40 Cents Here, 40 Cents There, Pretty Soon We Are Talking About Real Money

Comments on the lack of prediction on September 2: While enjoying lower prices during the week of Labor Day, we got a surprise hike to $3.39 in Michigan last Monday.

Sunday, September 15, 2024, 2 PM: The good news is that oil is down 10% over the past few weeks and that has put downward pressure on wholesale gas prices. The annual end-of-the-summer blend has helped, too. The bad news is that whatever methodology the retailers are using this year spit out a hike last Monday, and our Gas Buddy had the appropriate response.

So, to play the Gas Game, we remain in a struggle to adapt to the current paradigm. Looking at my pricing records since May, it is as if my calculations are off by 40 cents. For instance, a week ago, my margin calculation was a healthy 46 cents, and then with the hike, it landed at 71 cents. In years past, we could wait for a 0-10 cent margin to see a 25-40 cent hike.

Well, even with an unprecented 40-cent fudge factor, I don’t predict a fresh hike this week. Go find $2.99 where you can, drivers! -EA

Updated: September 15, 2024 — 2:14 pm

13 Comments

Add a Comment
  1. I think it will be our turn, to start the week in Illinois. Although my methods are a little different, margins seem to have sagged to the same point as provoked our last hike 3 weeks ago.

  2. There are some stations at $2.77 in the Lansing area.

  3. $3.49/gal today in West Michigan

  4. $3.69/3.79 in Chicagoland. About 70c over cost including all taxes!!

  5. Maybe they are trying to get Alimentation Couche-Tard to sweeten their takeover bid by showing higher gas margins,

  6. $3.299 in Indy area. Yeah possibly Jim.

  7. Anderson and Daleville Indiana $3.29 at Speedway and Payless/Kroger. GasBuddy is wonky and won’t let my price updates post.
    With GasBuddy sabotaging the site it’s harder to shop around.

  8. 3.49 this afternoon in Kalamazoo

  9. $3.39 in Northwest Indiana led by Family Express.

  10. quite a few 3.49 around greater Grand Rapids area

  11. South Bend IN – Family Express spike $3.29. Plenty of $2.95 around. Costco $2.73. SBN avg 3.03.
    Hard to tell with the downgraded GasBuddy site.

  12. $3.199 in the Toledo area.

    All good things come to an end, apparently.

  13. Joe….Prices on web site have always been subject to rejecting hikes or drops of more than a few cents at a time. I’ve taken to using just the App and my new higher prices can be seen THERE at least for a while though sometimes they revert to the old price. It’s definitely not too useful for price shopping.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please leave these two fields as-is:

Protected by Invisible Defender. Showed 403 to 1,759,163 bad guys.

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

TheGasGame.com (c) All Rights Reserved Frontier Theme