HIGHWAY ROBBERY

My husband and I brought in the New Year with a two week trip to Florida. I am almost embarrassed to confess that one of the highlights of this trip was purchasing gas for only $2.13 when the prevailing price in Pittsburgh was $2.35. We happened to run low on gas near Wythesville, VA and pulled off to fill up at a convenience store. At first we thought that the gas might not be of good quality; but it was fine. We smiled all the way to Florida at our good fortune.

Why is it that we are all so interested in getting a good price on gas? It has to be more than just the money saved, because the actual savings are often only the price of a bottle of water or a cup of coffee.

In thinking about this universal feeling of glee when we happen on a good deal, it seems that perhaps it could be compared to winning a small battle in the war of life. So many of the things that we face are not negotiable. We must accept whatever comes and shrug our shoulders.

But driving past several gas stations at a clover leaf searching to find the best price and even wasting the entire savings in excess mileage fills us with joy. We are beating down the forces that are out to conquer us and making a statement that we just won't lie down and take it. This is a battle that we have a chance to win occasionally. And so the huge signs advertising the prices whet our appetites in this ongoing battle to get the best price for essentially the same product.

The cheapest price we’ve ever paid for gas was 19 cents a gallon in Rhode Island at least 52 years ago. Apparently there was a gas war in the area and each station had cardboard signs advertising their price. Gas wars now seem to be a thing of the past. Generally all the stations clustered around an exit, or in a particular area of town have the same price. Occasionally there is a cheaper price but in small letters at the tank it says “Cash Only.” I wonder how these stations communicate with each other. Is it in the dead of night or by e-mail, or is there a designated station setting the price for that week? In this age of conglomerates, all the stations may possibly be owned by the same foreign company.

The esteemed Benjamin Franklin and other notable people (many of them Scots) have extolled the principle of thrift, and the simple pleasure of getting the cheapest gas possible is deeply embedded in our psyche. Even the media understands this. During the recent steep price hikes of gasoline, the newspaper and television people have scouted around each day and reported on the stations with the best deal. So let the seller beware. We of this gas guzzling generation are determined to get a good price and feel fortunate that we live in a country where we are given this opportunity.

Sometimes we gamble and drive on to the next exit before filling up if we feel the price is out-of-line. That's when we switch the computer in our car from the direction indicator to the mileage indicator which shows how many miles remain before the tank is empty. We don't want to run out of gas. That would really set us back in the war.

Kathleen Schartner is a resident of Sherwood Oaks Retirement Community.