Sumner Shortcuts

I’ve written before about the disparity between gas prices–how one station can have a much lower price than another one just down the street.

Right now.  Right this second… at 7:09pm on Wednesday, August 13, 2008, the Mapco and the Dodge’s Store gas stations at 31E and Center Point Road have regular unleaded at $3.45/gallon.  First of all, that’s awesome!  Second of all… that’s twenty cents per gallon less than the Exxon just .4 miles away (toward Hendersonville).

That’s right.  The Exxon at 31E and Rockland Rd. has regular unleaded for $3.65/gallon.  What’s worse is that when I drove past there not five minutes ago, there were six cars filling up.

I know I probably sound like a miser, but $0.20 is a big difference.  Most gas tanks are between 12 and 16 gallons.  That’s $2.40-$3.20 you would save by driving what amounts to three blocks further down the road. Maybe you’re so rich you throw away that much every day on purpose.

But I fill up about once a week.  And That means I’m saving $12-15 per month.  That translates to $144-$180 a year or so. Those of you with SUVs would save probably twice as much.

So, can you not use an extra $180 a year?

Why anyone would buy their gas from this Exxon is beyond me.  And yet, they clearly do.  In fact, gas stations pretty much charge whatever you’re willing to pay–it’s an industry where price is driven by the consumer more than you realize.  If people stopped paying the outrageous $3.65 altogether… Exxon would have no choice but to come down to where the other stations’ prices are.

Let’s put it in a different context.  Let’s say you’re at a steakhouse.  And you order a filet.  And the waiter says, “Do you want the $20 filet or the $30 one?”  And you naturally ask, “What’s the difference?”  And the waiter says, “No difference.  They are the exact same steak.  They are the same size, and they come with the same side orders.  One just costs more.”

Would you order the $30 steak?

That’s what I thought.