Fifteen years ago I had a friend that would drive across town to save 5 cents/gallon on gas. With a 15 gallon tank, he saved 75 cents per fillup.
With gas at $1/gallon he probably came out ahead financially, although just barely.
When you account for his time he came out behind, even though there’s no way his time was worth more than $4.25/hour. Trust me, I knew this guy. $4.25 is generous.
When you get older your time becomes more valuable. There’s an inflection point in the value of your time when driving across town for cheaper gas is no longer a wise money decision.
But today was an exception. I saw gas for $4.99/gallon at a station in Redwood City.
FOUR NINETY-NINE!
How can they charge $4.99 when it’s $4.35 at a station not far away? I don’t get it. I think the guy put up $4.99 as a joke, but people still came in. So he left it up.
Generally it’s not worthwhile to drive to a cheaper station. But when the discrepancy is 65 cents, and especially when you can buy en route, go for the lower price.
By the way, have I ever mentioned that Redwood City has the country’s best weather, proved conclusively by government climatologists?
On a related note. If you’re ever thinking of driving highway 1 between Monterey and Cambria: first, do it, it is amazing; Second, fill up in Monterey or Cambria. The gas station in Cambria was charging about $4.50 and I (ignorantly) didn’t fill up. At the next gas station I knew I was in trouble when they didn’t have the price advertised. It was $6.80. Fortunately they give the mileage to the next gas station, so you can only get what you need. In Monterey it was about $4.20. I wonder if they were pocketing the extra $2.60/gallon, or if was that much extra for them to get it there.
Jared: I say pocketing. I grew up 80 miles from Salt Lake City. Gas was 10-20 cents more than Salt Lake gas. If Salt Lake is the hub of gas distribution for Utah, then one might conclude that gas costs 1 cent more for every 4-8 miles from the hub. If the same relationship holds for the central coast, then either your gas station was a thousand miles away from a hub, or they were pocketing the difference.
When I go in a store and there are no prices, I know I can’t afford anything. It happens a lot in New York and the Stanford Shopping Center.
I love that drive along the central coast. If you haven’t already, you should go to Hearst Castle. Kind of expensive, but pretty incredible.