[ozkrenske]

I think you will see driving only slowly drop off, instead we will be seeing other discretionary spending or a slow upward creep on credit cards or drop in savings.

As an example, since fuel prices started spiking in march, the MPAA (movie nazi's) have been crying 'horrors' over the fact that their take has been flat or reducing week after week for I believe 20 weeks. The saviour was 4th of july weekend in the US where there was an increase in sales mainly due to the long weekend, better weather and 'War of the worlds'. Interestingly total movie sales were apparently down even while Star wars was released, people apparently just didn't see anything but star wars. I believe that the average cost increase in weekly fuel bills across most of the US matches closely with what a few movie tickets cost. So people are sacrificing some movies to fill the tank.

I have a friend from work, who up until a week ago commuted up to work 150 km(2 hours) each monday and went home friday. Now I have a second friend who moved near to the first and they are trying to survive on car pooling 5 round trip journeys. I predict that it will only last another 2-3 weeks (enough for monthly fuel bills and exhaustion to kick in) then they will both be looking at staying up at least 3 of the 4 work nights.

I also have other work mates who moved to my town from Sydney and halved their commute but still travel 80 km to and from (160 km) work. They are saving time but are starting to complain a bit about the cost in dollars. I live 6 minutes from work on a good day and the whole town can be traversed in no more than 20 minutes. But even so I am looking at buying a Vmoto scooter for this summers transits.

[matt21811]

My wife works in a restraunt drive-thru part time. She has noticed more people complaining about waits in the drive-thru line due to the high price of gas. One person who had to wait 20 minutes in the drive-thru said the price of gas idling was more than the meal.

A fair bet drive-thru's will be a thing of the past when gasoline reaches into the $3.00- $5.00 range per litre here in Canada. People won't want to idle their cars!

That person is a moron.

http://www.hcdoes.org/airquality/vehicles/IdleFAQ.htm

"Every 30 minutes of idling costs you nearly one-tenth of a gallon in wasted fuel – and more than three-tenths of a gallon if your vehicle has an eight-cylinder engine."

So, idling for 20mins would probably cost them 50c US or posibly a lot less. How many restruant meals cost 50c US?

Australians have developed an amazing solution to wasting fuel while idling. I would tell every one but it's a national secret.

[Barbara]

A curiosity: last year dental care spending in my country dropped 30%. This is very sad, but at the same time the thought of all those rich dentists forced to drop their golden taps makes me happy!!!

My hubby is in the construction-design field, and he says that in the last year prices of raw glass and raw iron literally SKYROCKETED. Those iron workers he spoke with put the blame over China, hunting all the globe for iron... but I think oil prices do their job too.

[thorn]

My wife works in a restraunt drive-thru part time. She has noticed more people complaining about waits in the drive-thru line due to the high price of gas. One person who had to wait 20 minutes in the drive-thru said the price of gas idling was more than the meal.

A fair bet drive-thru's will be a thing of the past when gasoline reaches into the $3.00- $5.00 range per litre here in Canada. People won't want to idle their cars!

That person is a moron.

I have seen people going into stores and leaving their car idle...Sometimes someone inside with the AC running -- just to lazy to walk inside!

At least when I get stuck at a light or stop my gas engine turns off.
I've been getting 50 mpg with our Prius...

We have also noticed the food bill going up a lot. Soon everthing will go up.

[matt21811]

I appreciate that this thread was started in full knowledge that any evidence would be anecdotal but I'd like to point out that even though there are individual examples of price spikes, recent inflation has not been anything special.

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/infl ... lation.asp

Oil prices have been over $40 a barrel for almost a full year and averaged over $50 for the last 3 months and there are no really bad signs of an economic crisis because of it. The huge US government deficit spending seems more likely to cause problems than the oil price at the moment.

The effect of the high price of gas on driving habits, which is what this thread is about, is much less likely to show up in macro economic data.
My experience is that there is no change but I live in a highly petrol taxed country.

[gnm]

Good thing the inflation numbers aren't including food and fuel...

-G

[smiley]

At the gas station on the corner you now have to pay in advance. According to the lady gas thefts are going through the roof and this was a temporary measure until they have their camera's installed.

The government passed a new bill two weeks ago to shorten the procedure to reclaim money from gas thieves.

At $6.35/gallon regular it is getting pretty lucrative to steal gas

[Claudia]

According to the lady gas thefts are going through the roof and this was a temporary measure until they have their camera's installed.

This is a nation-wide problem in the US as well, as described in this USA Today article:

Theft of gas rises as price goes up

[lowem]

Good thing the inflation numbers aren't including food and fuel...

There are lies, damn lies, and erm ... the CPI ...

[Tyler_JC]

We've been having weird pricing, i.e. the gas stations aren't using the traditional 10-cent differences between grades. It's been 8-cent or 9-cent differences.

Attractions are still well-attended, to the best of my knowledge. However, I've noticed more people than usual at the zoo. Cheaper substitute for other attractions, possibly?

They are checking out which animals have the best cuts of meat...

[pea-jay]

nothing spectacular here...some stories of increased carpooling and decreased trip taking and thats about it.

Interestingly enough, construction is still going gangbusters on endless series of McHouses and McMansions along with the attendant uptick in housing related purchases. All still clueless.

It's gotta be easy credit. That's the only way these increases aren't biting more. Problems paying for gas? Put it on plastic. Cost of that new house going up? Just finance it for 40 years, utilize an interest only mortgage or negative amortization mortgage.

[rostov]

At the gas station on the corner you now have to pay in advance. According to the lady gas thefts are going through the roof and this was a temporary measure until they have their camera's installed.

Noticed this as well 7 months ago till now, in my travels driving through West Malaysia. Used to be that I could fill up first. But now manual intervention from the payment counter folks was needed prior to filling up. It's either that, or you pay a RM$50 (US$14.90), showing your face doing so, prior to walking back to the car and starting the pump.

There was also recent news about the poor Malaysian government thinking of pumping RM$3b (US$826b) into the construction sector because of construction companies going bust trying to complete various construction (Star news, 26th June 2005?). My visits are too short, but I've noticed suburbia estates in the middle of vast empty palm plantations abandoned as well, so I wonder if the two are related. I can imagine skyrocketted building materials coupled by the transportation needed to ship them.

Back home in Singapore, value of disposable income vs value of goods is still dropping, affecting consumer spending on small scales. Car prices are falling with still little folks taking them up (terribly more and more cars sold by small timers even in remote places), nobody's buying affluent phones (even on underpasses mobile re-re-resellers are begging for a takeup plan), banks are still begging for takeup and throwing credit cards like nobody's business with all previously known restrictions eradicated (no need for minimum wait time after last termination, credit rating standards lowered, minimum pay suspect).

But the car thing -- not many are "crazy" like me to give it up. I see and hear of folks who would downgrade (race to the bottom in terms of size) to smaller and smaller and smaller cars. The smallest possible is a 0.8 litre car which can fit 2 typical 6 feet american at the back seat with the front seats removed side by side.

[I_Like_Plants]

Pay-first is the rule and has been the rule as far back as I can remember in California, we have a great about of "divershitty" so there's very little trust between people.

I'm sure it would seem odd to change over to that system if you're in a nice part of the US with a good Folkish culture and to see that system come in.

[jmacdaddio]

I'd like to find out more about the types of people committing gas station "drive-offs". Are they the usual assortment of petty criminals and ne'er-do-wells? Or are ordinary people doing it because they don't have $30 to fill up and they need gas to get to work?

[I_Like_Plants]

That's a good question - there are always never-do-wells, but in hard times more people become never-do-wells.

The movie Falling Down, made during the early 90s downturn, is about this among other things. The guy was a middle-class part of society, but essentially became a never-do-well because he was not flexible enough to go out and find something else to do. They could have well had him do a drive-off in the movie, but making him walk across town was more interesting.

[BorneoRagnarok]

Nothing to see here.
Petrol price is USD 1.51 per US gallon. More and more gas thieves and ALL are done by SUVs owners. My friends in private hospitals are reporting a surge in mental case by rich patients.

The neurotics drived their SUVs right into the private hospital. Reason no more private drivers. According to my therapist friend, they are depressed as they thinks of ways to pay their employees and the decreasing returns. They don't announced the bad news to their employees as the afraid other 'rich' fellows knows about the financial problem and cut off credits to them.

Imagine what this neurotics SUV drivers do on the road with lousy refurnished tyres. More deaths and destructions. As usual everything skyrocketing in price from undertaker service to the plastics hair clips.

See ya until Internet is cut off... Time to get prepare not posting here anymore.

[I_Like_Plants]

Borneo gas is #2.50 USD here, for the cheapest grade, but I think the pay is higher here so it's actually more expensive there.

and yeah, small business people tend to both drive SUVs and also have to make payroll, pay their employees, and will often spend less on themselves to make sure their employees are paid.

This is what the move Falling Down was about, the guy who "fell down" was middle class, the really poor are used to walking everywhere etc.

[sol]

AUD$1.40 ltr and we now run out a day or so before the next delivery.

PEAK demand is alredy here.

[oiless]

I have not noticed any real change in driving habits here, (West Coast of Canada), but gas'n'go theft does seem to be up.
The real kicker here is the price of diesel. 10 months or so ago, gasoline was around 69.9 a litre. Diesel was cheaper than gas. Now gasoline is can be had, (if you look hard) for 79.9 a litre. Diesel is more expensive. A little while ago the gravel truckers stopped hauling gravel, because they were'nt making enough to pay bills. They got a fuel surcharge on their haulage rates, 12% if I remember right, not all at once, but to be phased in over seveal months, and went back to work.
The container truck drivers hauling from the Port of Vancouver are now off, wanting a similiar deal. From what I understand some urgent containers are now being shipped by rail from the port to Alberta, (province 700 miles away, then trucked back.
Another interesting tidbit: an industrial electrician friend of mine, (I'm a millwright) told me today that he had just finished doing the electrical for a new asphalt (pavement) plant. The plant is typical; three fuel design, natural gas, or propane, or waste oil. (Note, I don't know how much used motor oil gets re-refined, but I've been told it's precious little, most gets burned in asphalt plants and the like.) Anyhow, the usual routine is to burn waste oil, or #6 fuel oil (bunker C) except when you expect a stack emmisions test, then you switch to propane and pass the test. (This assumes that the plant is NOT located near a natural gas main that has capacity to run an asphalt batch plant. Many, I would dare say most, around here at least are not near such a main.) So the usual bet is cheapest. NG is cheapest, if you can get it, then waste oil, then bunker C, then propane. So waste oil and bunker C are the usual suspects.
Anyhow, back to my point, they will be running this new plant on propane, apparently there is no availability of waste oil, it's all being sucked up by the USA, and apparently bunker C is hard to come by at the moment as well.
This is all second hand of course, but I have no reason to doubt it. Whether it's indicative of anything I don't know, but I thought it curious.

[lowem]

In the midst of record-setting crude oil prices hovering around $60, the Petrol Price War in Singapore heats up again. Esso-Mobil is offering a massive 25% discount off petrol and so is Shell and everyone else. What is this counter-intuitive trend all about? Furthermore, the national "Great Singapore Sale" should already have been over (last day - Sun 3 Jul 2005).

http://www.post1.net/page/moblog/200507 ... price_war1

- *shrug* I have no idea how this happened. Moblogged this just about a couple of hours ago when I stopped by the local petrol station before coming back home for shower and bed. Turned out that if you use their loyalty cards, you get an additional 1% off ...

- will post on other going-ons in my region if I have some time. Busy being part of the MIC (mil-ind-you-know-what) now, but, *shrugs again* a job's a job. And then I keep having this "fin-de-siecle" feeling ...