Sunday, September 21, 2014: 2:00PM: My uncertainty on Wednesday was wise, as prices continue to drop — $3.10 a gallon in Lowell this afternoon! While ethanol prices continue to collapse, wholesale gasoline did spike up on Friday, so I am predicting a price re-set on Monday. Maybe $3.49. — Ed A.
I feel like I’m in an old Western movie, the one where the two cowbows talking to each other says,
“Things are quiet around here”
“Yeah. Too quiet.”
I’m betting the GREEDway axe will fall on Ohio Tuesday with a reset price of $3.44.
$3.099 in my ‘hood this morning. Cashed in some Kroger points and filled up both cars yesterday after the Bengals whooped up on the Titans.
I’m betting on either 3.399 or 3.459 in Ohio, today or tomorrow.
Confirmed $3.39 sightings in Ohio. Numerous seen on Speedway’s own website of stations that were priced lower just hours ago.
A day early and a nickel less than my prediction. It’s no wonder I’m sucking at fantasy football this year.
NY-RBOB has taken a beating since daybreak. I guess GREEDway pulled the trigger now before selling off possibly spreads to the Chicago markets. Guess I’ll be topping off at lunch time.
Yep. Spike to 3.399 in Ohio underway.
3.399 spike led by Family Express (the usual spiking station in my town).
3.55 Grand Rapids
Speedway/Greedway spiking to $3.55 in Michigan today.
Glad I filled up for $3.06/gal this morning ($3.09-3¢ with fuel card) might be one of widest spreads I’ve had in prehike to hike price at 49¢
3.55 Kalamazoo too..hope they choke on all their profits…
I filled up this morning for $3.14 in Lansing, but that included a 3 cent discount. $3.55 seems like a pretty big spike.
For a change, I beat them. filled up @ $3.26 yesterday. Same station is $3.49 today.
Trouble is coming. There was a report on local radio how prices are going to continue dropping. Gas Buddy was referred to in the report. Spike Ahoy!……….I’m filling up. $3.16 locally just north of Fort Wayne.
No apparent spike in Indy.
Looks like the Indy Spike might be $3.39. See a few Speedways at that price today where they were under $3.20 yesterday.
Those 3.20’s were the high tide – the spike for the 3.0x’s will be higher..
Zone pricing…
The usual early spiking suspects have jumped to $3.39 in Fort Wayne. Speedway, Lassus, already have jumped.
Speedway spike underway to $3.39 in South Bend, IN. I filled up for $3.09 yesterday
Sporadic spikes across indiana per indianagasprice.com . There’s usually a few lagards. Murphy Swiifty and a few others hold off their price increase until the end of the day.
Only a couple stations still above $3.50 two days after the spike. Sams and Costco in SE GR had the lowest price in the state for a few hours this morning at $3.10.
Just an FYI – Speedway in my area is selling E-85 for $2.259. Same station is selling E-10 for $3.359.
Get ready, I’m sure Greedway will be all over this. 2 spikes in 1 week?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-25/wti-crude-rises-for-third-day-on-economy-gasoline-gains.html
If I see one more article that the banner says something like “Gas Is Headed Below $3 in Much of the US” I will scream. It is more likely to hit $3.60 around here than $3.00. GREEDway and the baby boom of squirrels will see to that.
Amen, Bearcat. Every prediction of cheaper gas is met with extreme prejudice by the “Midwest Machine”. I have seen it for far too many years.
Funny, because the average price around here is still lower than the national average. I DID see sporadic local prices lower than $3 in the last couple weeks, but I haven’t seen anything close to $3.60.
Prices could drop to $2.19 overnight and some of you would still find something to be angry and cynical about.
Before Monday’s spike, we had ONE station at $3 ($2.999). The average is now $3.34, and the lowest is $3.099(20 miles away), and more stations are closer to $3.60 than $3.00.
Tim and Bearcat DO have a point. I saw a LOT of news stories and articles trumpeting continued, lower gas prices over the last weekend, and then, POW, we spiked Monday. News, at least around here, has always been a reliable, contrarian indicator when it comes to gas prices.
After the Speedway spike to $3.39 on Tuesday some stations down to $3.21 now here in South Bend.
@Chris: You guys need to realize that spikes always occur after prices have been dropping for a while, usually for about a week. So it makes perfect sense that prices spike once news providers start to notice they’ve been dropping.
IOW, the news reports about dropping prices have absolutely nothing to with ensuing spikes. Actual math, such as that provided on this web site, is a far more reliable indicator of what’s going to happen at the pump. The news providers are simply reactive, and generally they have no clue what’s going to happen.
Generally this site is good for short term predictions which the media rarely does. The media prefers longer term predictions that generally end up being the opposite of what actually happens.
Thank you Turbo.
Ionia Meijer and Admiral dropped .10 today again from 3.27 to 3.17.
I actually believe the squirrel jokes sometimes have more truth in them than the experts. I also believe that Speedway DOES have a huge impact on setting prices in the Midwest. Others may try to justify that the pricing is more or less in line with the rest of the country. My area Daleville Indiana has not seen below $3 gas for 2 years now. While I see plenty of areas out of state and sometimes in my state (just too far away) at or blow that price one has to wonder. I have seen Speedway spike on St Rd 67 in Daleville by 40 cents on numerous occasions. Pilot across the street only goes up a dime, next day Speedway matches pilots price. Certainly Speedway is not taking a 30 cent loss per gallon here are they? No they just aren’t making an additional 30 cents of profit per gallon. Are we getting ripped off in Central Indiana…You betcha, we have for sometime now.
3.12 at Speedway @ Eastern/52nd in Grand Rapids this afternoon.
One tiny town with only five stations across four brands is always going to be a different situation. The competition is always better in larger metro areas.
In the Lafayette market right now, gas is as low as $2.899, including two Speedways at $2.999.
I know it bugs a lot of people around here, but competition works.
I have seen the same thing on I-71, between Cincinnati and Columbus. On Speedway spike days, the Pilot only goes up 10 (if at all) instead of 30-40 cents, and Speedway has to come right back down. Happens with “Love’s” stations as well(truck-stop type stations).
Wish we had those stations around here. When Greedway goes up here, everyone else goes right along with them.
Filled up for $2.979 this evening, at a UDF, between our house and the gym.
My wife went inside, to get some water. She asked the person at the register why they were so cheap. Their words: “We’re fighting Kroger (across the street). We’re in a gas war”.
That is the RARE exception nowadays. Of course, the GREEDway, one block away, is selling for $3.099.
Same deal around where I live in Indiana Chris. Speedway shoots for the stars with a big jump, then 9 times out of 10 are forced back down by the two Pilot truck stops within a short time.
This Speedway station was Gas America before and I never saw the extreme increases with them. If Speedway should ever buy out Pilot (sure as hell don’t need 3 of them near my house lol) it will be time to move!
Competition is often asleep at the wheel – the NW Indy Michigan road area… A gas station or two every mile and even Costco and Sams and a lot of good that has done the area.
Of course all the stations there are branded…
Maybe the statement needs a qualifier or two.
Fort Wayne is overrun with gas stations. Lots of choices, often 3 on the same corner, and all I ever see is collusion to keep prices above $3.24 right now. We even have Sams and Costco within 1/2 mile of each other with 5 stations in between them, and that only helps by 1¢. Though Costco and Sams will wait till the following day to raise their prices by the full 30 to 40¢ of the spike. And NOBODY comes down quick like talked about above. Not even the Pilot.
I need to qualify my statement above about the corners with three stations. ALWAYS, there is a Speedway within a block of them, if it is not one of them. Their presence apparently helps keep the spikes up there and helps make sure the price drops are slow.
That Kroger and UDF are now 2.939.
Yes, intersections with Speedways are almost always higher around here as well.
Thankfully, the two “areas” where I always get gas(fill-ups at least) have no Speedway presence. at those intersections.
Timm, I just checked http://www.ftwaynegasprices.com, and there are numerous stations below $3.20, including four Speedways.
Fort Wayne is a pretty big city. You can’t expect that what happens in the areas you visit to be the truth for the whole market.
Well better fill up. WWMT Channel 3 here in Kalamazoo just ran a piece about prices dropping and how the should continue to go down. If things hold to form, that will mean a jump any day now by Greedway. Hope that’s not the case, but it has happened more times than not.
AGREED, Mike Kalamazoo!!!
Mike, with spikes occurring every week or two, it doesn’t matter what the news reported. The spikes will happen regardless of what WWMT or anybody else says.
Humans always try to look for cause/effect patterns, which means we often find them even when they don’t really exist.
Do not assume that I don’t watch the whole market, that’s what GasBuddy is for. And you answered me 5 full hours after I typed that statement. And my job carries me to ¾ of Fort Wayne or more in the period of a week, and while watching Gasbuddy with my android.
What a difference a day makes, eh Timm? Seems every Speedway is now BELOW $3.20 in Ft. Wayne. Think they heard you?
For any wondering, I do not foresee a spike this week. Oil just went below $90 for the first time in 17 months, and there is a generous cushion that should allow a lot of stations to cross that $3 mark this weekend. I think I will be saving the reciept when I get gas, because this can’t last, right, guys?
Given how successful zone pricing is, I would not worry too much about spikes any time soon.
People reporting sub 3.00 prices might as well be in Dubai for most people in north Indy area where we are just beginning to see 3.19’s…
$2.99 in Greenwood, just south of Indy. The market average will probably reach an eight-month low this weekend.