Gas with 10% ethanol has a shelf life of about 45 days. The thing is that alcohol soaks up water right out of the air. So maybe gasoline or some other perishable good ain't the best example because a gallon of bad gas is worth about as much as a pound of spoiled meat. A durable and storable product might be a better example. And yeah it is okay. Why doesn't the gas station buy back their gasoline at 2-3 times their price and sell it for ten times the original price? After all, you claim you "need" gasoline. In fact you demand gasoline but their is little supply.
As you know, you and I are close enough to each other to practically be neighbors. I agree with you completely about people failing to prepare for something that happens every stinking year. Of course, we don't get storms every year, and even the years we do at any given spot on the map, they are varied in their impacts... Some level even brick structures and cause widespread death within a swath of land that could be multiple miles wide, some are merely a bit stronger than your average afternoon thunderstorm. But, even with that consideration in mind, we are prepared to bug the f out on a moment's notice, and we have sufficient food and water to last ourselves and our dogs for many days, if not weeks or even months. One thing this conversation has made me realize is that we do not keep any fuel on hand to help us facilitate that bug-out moment if it ever comes. To a degree, at least, my wife (who does the driving because I no longer can) doesn't let her truck get down to a super low level before topping off. But, the discussion of a gallon of gas for $200 has also made me think, and at first my reaction was, "Hey, that's illegal", and so forth, BUT... I thought about it again based on looking at it from a perspective of utility. What in the world am I talking about?? That $200 gallon of gas may quite literally be the difference in between being stuck in the cone of death and being able to escape, meaning that $200 may be the best money I have ever spent in the entirety of my life to date, even though the idea of paying $200 for something that, under normal circumstances only costs about $3.xx feels wrong. Yes, that gas station could continue selling it for the $3.xx price, but then, by the time I arrive in a desperate attempt to ****, it will probably be completely empty, and I'll be unable to buy that gas at any price. So while I do not at all relish the idea of paying $200 for something that is generally worth $3.xx, if it's the literal difference in between life and death, all of a sudden it becomes a different story. OK, maybe you're thinking why doesn't the guy jack the price to $2,000,000 instead of just $200... Well, if he does that he may get lucky and get a multimillion dollar windfall, but more likely, especially in light that most people in our society can't even afford an unexpected $400 car repair, the chances of someone with that kind of scratch in a usable form (most credit and debit cards have a smallish daily limit, for example, even if you have that much in your account) is slim, and the more likely scenario is that you'll sell nothing to nobody, have full tanks and an empty wallet, and nobody gets gas, and those dumb enough to drive around with their car saying "Distance to Empty 5 miles" will potentially die. It's like the generator analogy... We don't own one, and only once have we even had the hint of needing one, and even in that case the power outage was over within an hour. But, we can, merely by choosing to, go out and buy one TODAY for a few Benjamins, and then not have to worry about it next time. Or we can wait, and either hope that time doesn't come, be prepared to pay out the nose for one if we wait until the last moment, be prepared to live without power for however long it takes, or pay through the nose to get one when it happens. I don't know about you, but when it's a life or death thing, I'll pay the $200 for the single gallon, get out of the danger zone, and worry about it later.
Read my post above and you'll learn why my answer is an unqualified yes. I have two questions for you- 1- What do you consider a 'reasonable' markup on a retail product to be? 2- Why did you bail from the thread you started about violating people's 2A rights the other day? Last I looked (which in fairness was sometime yesterday evening), it was still active and a lot of responses had been posted to you but you were MIA.
We live in a mobile home and even though it's a fairly new one in very good condition, I sure as hell wasn't staying in it during hurricane Ian. I believe we had five straight hours of sustained winds of at least 100 or better. I stayed at work in the concrete block building which has stood there for a good 50 years, including Charlie in 2004. I was the only one there. Our mobile home has tons of windows and I had neither the time nor the resources nor the help to cover any of them. Amazingly we lost not a single window, while the mobile home across the street and over one was completely destroyed. The Peace River crested at 24 ft, highest in recorded history. It didn't help that it was already well over flood stage before the hurricane. If I ever have to bug out of here by myself I have the perfect thing for it. My 2022 Kawasaki KLX 230 dual sport bike. Not only will a less than 3 gallon tank get me a good 120 MI.... If there's gridlock, I can simply take the bike anywhere I want around traffic and through ditches and over curbs. I always keep a good 5 gallons at least on hand of ethanol-free gas. Mainly because only one station in town sells it and it's just more convenient to go up there about once a month and fill my containers and not have to worry about stopping anywhere to fuel up the bike when I'm out. While everyone else would be causing gridlock on 75 headed north, I could take the back roads or any roads or no road at all.
It might actually be a better thing for someone to do that than for the business not to raise their price at all. Think about it. If the price is not raised to consumers, a small number of people are going to quickly buy it up, and there will be none available for other people. It will quickly run out. (Especially since there are hoarders out there who will buy far more than they usually do out of fear) Would you rather have the gas station charge you an outrageous price for gas, so high that you decide to maybe only fill your tank a quarter full, or would you rather go to the gas station and be told they have already sold out. Too bad for you. Even if there's an emergency and you desperately need that gas to be able to drive out of there.
Anyone who has a plan should be rewarded. If someone wants to stockpile on something and then sell it for outrageously high prices during an emergency, they should be rewarded. Aren't they doing the public a favor? The public is willing to pay them, and all those things would not be available for everyone who wants to buy them during an emergency if someone had not stockpiled. What people don't understand is free market prices only go up so high during an emergency because there are a lot more people who want to buy the thing than the amount available for sale. (If that were not the case, then competition between stores would keep the price down, as it normally does)
My point is, people are just out of luck. You claim it's not practical for people to be able to store their own gas for an emergency. Okay, I'll concede to that. But you also just conceded that the gas station is not able to store up enough gas for anywhere near all the people who will want it during an emergency. It will sell out very fast. If we accept both these things, then the outcome is that there simply will not be enough gas for everyone during an emergency, and not everyone will be able to get the gas they need. What I am saying is the fact you say it is impractical for you to store gas does not entitle you to be able to get gas from the gas station at a reasonable price during an emergency. Well, who's "responsibility" is it to prepare? We've already gone over the fact that the gas station can not reasonably and practically store enough gas for all their normal customers during an emergency. Here's the takeaway: If you want to be prepared for risk, you have to pay a big price. Most people are not prepared or willing to pay that price.
I have 12 five gallon gas cans. I rotate them, so that at the end of every month, I just dump one into my car, go fill it and add Sta-Bil. I’ve never experienced any issues with keeping gas up to a year.
I don't care. I don't care about your individual situations. Why would you think that entitles you to anything from the gas station? If they don't quickly raise their prices very high, they are going to quickly sell out. Then no gas for you.
I never said anything about being entitled to anything. Maybe you didn’t read any of my other posts in this thread.
You were sharing information that I do not see how it is relevant to the issue being debated in this thread.
I mean...anything is possible but I sure as **** wouldn't hang your hopes on that. Putin has done a PHENOMENAL job in giving NATO purpose. Thanks Vlad!
If everyone didn't run to the gas station at the last minute to fill every tank on every vehicle they own in addition to every single gas can or any sort of container they can illegally fill gas into.... It wouldn't be a problem. I don't ever let the gas in my van get below half a tank.... But full disclosure that also has something to do with the fact that when my gas gauge gets to half it quits working. You can put stabilizer into stored fuel but if you push it too far you risk damaging your engine. Gas doesn't just sit forever
I wouldn't try that with the ethanol garbage. I have read that untreated gas... Ethanol has a shelf life of 3 months and non-ethanol ( or what those of us 40 years old and over, refer to as simply real gasoline....) a shelf life of 6 months. If you're going to keep it for up to a year with fuel stabilizer I would certainly seek out the non-ethanol. Ethanol.... Just another scam given to us by this green energy garbage. Never put it in anything with a carburetor and it draws water and eats up lines
For me there is. If I see someone trying to fill a big tank in the bed of their truck or dispensing gasoline into an illegal container.... I will turn the pump off on their ass real quick. I have done it before. But fortunately for us employees, we keep roughly a thousand gallons in reserve if there is a run on gas. The owner of the gas station wants his employees to have gas in any situation
Shouldn't the business owner be economically compensated for keeping a larger reserve than usual? That probably may not have been the most profitable decision, to choose a larger storage tank. He should be compensated by being able to charge higher prices during an emergency.
