline futures are not down anywhere near as much:
- June down 1.26¢ to $2.9275
- July down 1.46¢ to $2.85
*****
RE A.W.: How about some details on Free Tea Day? Is it 22 or 32 ounce size? What are the flavors? What are the hours of the promotion (all day, or something like 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.)?
Just a FYI, cost on Monday was 3.67 not counting sales tax (add 6 cents). Same cost on Tuesday. This morning 3.55 sales tax add 5 cents. I have been 3.76 street price since last Friday. So far slipping under the radar of Speedway, and business has been great!!!
Oil per barrel crosses the 90$ line going DOWN. Gasoline prices at the pumps in west Michigan going back up to the mid $3.80s again though. Hey, is there a holiday weekend coming up??? As low as $3.67 at Mobil on Cannonsburg but elswhere its $3.80s plus.
C’est la vie.
Diether, your guess as to the time was correct. It is a free 32oz tea from 6 am to 6 pm. Something tells me we’re going to have to brew more than the normal 2 batches each day.
Can anyone explain to me why prices have really stayed along the $3.89 line for close to the past month while the price of oil has continually slid from $105 to $89 a barrel and gas has gone from $3.20ish to $2.88 on the NYSE? Wouldn’t it make sense that a gallon of gas should be weighing in around $3.40? Maybe I’m off my mark but this just doesn’t seem right.
Steve, there is a lag in the system between oil and gas prices. The other issue is that while NYMEX prices have dropped, the Chicago prices have stayed stubbornly higher. There must be some supply issues locally that we don’t know about, but today the Chicago wholesale prices fell 8 cents.
It wont get any better. Saudi Arabia is talking about cutting production to get back to the $100 mark for crude oil. http://www.cnbc.com/id/47529664 ….Greed?
On another note, Thank you to thegasgame.com I saved 24 cents per gallon at the pump before it went up to $3.899. It may not seem like much but I saved $2.50 filling my car and 2 cans.
Yes, Thanks everyone at this site. I have two cars, a van, and I mow two acres. Getting one free gallon or more (saving $3.00 to $6.00) every two weeks makes a big difference in a year. I figure I save at least $100 a year. That is one grocery bill a year I save by understanding what is going on and watching this site, GasBuddy and some of my own finds that help me analyze.
This is probably one of the most unsuccessful hikes I’ve seen in the Lansing area. The 2 Speedway locations north of Haslett, along with the Admiral and the Meijer there, dropped right back to $3.61 this morning. The Speedway in Frandor (between Lansing and East Lansing) is also down to that price. One Speedway went up to $3.74, with many other locations still at $3.89.
Everyone around me is stubbornly sticking to the $3.799 spike price, Greedway and otherwise.
$3.89 would be a blessing at this point. Here in the Portland (Oregon) area, gas is sitting at about $4.25 right now, but the news is reporting a random spike of at least 35c/gal by the end of this holiday weekend… That’s only 4 days from now.
At that price, I can no longer afford to drive.
Gasoline in the 44th St. corridor in Wyoming and Kentwood is in the $3.60′s substantailly lower then the north end of Kent County. Speedway at US131 and Leonard near downtown GRR is at $3.77, a dime cheaper then this time yesterday. Hummm, on a Friday before Memorial day? Right next to the major northward corridor to The North Country where most of southern Michigan seems to be headed? Allrighty then! One thing though…their sign is invisible from 131 for 99% of the folks going north anyway….you have to know when and where to look and ya gotta be quick!