Drivers flood S.F. gas station for $2.99 fuel

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Dozens of drivers waited for hours on end today to take advantage of a rare sight: gas in San Francisco for less than $3 a gallon.

The going-out-of-business deal -- $2.99 a gallon for regular, a penny more for higher octane -- was happening at the Shell station at Sixth and Harrison streets, which will close for good this evening. It prompted drivers from near and far to come to the South of Market gas station, where they waited in lines that snaked a block down Harrison Street and lasted up to three hours for some drivers.

The Chevron station across the street was selling regular gas for $3.57 a gallon -- for once, a steeper price than its competitor across the street.

Bob Oyster, the Shell station's owner, has been in the news before. He garnered national attention earlier this month when he raised the price of gas at his station to more than $4 a gallon in what he said was a protest of Shell. He said that the company charges independent owners high prices, cutting his profits.

Read more: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/31/BAGKCQ52044.DTL

[whistle]

1. We've had this at selected stations in Orlando since yesterday....

....down from $3.069 last week

[Socal31]

2. LOL @ People

Saving 50 cents a gallon for a 18 gallon fill-up = $9.00 savings on a tank. How far did they drive to get this deal? How much gas did they consume waiting in lines?

Its even more funny when people drive 6 miles across town to save 3 cents/gallon. The math just doesnt work out!!!!

[Decruiter]

3. These are the same people who spend $80/gallon

...on Frappacinos from Starbucks every workday.

What's WRONG with you people ?!?!?

[EFerrari]

8. I make my own coffee for much less and have to start my car

to make sure the battery stays charged most weeks.

There's nothing wrong with us, thanks.

[Decruiter]

12. It is okay sfexpat2000, You are one of the fortunate ones. You are

blessed to live where you do. To be able to park your car and get along without it.

I just wish you could help us find a way in Dallas to live as well as you do in California.\

PEACE.

[Gregorian]

4. We're addicts.

I love it. I've always thought the same thing. You just might be an engineer with that thought process. If only more people were thinking. You know, if we just consolidate our drives. If we just think in advance. If we just do something else to curb our boredom.

I find it a bit sad. Maybe more like shallow. I remember the lines of the 70's. I never sat in one. I got smart.

[slackmaster]

5. I rode a bicycle and a moped for most of the '70s

The moped got about 135 MPG.

I bought my first car in the summer of 1981, a slightly used '73 Honda Civic that got close to 30 MPG but only on high-octane leaded premium.

[Delphinus]

9. People act crazy.

And you're right - sometimes the savings to drive across town are not worth it.

What concerns me is if we ever get to rationing. I don't have real clear memories of the oil embargo of the seventies as I was just beginning to drive, but I have a sense of a lot of tension from that time. Now days, with the greater population and the tighter economic straits people are finding themselves in, I think things would get ugly real fast.

The movie Fox had on a few years ago (right before Katrina, I think), called something like "Peak Oil" showed how desperate people could become.

[Bluzmann57]

6. This goes back to something I've been saying for a while

I think maybe they are trying to beat us down by having such expensive gasoline and then when it's "cheap" we are greatful and will do nearly anything to get it. If there was a station which had gas at say, $2.50/gallon, the police likely would have to be called to quell fights and do traffic control. Just one thing wrong, $2.50 ain't cheap gas in reality. Just more corporitization of America.

[Sirveri]

10. 2.50$/gal IS cheap gas. It's over 5$/gal in Europe.

The ammount we pay for one of the most incredible energy resources ever discovered is nothing short of amazing in its inexpensiveness.

[anotherCTliberal]

7. Hold on - A gas station going out of business?!

Well isn't that a laugh.

[Honeycombe8]

11. Poor guy. I feel for him...really. He said the oil cos. charge independent

gas station owners more than the big guys.

It's also possible that Shell cancelled his contract, when he did the protest earlier and raised his price to $4.

[gravity]

13. Gas stations have low profit margins on gas sales

They are just passing their revenues to the wholesalers.