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As drivers have struggled with the rising price of gas over the last month, so too have gas stations and other businesses in Central Mass.
“An increase in gas prices is never good for anybody,” said Sean Flynn, owner of Flynn’s Truck Stop in Shrewsbury. Not only does he see fewer customers, but Flynn said he also sees them spending less at the pump.
According to AAA, the price of gas has been on the rise for the last month as a result of a late surge in summer demand and, more recently, due to speculation over Hurricane Isaac. The national average price per gallon of regular self-serve gas this week is $3.75, three cents more than one week ago and 26 cents more than one month ago.
According to GasBuddy.com, which lists gas prices by town, Central Mass. has prices similar to the national average. The cheapest is Peterson Oil on Route 9 in Northborough at $3.63 and some of the highest prices are found at stations in Westborough and Shrewsbury.
Michael Rooney, President and CEO of both the Shrewsbury and Westborough Taxi companies, said he sees the prices at the increase daily as commuters hunt for a deal.
“I can see people actually watching the prices,” Rooney said. “We go by every day and the prices on the Route 9 corridor are so high.”
Rooney said his company has a deal with Peterson Oil to get gas at a discounted cost and noted they were the best around in terms of price.
“They are very competitive with BJ’s Wholesale up the road and they are full-service,” Rooney said.
Other local gas stations are struggling to keep their prices competitive.
Grafton BP Manager Michael Awde noted they don’t set the price daily at their shop, but rather must follow a national price, making it hard for them to attract customers.
“We see fewer people coming here as they hunt around for a better deal,” Awde said.
He added that the auto body portion of their business also takes a hit when gas prices rise. “The less people drive, the less maintenance they need,” Awde said.
Millbury’s Riverside Market manager Mohamed Eieadah said they are constantly trying to undercut other area stations, but it often doesn’t help with profits.
“People are on a budget, so they spend $20 on gas,” Eieadah said. “That used to buy them five gallons, now it only buys them four.”
Station owners are speculating some relief in gas prices coming soon since Hurricane Isaac has passed.
Comments (15)
$3.98 at Flynn's on Sunday Aug. 28th. I drove back to Mike's in Grafton. It was 20 cents cheaper!!!!!
A weekago Sunday, the 28th I pulled into Flynn's Truckstop in Shrewsbury, there was one pump with a car next to it. My wife said, "Wow! Look at the price, $3.98 a gallon,let's go back to Grafton, Mike's is cheaper!"....and it was. Thanks Mike, you were cheaper by 20 cents????? Something was amiss at Flynn's that day, or was it hurricane speculation??
John B., Why don't you ask some of the Seniors in this town how they cannot get any return with their Money Market Funds that return less than 1%. Ask them why they are getting less and less food for their dollars. Ask them why they are getting nervous because they had to invest in Exon and Energy companies to get something of a return to live on and people like Elizabeth Warren want to hang these companies. Bernacke is reaching the point of no return with his printing press.
No one forced the seniors to make bad investment decisions in energy, they chose to make these bad decisions. They failed to build their futures. I feel bad for them.
Lucky a government program like social security will keep seniors out of poverty. Not far out of poverty, but out.
My parents chose to invest in Apple, I chose bio-tech. Both of done well.
Prices for corn are rising because of the drought and the ethanol mandates put through, by Republican keeping their farmers happy. Looks like the Government is helping non-drought farmers keep up their income.
3 years ago Mr. Ryan, VP nominee, said Dr. Bernacke was creating hyper inflation. Three years later inflation and interest rates are at record lows. Inflation and interest go hand in hand. Read Paul Krugman in the New York Times for some accurate information about the economy, not GOP talking points.
Now is an excellent time to get a loan, expand ones house, buy some appliances, maybe buy a rental property, and get a car loan. Business expansion is a good thing.
John B., Why don't you ask some of the Seniors in this town how they cannot get any return with their Money Market Funds that return less than 1%. Ask them why they are getting less and less food for their dollars. Ask them why they are getting nervous because they had to invest in Exon and Energy companies to get something of a return to live on and people like Elizabeth Warren want to hang these companies. Bernacke is reaching the point of no return with his printing press.
The price of gasoline and a barrel of oil in January 2009 was impacted by the largest recession in eighty years coupled with the near collapse of the international financial system. The average cost of gas in the period before the start of the recession (January to August of 2008) was about $3.60 and dropped drastically during the recession to bounce back up. The average price of gas today is about equivalent to the average price of gas in 2008. Everyone remember Sarah Palin with "drill, baby, drill?" It was because of gas prices at $3.60 a gallon, not because of gas under $2. Of course we could bring back the recession.
The simple fact is that we have a market based system for pricing oil and gasoline. It is a free market. Oil and gasoline are priced on an international market with suppliers selling product for the best price margin. You don't sell your product to the minimum bidder. You sell it to the highest. So unless people want to abandon the free market you need to suck it up. No one owes you cheap gas and the gasoline suppliers work in a capitalistic free market system. Embrace the free market or move to Cuba.
January 2009: $1.85
(source:http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/01/gas-prices-2.html)
September 2012: $3.75 (source: this article)
The current WH administration has done nothing but devalue the dollar, increase the national debt, and also increase the cost of living for families in the country. On the positive side though, welfare/SNAP recipients, the amount of unemployed people is on the rise, and nothing has been done to curb wasteful spending in Washington. It is time to see some different direction for this country. Choose wisely in 2012
20 straight months of job growth and Bin Lauren is dead. And a doubling value of the stock market. Sounds good to me.
How is Mitten's economic policies different then W's which lead to an economic crash?
What will Mittens cut that out of the budget? He has not said.
As a Country, let's do natural gas, and change the story.
Because so many people have switched to natural gas they now say the price will go up this winter.
To put a more local perspective on the gas price conversation... Yes, national,international & production issues set the major price range for gas in the United States. However, within that range, insofar as to the price of gas at your local station, the Manager's are usually instructed to take daily survey's as to the price their local competitors are currently charging and their corporate office directs them to move the price up or down, based upon that survey. That is why you usually have areas or towns generally higher or lower rather than 1 station being drastically different in a very local area. They are generally following their local competition.
Has anyone ever thought that the reason why gas is going up is because our dollar is being silently devalued. There is a reason why the dollar is being replaced on the world oil market, countries like Russia and China are losing confidence in the dollar. This is what happens with a $16 trillion debt. They are using gold and the China currency to conduct their oil business. Gold in the last 10 years has gone from $250 an ounce to $1,800 an ounce. This is "the" hedge of the dollar and other Fiat currencies.
Why has the stock market gone up? It is not because the companies are doing swell and Europe is doing great. It is because stocks, that are valued in Dollars, are real assets. The dollar gets devalued, stocks (real assets) go up.
Government debt, whether Republican or Democratic caused, will exact a silent tax on our goods such as energy and food.
Lastly, whether you are thinking the Oil companies are money grubbing greedy selfish companies, and you want Elizabeth Warren to go to Washington to hammer them senseless, do you realize that most of the money, that is invested in these companies like Exon, BP, etc.., are in 401ks and retirement plans. They are the top holdings in Mutual Funds in every family of funds. The retirees and Seniors of this country are being advised to invest their retirement money in stable companies that pay a fair dividend. They are getting virtually no return in their money market funds with less than 1% interest being paid. Exon and the major oil companies are at the top of this list of investment professionals. The rule of unintended consequences is in effect here if they hurt these companies. It will hurt the middle class in the mutual funds and even more sadly, hurt the purchasing power of our seniors who have suffered the most from the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates near zero.
I hope people learn a little more about consequences of certain policies and understand what it can do to the average person and make good decisions at the voting booth. One way or the other, it is important to look at the big picture.
Another federal reserve bank brasher, another person who has misjudge the excellent work done by Ben Bernake.
The only ones grumbling are the Tea Party nut cases, but they are also very happy because they can the blame President Obama, and demand that the Keystone pipeline be built, so that we can move the shale oil from Canada to an American refinery from where the Big Oil Companies can then ship the refined oil off to China, and that will somehow lower the price of gas in Millbury.
The ones who are making a profit off of high gas prices are the oil refineries, who have figured out how to make a profit at gas at $2.00 a gallon. The rest is gravy to them.
The others are the oil exporting countries.
They don't want gas prices to get to high, it will drive their customers to find a substitute. So when gas prices get to high Saudi Arabia will unleash a billion gallons and lower the prices and the consumers will keep using oil.
Gas prices are going up as the world wide demand for gasoline increases. As China switches from bikes to cars that is a huge demand increase.
Increasing American production will not lower prices at the pump as the producers will sell the gas to the country willing to pay the highest price.