Every trip to the gas station is a mini reminder of the economic down turn this country has taken. How many of you remember the good ole days when gas was .99 a gallon. How about when gas “skyrocketed “to $1.99. I thought I had seen it all during that time….. but never in my wildest dream would I have imaged that gas would be $4.00+ a gallon on regular basis. Stupid me, I always assumed that gas was a commodity that would always be affordable and readily available. Hell, years ago I never paid attention to the price of gas, all I needed was a couple of dollars and I was good to go.
Well now is a different time and gas is more precious than gold at this point. To fill up my car for a month would cost me the equivalent of one days work, a full 8 hours. If you think I drive a Escalade, Tahoe, F150 or Silverado….. think again. I drive a simple 4 cylinder Hyundai Excel, that takes 12 gallons to fill the tank. Unfortunately, for me I drive 60 miles round trip back and forth to work everyday and I need to fill up every 3-4 days. A fill up usually runs me $48.00 (in St. Louis gas is 4.00 a gallon, 3.89 on a good day). This is putting a hurting on a sistah’s pocketbook. It’s literally taking food out of my mouth. Instead of spending freely at the grocery store and buying specialty items (such as the delicious deluxe cajun crab dip, behind the seafood counter) I must stick to the basics. I am even considering using coupons and shopping based on what’s on sale… forget my taste bud and food preference.
Gas prices have touched the lives of everyone. Last week my local news reported that car lots have been hard by gas thieves. The thieves go to the car lots with cordless drills and drill holes in the gas tanks. Then they sell the fuel at a lower cost than the gas stations. Of course this left the dealership with $30,000 worth of damage… but it is the sign of the times. To save a few dollars people in California have resorted to driving across the border to Mexico to fill up the tank!
People that make their living driving are feeling the pinch more than others. Diesel fuel cost 4.59+ a gallon. It takes approximately 500.00 to fill up an 18 wheeler commercial truck. We all know that ultimately the consumer will pay for the spike in transportation cost.
I guess we all thought gas was our friend and would never betray us. As we watch places like Dubai, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries get filthy rich off the skyrocketing oil prices we know the good times have come to an end. With developing countries like China using more oil than ever before and Americans greedily consuming every drop of oil we can get, don’t count on gas prices dropping too soon.
I get the feeling that driving as we know it will change. Soon the days of cruising will be a luxury and public transportation will be the way to go.
1 comment:
So true. I remember when you could put $5 or $10 in the tank and actually get somewhere.
Sadly the days of cheap gas is over, soon $4 a gallon will seem cheap.
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