Sure, switching to a motorcycle or scooter for your highway commute might seem like a good idea, especially if you want to save gasoline and fantasize about gridlock-defying, illegal traffic maneuvers. But while motorcycle commuting has some good points, it probably isn’t going to save you much money over commuting by car.
gas
WaPo Devotes Five Pages To Wawa/Sheetz Epic
By 8.27.09
We thought our love for Wawa was deep and true, then we read this lengthy column in the Washington Post about people getting married at a Wawa or flocking to the stores on 9/11 to regain a sense of community and normalcy.
10 Things You Should Know About Gas Stations
By 7.7.09
MSN Money has a list of 10 secrets about gas stations that could cost you money if you don’t know about them. The best ones are about why you shouldn’t use a debit card. For example, some stations will ask banks to place a hold on some of the cash in your account to cover your purchase, and won’t report the real purchase amount for a few days, leaving your cash in limbo.
Trade Your Clunker For These Sweet Fuel-Sipping Rides
By 6.25.09
The Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), popularly known as the “cash for clunkers” program, starts next month. Need help picking a suitably fuel-efficient car?
Watered-Down Gasoline Damages Cars Near Baltimore
By 6.18.09
Rain water, not fraud or sabotage, is behind the bad gasoline sold at stations near Baltimore early this week. Hess, the supplier, is covering any damage to customers’ cars caused by the diluted fuel. So, how does this happen?
If Gas Prices Fly As Expected, Busineses Need To Ground Themselves To Avoid Crashing
By 6.15.09
Things that are headed up these days: unemployment, foreclosures, adorable Pixar characters whose houses are attached to helium ballons, Daisuke Matsuzaka’s ERA and, argh, gas prices. A Russian energy group is predicting oil, which is currently just over $70 a barrel, will eventually pierce the stratosphere at $250, meaning it’ll pretty much be Mad Max time for everyone.
Shell Introduces Ice Cream That You Can Grill With
By 6.12.09
It looks like Shell has finally figured out a way to combine the awesomeness of ice cream with the grilling power of propane. It probably doesn’t taste very good, though. (Thanks to swarrior216!)
BP Points Out Their Gas Same Price Whether Cash Or Credit
By 6.9.09
Spotted this sign on a Brooklyn BP gas pump last night, taking pains to point out that they are charging customers the same price whether they use cash or credit. Interesting, because last year around this time we ran a few stories about gas stations who doing the opposite. The thing is, credit card companies charge merchants various transaction fees to process the cards. If retailers can’t assess those fees to the customers who actually incur them, the business has to raise prices on everything for everyone.
Grocery Shrink Ray Extends To Propane Refills
By 5.25.09
When the cost of propane shot up to $1.70 or more per gallon last year, propane dealers quietly cut the amount they were putting into refilled tanks without telling customers. Now the cost of propane is under a dollar per gallon, but retailers aren’t increasing the amount back to previous levels.
Costco Might Fix Hot Fuel Ripoff
By 4.28.09
Vermonters get a better deal on gas than Texans. Fuel expands in the heat and shrinks in the cold, so 5 gallons of “hot fuel” won’t get your car as far as 5 gallons of regular. Oilmen know this, and that’s why at various points in the supply chain volume gets adjusted for the industry standard temperature of 60° F. The retail pump isn’t one of them. That might start to change if a proposed class-action lawsuit settlement with Costco as a defendant goes through. Under the terms, Costco would fix its pumps in the bottom half of the country so that they dispense fuel at 60° F. If it goes through, it would be a precedent-setting consumer victory. After all, you want a Tiger in your tank, not a Heat Miser, don’t you?
Baseball Team Offers Flatulence Filters To Go With All You Can Eat Games
By 3.27.09
We love Minor League Baseball. Cheap tickets, sloppy play, and fun stadiums (our New Orleans Zephyrs boast a pool, a levee, and a “party shack”) make for a great spring or summer day. Minor League games are also known for their ridiculous promos and giveaways, and the Lake Elsinore Storm have made a natural pairing: fans who come to their all-you-can-eat Fat Tuesday games will also receive Subtle Butt, a “flatulence filter” that attaches to one’s underpants.
By 3.16.09
../../../..//2009/03/16/why-does-diesel-cost-so/
Why Does Diesel Cost So Much? In part two of a two-part series on diesel fuel, Consumer Reports finds that there are three main reasons diesel fuel costs so much, according to the petroleum experts they interviewed. The most obvious reason? Higher taxes. [CR]
Public Transit Ridership Highest In 52 Years
By 3.10.09
See, here’s some good news to the wallet-gouging gas prices of 2008: ridership of public transportation was up to 10.7 billion trips last year, “the highest level of ridership in 52 years” according to the American Public Transportation Association. It was the fifth consecutive year that ridership increased, but it may come to an end in 2009 because of skyrocketing unemployment.
