After Thursday’s market spike in Chicago, Friday’s spike is courtesy of a national spike in the market. A spike at the pump to $3.99 has already happened in some areas. Expect that or more everywhere else tomorrow.
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- Diesel prices are on my mind, and Michigan seems to have avoided a Midwestern hike so far: https://t.co/2vuUW5O5LP 02:12:26 PM May 14, 2023 from Twitter Web App
- Nothing like a 40-cent difference in the same county: https://t.co/EWWMJGEPpI 01:22:52 PM May 07, 2023 from Twitter Web App
- A reasonable price right now in Michigan: $3.39. Details here: https://t.co/nTDJqXpahS 12:36:28 PM April 30, 2023 from Twitter Web App
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.
$3.99 in Grand Rapids Michigan today
So in roughly 6 weeks, Michigan fuel consumers have seen prices spike to $4.29, drop to $3.30, and now spike back to $4.00. There is no REAL explanation to this and it just simply perplexes me as to how this type of thing can happen.
Fun fact: Greenville, SC has seen a total price swing of 15 cents ($3.05-$3.20) in the same time frame.
Hmmm…
3.99 Kzoo
4.099 in Michigan City, In this morning
I know what you mean Derek. I was working in Greenville, SC last year for a couple weeks and fueled up for $2.65. Non Greedway states sure have it nice as one of our .45 cent spikes is the equivalent to a nickle increase for them.
They went gentle with this spike. Only a .14 cent increase this time near my house
Gone by it NW Indiana….. $4.09 this morning 7/16. All along the US 30 corridor from I-65 to the Illinois line. Gas was $3.85 yesterday !
I guess we get SPIKED again and AGAIN !
Looks like $4.50 is coming really fast. Then I can tell all the gasbags that keep telling me about the $4.21 price when Bush was still president to go stuff themselves !
The state of Oregon has no self service yet can sell at the same prices as most self service stations in Michigan. Just shows it’s all about greed.
Traverse City, MI has retreated back to $3.769 which was pre-hike price. Anticipated gouging?
BP, not Greedway tried to lead a spike to $3.899 in Ohio. Failed so far. No Greedways have joined in yet.
ChrisDG74: In my town, Fort Wayne, it is not the BP’s leading the way, it is the Lassus, Handy Dandy. Same colors as BP. and it is very easy to get them confused. I assume they have learned Greedway’s tactics and is anticipating the spike, and end up lulling Speedway into it.
How in the world (expletive avoided) can gas drop $1 in about 2-3 weeks then rise about $1 a gallon in 1-2 weeks. Our government needs to start a SERIOUS investigation.
Dale – Government and serious in the same sentence is an oxymoron. There is profit to be had everywhere.
Dale & Derek – your vote does not ensure campaign financing for re-election, its just a pity vote that had to be had for the sake that nation/state/city/etc can be called ‘democratic’. the re-elections are ensured by the ‘money’ not stupid-vote! if you have money (lot of of!) then start lobbying for the gas prices. Oh wait…..! if you got lot of money then why the hack will you lobby for penny here and penny there? ……………better find another reason………….! may be the lawmaker will not pay attention to price hikes (unjustified) to ensure mega fold profit to your business (perhaps a gas station!). so the message is simple: rich buy lawmakers after poor vote them to power!
Article I read this morning on even higher gas prices yet to come. Oh joy!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-gas-prices-likely-keep-103200091.html
Here is a question I would like to have answered, if at all possible. WHY are gas prices in Cascade [Costco] and Hudsonville at $3.71 a gallon and on the SE side of town $3.99 a gallon. I just do NOT understand why the same town [essentially – greater Grand Rapids area] has a 30 cent price difference. Can anybody explain?
Sam: A couple things are at play here, both on the big scene, and I am going to take a stab at GR. First of all, the FED has been printing money, and that creates more dollars chasing the same amount of goods, and it especially shows up when purchasing goods from overseas, such as crude. Even though we are producing more oil on private land, here within the US, the overseas price can climb as trucking and carting (train) transportation for oil is $17 a bbl more expensive than using a pipeline. Thank you O! I warned people months ago, that the pundits were saying prices would settle lower this year, and that meant that they were going to skyrocket.
Anyway, here in Fort Wayne, the stores that get robbed and have the fewest likely customers, and are in the decrepit portions of town are typically 3 to 8 cents cheaper. I don’t get it. But it all has to do with two things I think. Zone Pricing and what goes into that is anybody’s guess, and the second, is competition. Costco for you, and SAMs for me. Kroger has stopped holding the line for several hours on price spikes. They are now as bold as anybody. As I have said before, I think Speedway showed every other retailer how to do it, and now some are surpassing the teacher.
Just saw the Greedway next door dropped to 3.93 for 3.99. Does that mean we are about to jump to 4.099 in the next day or so?
Chicago Spot has been pretty steady the last few days, but I’m sure that will change as WTI Crude is getting ready to cross $108 a barrel. Wouldn’t be surprised to see another 30 cent increase in gas over the next 2-3 days. The wallet just keeps getting thinner and thinner 🙁
Thanks TimmP – we actually have both Costco and Sam’s here and yeah, I sure would like to know what goes into Zone pricing – LOL!
Here in Carmel a bunch of stations are at 3.39 while everyone outside our glorious city is at 3.75-3.89. If it was one or two stations for a day or two I’d say sure, they’re losing money but it’s been like that for several days and several stations.
At the risk of sounding unsympathetic to independent gasoline retailers, would it be too much to ask if the price we consider as ‘wholesale’ or ‘cost to retailer’ is anything like automobile invoice price, i.e. just a number, and not indicative of real cost? I can’t see 7-8 stations selling at 40-50 cents below everyone else, consistently. A couple of those stations have very limited ‘inside’ capabilities (thanks to the City of Carmel not granting renovation permits that do not involve Taj Mahal designs like Turkey Run) so it really makes me wonder how this is happening on a regular basis in the heart of the richest city in Indiana.
Turbo, you are right. Stations and especially stations as part of large chains can contract for delivery. Contracts, as you might guess, can be written any way the two parties wish. The price we see on this site is wholesale price for the spot market. It is mainly for those independent retailers that run short on their contract, or the retailer who makes his living buying only when the spot price is down. The spot market for wholesale is used here as an indicator, and it is a very good one, since it is probably used in the basis calculation(s) of the pricing in many of the big boy’s contracts. Just an e.w.a.g.
In other words, RBOC and CBOB and all the other 4-letter acronym ‘spot’ prices are nothing but another suit (read, profit center) on top of OPEC, Wall Street, Refiners, and so on.
Makes me wonder why we are not paying $6.00 a gallon actually. Shudder.
Indiana Senator Dan Coats:
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Senator-Coats-Working-On-Bill-To-Reduce-Gas-Price-Spikes-216053561.html
Yeah, we’ll see. My breath is not being held.
Check this article out on our local news website here in Grand Rapids regarding a potential new refinery here in Michigan.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/262325/14/Proposal-seeks-to-boost-Michigan-oil-processing
Read the prophetic report of Senator Wyden (D-OR) on refinery capacity reduction many years ago to see whether an added refinery would do anything for the region. It won’t, not any more than the Whiting, IN BP expansion did for us. The refinery expansion is complete supposedly (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/energy-ticker/2013/07/02/bps-indiana-refinery-back-on-line-after-expansion/) and of course we in the Midwest all enjoy the lower, stable, and predictable gas prices the project brought.
Apparently the direct pipeline between Carmel, IN and the Suez Canal is paying off, with Carmel enjoying $3.39 for a second week now. In fact, Carmel leads the Indy metro area for low prices.
Now, could this be because all those stations bought a ton of gas options during the very brief time gas was low a little while ago, or could it be the real price paid for gas by retailers is a lot lower than we think?
We’re all familiar with ‘My cost for today is $such.andsuch9’ posts but that is the cost if you ran out of product and had to buy at the last moment, what I really would like to know is what the gas I’m pouring into my Honda Fit cost the retailer, not what it would cost for him to buy it now.
I realize futures and commodities are their own little game. But I recall looking into what we were being charged by Vectren for natural gas for home use. I noticed that our monthly gas bill had a price per therm that was quite a bit higher than the spot market. I pulled my last 12 bills and it seemed that Vectren had locked in a price in August. A little more checking showed that August was the highest price of the year as they anticipate the winter heating season. I noticed this several times over several years. Now, I don’t think that they have some accountant guy with worn sleeves sitting next to a phone and waiting for the price to max out before locking in a rate. But that’s exactly what our bills show, with no transparency whatsoever. Is it far fetched to think this is happening in gasoline as well?