Motorists Wait 3 Hours In Line For Cheap Gas (Savings Of $5 - $10)

[matcom]

:eyes:

<snip>

To some people -- hundreds, in fact -- $5 is worth waiting three hours in line.

That was the lesson learned Thursday, as motorists idled in block-long queuesjust to gas up at the Shell station at Sixth and Harrison streets in San Francisco, where owner Bob Oyster was offering a rare deal: gas for less than $3 a gallon.

They traveled miles, crossed toll bridges and ran their engines for hours, all to save $5 or $10.

Oyster's prices were low -- $2.98 for regular, a penny more for higher octane -- but still just 50 cents less than the city's average of $3.53 per gallon.

In the shadow of the Chevron across the street, which was selling premium gas for $3.81, however, many customers fueled up with the feeling they were getting a deal.

"It's worth it to me -- every penny is worth it," said Shirley Hodges of Hayward, who waited 2 1/2 hours to fill up her Mercury Villager van.

As the ticker inched closer to $60, Hodges began to have doubts.

"Maybe I'm not saving as much as I thought," she said, but soon determined she had paid about $10 less than usual. The going-out-of-business deal was part of Oyster's one-man protest against Shell Oil Co., which he accuses of charging independent gas station owners higher prices, cutting their profits. Previously, Oyster had raised his prices to above the $4-per-gallon mark -- making passers-by wonder why anyone would stop there when they could pull into the Chevron for a better deal.

But on Wednesday, Oyster changed his tack and said the station would offer $2.98 gas until the last 6,000 gallons were gone.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/BAGU1Q5TF31.DTL

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. wow

what is it about gas that turns everyone into a penny-pincher?

Nobody bats an eye when pair of shoes or a shirt is $15 more at one store than another, but people will drive for miles around to looking for a gas station that has gas for 5-cents cheaper.