Gas Free
September 23, 2008 6:52 PM   Subscribe

Gas Shortages Throughout the Southeast More than a week after Hurricane Ike, there's little or no gas around much of the American Southeast.

Here in Asheville, you can check online to see if there's gas at any given station. But then when you get there, you'll wait for an hour or more, often only to find that they've just run out. Which leads to fights. Programs are being canceled, traffic is light and we hear that Atlanta and Nashville are just as bad.
posted by mygothlaundry (83 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is it too early to start planning parties for 2012?
posted by mannequito at 6:57 PM on September 23, 2008


Pretty much like this deleted post, though at least this one spares us the Hitler.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:04 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


It's pretty bad here in Charlotte. Most of the stations I drive by have regular (if they have anything at all).
posted by sigma7 at 7:05 PM on September 23, 2008


Damn, I missed a chance to pull in a Hitler reference? I've been living this for a week now and Adolf had not even come to mind. Drat.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:06 PM on September 23, 2008


How are we going to drive down the ruins of Wall Street with no fuckin' gas? I ask you.
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:07 PM on September 23, 2008


It was great to see that CNN declared this the result of a rumor and a panic. Last Wednesday I went to multiple stations here in Nashville that were out of gas. On Friday, there were two stations I saw that had gas. And yesterday there was literally one gas station that I could find selling gas and it only had regular.

Sure there was a panic, it was because we ran out of gas.
posted by aburd at 7:14 PM on September 23, 2008


Sorry mgl, that came out more negative than I intended. Mostly I was just mentioning that an earlier post on this subject got whacked, and while the reason isn't all that clear it's probably for a defect your post doesn't have.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:16 PM on September 23, 2008


Thanks for posting this, mygothlaundry. The past couple days have been kind of bizarre in the Aville. I was beginning to think I was living in some twilight zone episode where our city becomes increasing isolated, its residents trapped forever... *cue creepy music*
posted by wundermint at 7:18 PM on September 23, 2008


I was beginning to think I was living in some twilight zone episode where our city becomes increasing isolated, its residents trapped forever...

No, that'd be here in Birmingham.

And gas has nothing to do with it.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:20 PM on September 23, 2008 [2 favorites]


Gas in Knoxville has gone down to a normal price from being over 5 dollars a gallon for a little while, although many stations are out of premium grade. The strange thing now is the distribution of prices within a small area - in general, two gas stations across the street from each other won't vary their prices by more than a cent, but now I'm sometimes seeing them with something like a fifteen cent difference in price, I can't figure out why. Of course I haven't investigated very closely, I probably could just ask a gas station attendant.
posted by frobozz at 7:22 PM on September 23, 2008


I hope things get better soon. A friend of mine is still without power in Baytown!

This goes to show that it's good sense to be able to care of yourself and your family without resupply for at least a week, and preferably more like a month or even longer. If you live in a high-risk area, you should consider putting together a 72-hour evacuation kit as well. Small things like this can make the difference between comfort and panic in an emergency... and it's nice not to have to run to the store for dinner now and again, too.
posted by vorfeed at 7:24 PM on September 23, 2008


I am amazed how unaffected my part of the West Coast is. Not that there is any logical reason (which there isn't - our supply chain is totally separate partly because of California Low-Emission Formulations), but any time in the semi-recent past that there has been a crisis or pseudo-crisis anywhere in the country, the prices went up around here, just to make sure I'm paying Among the Highest Gasoline Prices in the U.S.ofA.

If anything, the prices have crept down here since Ike hit Texas. Right now ranging from a lowest regular price around $3.70/gal. to a highest premium price just over $4.00/gal. Which is also the lowest spread between the bargain gas the locals use and the high-priced tourist stations on Highway 101. (My tip: never buy Shell gas in Shell Beach) I feel like they're setting us up, which would be considered paranoid except for how the Oil Industry has always treated California (mostly in response to California Low-Emmission Formulations - a mix of legitimate additional costs and their desire to say "F.U.CA").

Anyway, I'd be happy to give youze guyz a ride to the ruins of Wall Street, but the WendellWagon will be loaded up with extra cans of gas just to complete the trip - no room for passenging.
posted by wendell at 7:25 PM on September 23, 2008


I live in the Baton Rouge area...we were directly affected by Gustav and are one of the largest refinery locations in the United States. Gas distribution is coming back online but was delayed because of the storm in this area. It is a ripple effect and won't last long. We felt the brunt of it when it first occurred and it was a nightmare but things have quickly gotten a lot better.
posted by GavinR at 7:26 PM on September 23, 2008


The weirdest thing was today when I turned on the noon news and all they had to say about the fact that half the people I know are stranded around the city (me included; my extended family now has one car with 1/2 a tank of gas in it and I'm the official chauffeur for us all) was that parents at one elementary school are considering car pools. Whoa! Considering! Meanwhile, my daughter, who works for the Autism Society, is reporting that nobody can make it to work; my job is on the brink of closing down; everyone I know is looking for gas and the lines at the very few stations that are even open are stretching for two miles or more, with police escorts. It's not the prices: there's no gas to be had. Yet there's no media coverage, local or otherwise. wundermint has it - it's just getting stranger and stranger.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:27 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


While in Tampa FL today I had to cruise three stations before finding fuel, they had the baggies over the nozzles....I thought it just a weird coincidence but now in hindsight, perhaps a shortage.
posted by HappyHippo at 7:28 PM on September 23, 2008


See, they tell you to buy local, and this is what happens...
posted by smackfu at 7:34 PM on September 23, 2008


The South are going to be introduced to an old Canadian concept -- the Bennett Buggy.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 7:35 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


This is very strange. There seems to be no shortage in Brunswick, GA, at least that I can see living about a mile from a line of truckstops. Prices are actually down a bit here.

Maybe I should fill up my tank before tomorrow morning, hmm.
posted by JHarris at 7:37 PM on September 23, 2008


Get used to it!
posted by adamdschneider at 7:37 PM on September 23, 2008


Definitely get used to it.

Also, buy a bicycle.

Also, why'd that other post get deleted?
posted by mannequito at 7:39 PM on September 23, 2008


In St. Louis (we're southeast of Idaho) there were a number of stations that were out of gas withing 24 hours of Ike making landfall. Haven't these people heard of plausible deniability?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 7:40 PM on September 23, 2008


huh. This is strange. What's happening? Anybody got an idea? A week ago I called Conroe, a town north of Houston. They'd just gotten their electricity after 5 days and this went all the way up to Ohio.

Nashville continues to see the worst gasoline shortage in the Southeast, the region hardest hit by supply problems after Hurricane Ike.

Problems are also reported in metro Atlanta and Tallahassee, Fla., said AAA spokesman


Nine major refineries were still off-line Monday in the Texas Gulf Coast.

Maybe this will help? Car Pool World. com

Share the Ride NC
posted by nickyskye at 7:44 PM on September 23, 2008


It's strange because I've been driving back and forth between NC and the DC area, and suddenly gas -- which is normally far cheaper in NC -- jumped up to be much more pricey than DC's.

The only thing I can figure is that it's a difference in supply. My understanding is that most gasoline moves from refineries to local terminals via pipelines. It's not hauled by truck for any great distance; it's too expensive. (Those trucks that you see driving around are only the very last step, taking the gas from the pipeline terminals to the gas stations.)

Somewhere between northern VA and NC apparently lies the "continental divide" for refined petroleum, north of which you're getting product coming from refineries in Jersey or Delaware, and south of which you're getting stuff from the Gulf Coast.

However, a look at some pipeline maps doesn't really support this; the pipelines look like they run straight through, making it up at least to DC if not all the way up to NJ. Unless there's something that I'm not seeing, it's not apparent to me why DC would have gas while places further south -- that supposedly are on the same refined-products pipelines -- wouldn't.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:44 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


Here in Austin, there are signs on the freeway warning drivers to "AVOID TRAVELING TO HOUSTON, FUEL SHORTAGES EN ROUTE" (or something along those lines). Kind of post-apocalyptic.
posted by liet at 7:44 PM on September 23, 2008


I ride a bike everywhere but had to fill up the work van one day last week. I was stunned to find that the first two stations I went to in central Raleigh were both out of gas. When I heard about the Asheville situation today, I just shook my head and thought, they're all going to push for offshore drilling now.

Then I hopped on my bike and rode home.
posted by mediareport at 7:49 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


Yet there's no media coverage, local or otherwise.

True! At my house we don't have TV so I've been on Citizen Times, and the only article I was seeing earlier in the day seemed really fuzzy - where is an official statement from the mayor...or someone? anyone? anyone? ...bueller?

And side note: I agree with biking 100% - but some people may not have experienced our narrow, hilly non-bike laned roads. They can be pretty scary and dangerous. Didn't have a car for awhile and there was only a couple roads I felt remotely safe on.
posted by wundermint at 7:53 PM on September 23, 2008


Drivers from Austin, thinking to themselves ""AVOID TRAVELING TO HOUSTON, FUEL SHORTAGES EN ROUTE WHAT THE HELL YOU GOTTA GO TO HOUSTON FOR?"
posted by louche mustachio at 7:54 PM on September 23, 2008 [5 favorites]


And in the supermarket people are trading stories like, hey, you can go to South Carolina and get gas! Which is very helpful when you're on empty. Then the people who are still in the Florida Fog (Floridians who moved here because they got a spiritual message from under their table at the vegetarian restaurant telling them that life was better in Asheville and are still determined that everything is Perfect here) say, well, it's because of the mountains. I mean, yes, of course, it is really hard for the mule teams pulling the tankers to get up the hill. We should all think of that.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:58 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


Unless there's something that I'm not seeing, it's not apparent to me why DC would have gas while places further south -- that supposedly are on the same refined-products pipelines -- wouldn't.

Don't forget that supply is only one part of the equation -- demand is the other. JHarris upthread said, "There seems to be no shortage in Brunswick, GA [...] Maybe I should fill up my tank before tomorrow morning, hmm." I don't mean to pick on him, because that's a perfectly reasonable reaction, but multiply him by 1000, and there's your mystery shortage. It could be that people in the towns south of DC heard about shortages nearby, and their reactions caused the shortages to spread.
posted by vorfeed at 7:58 PM on September 23, 2008 [2 favorites]




Has anyone seen my peak oil? I'm pretty sure I left it around here somewhere.
posted by loquacious at 8:01 PM on September 23, 2008


CNN's coverage has been perverse. Basically, I think I'm supposed to believe I'm imagining this. I keep waiting for them to sign the hypnotoad as the new evening anchor.

I also preferred the first post. This one doesn't have nearly enough Hitler.
posted by rokusan at 8:06 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


Lots of dry pumps around downtown Atlanta last Sunday, when I'd just gotten back from the airport. Fortunately my little beater of a pickup runs on pretty much nothing, but I had to drive fairly far — and rather nervously — in order to find a gas nozzle without a baggy prophylactic.
posted by Haruspex at 8:12 PM on September 23, 2008


It's been kind of weird. Friday before last (9/12) we drove to Greensboro in the morning and gas was around $3.60 something. We did our business, then on the way back that afternoon it was $4.00 and up. We were wondering if we had bombed Iran or something. Ike was on the way. Here in Raleigh some places are out, but it's not as hard to find as it was the Saturday before Ike hit Texas, it was exactly like Mad Max on that day.

The state attorney general has issued some subpoenas for price-gouging and he's not even running for anything.
posted by marxchivist at 8:13 PM on September 23, 2008


While in Tampa FL today I had to cruise three stations before finding fuel

Huh. I haven't noticed any shortages in Gainesville (not that I've looked hard), but now I'm glad I didn't go to the Rays game last weekend.

well, that, and they lost
posted by dirigibleman at 8:14 PM on September 23, 2008


Let's have a we-don't-got-no-gas party. We'll sip cocktails through our siphons.
posted by wundermint at 8:15 PM on September 23, 2008


I keep hearing about the little town I live in running out, but so far I've not seen any closed pumps. Nashville which is an hour away however, is having problems.
posted by nola at 8:19 PM on September 23, 2008


I can't wait until all the gas runs out. Girls who ride bicycles are hawt.
posted by mullingitover at 8:21 PM on September 23, 2008 [2 favorites]


How are we going to drive down the ruins of Wall Street with no fuckin' gas? I ask you.

It's a short street. Very walkable!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:28 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]


TOO FAR TO DRIVE
SHORTAGES EVERYWHERE
OUT OF GAS

BURMA SHAVE
posted by blue_beetle at 9:03 PM on September 23, 2008 [4 favorites]


From the Asheville Citizen-Times

The shortages have spread across much of the Southeast as most the 15 Gulf Coast refineries shut down by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike have yet to come back on line, cutting the nation’s petroleum supply by 22 percent.

Some experts said Asheville’s relative remoteness from the Colonial Pipeline, the main artery for East Coast gasoline supplies, and sparse population compared with major metropolitan areas could be adding to the problem.

The pipeline reopened 9 days ago, albeit at a greatly reduced carrying rate, and some supplies are reaching the gasoline terminals in Spartanburg and Belton, S.C., that supply the mountains.

But some industry officials had as many questions as answers in trying to explain the problems Monday.

“I’ve been communicating with some of the local distributors, and they’re having trouble figuring out why gas isn’t coming to Spartanburg,” said Mack Salley, deputy fire marshal for Buncombe County. “All they know is they’re sending trucks to Spartanburg to get gas and they’re coming back empty.”

Karl Koon, vice president of Asheville Oil Co., said this afternoon that his company is looking for product anywhere it may be available. His company, which supplies five local BP stations as well as private companies, has two fuel tanker trucks, but they’ve been sitting idle for the past two days.

“We’ve actually made trips to Spartanburg and come back empty-handed,” Koon said, adding that they are considering sending a truck as far as North Charleston, S.C., where the terminals have more product. “I can tell you we’re trying to get product anywhere and everywhere, and price is a secondary consideration to actually being able to get product.”

He said the terminals in upstate South Carolina are smaller than the big terminals in Charlotte and Greensboro, and that may be contributing to the shortage here in the mountains. Also, before the storms hit, the refineries were switching from a summer blend of fuel to the winter formula, so supplies were already tight.

From the Hendersonville Times-News

North Carolina AAA has seen a 12 to 15 percent increase in calls from members who ran out of gas since the shortage began last weekend, according to AAA officials.

The motor club delivers emergency fuel to its members who run out of gas on the road, said Susan Ledford, Western North regional manager.

She attributes the localized gas shortage to a few factors. Those who filled up last Friday or Saturday, both heavy days for fueling, now need a refill. It is also still tourism season as fall arrives and the visitors come to Western North Carolina to see the leaves change.

Ledford also said many people are still topping off their tanks when it’s not necessary. This caused long lines at the few service stations in Hendersonville that carried gas.

Meanwhile, in Hygiene, Colorado

Residents of a rural Colorado town say a cow named Apple chased off a bear that had climbed into her favorite apple tree. Jack McDonald of Hygiene, about 30 miles northwest of Denver, said the bear had climbed out of the tree when the cow approached it Sunday afternoon.

McDonald says the animals touched noses and hung out together for a bit before Apple chased the bear off.

“It was hilarious,” McDonald says.
posted by netbros at 9:19 PM on September 23, 2008


Definitely not seeing it on the West Coast. Gas is 129.9/L (which comes to $4.71 USD/gallon atm - would feel a but "cheaper" but the CAD has been gaining on the USD lately. hmm, wonder why?), down from a long period of 140-something (there was a 1.52 peak for a little bit). It had been that way since before the summer, maybe this is just a post-summer effect.

Then again, I don't own a car and take the bus or just walk.
posted by porpoise at 9:20 PM on September 23, 2008


Oh hey, I just found something useful: Canadian Dollars per liter in USD per gallon

I knew Google did unit conversions, but I didn't realize it did compound unit conversions. Awesome!
posted by Ryvar at 9:30 PM on September 23, 2008


Huh. So far we here in Fayetteville are okay...but I just told my husband to make sure to fill up in the morning-he's at a quarter of a tank.
posted by konolia at 9:41 PM on September 23, 2008


Where's all that Iraqi oil when you need it? No matter, the ban on offshore drilling is to be lifted. That oughta do it. No worries now. Straight from the ocean into your gas tank, I guess. Get ready for never-ending energy independence.
posted by IvoShandor at 9:47 PM on September 23, 2008


The past couple days have been kind of bizarre in the Aville. I was beginning to think I was living in some twilight zone episode where our city becomes increasing isolated, its residents trapped forever... *cue creepy music*

You have precisely summed up my experience of growing up in Asheville and clearly articulated my best argument against ever moving back . Good luck to you. Last time I checked in, my mother said the Hess Station on Hendersonville Road had gas.
posted by thivaia at 9:55 PM on September 23, 2008


Even before Ike hit, quite a few areas of the US were starting to see gasoline shortages.
If you are interested in this kind of stuff I recommend that you take a look at The Oil Drum now and then. Like any public board the comments contain both extremes but I have found it very interesting over the past few months to read articles that attempt to make accessible EIA data, industry reports, etc. on fossil fuel supply, availability, discovery, pricing etc. The Gasbuddy temperature map is always interesting.
posted by well_balanced at 9:56 PM on September 23, 2008 [2 favorites]


Oh hey, I just found something useful: Canadian Dollars per liter in USD per gallon

You want to put "US Gallon" in there and save yourself a buck.
posted by cillit bang at 11:29 PM on September 23, 2008


I believe it was Andre 3000 who said 'nothing lasts forever'.

The saddest thing is that Americans became complacent enough to allow this situation to occur in the first place.
posted by chuckdarwin at 12:23 AM on September 24, 2008


A refinery worker strike caused a similar shortage in Scotland in April. The effects were amplified by people panic buying.

If the refineries are down at the minute then it's not much of a surprise that gas supplies are low, once they're back up and running - and people stop panic-buying/stockpiling - there shouldn't be much of a problem. It might also provide a welcome kick in the arse to invest in alternative energy sources.

(I didn't know google could do that either **1.12 (British pounds per litre) = 7.84422115 U.S. dollars per US gallon**)
posted by knapah at 2:41 AM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


There is an article on the Oil Drum site well_balanced linked to that addresses this issue explicitly.
Quote:
"...because Texas refineries have been fairly slow to get back online, and because of the built-in lag due to the slow travel of refined products through pipelines, the present gasoline shortages are likely to get worse in the next two to three weeks."
posted by bystander at 3:13 AM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Thanks for the tip, thivaia. Hope your mother doesn't have to wait for hours on end. I grew up in Carrboro/Chapel Hill so I understand perfectly why you'd like it there! :)
posted by wundermint at 6:06 AM on September 24, 2008


If you think this is fun, wait until OPEC slashes production, trying to prop up the collapsing bubble. Prices will be very slow to recover, so the result will be widespread shortages. Eventually OPEC will go back to a reasonable production level, because while selling a lot of oil for cheap hurts, selling very little oil for cheap topples regimes, and the commodities pricing will have started to return to normal. In the meantime, figure on five, six months worth of gas lines and five-bucks-a-gallon gas if you can find some.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:25 AM on September 24, 2008


Peapod Grocery Delivery
posted by smackfu at 6:31 AM on September 24, 2008


The idea that the shortages are the result of rumors is pretty ridiculous, seeing as how cars can only put a little gas in their tanks at a time. People can't really hoard the stuff.

The problem, in my view is price controls. Rather then charging the real value of the gas, which would be painful, price controls are put in place, and shortages result.

If gas stations could charge the true market value for the gas, then people would buy less and conserve until the shortage went away. Instead, we get shortages.
posted by delmoi at 6:40 AM on September 24, 2008


It figures that this would happen the first time I drive a car in over six months.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:54 AM on September 24, 2008


This is strange to me, because I'm down as far Southeast as you can go, and we have no problem getting gas. You would think that, merely from a transportation standpoint, we would be the most expensive as well as have the hardest time getting gas to us.
posted by misha at 7:11 AM on September 24, 2008


"Southeast" as far as the MSM is concerned appears to be just about everything South of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi flood plain. It seems to be centered on Asheville, Nashville, and Atlanta.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:22 AM on September 24, 2008


Lets see ..

Move to NYC a day before Sept. 11? Check.

Plan a vacation to New Orleans right before it gets hit by a devastating hurricane?

Check.

Visit Berlin right before a freak, crippling ice storm? Check.

Start to talk about a drive to Asheville and Savannah and then read of gas shortages?

Check.

I am a danger to myself and others.
posted by The Whelk at 7:30 AM on September 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


The idea that the shortages are the result of rumors is pretty ridiculous, seeing as how cars can only put a little gas in their tanks at a time. People can't really hoard the stuff.

You think so? I'd say the average gas tank is half full. If suddenly that jumps to an average of 3/4 full, because people are worried when they fall below half-full, that's a significant increase in demand.
posted by smackfu at 7:32 AM on September 24, 2008


You think so? I'd say the average gas tank is half full. If suddenly that jumps to an average of 3/4 full, because people are worried when they fall below half-full, that's a significant increase in demand.

It could create a short spike in demand, but that would taper off once everyone's tank was full.
posted by delmoi at 7:55 AM on September 24, 2008


True, but that's assuming that the system could handle the initial spike. Plus the length of the spike is determined by human factors, since everyone doesn't decide to fill up at once. It would be interesting to model.
posted by smackfu at 8:08 AM on September 24, 2008


The Whelk: I am a danger to myself and others.

Please consider providing a public service and post a blog entry or at least a twitter whenever you get a hankering to move or travel.
Also, let us know what Powerball numbers to avoid.
posted by djeo at 8:15 AM on September 24, 2008


delmoi: It could create a short spike in demand, but that would taper off once everyone's tank was full.

As with most businesses, gas stations don't keep enough stock to fill up everyone's tank in one day. Most businesses operate on the assumption that demand will be spread out over the course of a normal week. So for example 9/11 caused gas shortages because people who would normally wait a few more days to buy $20 of fuel panicked and bought full tanks and canisters as soon as possible. (And because people are irrational agents, I don't think that simply raising the price will solve the problem.)

Now granted, there are supply problems this week. But panic behavior by consumers certainly is making the problem a bit worse than it needs to be.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:32 AM on September 24, 2008


> Here in Austin, there are signs on the freeway warning drivers to "AVOID TRAVELING TO HOUSTON"

That's good advice no matter how you slice it.
posted by you just lost the game at 8:32 AM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Heh. I hate to rub it in, but I gotta quit reading MeFi and go fill up an SUV and drive a couple hundred miles now for no real purpose. Oh well, at least gas has been relatively cheap here for the last couple of days.
posted by wierdo at 8:42 AM on September 24, 2008


Spoke to my sister in Atlanta today... she said, "Oh no, we're not out. You have to drive around some but we've been ok so far. We've made sure not to let our tanks get below 1/2."

Gee sis, I wonder why all those stations are out of gas?
posted by matty at 10:35 AM on September 24, 2008


How odd this seems. I'm in Houston and most of the stations in my neighborhood have gas. I am on the west side of town, which got a lot less nastiness than the eastern parts, but still it seems strange that WE have gas when there are still trees and fences down and traffic lights missing.
posted by John Smallberries at 12:06 PM on September 24, 2008


err....

...that WE have gas when there are still trees and fences down and traffic lights missing, when other unhit parts of the country do not. I guess it's because we live in the oilpatch?
posted by John Smallberries at 12:09 PM on September 24, 2008


We in the Houston area have gas because 1/4 of us still have no power and need the gas to run generators.
posted by Robert Angelo at 12:17 PM on September 24, 2008


Gee sis, I wonder why all those stations are out of gas?

Because some people are foolish enough to habitually run on a mostly-empty gas tank, until there's a shortage? I keep mine mostly full all the time, probably because once upon a time I spent lots of time driving on roads where there aren't many places to fill up, but now when I feel the irrational exuberance that leads to such half-bullshit, I call it doing my patriotic duty, keeping full my little part of the rolling strategic reserve of gasoline. Once shortages get common enough that everyone does it, no more problems from that kind of panic buying.
posted by sfenders at 12:39 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Tallahassee went through its gas shortage two weeks ago. It lasted about a week. The first Friday of the shortage (also State workers paydays) was terrible -- Floridians bought, apparently, 100 million gallons of gas (the normal number is 26 million gallons). Now it's back to 'normal.'

Highlights:
"The supply of gasoline to Tallahassee is getting back to normal, said Jim Smith, president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association. But customers are buying three or four times more than normal, sucking stations dry faster than they're resupplied.
"This is the worst retail marketplace in the entire state right now," he said. "Residents should pat themselves on the back for out-panicking everybody else.""
WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!

Blame got laid on the shoulders of a State of Florida (Dept of Management Services) employee who sent out an e-mail from her work account to her friends warning everyone that gasoline could rise in price by over a dollar during the day. Predictably, the e-mail was forwarded on to everyone and rumor became fact as lines at gas pumps prompted more people to panic and wait in line which made more people panic and wait in line and then buy gas cans to hoard some "just in case" ad nauseum.

Just like the Carson-created toilet roll shortage, but without the golf swing.
posted by subbes at 2:17 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


In Athens,Georgia, we're seeing a lot of stations out of one grade or another.

What I'm nervous about is that this weekend is a home football game. Meaning a lot of folks travelling in from Atlanta for the game, and if they're driving less-than-efficient vehicles (read: SUVs, minivans and Big Ass Trucks) they'll need to refill while they're here. And don't forget the fans coming from Alabama. And really pay attention to the ones with giant motor homes. And don't forget all the generators that get brought to tailgating activities.

The "population" of Athens roughly doubles on a game day and we're seeing mild shortage as is. This could be bad.

I'd like to just get the hell out of town, but that would mean, wait for it, filling up my tank in order to drive somewhere.
posted by 100watts at 2:19 PM on September 24, 2008


Does Athens have a railway station? If so, why not take a train somewhere?

(This may be a non-starter, but it's what I would do if I couldn't use my car and needed to get somewhere - or take a bus)
posted by knapah at 2:40 PM on September 24, 2008


Because some people are foolish enough to habitually run on a mostly-empty gas tank, until there's a shortage? I keep mine mostly full all the time,

Heh. I think most people just fill up when the light goes on. It's pretty weird to keep it mostly full all the time.
posted by smackfu at 3:06 PM on September 24, 2008


The nearest Amtrak station to Athens is in Gainesville, 34 miles away.
posted by oaf at 4:22 PM on September 24, 2008


The idea that the shortages are the result of rumors is pretty ridiculous, seeing as how cars can only put a little gas in their tanks at a time. People can't really hoard the stuff.

Um, no, that's "pretty ridiculous". It's not about individual hoarding, it's about a sudden increase in collective demand. Like any business, gas stations only have enough room for a certain amount of gas, and they know how long it takes to sell it, so they order exactly that much gas during that period. Yes, cars can "only put a little gas in their tanks at a time", but if everyone fills up at once, especially for days on end, the stations will run out, and they'll do it surprisingly quickly, because that's simply not the demand pattern they're built to support. If the same thing is going on all over the region, then the regional distributor will also run out, because he isn't in the business of buying and storing tons more gas than he's likely to sell, either.

As for the whole "it could create a short spike in demand, but that would taper off once everyone's tank was full" thing, keep in mind that people still have to get to work. If the shortage lasts a week, guess what: many of those people will need to buy gas again. And perceived shortages tend to cause people to buy before they need to, "just in case", which prolongs the period of high demand.
posted by vorfeed at 7:40 PM on September 24, 2008


We're fine down here in Wilmington, around 3.70-3.90, with a spike to right over 4.00 during Ike. But friends back home in the Triad have reported much higher gas prices-some in Lexington were brushing up against that 5.00 mark at one time. Didn't believe it until I heard about Charlotte's prices and all that. We've got the port here, though, and that may be why we wouldn't notice a shortage or panic as easily as other folks in the state. Also, people here are lazy; myself included, so there's this "eh, we can do it tomorrow" vibe emanating from us beach bums.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 7:41 PM on September 24, 2008


mygothlaundry writes "The weirdest thing was today when I turned on the noon news and all they had to say about the fact that half the people I know are stranded around the city (me included; my extended family now has one car with 1/2 a tank of gas in it and I'm the official chauffeur for us all) was that parents at one elementary school are considering car pools."

Aren't elementary schools generally constructed within walking distance of the families they service?
posted by Mitheral at 10:19 PM on September 24, 2008


Would it make me a terrible free-market Scrooge-curmudgeon to point out that if fuel merchants are running out of fuel at $5/gallon that $5/gallon is clearly far too low a price? I wonder how much panic/hoarding behavior you'd see at $10/gallon.
posted by Western Infidels at 9:00 AM on September 25, 2008


Aren't elementary schools generally constructed within walking distance of the families they service?

You're joking, right? I wish this was the case, but many elementary schools are huge, and draw students from a wide area.

The reasons for doing this are usually economies of scale; several towns or school districts put their money together and build one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, rather than each town trying to build one of each, and they hopefully have better quality as a result. (I'm unconvinced this actually works all that well, but it's the theory anyway.)

I'm not sure why parents are driving their kids to school versus having them take a school bus, though -- unless the school buses are out of diesel too? That would indicate a true problem.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:49 AM on September 25, 2008


Western Infidels: "if fuel merchants are running out of fuel at $5/gallon that $5/gallon is clearly far too low a price? I wonder how much panic/hoarding behavior you'd see at $10/gallon."

Based on this town? Just as much, but while they're filling their cars and 5 gallon "emergency" gas cans with $5.49/gallon regular, they use their mobile phone to call the "Price Gouging Report Line."

posted by subbes at 2:09 PM on September 25, 2008


Kadin2048 writes "The reasons for doing this are usually economies of scale; several towns or school districts put their money together and build one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, rather than each town trying to build one of each, and they hopefully have better quality as a result"

Interesting. Places I'm familiar with in Canada, IE: BC and Calgary, rarely have elementary schools with more than a 10-12 classes. So one for each grade plus some splits to handle excesses. And that's only 30 odd kids per class. High schools are much larger however highschool kids are expected to be able to walk farther too. It's only rural neighbourhoods where busing is the norm.
posted by Mitheral at 5:39 PM on September 25, 2008


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