Drivers lined up to buy gas in Newport on Tuesday, where regular unleaded dipped to $2.99 a gallon.
DENVER — Prices at the pump are dropping fast, and gas could fall below $3 a gallon in a matter of weeks, if not sooner. Does that mean Americans will return to their heedless, gas-guzzling ways?
Experts say no because most drivers assume the dip in prices will be short-lived, and motorists have adjusted their habits accordingly.
“We’ve been through almost eight years of continuously rising gasoline prices,” AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom said. “Any notion that this is a temporary thing has pretty well been erased.”
New technologies are emerging fast with electric cars expected to hit the market in a couple years. But the question is no longer when gas prices will fall, but when will the next spike come.
“Everywhere you go, be it the store, the diner, whatever, you hear people talking about their gas costs and how they need to cut back,” said David Robinson, 67, while a friend filled up in Lakewood, N.J. “You still hear it, even though gas keeps dropping.”
Even automakers that have long relied on big trucks for profits are moving in a new direction.
Ford Motor Co. is changing from a truck to a car company in North America. General Motors Corp. is closing four factories that make pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. It will open a new plant to make four-cylinder engines for the Chevrolet Volt electric car and Chevrolet Cruze compact.
The shift in consumer behavior was noted by AAA in December, when vehicle miles traveled began to slip. Regular gasoline had just risen above $3 a gallon during a month when gas prices usually fall.
By July, regular unleaded gasoline set a record national average of $4.11 a gallon.
The slackening demand for fuel is backed up by industry analysts, who say there has not been such a drastic shift in driving behavior in decades. Demand for gasoline dropped 6 percent over a couple months.
“For most of this decade, we’ve seen uncertainty manifest itself in the oil markets in terms of supply,” said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. “This is probably the most depressive period” consumers have seen in a generation.
Gas prices fell again Friday to a national average of $3.35.
Prices dipped below $3 a gallon on average in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. If crude keeps falling, the rest of the country should see gasoline selling for less than $3 in the next few weeks or sooner, experts say.
In the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, Clarke Soule paid $3.31 a gallon to fill his Lincoln Navigator. The self-described ultra-conservative blames the high prices on drilling bans on the outer continental shelf and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“I worked 47 years for AT&T, and when I want to buy something, I buy it,” said Soule, 65.
For many Americans, the big car is too ingrained as a way of life to let go, said Kit Yarrow, a Golden Gate University psychologist who researches the effects of oil prices on consumer behavior.
“Driving is just so central to their lives, their feelings of freedom and so on, that they’re going to do what they’re going to do,” she said.
For most other drivers, that way of thinking has been abandoned.
“People kind of understand now what their foot on the pedal means in terms of money,” she said.
Bob Gomez, a state employee in Colorado, has begun to car pool.
In Los Angeles, artist Shahla Kareen gave up her 2007 BMW 530i sedan in July for a 1978 Mercedes fueled with waste vegetable oil. She pays $1 a gallon.
“I would spend $75 to $100 to fill up my tank per week with the BMW,” Kareen said. “Now I spend maybe $20 a week.”
There have been broad changes across entire industries as well.
Cruise lines have altered routes to save fuel. UPS Inc. and the U.S. Postal Service are turning to alternative-fuel vehicles, and UPS plans to use biodiesel at its Kentucky air hub. Airlines are shifting to more fuel-efficient planes.
Industry analysts say gas could fall as low as $2.50 to $2.75 a gallon, but many see that as a temporary pause before prices rise again.
Analyst Stephen Schork said that any return to more liberal use of fuel would occur a long time from now because consumers are already making big-ticket decisions about what cars they will drive.
In September, consumers continued shifting from trucks and SUVs to cars with car sales representing 52 percent of the market. Sales of Ford’s top-selling F-series pickup trucks fell 42 percent.
David Portalatin, an automotive industry analyst for the NPD Group, said research has shown both short-term and long-term behavior changes that will continue for an extended period regardless of the gas price.
“Consumers don’t have a lot of faith that the price will come down and will stay there for very long,” he said. “Today’s consumer is more thoughtful about overall finances.”
On 10/11/08 at 10:21 AM,
Knightscross wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
If you just lost your house, lost your job, can't afford to pay your bills, or trying to heat your house if you still have one, a few cents cheaper on a gallon of gas is not too much relief.
On 10/11/08 at 11:23 AM,
Deschain wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I'm fortunate I only have to use about 8 gallons a week.
On 10/11/08 at 3:42 PM,
jake04743 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
I have no choice, but to use my truck for work. So this gas is about a buck cheaper a gallon than the high point, which is welcomed. Every little bit helps. I for one though, have found ways to conserve, and plan to continue. My box truck gets about 8 mpg, so I purchased a small Yamaha Motorbike on/off road which gets 65 mpg. I saved roughly $1400 just this summer. Ahhhhhh.
On 10/12/08 at 2:43 AM,
Johninphilippines wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Don't hold your breath, guys! The election is just 23 days away. Fill up on election day. After that, God only knows what will happen then.
On 10/12/08 at 3:27 AM,
looseleaf wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
no doubt, Johninphilippines, i'm worried since "they" stationed the military here on the "homeland"
"Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks."
"They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack."
(btw, Brewer is now NIMS-National Incident Management System Compliant. i looked it up.... good 'ol FEMA! -gotta love those trailers- um- standards. sorry, but FEMA scares the crap out of me, right up there with Blackwater.)
On 10/12/08 at 3:30 AM,
looseleaf wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
and PLEASE PLEASE all readers check out:
NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d'état by National Emergency
By William H. White
March 4, 2008
AT
http://www.concordbridge.net/NSPD-51.htm
On 10/12/08 at 3:41 AM,
Johninphilippines wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
"looseleaf"...no doubt that the US military has to defend the United States homeland and ensure it's security. With the proposed oncoming potentiality of terroristic threats...no matter who will be elected into federal office as President, the US faces a high-risk challenge in the face of this global war on terrorism we are subjectd to. Any act of terroristic activity ought to be duly investigated before something happens...preventive medicine, you know, and that any threat to Chemical-Biological-Radiological attack in any way must be met with immediate-if-not-sooner counterstrikes on the perpertrators. The US cannot afford to let it's guard down one iota. Even if called back for US military duty - any service branch - ...I would be ready to go on-notification. Not a problem. But, I do not understand your web posting. What are you trying to say? I cannot connect this to gas prices. If you explain it better, maybe I can make an understanding. Thanks.
On 10/12/08 at 4:31 AM,
looseleaf wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
i'm saying that i'm also uncertain. anything could happen around election time..not limited to just "high gas prices" but civil unrest (because we all know bush is our favorite president) and possible martial law- the presidential directives are already there- if you read "NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d'état by National Emergency" like i suggested, it might help letcha know where i'm at. peace.
On 10/12/08 at 4:38 AM,
looseleaf wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
somethings up their sleeve...
July 25, 2008
Are feds stockpiling survival food?
'These circumstances certainly raise red flags'
A Wall Street Journal columnist has advised people to "start stockpiling food" and an ABC News Report says "there are worrying signs appearing in the United States where some … locals are beginning to hoard supplies." Now there's concern that the U.S. government may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food.
"We're told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit the California docks. (Something's up!)," said officials at Best Prices Storable Foods in an advisory to customers."
FULL STORY AT http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70281
On 10/12/08 at 11:16 PM,
Johninphilippines wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Ok. Now I understand, "loosleaf". I see it now. Well, if people are stockpiling up on foods and other commodities...best try to get the now-obsolete Archway Cookies! That company just went out of business. Even my wife is beginning to stockpile foods even here in the Philippines. Our pantry, a 12x12 foot walk-in type with many shelves, is getting full. She's shopping every day at the supermarket we go to. She believes something is going to happen...but that is just her feeling. Could be real, though. And we are all the way around the world from you guys, too!
On 10/13/08 at 4:29 AM,
looseleaf wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
yup. i have kids. i'm definately worried, i've seen how "they" treat hard up americans.
here's a heartwrenching video about hurricane katrina victims
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v283797P2xCwy87
that left one person saying "Could they have not put their guns down and at least lowered bottles of
water to these people. Our nation's leaders are a disgrace to humanity - maybe they're not even human."
well, i'm going to grow as much food as possible and take care of as many people as i can.
exxon's profits are rediculous. they sent katrina victims to go live in the sludgy toxic outskirts of exxon's property.
i feel there is no humanity left in politics, or the hands that pull the strings. they all sit on the some boards, it's the
same money and i know they don't give a damn about you and me. your wife is right on. it's the motherly instinct thing.
happy grocery shopping:) wish you guys all the best:)
Post a comment about this story
You must be logged in to post a comment.
click here to log in.
