Holiday weekend gas prices

[RetiredAt63]

Just saw a killer today - I bought gas just outside Ottawa this morning for $1.239/litre - as I was putting the gas cap back on, the price jumped to $1.339.  That was a 10 cent jump, for the Labour Day weekend.  And it was everywhere, when I got to Ottawa every place was at least that.  For US readers, that would be a jump of $0.38 per gallon.  For European readers, I know that is ridiculously low, but for here it is high, and over half of it is federal and provincial taxes.

So, ouch.  The prices will go down on Tuesday, but not by that much.  I keep a record every time I buy gas, and the trend is steadily upwards.

[Zamboni]

Gouging and price fixing ouch!  Doesn't surprise me, though.

[NCoffey]

Same happened here. I am in Indiana and it went from $3.349 to $3.759. A 41 cents change. Gas has been really high in my area compared to national average anyway. It really sucks.

[Will]

And we had a 14 cents a gallon price drop on Wednesday here in Vancouver.

[MilwaukeeStubble]

It's annoying.  Especially as someone who really only takes their car out for road trips.

That said, there is some economic logic to the price bump.  For one thing, while usage increases substantially on the holiday weekends, gasoline deliveries to the stations will probably not increase relative to a normal weekend, and may in fact decrease.  Therefore, the station's supply is fixed, but the demand goes up.  Raising the price (and everyone knowing in advance that it's going up) will push people to buy gas the week before and after the busy weekend.  Which provides some load balancing (much cheaper to serve!) and in some cases may be the difference between the station running out of gas before the weekend is over and having enough to serve everyone.

As with most things in life it's much less likely to be malice than people think, and it's cheaper to plan ahead.

IAMA Economist or Gas Station Operator.

[Jamesqf]

Yes.  If the (supposed - I've never noticed it myself) gas price increase bothers you, just fill up the week before.  Indeed, you could probably avoid traffic & crowds by choosing not to go anywhere that weekend.

[dragoncar]

If anyone here hasn't heard of gas buddy, I highly recommend it for weekend trips (where you aren't going out of your way for slightly cheaper gas, but you have a choice of stops along your route).

This also reminds me of an "incident" this weekend.  My GF started pumping premium and I asked why.  She said "oh, I didn't notice because this is where the regular nozzle usually is (left side)".  She then proceeded to pick up the plus nozzle on the right side.   Finally we used the regular in the middle.

Looking back, this seems like an underhanded trick by this particular station, since my experience accords with that of my GF that the grades usually increase from one side to the other.  I'm just a bit more observant

[Jamesqf]

Looking back, this seems like an underhanded trick by this particular station, since my experience accords with that of my GF that the grades usually increase from one side to the other.  I'm just a bit more observant

Around here the pumps (at least at the stations I use) have only one nozzle for all grades, which you select with a button.  If there's a second nozzle, it's for diesel.

[dragoncar]

Looking back, this seems like an underhanded trick by this particular station, since my experience accords with that of my GF that the grades usually increase from one side to the other.  I'm just a bit more observant

Around here the pumps (at least at the stations I use) have only one nozzle for all grades, which you select with a button.  If there's a second nozzle, it's for diesel.

Well aren't you mr fancy pants?  How are the buttons arranged (I've seen similar here too, but button placement results in the same issue -- people can be expected to develop a habit).

[RetiredAt63]

Interesting points.  Here the prices went down on Sunday (well, that is when I went online to check).  They do tend to go up a bit on Fridays, but not by that much!  It varies by city, the gas stations near my sister's house in Toronto did price changes at least twice a day, cheap in the morning, expensive it the afternoon, cheap again later in the evening.  Every day.

Re deliveries, why would they stay the same for a weekend where people tend to do more driving?  Any long weekend sees more traffic, since people will do trips that are not worthwhile on a regular weekend.  Businesses know this, they can certainly plan for it.

I noticed it simply because I am now driving less (retired, you know) and was heading into town that day for an activity.  Gas is much cheaper in Ottawa (or outskirts) than in my little town, so I plan accordingly.  Ottawagasprices.com lets me plan where to buy on my way in.

Re the nozzle, it varies with the station, but most have one nozzle (a second for diesel) and the buttons.  Most have regular on the left, premium on the right, and the in-between one is in the middle if they have three grades. 

I trust we are all frugal /sensible enough to choose cars in the first place that take regular?  Or diesel?  I am tempted by diesel for my next car (whenever that happens, my car only has 150,000 km right now) but a colleague of mine got stranded on the highway one winter because the preheater (or whatever it is that keeps the fuel liquid) stopped working and so did his car. At least that doesn't happen with gasoline.

[dragoncar]

Interesting points.  Here the prices went down on Sunday (well, that is when I went online to check).  They do tend to go up a bit on Fridays, but not by that much!  It varies by city, the gas stations near my sister's house in Toronto did price changes at least twice a day, cheap in the morning, expensive it the afternoon, cheap again later in the evening.  Every day.

Re deliveries, why would they stay the same for a weekend where people tend to do more driving?  Any long weekend sees more traffic, since people will do trips that are not worthwhile on a regular weekend.  Businesses know this, they can certainly plan for it.

I noticed it simply because I am now driving less (retired, you know) and was heading into town that day for an activity.  Gas is much cheaper in Ottawa (or outskirts) than in my little town, so I plan accordingly.  Ottawagasprices.com lets me plan where to buy on my way in.

Re the nozzle, it varies with the station, but most have one nozzle (a second for diesel) and the buttons.  Most have regular on the left, premium on the right, and the in-between one is in the middle if they have three grades. 

I trust we are all frugal /sensible enough to choose cars in the first place that take regular?  Or diesel?  I am tempted by diesel for my next car (whenever that happens, my car only has 150,000 km right now) but a colleague of mine got stranded on the highway one winter because the preheater (or whatever it is that keeps the fuel liquid) stopped working and so did his car. At least that doesn't happen with gasoline.

I'm frugal enough to have a car that takes any grade.  Fuel efficiency improves with higher octane because the engineer controller advances the timing and the engine has a relatively high compression ratio.  Unused to choose premium back when the extra fuel economy and performance outweighs the relatively low extra cost.  These days I believe it's not worth the extra cost but I'd have to rerun the numbers to be sure

[Jamesqf]

-- people can be expected to develop a habit).

Well, yeah.  I've developed the habit of reading the numbers on the buttons :-)

[dragoncar]

-- people can be expected to develop a habit).

Well, yeah.  I've developed the habit of reading the numbers on the buttons :-)

How many times has that saved you from overpaying?

[Jamesqf]

-- people can be expected to develop a habit).

Well, yeah.  I've developed the habit of reading the numbers on the buttons :-)

How many times has that saved you from overpaying?

I've no idea.  I mean, it sort of depends on how you ask the question.  If it's "How many times have I put in high-octane when I meant to put in regular?", I don't believe I've ever done that.  If I ever did, I didn't notice :-)