Skyrocking gas prices irk students
Logan is harboring high gas prices and students are noticing.
While driving around town, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see signs posting prices of more than $2 for premium gasoline. The Sinclair on the corner of 700 East and 1000 North is selling fuel for between $1.85 to $2.05; Texaco on the corner of 1000 North and Main Street is between $1.81 to $2.06 – their lowest being diesel; Chevron, at 398 N. Main St., ranges between $1.87 and $2.07 for regular gasoline.
An elementary education sophomore, Amy Brewer, said she drives a lot because she doesn’t have enough time between work and school to walk. She also runs errands for her job making her fill her tank at least once a week for about $26.
“I don’t know a lot about the economy, but I think the prices will either shoot up or stay around $1.75 or $1.85,” Brewer said.
Matt Parkinson, a cashier at the Aggie Station, located at 790 E. 1400 North says the prices are ridiculous.
“I don’t know the reasoning behind it but they keep getting higher and higher and higher,” he said.
He said the premium gasoline at the station has been more than $2 for about a month now and everyone else seems to be around the same price.
He said the prices always go up in the summer months, but he said he read in the newspaper these prices are higher than any other year.
Logan’s expensive, Parkinson said, even more than Salt Lake City. A few weeks ago he went there, he said, and the prices were sometimes even 20 cents less there.
The cashier said customers haven’t been too upset, even though many of them ask why the prices are going up. Angie Merrill, a shift manager at 7-Eleven on the corner of 400 North and Main Street said the same.
Merrill said she hadn’t heard too many complaints from people because they probably expect the prices to increase as they always do during the warm weather.
“They’re going to continue to go up,” she said. “I don’t think they’ll go down in the next few months and if they do, it’ll only be one or two cents and then they’ll go up again.”
Merrill said she thought the reason why gas prices have inflated has to do with the conflict overseas and she seems to be right.
The Department of Energy said instability in the Middle East pushed oil prices from 65 to 88 cents per gallon, according to a www.KSL.com. Add to that the refining costs which are up in some areas from 20 to 50 cents.
The Web site also said that according to the DOE, taxes play a part in the skyrocketing prices – 18.4 cents per gallon for federal tax and 24.5 cents per gallon for Utah state tax.
But even with the steep incline, local students find a way to fit the new prices in their budget.
Kyle Peterson, a sophomore in engineering, said he obviously doesn’t like paying bigger bucks for gas, but refills his tank about every two weeks and spends $20 to $25 to do so – and that’s when he’s buying the cheapest gas available for his Honda Accord.
“I hope it goes down,” Peterson said. “I heard on the radio it got up to $3 somewhere.”
Even if the prices don’t drop any time soon though, according to www.KSL.com, the government has some suggestions on how to use less fuel:
* You can save gas by not speeding, driving aggressively, or constantly accelerating and slowing down.
* Keep your engine tuned and filters clean.
* Keep your tires properly inflated.
Locally, Smith’s offers 5 cents off per gallon for every $25 spent there before taxes, 10 cents off for $35 spent and 15 cents off for $45 dollars.
-mnewbold@cc.usu.edu