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photo by Marcus Frazier
Amy Clark fills her tank at Murphy U.S.A. in Vidalia Saturday. Gas prices dropped below $2 in Vidalia.
Gas: Believe it or not
Prices fall below $2 in Vidalia
Published Sunday, November 16, 2008
Vidalia — As gas prices in the Miss-Lou dropped below $2 a gallon, cars were lined up five deep at almost every pump at the Murphy U.S.A gas station in front of Walmart in Vidalia.
The price drop is the first time in recent memory that gas has fallen below the $2 line.
Patrons waiting to fill up were relieved and excited to see the new low price.
Amy Clark from Jackson was in town visiting her mother and stopped to fill up before her trip home.
Clark said that gas in Jackson had already dropped below $2, and averaged $1.85 a gallon before the weekend.
“When I came in to Natchez last night it was $2.12,” Clark said. “I was excited to see it was under $2 here. It’s a blessing.”
Clark, a mother of three boys, said before the drop in gas prices her family had to cut out extra expenses to cover the high cost of fuel.
“The kids sure weren’t getting many toys,” she said.
But now, the money she saves at the pump, will be put to good use. Clark said lower gas prices will make her trips to the Miss-Lou more frequent.
“I usually would come once a month,” Clark said. “I’ve already come twice this month.”
Allison McCarty of Wisner, La., sat patiently waiting for a pump to open up so she could fill up on her way to the LSU football game in Baton Rouge.
McCarty said that while she was planning to stop soon for gas, the price on the sign at Murphy U.S.A. was too good to pass up.
“When we saw the price, we had to stop here,” she said.
McCarty said that gas in Wisner had not yet dropped below $2, and averaged $2.19 before she left town Saturday morning.
For McCarty the trip to Baton Rouge won’t be her last road trip in the near future. She said the falling gas prices will enable her to travel more now, something she had put off when gas was closing in on $4 a gallon.
“I’ll be able to travel more now. I hadn’t been able to do much extra driving lately,” McCarty said. “I have a friend in Houston, and I haven’t been able to go visit her because of gas prices.
“It will make Christmas a little easier, too.”
While McCarty is already planning ahead, Clark is just happy for today’s low price.
“It’s good for now,” Clark said. “I’m just waiting for it to go back up.”
Gas prices in Natchez remained over $2 Saturday. Prices ranged from $2.08 to $2.19.
Comments
Posted by Southernly18 (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 1:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I still think there's a catch to this low gas. Even though the price is cheaper...I bet the quality's cheaper also. They've probably made a way to make the gas burn faster. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true! lol!
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 5:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
GAS is $1.81 here in Rankin County last night. It is the same quality, but now it is working its way down to Natchez and Vidalia. It has been below $2/gal up here all week long. My help drives back and forth to Natchez and they buy all there gas up here for the drive.
Posted by Teach4Peace (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 7:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am loving the low prices! I thought I'd never see prices near $1.85 but now, the Pilot in Jackson, MS is lower than that!
Has anyone noticed or does it seem that the gas containing ethanol runs through your tank quicker? I try to avoid stations that have starting adding it to their gasoline because it seems I have to gas up more when I use it.
Posted by fire39212 (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gas with ethanol you get 4 mpg less....It is hard to find gas here without it.....
If i remember right in the Nd they interviewed a few people they said gas would drop between 185 and 225 by march....We are seeing it...All i can say is take a pic lol...
Posted by Blasterhappy (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Tests have proven that fuel containing ethanol does not burn as efficient as Pure 100% Unleaded Fuels. Ethanol is just an Alcohol base supplement to fuel. The only real advantage that I gather from it's use is it does burns cleaner.
I'm loving the low gas prices and it looks as if the balance of power over our economy maybe shifting back to the hands of the consumer. Where it should be!
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually, I have gotten better mileage from ethanol than regular gas. My truck, 1996 Chevy with a Vortec 350, gets around 16 in town and 18 on highway.It has 290,000 miles on the original engine and still runs like a screamin' demon....lol...
My 2003 Durango with a 5.9 liter engine gets better mileage also.
Also, gas in Richland at Macs and Walmart was $1.81 yesterday,since you travel to Jackson.
Teach, take your car and get a fresh tune-up and get the oxygen sensors checked. UNLESS you drive and old old car, like a 1972 Caddy or Mercury, you should see substantial increases in mileage. My 1972 Chevy pickup does not like ethanol, but after I put Rapid Fire plugs, it leveled out considerably. At first, it got about 15 mph on ethanol, but now it gets around 17 mph, which is the same it got from regular gas.
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gas is low and will get lower soon because demand has fallen worldwide. We are all in this recession"depression" together and will see many more business failures and cutbacks very soon.
Some predictions:
WalMart will cut back even though there commercials say they are hiring more.
Best Buy and Circuit City will become internet only businesses if the economy does not improve.
Lowes and Home Depot will close more stores and lay off thousands after Christmas.
GM and Ford will get some bailout help, but it will not save many jobs here in the USA. (Common sense would have saved them 15 years ago, but it may be too late now to stop the bleeding that the unions have caused in those companies)
Raising Canes restruants will have to regroup or close many stores across the south.
State budgets will get slashed and many state workers will be laid off by the end of 2009.
More hospitals will close even in Mississippi and move there wrokers out of state.
Small farmers will get shut down because of government budget cuts to farm subsidies. These ewill be farmers with less than 5,000 acres, small mom and pop farms.
And Hollywood will continue to make movies that noone wants to go see....and never understand that people are sick of the crap they have been making for 20 years.
Enough soapbox for this morning....now I will go hear a preacher tell me about heaven and hell for a while...
Posted by Bobaloo (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
is this an example of how maniupulated the consumer is for energy needs? to go from 4 bucks to under 2 in 4 months? that's scary to know how helpless we are for consistency and fairness.
Posted by dhunt (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
gas FINALLY fell to under 2 bucks here in Milwaukee,though it is good to see gas going down, too little too late, as I too am feeling the pinch of the economy by getting laid off soon, and not to mention a LOT of businesses are closing up. redusmfan is spot on I just read somwhere walmart is reducing the number of supercenters and will stick to redoing the regular stores. Several home depots just closed up here, and so have some circut cities.
Posted by mike8427 (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ethanol does not have as much energy per gallon as 100% gasoline, however they are only adding 10% max at the stations I have seen. Unless you are calculating you mpg with a computer, you probably won't notice any change in your fuel economy. Worst case you would probably see a 1 mpg drop, but that is it. Ethanol is not the bad thing some people are making itout to be.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Circuit City has filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy as of last week. And I would also like to know why other costs are going up?
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 1:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Southernlady,
It is called "sticky pricing" Once the price goes up, they hardly ever come back down. They "Stick" at the higher level after they raise it for any reason. Just watch, the only airline that will come down will be Southwest, all the others will stay high to help erase the losses they have been suffering for 5 years. Prices will be staying at this level because they have gotten the consumer used to it.
Like many others, I am using the money I am saving on gas now to help pay off my gas credit cards that I charged back when gas was $4/gallon...lol....j/k
Posted by ntzmom (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 1:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was in Baton Rouge last week, gas was right at 2 bucks a gallon, and I saw that Best buy and Linen and Things stores were going out of business.
Scarey times.
Posted by natchezdrake (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Everyone speaks of how they are loving these low gas prices. But the truth of the matter is, that if gas gets to a nickel a gallon and you don't have a job to buy it what have you gained. I think before this is over people will be praying for $4 a gallon gas again.
Posted by happyreader (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 3:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Folks, enjoy the gas prices, but don't start buying up more gas and travelling more! They'll just take the opportunity to drive the prices back up.
Posted by crackbaby (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 3:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Modern technology has made incredible improvements for everything involved in our daily lives. PC's, cell phones, I pods, digital tv, on star navigation systems, etc... Some how technology over the last 30 years has not been applied to the fuel effeciency of automobile engines. 20 mpg in 1978, 20 mpg in 2008. History will prove this to be the biggest scam ever pulled on the American people. Just give it some thought. Your mpg is the only thing that hasn't improved in your life time. WHAT A SCAM FOR SURE!
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The original model A Ford got 22 mph and ran on gas or kerosene, and now we are trying hard to get vehicles back to 22 mph and run on "flex fuel"....so much for 100 years of technology....lol...
Posted by Teach4Peace (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 9:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I knew it had to be more than just me who observed this. My husband and I keep our vehicles in good running condition and I tested it on more than one occasion thinking it was just my overactive cautiousness. Gas with 10% ethanol does not last as long as gasoline without it. I just got to the point where I only frequent gas stations who have not added it yet, although I hear all stations will have it eventually. This is disheartening because it doesn't matter much if gasoline gets to .99 a gallon, it won't do much good if you are going to the gas station more frequently.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
by the winter of '09 price of gas/gal could likely hit $10- my prediction
this current low price is just to lull us into apathy and higher consumption- OPEC strategy
our Congress has done NOTHING to increase domestic supply of oil and protect us - our foolishiness and negligence
the only alternative we have is conservation
buy a motorcycle
OPEC is meeting this week and will cut supply (my prediction)
Obama will draw down our military and decrease military spending, and decrease our military presence in the Middleeast to disable and cause our position to be irrelevant to Iran- that's what Obama has said he will do. Again our negligence for voting him in.
Iran will cause- by backing terrorists and direct military action in the Straits of Hormuz - destabilization of the Middleeast, causing world oil supply to be severely decreased - they have stated their intention to destroy our way of life, that would be the way to do it along with an EMP strike.
I hope it doesn't happen, maybe our military leaders will convince Obama of the actual threat and he will listen.
what do you think?
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
something I don't understand
all this talk of recession
I was in Baton Rouge this weekend, lots of cars on the hiways and interstates, traffic is thick - ok low price of gas people are travelling
the mall was full of people shopping and the shelves full of products
doesn't sound like much of a recession to me
Posted by JAPsGirl (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gas is $1.61 here in my part of Houston, TX. It's been below $2 city-wide for over a month now. I filled my tank with less than $20! Prices are only temporary, yet people are rushing to buy the big SUVs again...I just don't get it.
Posted by mommytobe (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes. It sure is nice to be able to afford to go somewhere.... Especially with the holidays coming up. Hopefully it stays this low until next year. That would be nice, but I doubt it does.
Posted by Rk2120 (anonymous) on November 18, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've been working offshore ever since I graduated in 2001 and finding work hasnt been hard at all. It seemed like if anyone had a little bit of experience then there was a job waiting on them but now oil companies are cutting jobs left and right. The thing that surprises me is that ever since the hurricanes came through most of the gulf has shut down production due to damage. Its been 4 months since we were producing so how is it that the gas prices are falling? It would seem that with production down in the Gulf it would cause an increase at the pumps. I believe its because we can buy it cheaper from foreign countrys than what US companies are selling it for. I may be wrong but when gas prices were 3.50 a gallon here in the US, the average gallon of gas overseas cost no more than a dollar. Can anyone explain this to me?
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