Whats going on w/ the price of gas...

[David Metsky]

Plus parking, insurance, wear and tear on the car, etc. Last year I rode to work including most winter days. Now that I'm closer to the office I walk to work, and only use the car one or two days a week. It's very liberating.

 

[wa-loaf]

I take the train. I do drive to the train station that's only 5 mins from the house. Train car is an old vw golf. I last put gas in sometime in March. Getting to the train station by bike is too sketchy! And I used to ride my bike into Boston when I lived closer.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I'm lucky that my work is only 1-2 miles from where I live but I couldn't see riding a bike to work because I'd be all sweaty when I arrived and there's no shower..

 

[tjf67]

I'm lucky that my work is only 1-2 miles from where I live but I couldn't see riding a bike to work because I'd be all sweaty when I arrived and there's no shower..

I could not agree with you more cause your customers are really going to notice the differance.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I could not agree with you more cause your customers are really going to notice the differance.

There are some hot GILFs that come into my office..and I want to smell good for them..lol..

 

[deadheadskier]

My office is my car. As much as I'd save a ton of dough, its hard enough as it is to head down the road in a car at 75mph firing off emails, couldn't imagine doing that on a bike



kidding

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

i dont think riding a mile or 2 will work up much of a sweat.....its done all over europe every day.... you are correct Metsky...very liberating being without the wheels...

 

[drjeff]

Saw and add in the paper today for a lease of a new Toyota Corolla getting an advertised 41mpg for $149/mo. My wife actually started crunching the numbers of the fuel savings per month over her Audi Q7 based on the average number of miles she drives and her Audi's fuel mileage (17 to 18mpg ave.) I'm thinking that very soon it will be cheaper for my family to get a third car for my wife to use for the vast majority of her commute/errands then to keep the Audi on the road for the 1700 or so miles a month she drives it on average.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Filled up my van today...$140.00 then filled up my suv....$95.00 Looks like its time to go to work:roll:

 

[mondeo]

My office is my car. As much as I'd save a ton of dough, its hard enough as it is to head down the road in a car at 75mph firing off emails, couldn't imagine doing that on a bike



kidding

The emails are the easy part on a bike...

There were a couple times last year that I rode my bike to work on Saturdays, 16 miles one way for me. I was planning on parking my second car at work for backup, either in case of unexpected rain or if I needed to stay late, but then my second car got broken into the day I was going to start (I had the bike at the car at the point of discovery,) then when I finally replaced the window 3 weeks later, it died on the way to the shop as I was going to get the shocks replaced. This year, I'm planning on just saying the hell with it, and try to ride in a couple times a week. At 22mpg, my driving route to work being 11 miles one way, that's a gallon per day. Going further, the IRS rate is 50.5 cents/mile; that's $11/day. Not only that, but if I want to exercise 2 hours a day anyways, I'm essentially knocking the daily commute out of my day. Luckily, there are showers at work.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

2 of our friends are looking to unload their SUV's...finally realized that it was more of a "want" than a "need"

 

[trtaylor]

Deadhead... thanks for the analysis. That was insightful.


I am curious about the same. I notice my chicken breast packages are up about a buck compared to usual but I have not really noticed meat prices go up.

The (typical grain-fed) cattle feeding industry is rather inefficent at responding to market signals. There are several parties involved; the rancher who runs the cows and sells the calves, the backgrounder who buys the calves and keeps them for a year and the feedyard who finishes the yearlings on a ration of grain (typically corn).

When finished cattle are sold to slaugher, an accounting called a close-out is done. Closeouts for cattle sold the week ending 4/25/08 showed a LOSS of $151 per head at a $92/cwt market price.

Projected closeouts for cattle going into the yard 4/25/08 and being fed for 135 days are showing a $6 per head loss at a futures price of $104/cwt.

It takes a while before these market signals make it all the way back to the cow man. If the cow herd ends up being reduced, then the supply of calves is reduced. But cattle feeding is a huge business. It's the same as any manufacturing facility, it needs to run full at almost any cost. So, the price of calves and yearlings gets bid up to keep all the feedyards full.

Probably more info than anyone wants to know. But this is why you don't see an immediate response in the meat case.

 

[deadheadskier]

The (typical grain-fed) cattle feeding industry is rather inefficent at responding to market signals. There are several parties involved; the rancher who runs the cows and sells the calves, the backgrounder who buys the calves and keeps them for a year and the feedyard who finishes the yearlings on a ration of grain (typically corn).

When finished cattle are sold to slaugher, an accounting called a close-out is done. Closeouts for cattle sold the week ending 4/25/08 showed a LOSS of $151 per head at a $92/cwt market price.

Projected closeouts for cattle going into the yard 4/25/08 and being fed for 135 days are showing a $6 per head loss at a futures price of $104/cwt.

It takes a while before these market signals make it all the way back to the cow man. If the cow herd ends up being reduced, then the supply of calves is reduced. But cattle feeding is a huge business. It's the same as any manufacturing facility, it needs to run full at almost any cost. So, the price of calves and yearlings gets bid up to keep all the feedyards full.

Probably more info than anyone wants to know. But this is why you don't see an immediate response in the meat case.

That's interesting information regarding commodity beef.

 

[ckofer]

ouch

 

[drjeff]

ouch

Almost hit my 1st 3 digit fill up for my wife's car yesterday $98.50 was the grand total for just under 25 gallons.

I think I'll just start filling up when the gas guage gets to 1/2 tank levels, even though I'll be stopping twice as often, atleast the number on the gas pump will "seem" smaller(I just wont look at how few gallons I'm putting in the tank)

 

[ctenidae]

 

[davidhowland14]

Exxon Mobil Profit Sets Record Again

By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: February 1, 2008

By any measure, Exxon Mobil’s performance last year was a blowout.

The company reported Friday that it beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries.

Exxon Mobil earned more than $1,287 of profit for every second of 2007.

so in the time it took me to write this sentence, exxon mobile made almost $10,000

 

[ctenidae]

so in the time it took me to write this sentence, exxon mobile made almost $10,000

On a 10% profit margin.

For comparison:
Microsoft: 30.36%
Google: 25.20%
Apache Oil (a producer): 32.05%
Royal Dutch Shell: 8.05%
Unilever: 7.91%
Kroger Stores: 1.87%
Safeway: 1.97%
Kraft Foods: 5.86%

 

[drjeff]

That's the thing, when you look at their profit margins, they're not out of whack by any means, it's just that it's on such a massive economy of scale that a 10% profit margin is a HUGE # of dollars. I'm sure that ALOT of business owners would find a 10% profit margin to be reasonable and for many, that's a LOW profit margin.

The other thing that I find commical is that many folks just think that say Exxon-Mobil, or Shell, or whoever could just sell the oil overnight for way less money. The reality is that oil is a globally traded commodity and folks need to realize that the same pre-refined oil that enters our domestic refineries is open and available to folks in just about any country of the world. Plus, the huge volatility of the world markets when factored into tight supply chain, and that's why events like a refinery fire in Scotland or refinery issues in Somolia will have a direct effect on what we see at our pumps.

 

[deadheadskier]

I don't have issues with Exxon/Mobiles 10% profit margin. I do have issues with the $400 million retirement package Lee Raymond received. Sure free market society blah, blah, blah, but I think a much greater issue than $3.60 gasoline is the widening gap between the rich and poor in this nation. Things would be a lot more tolerable during downturns if the playing field was a bit more level and no a $600 tax rebate doesn't cut it. That's just smoke and mirrors if you ask me.