So, I drove to Costco. There, the line for the 20 slots snaked through the parking lot and out to the street, and regular gas was $3.85/gallon.
That's eighty cents per gallon in my pocket, or $8 for the ten gallons I bought. $8 a week, 52 weeks a year..... we're talking serious money here.
I spent the afternoon worrying about people living paycheck to paycheck and being very grateful for my situation in life.
I learned early on in our marriage (50 years ago) to not buy cheap gas. My dad, the farmer, had gas from Shell delivered to the farm for all the tractors and used it for the car and pickup, too. He always said, these are your tools, use the best for them. But when I married Terry, we were pinching pennies so I bought gas at Gemco for a couple of years and our cars suffered greatly. I remembered my dad's advice and went back to buying only Shell gas.
ReplyDeleteShell stations disappeared in our neighborhood so started using Chevron. Cars operated very well. Then Chevron moved out and 76 moved in. I used that for a few years and had no problems UNTIL the 78 formulation changed and my car started pinging. I drive a little farther for the Chevron gas, but my 2005 Subaru and terry's 1991 Mazda operate beautifully.
California gas taxes are almost $2 so I pay a high price for the gas, but I'm not complaining.
I did my research - Costco uses top tier gas, unbranded. The UV is happy on QuickStop or Circle K gas (Hondas eat anything, I guess) but she purrs on Chevron's top tier fuel. For now, I'll stick with the money saving option; she doesn't seem to mind Costco's formulation at all.
DeleteYou have a 1991 Mazda?!?!? Does it have Classic Car tags?
a/b
The average price for gas in our area right now is $5.62 / gal. We have high gas taxes and property taxes because we don't have a state income tax. It is a very regressive system that we have been unable to get popular support to change. The people it hurts the most are the most resistant. :-/
ReplyDeleteAnd California has gas at that level or higher, with a state income tax. It's always the poor who suffer first and hardest.
Deletea/b