How much is your time worth? There’s a reason I’m asking.
I have long been amused by the people who drive for miles looking for cheap(er) gasoline. When gas was $2.50 or so a gallon — what, six months ago? — people would drive across town or, worse yet, to another town altogether in the hopes of saving some money on fuel. If Station A had it for $2.59.9 a gallon and Station B had it for $2.49.9 a gallon, they’d point the vehicle toward Station B. Let’s assume that your vehicle holds 15 gallons of fuel in the tank. That means that you’ve spent the time it takes to drive from A to B to save $1.50. (We have to subtract the fuel you used to drive that distance as well, and as they say, your mileage may vary.)
Of course, this is 2022 and the economics have shifted. At $5.04.9 a gallon, which it was here in Bluffton early Sunday afternoon, that means 15 gallons of fuel is going to cost you $75.75 — ohmygosh! Saving 10 cents a gallon against that much money is much less worth it on a percentage basis.
Yet I have known people who have done that and who probably continue to do that. Gas is cheaper there, wherever there is. Let’s fill up there.
I know of people who have run out of gas trying to save money on gas. Ohmygosh, indeed.
So let’s get back to the question at the top — how much is your time worth?
It takes time to drive around town to find the cheapest fuel. There may be exceptions, but it’s been my experience that if you call a fueling station and ask how much they’re charging per gallon, the person answering the phone will not tell you. They’ll want you to stop in and find out for yourself. So you go to Station A and then to Station B and then C and D and E and F. Maybe then you’ll call a friend in a neighboring county and as how much fuel is there, hoping for a bargain.
I don’t think it’s going to be worth it.
I have heard a bunch of explanations as to why the price of gas is what it is. There is a collective that is willing to blame Joe Biden and his policies and there is another collective that blames the greed of the Big Oil companies. My take on matters is that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
My wife and I drive a couple of vehicles that are not necessarily economical when it comes to miles per gallon. I remember when a comedian said that he drove a car that was so lousy on gas that he could sit at a stoplight and watch the gas gauge drop. Neither one of ours is that much of a gas hog, but we are seriously considering purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle — if we can find one, that is.
A few years ago, the price of a gallon of gas went from the $1-a-gallon range to the $2-a-gallon range and people dumped their big sedans and SUVs for more fuel-efficient vehicles. Then people got used to paying that much for fuel and decided they wanted the comfort and the space available in a vehicle that wasn’t quite so fuel efficient. Now that worm has turned once again.
My wife signed us up for a fuel company’s credit card. There’s a station here in town that carries that brand, so we get our fuel there — it’s not out of the way for us — and put it on the card and then pay the card off once a month. My wife even tells me that if I buy a snack or a drink, I should put it on the card. We can qualify for a bonus of some kind. (I don’t know what it is; that’s one of the financial concerns that she takes care of.)
Meanwhile, if I’m nowhere close to a station that takes our particular credit card, I tend to stop at the first place I come to and pay the extra 10 cents a gallon. At more than $5 a gallon, shopping around for $1.50 a tankful just isn’t worth it.
daves@news-banner.com
