Gas Price Comparison

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

Rate of inflation? When I started driving we were paying 39.9 cents/litre in Edmonton. That was in 1996. I'm no financial expert, but I'd say that's a faster climb than inflation.

Are you sure? I don't recall being older than 10 years old with gas at even 49.9 a liter, let alone 39.9, and I'm just now turning 27 years old ... I think you might be exaggerating.

[V]

Not at all. I swear by it. In fact, when I was living in BC for four months in 1996 they had a couple new gas stations move in from the states and they priced all the way down to 29.9 for a few weeks. We all couldn't believe it. A 10 cent drop overnight!!

[Shazam]

Nope, I remember 39.9 gas as well. I used to fill up my old Saturn for $17 - $18.

The thing I've always wondered is just why gas companies always need to make a profit on gas. In most businesses, a company will absorb price increases for quite a while before resorting to raising prices. Oil companies seem to have carte blanche in this respect.

[ken0042]

I'm sure we have seen gas at 39.9 since 1996; however I wouldn't go so far to say it was always around that price back then.

I know when the Gulf War started in 1991 we had gas go up to 64.9, then it went down to around 50¢ after the war.

I would guess that 50 or 55 cents would be a better average price for 1996.

[V]

Of course, back then I remember paying 5 bucks flat for a pack of smokes.

[ken0042]

Here we go- found a link for prices:
http://www.oppi-bipp.gc.ca/prices_by...my=#PriceGraph

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I'm sure we have seen gas at 39.9 since 1996; however I wouldn't go so far to say it was always around that price back then.

I know when the Gulf War started in 1991 we had gas go up to 64.9, then it went down to around 50¢ after the war.

I would guess that 50 or 55 cents would be a better average price for 1996.

Yeah, I started driving in about '97 and I clearly remember gas being around $.50 for the first bit.

It's now over 100% higher, which I'll wager is FAR above inflation for other products.

[V]

So according to that graph we were spending less than .90 for the first three months of this year? Wow, I don't remember that at all. And last year we spent less than 1.00 for the entire year except for just over one month? I really don't remember that either. Do I have a really bad memory, or is this chart off?

[Flash Walken]

Just a theory, but I think world consumption could have more to do with price at the pump than most are believing.

I mean, what has more effect on prices, a slight oil disruption, or china purchasing a majority interest in an oil exploration company? Maybe the reasons pump prices are so slow to come down are because that interuption in refining capacity wasn't as a result of an interuption, but rather a jump in consumption rates?

[Hockey Fan #751]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

So according to that graph we were spending less than .90 for the first three months of this year? Wow, I don't remember that at all. And last year we spent less than 1.00 for the entire year except for just over one month? I really don't remember that either. Do I have a really bad memory, or is this chart off?

Well technically, less than 90 cents would be 92.9 as an example because of the "3.5 cents off at the pump" that Safeway has introduced to the marketplace. It may not have been marked below 90 but it still could have been.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by drp_69

Price gouging, and some fixing (collusion) is what I say causes it. Although there have been studies to show that this is not the case, I dont believe them. I just am very suspicious of price fixing at the gas pump.

I'm sure there's something going on in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

If you think about it, the price of gas in one end of Calgary is almost always the same in the other end of the city to the tenth of a cent. Same goes for Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, go to Toronto, Montreal or pretty much any American city and the price of gas differs from one block to another - even if the stations are across the street from one another!

You can't tell me that something isn't going on with gas prices in the prairies.

[Bobblehead]

I remember when I moved to Calgary that there aren't anywhere near the price swings like Ont. Way more gas price wars.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

I'm sure there's something going on in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

If you think about it, the price of gas in one end of Calgary is almost always the same in the other end of the city to the tenth of a cent. Same goes for Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, go to Toronto, Montreal or pretty much any American city and the price of gas differs from one block to another - even if the stations are across the street from one another!

You can't tell me that something isn't going on with gas prices in the prairies.

Actually, driving down 17 coming back from the fireworks last week we noted every couple blocks closer to downtown you got, the price seemed to increase by a penny. I've also noted prices west of downtown are higher than east. Yes, all the stations in an area have the same price listed, but the city seems to have variable pricing depending on the area.

I also believe Vancouver has an extra "lower mainland" tax so Vancouver proper has a higher price than Burnaby or Langley.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by drp_69

Price gouging, and some fixing (collusion) is what I say causes it. Although there have been studies to show that this is not the case, I dont believe them. I just am very suspicious of price fixing at the gas pump.

There are many things here:

for one, you think if there was ever any collusion it would have been found by now? What could be more popular for a politician than to be able to beat that drum? Man I don't even know where to start I'll just do pt form.

Prices are going up with the cost of crude, you may have noticed that the cost of WTI is north of $70, that may have something to do with it

Never in history has a commodity as important as oil been so poorly understood by the public. The gap between what people know and what is true is absolutely unbelievable considering how important oil is. Fact is, relative to the rest of the developed world, retail gasoline is still cheap. (US not withstanding)

Demand is insensitve to price, so if supply is decreasing and / or source of supply is becomming more expensive to develop then prices have to move sharply to adjust demand appropriately.

History has shown that prices don't rise anymore going into a long weekend than they do decrease, it's just that people only notice the increases, and even if they did, so what? Since when does the price of something not move when demand changes. Ever seen how airplane tickets, hotel rooms or anything else with a finite supply is priced?

The problem with the gasoline industry is that it has one big price on a big sign on every corner, so people become fixated on a number, and nobody is out there teaching anyone about market fundamentals and why prices move.

[Flames in 07]

sounds like a price war there ... are there any new entrants like a wal mart type store.

This has happened a few times in Canada, most of the time it is a big box selling at a huge loss to cause a stir.

The only other one I can think of that is not a big box blowing their brains out is Chevron did it in Vancouver in like 98 to knock out the independants ... it worked, the small guys died and up the prices went after they left.

[TheCommodoreAfro]

Here's one for you to chew on. I moved to Japan in 2003. Gas was about 112 yen per litre. Last weekend the same litre of gas was 136 yen. Meaning that in three years the gas price has gone up by about 30%. How come the price of gas in that same time span has almost doubled in North America? Smells fishy to me...

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Thanks for those graphs. I was actually trying to tell a guy at work that our prices are usually about the same, and he says that Toronto is "always cheaper."

I tried to explain that he doesn't pay that close of attention because he doesn't drive, and him going to Toronto for 2 weeks at the begining of summer doesn't make him an "expert."

Okay so I suck! I'm the victim of some bad coincidences that everytime I've been there or heard what gas prices are they happened to be lower than ours.

[Clarkey]

Gas prices are going down as we enter the long-weekend, you can't tell me that there isn't collusion.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Clarkey

Gas prices are going down as we enter the long-weekend, you can't tell me that there isn't collusion.

Umm, gas prices going down would indicate that there is not collusion, you will also see that WTI has been going down over the past couple weeks, and something you wouldn't see is that refining margins have gone down as well.

[Antithesis]

I think he's joking around and/or teasing others in this thread.