Gas prices, a perspective...

[MikeFB2764 0]

By now everyone is aware of the situation with gas prices. The price of gas continues to creep up, especially around the holiday season. Though the price does come down afterwards, it does not fall quite as far as it crept up. When prices creep up again, they seem to go up higher and again, do not quite fall as far. I noticed today that gas prices in my area were about $3.65 a gallon, which is the highest that I have ever seen them in this area.

In talking with my father-in-law, he pointed out while gas prices are high, consumers are paying a lot more, per gallon, for other consumables. After looking into this in detail, he’s right! Here are a couple of examples.

Bottled Water: Everyone these days seems to using bottled water. While, from my perspective, it is not the “fad” that it use to be, it is still prevalent today. One can purchase a 20oz bottle of water from a vending machine for a dollar. While a dollar might not be unreasonable, here is how the cost of that one dollar bottle of water compares to a $3.65 gallon of gas.

There are 128 ounces in a gallon. A 20oz bottle of water that cost one dollar, breaks down to approximately 5 cents an ounce. At that rate, a gallon of the same water would cost $6.40 per gallon.

Let’s say that you are a little frugal and by your water in bulk. A retailer (who shall remain nameless), sell a 6 pack of 24oz bottles of water for $4.99. This breaks down to approximately 3 cents per ounce. At that rate, a gallon of the same water would cost $3.84 per gallon. Even a 12 pack of 12oz bottles would break down to the same price.

In order to get your “per gallon” price for water below the current gas price (of $3.65 per gallon), you would need to purchase the 24 pack of 16.9oz bottles. This would break down to approximately 2 cents an ounce or $2.56 per gallon.

Looking at it from this perspective is the price of gas unreasonable. We, as consumers, seem willing to pay, in some cases, a lot more for water than we are for gas. It gets worse!

While figuring all of this out, I was enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee (again, brand to remain nameless). I though to myself, “How much does this coffee cost per gallon”. In doing the math, a 24oz cup of coffee that cost $2.25, breaks down to a whopping 9 cents per ounce or $11.25 cents per gallon.

While there are a lot of arguments that can be made about this analysis and how buying more should cost less and frequency of purchases and all that other fun stuff, you have to admit, when you start looking at how much consumers are willing to pay for goods, the price of gas doesn’t seem that bad…

[cocheese 0]

r/c heli fuel.. low grade = $20 a gallon.

Beer at a sporting event or concert = $60 a gallon.

[BillyVance 35]

I can get a gallon of distilled water at the store for about a dollar.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[ispitfirei 0]

This is a great post, but it also brings up the point that petrochemicals are used to produce all of the plastic bottles the water comes in. It may be a minor aspect in the rising gas prices, but any demand for the oil will inflate the price to some extent.

[skinnyflyer 0]

considering that 1 gallon of oil represents the energy equivalent of about 500 hours of human labour i would say that even at 5$/gallon it is still dirt cheap. the fact that we can buy so much value for so little and exploit it efficiently with technology is responsible for our standard of living. experts have been predicting supply shortfalls for some time now and continue to predict worse and worse shortfalls in the futur. the people complaining about price gouging are simply uninformed.

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives."
A. Sachs

[gonzalesna 1]

how about buying that gallon of water at the store for 65 cents?

Some people refrain from beating a dead horse. Personally, I find a myriad of entertainment value when beating it until it becomes a horse-smoothie.