This is why it can be bad for lower prices due to an economic downturn. Once there is hope for recovery, prices rebound. A big rise in market prices (11.5¢ for the Chicago spot) and big drops at the pump mean we are due for a spike. Plan on prices going up tomorrow or Thursday.
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Why We Are Here
We enjoy predicting and trying to further our knowledge in the gasoline and oil industry. Our ultimate goal is to "win" the game of price hikes and to accurately predict hikes.
Current Contributors:
Ed A.: ab...@gvsu.edu
Craig P.: cr...@paull.net
Tim S.: ts...@gmail.com
Bill E.: pa...@yahoo.com
The name of the site is based off an essay Ed wrote for the Grand Rapids Press titled "The Gas Game". The current website was established later by Patrick DeHaan after he and Ed predicted gas price hikes on GasBuddy's website GrandRapidsGasPrices.com, as well as Ed’s personal web page.
Note: To be precise, add 9/10 of a cent to all prices described on this web page.
Current Contributors:
Ed A.: ab...@gvsu.edu
Craig P.: cr...@paull.net
Tim S.: ts...@gmail.com
Bill E.: pa...@yahoo.com
The name of the site is based off an essay Ed wrote for the Grand Rapids Press titled "The Gas Game". The current website was established later by Patrick DeHaan after he and Ed predicted gas price hikes on GasBuddy's website GrandRapidsGasPrices.com, as well as Ed’s personal web page.
Note: To be precise, add 9/10 of a cent to all prices described on this web page.
It is 10:23 a.m. ET. If Speedway was going to go up today, it would usually be seen by now. I see no Speedway stations in Michigan that have gone up yet, so if they are going to go up this week, it will be tomorrow (Thursday), possibly to $3.559.
Stations in Lansing have stopped loss leading at $2.989 and gone up mostly to $3.109 (for the low end).
The low end in Kalamazoo is $3.319 on Portage St./Rd. The lowest price in Grand Rapids is $3.239 at the Circle K on 44th at Eastern.
I’ve complained before about the idiot who writes about gas prices for the Kalamazoo Gazette. I don’t know if any of these articles ever make the print edition, but they keep publishing them daily on-line. The title of an article published on-line today at 2:01 is:
“Southwest Michigan gas prices are rising”
That is outright factually incorrect. No gas prices have gone up today in Kalamazoo and I don’t see them going up anywhere else in Southwest Michigan. A title of “Southwest Michigan gas prices may rise tomorrow” would be accurate.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/09/southwest_michigan_gas_prices_143.html
I work with a person that used to have a Speedway in the family. She told me something that may explain why prices did not go up today, and are waiting for another day this week, or possibly even Saturday. The stations must meet a quota of X gallons per month in sales/delivery, and if they are under quota, may need to pay a premium on every gallon, which in most cases is worse than selling the gas for a few cents below margin. Being the end of the month, and a slow sales month, many stations may be trying to reach their quota. Maybe?
That is interesting, and potentially useful for making future predictions. It is 10:17 a.m. ET and there is no indication yet of Speedway stations anywhere in Michigan going up yet.
I also believe Speedway is in the futures market, since they are a major player, and if they physically get delivery of the gas….they might have an over supply of it, and have to store it. To get room to store more gas, they probably have to sell gas that’s in the tanks, before the end of the month, when the options expire.
So, that might be another end of the month price twist…..
Odd, I would have expected them to go up by now. Even if I used my old numbers, it seems they should go up. I’m not complaining, but I wish they would be more consistent!
I’m on vacation for a couple weeks, Ed’s taking over The Spike Line. Be safe all!
Two days, two outrageously factually incorrect headlines and stories from the idiot at the Kalamazoo Gazette who writes about gas prices:
“Jackson area gas stations drop to $2.27”
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/09/jackson_area_gas_stations_drop.html
This “reporter” needs to use some common sense. When you get data from a user submitted service, some of it is wrong. When prevailing prices are in the $3.20s and you get a submission of $2.27 time stamped 4 a.m., you can be pretty sure the actual price was $3.27. It sullies whatever reputation the Kalamazoo Gazette has to continue to allow freelance writer Paul Morgan to post articles on their website, which are automatically duplicated to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, which are then automatically duplicated by bots on a number of other unaffiliated sites.
Further, he still claims gas prices went up yesterday! Where? The locations where prices are in the $3.40s (Battle Creek) simply have not come down into the $3.30s yet. Battle Creek always has higher gas prices, a fact someone who writes about gas prices daily should know.
If this idiotic kind of publishing pisses you off as much as it does me, send a message to the Kalamazoo Gazette and let them know how it degrades the quality of the news they publish. This guy has no business posting articles on their website.
Is it intentional that all the Speedway data and Indianapolis are missing from the latest Spike Line update? I’m guessing you don’t have access to the same information and/or the ability to process it?
I don’t care about Indianapolis or what percentage of Speedway stations went up, but I found the average price of all the Speedway stations in the state more useful than the average of all the stations in the state.
Your Chicago spot also seems to be off. The number you have is $2.6555 (UP $0.0602). The number I have is $2.6211 (up 1.08¢).
Thank you anyway for the effort you put into this hobbyist website.
As we expected yesterday, there is no indication of Speedway going up today as of 10:23 a.m. ET. I guess we are all expecting a reset on Saturday or Monday, but to a lower number than before (like $3.459).
Watching CNBC from day to day I am continually amazed by their words of hope one day…the market goes UP and then the next day the market goes down and EUROPE IS TANKING. Next day EUROPE IS SAVED and on and on. Someone is buying on a down day then selling on the up day after day and making a killing! I’m sure some group is computer trading and making millions…hell a LOT of people are computer trading and making millions. The market jumps they sell, the market tanks they buy. Oil and gas prices run the same way. Up one down next. The volitility is what they are feeding off of.
I’ve given up watching the markets except as amusement anymore. Its classic Henny Penny the sky is falling, the sky is falling. Screw it all. I just get .15 cents off at Mobil with Speedpass and call it good.
It is 10:26 a.m. ET Saturday. Nothing from Speedway yet, but a BP in Kalamazoo Township on Ravine Rd. went up to $3.559 as of 8:46 this morning. A Citgo on Red Arrow Highway in Mattawan went up to $3.459 as of 9:14 last night. All other stations in the Kalamazoo/Plainwell/Paw Paw area are currently reported $3.289-$3.399. The current Kalamazoo average is $3.347, up from $3.341 yesterday.
There don’t appear to be any increases in the Grand Rapids metro area, where all but 2 stations are reported $3.189-$3.399 and the average is $3.293, down from $3.298 yesterday.
Well more than half the oil and gas trading is automated. Most of the oil and gas traders are investors with no intention of taking physical delivery of the product. These are the two reasons there is so much volatility.
Unless we get a retail increase this afternoon, expect one Monday morning.
Sooo lets make it a rule that oil and gasoline traders MUST HAVE THE CAPABILTY TO TAKE DELIVERY…i.e. actual tank owners, not just oportunists.