In article ,
Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Mike Fields wrote:

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...

Andy Asberry wrote:


On 2 Apr 2005 07:30:59 -0800, "Too_Many_Tools"
wrote:



To set the time frame for this tale; remember when motor oil came in
real cans? (metal content)


Heck, I remember when it came in 55 gallon barrels and we young pump
jockeys had to transfer it into those one quart glass jars with those
tinplate screw on spouts on top of them.

Jeff



Yeah, and there was the Flying A Service stations where you could
get your car serviced ... had to get gas this morning and I think I
got "serviced" instead $2.37 (up to $2.41 same station by the time I
came home). When people came in, you did their windows, checked
the water and oil for them and all those good things (been there done that)


Right, I even had to clean the front floors of customers' cars with a
whisk broom and dustpan. (Seriously.)

I just hope that gas prices don't go so high that young toughs will
start stealing gas from peoples cars like they did during the oil
shortages in the mid 70s.

Remember how those *******s used to shove a pan under the back of your
car and then jam a shiv up through the bottom of the gas tank so they
could make off with your gas? Ugly times.

At $2.42 (and still rising, despite only being $2.30 in the next town
over) a gallon locally, I'm expecting exactly that type of thing to
begin happening in this area just about any time now. (Butte County
California - SERIOUSLY depressed, economically. Depending on which
report you read, we're either #1 or #2 in the category "highest
percentage of county population receiving unemployment/welfare benefits
in the state of California." - A rather dubious honor.) I'd consider
moving, but with gas prices being what they are, I practically can't
afford to fill the car to get me out of here!

Something REALLY needs to be done about the price-gouging the oil
companies are doing. And don't try to hand me any of that crap about the
price of a barrel of crude being high - That barrel of oil that the oil
company buys today isn't going to arrive at the gas pump for 6 months,
if not longer, but you can bet your ass that it'll be jacked up even
further when it DOES get here, even if the price of oil were to
magically fall through the floor overnight. They don't care, though...
So long as they keep lining their pockets.

Reminds me of the "coffee shortage" back about the same time as the oil
shortage - Prices almost literally doubled overnight when the south
american coffee crop got frosted. Never mind the fact that those beans
wouldn't have hit US shores for processing, LET ALONE grocery store
shelves for consumers to buy, for a minimum of 6-8 months. But when
record-level crops from other countries started coming in a few months
later, practically flooding the market, did the price of coffee go back
down to anything near what it was prior to the "shortage"? HELL NO!!!
Prices actually JUMPED AGAIN!

We've got the same thing going on with gas - It boils down to "They'll
bitch, but they'll pay the outrageous price because they don't have a
choice, so let's leave the price high (or jack it even higher), rake off
everything we can, and when the bitching gets loud enough, we'll drop
the price 3 cents to shut them up for a while before we raise it another
10 cents."



Fondly remembering a news article on the back of a recipe mom clipped
out of the Detroit Free Press back in about '72 - Headline: "Gas war
continues: Prices down to 31 cents per gallon in some areas" The story
went on to describe a "price war" in Detroit involving several gas
stations trying to undercut each other. Owners from several of the
stations were interviewed, and were raving about how they hadn't made so
much money in years, even with the seeming "cut your own throat" prices
that were involved. One owner was even quoted as saying he had plans to
drop his prices to a quarter a gallon for all grades, and was expecting
that if he did, he'd be making even more of a profit due to the volume.

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