Pain At The Pump--How Do You Spell Relief?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last year (I think some politicians have), you know that the economy is very shaky and quite fragile right now. Oil prices have increased approximately 1300 percent since President Bush took office. I heard a report on the radio that when he was inaugurated, oil prices were about $27 per barrel, now they are the highest ever topping out at nearly $128 per barrel. All of you who know me know that I am terrible at math, so I am not sure how the radio reporter came to the increase of 1300 percent, I just know that is what they said and it sure seems like a lot when you consider that oil prices have not increased that much EVER. When I researched the current cost of oil prices I put in the search bar “crude prices” and thought to myself, “How appropriate!” because it really is crude and obscene just how much the prices have increased.

When my parents were teenagers, the cost of gas was chronicled in a song lyric at a nickel a gallon. I don’t know how accurate that is, like I said, my parents were teenagers at the time. When I was a teenager, I believe gas was still under a $1 per gallon and I remember very well when it increased to more than a dollar a gallon. We were completely incensed and all said, “That is the highest gas will ever go because we live in one of the richest countries in the world.” Now, 20 years later, all suffer pain at the pump.

All of this talk of gas prices coupled with other economic verbiage has me considering other means of transportation. I currently drive a small SUV. I really like driving it. There is plenty of room for me, I can carry just about anything I need, and I don’t feel like a gnat in a Eagle’s world on Hwy 360. But, I’ve considered another means of transportation due to the cost of filling up my small SUV. When my mom drove this very same Jeep a couple of years ago, it cost her about $40 to fill up this chariot. Now, with the extreme increase in gas prices, that cost has doubled. Plus, the gas mileage on a 12 year old 4-wheel drive SUV isn’t all that attractive. So I’ve considered a Hyundai….yes, that’s right. I did some research and the Hyundai has a 10 year/100K mile warranty plus the Accent model gets about 37 miles per gallon highway and 33 or so in the city. Right now, my Jeep gets about 17 per gallon in the city and maybe 23 on the highway. So the Accent was looking really nice. Then there are other economic problems.

Being in the print industry, I’ve known for some time that the Internet media would overwhelm some advertisers and become more appealing. This results in a loss of advertising revenue for my company. Over the last year I’ve watched the numbers decrease in advertisers. That can only mean one thing. The company has to cut back somewhere. Well, last week we got the news that one of our facilities would be shutting down and their work split between the three remaining production facilities. Thank goodness the Dallas plant is still up and running. But, now the bigwigs know how much money can be saved by one plant closing, they could realistically shut down another production facility to save money. Luckily, because Texas’ economy is better than Ohio and Florida, I don’t think they will shut down the Dallas plant. It is still a possibility.

I am in a quandary. Should I buy another car to save money? Is that logical? Can you buy a car with better gas mileage and save money even with a monthly payment? How much longer should I hold onto this chariot? Yes, its old and has problems, but I know the history of this car, I know the mechanics who have worked on it…at least since its been in the family. At some point I am going to have to get another vehicle, but is the Hyundai Accent the one for me and when should I consider buying another one?

Until next time.