Get ready folks in the U.S - $4.00 a gallon gas by summer!

[FBM]

Well my CV joint disintegrated yesterday. I guess I don't have to worry about petrol anymore. Buying a bike when my next student loan payment comes in. It'll come in handy next year anyways, as I'm only a short ride from my university

Sounds like an excerpt from my biography. Chicks dig bikes. The kinda ones that I dig, anyway. Whatever you buy, get a good toolkit and learn how to maintain/repair it yourself. Save yourself big bucks.

[beige]

Well my CV joint disintegrated yesterday. I guess I don't have to worry about petrol anymore. Buying a bike when my next student loan payment comes in. It'll come in handy next year anyways, as I'm only a short ride from my university

Sounds like an excerpt from my biography. Chicks dig bikes. The kinda ones that I dig, anyway. Whatever you buy, get a good toolkit and learn how to maintain/repair it yourself. Save yourself big bucks.

I have a toolkit, it's just a really cheap and nasty one

I guess I'm halfway there.

[maiforpeace]

As the price of a barrel of oil goes up....upward pressure on pricing of just about everything you buy would occur as well. It's up to you whether you think that's a good thing. But, it is a reality.

I willingly face that reality by choosing not to buy from box stores or sources that do a lot of shipping, so I'm already paying higher prices for most of the stuff I get anyway. I am thankful that most of my accounts don't need a physical visit from me anymore, otherwise I would be impacted by higher travel expenses.

I do realize that others in the US will be negatively impacted, but it is a reality as you say, they are just being forced to face it rather than choosing to.

Well my CV joint disintegrated yesterday. I guess I don't have to worry about petrol anymore. Buying a bike when my next student loan payment comes in. It'll come in handy next year anyways, as I'm only a short ride from my university

Sounds like an excerpt from my biography. Chicks dig bikes. The kinda ones that I dig, anyway. Whatever you buy, get a good toolkit and learn how to maintain/repair it yourself. Save yourself big bucks.

Did I tell you I just got my motorcycle license?

[FBM]

I have a toolkit, it's just a really cheap and nasty one

I guess I'm halfway there.

$20, spent wisely, and you're done. Get the bike first, then figure out which wrenches/spanners/sockets you'll need.

Did I tell you I just got my motorcycle license?

Nope, but am looking forward to pics of you in motion, so to speak...

[Coito ergo sum]

As the price of a barrel of oil goes up....upward pressure on pricing of just about everything you buy would occur as well. It's up to you whether you think that's a good thing. But, it is a reality.

I willingly face that reality by choosing not to buy from box stores or sources that do a lot of shipping, so I'm already paying higher prices for most of the stuff I get anyway. I am thankful that most of my accounts don't need a physical visit from me anymore, otherwise I would be impacted by higher travel expenses.

I do realize that others in the US will be negatively impacted, but it is a reality as you say, they are just being forced to face it rather than choosing to.

Does anyone "choose" to pay higher prices? If so, why would they?

I'm not sure I understand the desire to pay higher when one does not have to.

You choose not to shop at "box" store, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are conserving oil on a per-product basis. For example, often produce grown far away is, overall, greener than locally grown produce. Further, unless you are buying products that are locally manufactured, they will still have to be shipped, and actually may undergo MORE shipping than those at box stores. Wal-Mart and costco have efficient shipping systems that get the product right to their stores in the most direct route possible. A small store downtown, however, is buying from an American middleman warehouse who is then in turn marking the product up and buying products and shipping them in from overseas.

I am not sure how buying, say, a Taiwanese made wrench from a local family owned hardware store could involve less shipping than a similar wrench bought at a box store. We don't make wrenches in the US (not sure about Europe) anymore.

[Ian]

I drive a Prius.

[maiforpeace]

As the price of a barrel of oil goes up....upward pressure on pricing of just about everything you buy would occur as well. It's up to you whether you think that's a good thing. But, it is a reality.

I willingly face that reality by choosing not to buy from box stores or sources that do a lot of shipping, so I'm already paying higher prices for most of the stuff I get anyway. I am thankful that most of my accounts don't need a physical visit from me anymore, otherwise I would be impacted by higher travel expenses.

I do realize that others in the US will be negatively impacted, but it is a reality as you say, they are just being forced to face it rather than choosing to.

Does anyone "choose" to pay higher prices? If so, why would they?

I'm not sure I understand the desire to pay higher when one does not have to.

You choose not to shop at "box" store, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are conserving oil on a per-product basis. For example, often produce grown far away is, overall, greener than locally grown produce. Further, unless you are buying products that are locally manufactured, they will still have to be shipped, and actually may undergo MORE shipping than those at box stores. Wal-Mart and costco have efficient shipping systems that get the product right to their stores in the most direct route possible. A small store downtown, however, is buying from an American middleman warehouse who is then in turn marking the product up and buying products and shipping them in from overseas.

I am not sure how buying, say, a Taiwanese made wrench from a local family owned hardware store could involve less shipping than a similar wrench bought at a box store. We don't make wrenches in the US (not sure about Europe) anymore.

The bulk of the "consumables" I buy new is food.

So, for example, I choose to pay a higher price for my vegetables because even though I buy from a direct local source - a CSA, where the vegetables travel 7 miles from the field where they are harvested, to where I pick them up is because:

They are fresher, tastier, probably more nutritious, organic, there's no packaging involved, and the workers who produce these products are paid a fair wage.

Cheap consumer goods are cheap for a reason, and is mostly at the expense of quality - of the product, it's manufacturing processes and the worker's conditions. Shipping is only a small part of the total equation.

Those are my reason's for 'choosing' to pay more.

[Godless Libertarian]

CES, if you posted this just to f**k with the europeans, you're my new hero

[maiforpeace]

CES, if you posted this just to f**k with the europeans, you're my new hero

...don't forget the moonbats.

[AshtonBlack]

We're paying $ 8.40 a gallon in the UK, based on today's exchange rate and average pump price.

That sucks. It would help your economy if that was cut in half, wouldn't it?

If the price was cut in half (say by getting rid of all duty and VAT on it) then the retailers/oil companies would raise their prices and cream off the lions share of any benefit that would bring. If you think that is a wrong, assessment then you don't know oil companies.

I'm not saying it wouldn't benefit the economy, but then the government would have to find around £25.7 Billion from somewhere else, each year. I'm not convinced lining the pockets of oil companies would bring that much income in other taxes.

[Martok]

Oil speculators are at it again.

The oil price seems only to make a difference when the prices go up ! they Never drop the price when it falls

The price went down where I live.

In December of '08 gas prices actually dipped below $2.00 a gallon for a week or two over here.

[Coito ergo sum]

As the price of a barrel of oil goes up....upward pressure on pricing of just about everything you buy would occur as well. It's up to you whether you think that's a good thing. But, it is a reality.

I willingly face that reality by choosing not to buy from box stores or sources that do a lot of shipping, so I'm already paying higher prices for most of the stuff I get anyway. I am thankful that most of my accounts don't need a physical visit from me anymore, otherwise I would be impacted by higher travel expenses.

I do realize that others in the US will be negatively impacted, but it is a reality as you say, they are just being forced to face it rather than choosing to.

Does anyone "choose" to pay higher prices? If so, why would they?

I'm not sure I understand the desire to pay higher when one does not have to.

You choose not to shop at "box" store, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are conserving oil on a per-product basis. For example, often produce grown far away is, overall, greener than locally grown produce. Further, unless you are buying products that are locally manufactured, they will still have to be shipped, and actually may undergo MORE shipping than those at box stores. Wal-Mart and costco have efficient shipping systems that get the product right to their stores in the most direct route possible. A small store downtown, however, is buying from an American middleman warehouse who is then in turn marking the product up and buying products and shipping them in from overseas.

I am not sure how buying, say, a Taiwanese made wrench from a local family owned hardware store could involve less shipping than a similar wrench bought at a box store. We don't make wrenches in the US (not sure about Europe) anymore.

The bulk of the "consumables" I buy new is food.

So, for example, I choose to pay a higher price for my vegetables because even though I buy from a direct local source - a CSA, where the vegetables travel 7 miles from the field where they are harvested, to where I pick them up is because:

They are fresher, tastier, probably more nutritious, organic, there's no packaging involved, and the workers who produce these products are paid a fair wage.

Cheap consumer goods are cheap for a reason, and is mostly at the expense of quality - of the product, it's manufacturing processes and the worker's conditions. Shipping is only a small part of the total equation.

Those are my reason's for 'choosing' to pay more.

Well, sure, if as you say the quality is better, than you are getting what you pay for. However, all else being equal, one would normally pay less for the same thing. It's great you can buy all the food you need from just several miles from your house. If I want blueberries, though, they have to travel far. If I want melons, and other fruits other than citrus fruits,they have to travel.

I read an article, though, that pointed out that some farming methods overseas utilize only cow manure as fertilizer and hand laborers (so no petroleum use or pollution from machines). I think it was green beans -- comparing locally grown in the UK with imported from Kenya. The result of the study was that the Kenyan imports were greener despite having traveled by air.

[tattuchu]

Well it hardly matters if petrol is expensive in England. You can drive across the whole goddamn country in ten minutes
Over here, I have to drive a half hour just to get to work, so high gas prices present a real burden for me

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well it hardly matters if petrol is expensive in England. You can drive across the whole goddamn country in ten minutes
Over here, I have to drive a half hour just to get to work, so high gas prices present a real burden for me

Ayaan and I drove from London to Moscow in January and only moved over two states.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Well it hardly matters if petrol is expensive in England. You can drive across the whole goddamn country in ten minutes
Over here, I have to drive a half hour just to get to work, so high gas prices present a real burden for me

You have whole states full of nothing but open roads and a few trees - every inch of our country is filled with traffic lights, roundabouts and speed cameras! We dream of a 30 minute drive to work - even those of us that work from home!!1!


(Even those of us that don't even fucking work! )