Discussions

Well said. You are right. One only has to look at the daily rack (wholesale) price of fuel. It bounces up & down like a ball. It must be like Russian Roulette when trying to buy. When your tanks are empty you have to buy. High or low.

First off, I don't believe most of the comments are complaining about prices going up but the fact that prices are much lower in other markets within an area that isn't that large. Another thing is it's hard to believe that rising and falling prices, in a local market like Brandon, has much to do with the the actual delivery of fuel, if it has to do with the delivery of fuel I don't think that the prices, city wide, would rise or fall within a few hours since fuel is delivered everyday and as stated above the rack price can go up and down like a yo yo.

I see that some stations in Winnipeg went up to 98.9 so naturally Shell went up to 99.9 others are still 96.9

I guess the biggest thing about gas prices has to do with the trade on the futures markets for the product, I've never figured out if the cash market leads the futures, or if the futures lead the cash market. I try and follow the energy supply that is released every week in the US, and you read some interesting stuff in it, gasoline production has decreased in the last little while, but inventories are pushing the upper limits of inventory, which in my books mean prices should be lower, but if a bunch of speculators hear that production is down that's a good enough reason to buy, and I think that buying does affect the cash market. This still won't account for differences between Winnipeg and Brandon prices but maybe helps explain the ups and downs in rack prices.  
 
The why bother factor plays into a lot of our buying as well as the pricing in local markets, cosco would be the perfect example, we all know they offer better prices, but unless you are making that trip to Winnipeg it's not worth the bother.  
 
Going to get into trouble with this next comment, but when governments are doing their labor contracts maybe they should offer more money to areas outside Winnipeg, because in some ways we have a higher cost, could maybe help keep some of the towns from dying, although I guess it's all relative.

Who cares. I'm too busy to worry if someone an hour from me is 8 cents less.

Don't drive : slap on some runners & walk or drive your bike .. Gas will be the furthest thing on your mind plus you'll feel great too

mathsucks said "Don't drive : slap on some runners & walk or drive your bike .. Gas will be the furthest thing on your mind plus you'll feel great too "

Realize that not everyone drives for recreational purposes.  
People have to commute for work, medical appts., etc. It is a necessity, not a luxury.  
Sort of hard to visualize feeling great walking or biking 50 km. to make a 9 a.m. medical appointment.

CatMan said "    mathsucks said "Don't drive : slap on some runners & walk or drive your bike .. Gas will be the furthest thing on your mind plus you'll feel great too " Realize that not everyone drives for recreational purposes.   People have to commute for work, medical appts., etc. It is a necessity, not a luxury.   Sort of hard to visualize feeling great walking or biking 50 km. to make a 9 a.m. medical appointment. "

...people did it for hundreds of years...  
 
People choose where they live and what they drive. If the gas is to expensive then you have a choice to make. Stop whining about the price of gas and figure out a way to use less.  
 
Marpet

If driving 50km to Brandon, then one could refill at one of the many communities around the city where gas is supposedly cheaper.  
 
Edited by ultraguy, 2016-09-22 09:22:37

Isn't so much the price of gas, but the big price difference between Brandon and Winnipeg, or even the small community of Austin only 45 or so minutes east of here.  
 
With services in rural areas being reduced, it makes travel to urban centres by vehicle a necessity. Wasn't it yesterday that the ERs in Carberry and Glenboro were going to be closed for 2 days? "That is fine, I'll just hop on my pedal bike and bike to Brandon to go to the ER."

ZachT said "Isn't so much the price of gas, but the big price difference between Brandon and Winnipeg, or even the small community of Austin only 45 or so minutes east of here.     With services in rural areas being reduced, it makes travel to urban centres by vehicle a necessity. Wasn't it yesterday that the ERs in Carberry and Glenboro were going to be closed for 2 days? "That is fine, I'll just hop on my pedal bike and bike to Brandon to go to the ER." "

You're talking about an exception circumstance (needing to get to the ER) vs. people whining about routine expenses.  
 
Getting to an ER is not a normal day for most people, and the cost of gas isn't usually going to factor into that decision.  
 
However, if you work in Brandon for example, but chose to live 45 minutes outside of Brandon and commute - that's a routine expense that you have control over. You could chose to live closer. You could chose a more efficient vehicle. You can chose to change occupation or location of employment.  
 
I agree gas is expensive, but there are lots of options for reducing those expenses if you're willing to make those changes.

Yes, I did give an exceptional example.  
 
How about farmers who live at their job, but have to use a vehicle to get supplies, like parts, groceries, their mail? A vehicle is needed, they don't have a choice to walk, pedal bike or use public transportation, like people are suggesting.  
 
Reducing a person's gas consumption is irrelevant to the topic. The topic is about the excessive price difference of gas between Brandon and Winnipeg. Why should I have to pay 7.5 cents a litre more for gas in Brandon than I pay in Winnipeg?  
 
Given an average of 22,000 km of driving a year, would cost me, with my vehicle, about $212 more to fuel up in Brandon than Winnipeg. That is $212 less for me to spend elsewhere in the city.

The average price difference over the last year is 2.8¢/L. Not 7.5¢.  
http://www2.nrcan.gc.ca/eneene/sources/pripri/prices_bycity_e.cfm  
 
Lots of things have different prices in different cities. Should Brandon be expected to price match any arbitrary city in the province, if a certain consumable is cheaper there?  
 
Edited by ultraguy, 2016-09-22 11:27:13

People complain about fuel prices all the time. How about when the prices in the grocery stores? Canadian Tires, Walmarts? etc... when fuel dropped because Crude Oil dropped and it was cheaper to get gas did anything else drop when fuel dropped? The answer is no. So when you see fuel fluctuate because Crude Oil is a unstable market world wide. Look at your grocery bills, Canadian Tire receipts and Walmart receipts and ask them why it costs x amount. Guess people don't know that about 60 percent of the cost at the pump is all "TAX" going straight to the government.

I kind of agree that I am also tired of the seemingly endless number of these "complain about gas prices" and "hate the oil companies" threads. I wouldn't mind it so much if they would ever complain about the banks and some other companies that seem to be making huge profits by gouging us whenever they can, but it always seems to be just about hating the oil companies. However, I do believe in free speech and everyone has a right to express their opinion. It does seem though that some people feel that the oil companies and gas station owners have no right to make any profit at all, that they should just sell their gasoline at cost. LOL, I think some people may even believe gas should be free.  
 
When I made the decision to drive I knew that I would have to pay for my gas. I knew that no one was going to give it to me, but I wanted to drive and own a vehicle so I accepted the fact that I would have to pay for my gas. Really, if you don't want to have to pay for gasoline then don't buy a vehicle. That's the most basic, simple solution and if you live in the city, the truth is you probably could get along without one.  
 
Of course it's maddening to realize that we are paying more for the gas we buy here in Brandon when it's sometimes cheaper in neighboring towns, Winnipeg and even Swan River. The gas (oil) comes out of the ground in Saskatchewan and Alberta, but it has to be refined, shipped and stored. So, it's only logical that the location of the refineries, rail lines and tank farms would affect the pump price. I was in Saskatchewan several days ago and noticed that the prices in the area that I was in were higher there than they were here at the time.  
 
These days, with all of the opposition to drilling, fracking, the building of pipelines and even exploration itself, not to mention the proposed Carbon Tax, I'm surprised when the price of gasoline even comes down at all.

i paid 94.9 in St. Claude yesterday! Which was nice because I paid under $100 to fill my truck up

MrsZ2015 said "i paid 94.9 in St. Claude yesterday! Which was nice because I paid under $100 to fill my truck up "

Well it took almost 2 months for gas to drop to 96.9 as oil continued to drop. Now after only 2 days of oil increasing gas is back up at my favorite Petro Canada station on 26th and Vic.

Most stations are up to 102,9 now Superstore was still 96.9 an hour ago when i filled up

It's not 1.30 so I'm not complaining.

looks like is behind this increase.  
 
http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/gas-prices-expected-to-jump-by-friday-1.3093500  
 
http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=961684  
 
And yet  
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-output-limits-unlikely-at-algeria-meeting-opec-members-say-2016-09-18

think what gets people mad is with gas speculators doing this based on something that hasn't happened yet. It was just talk, yet the price goes up 10 cents. And in North America, how much do we rely on oil from Algeria?  
 
So now that this freeze isn't going to happen, will the price drop 10 cents now?

=:"_blank" HREF=:"https://twitter.com/GasBuddyDan">:https://twitter.com/GasBuddyDan<:/A>:  
 
Edited by Trevor B, 2016-10-04 19:54:16

I don't understand the problems with our gas prices. I for one am still happy that $20 fills up half of my tank, whereas last year it didn't fill up nearly that much with the 1.30+ prices.  
 
There are much better things for us to worry over..