A few years ago, when gas prices crossed $2.00/gallon, I decided that gas cost too much and I was going to save money by buying a bike and riding it to school and for other transportation around town. Of course, I discovered that I really enjoyed riding the bike, and became a pretty hardcore cycling enthusiast. I bought a nice racing bike, have discovered the wonders of spandex cycling shorts, and have legs that are disproportionately strong when compared to the rest of my body.
But I digress… The point is that yesterday, more than 3 years after $2.00 gas prices prompted me to make a major lifestyle change, we filled up our cars for $1.93/gallon, a price unseen since early 2005.
Here’s how:
We have a local grocery store that has an associated gas station. If you buy items at the grocery store, you get a discount on fuel from the gas station. The discount is progressive – spend up to $50, get 3 cents off; up to $75, get 5 cents off; up to $100, get 8 cents off; and if you spend more than $100 at the grocery store, you get 12 cents off of each gallon of gas.
What enables this whole plan is that the grocery store’s customer service counter will accept payments for our gas/electric company. So yesterday, we went to the grocery store, paid our utility bill (which was well over $100), and got our reciept, complete with 12 cent gas discount.
Gas prices have fallen pretty dramatically over the last few week. The going rate for the cheap stuff in town was $2.05/gallon yesterday. $2.05 – 12 cents is $1.93!
So we, filled up both cars for under $2.00/gallon.
You guys should just come visit in Iowa and you could fill up your tanks for under $2 without any such discounts. I went to visit my mom on Tuesday of this week and I filled my tank for $1.90 per gallon with no such discount. However, you would have to know where the town of Brighton is.