Shovelhead

They are a lot more than you might think.
Most of the houses in my Mother's neighborhood are still heating with oil. (Northern Virginia near Springfileld).
It costs more to hook up to the natural gas utility and change furnaces, than most people are willing (or able) to pay.
She goes through about 150 - 200 gallons of oil per month depending on the weather.
If you think we're getting hosed, .....she pays more for heating oil than I pay for on-road diesel, and that's including the road taxes I have to pay.

wv smoker

I think they charge so much because they can. I remember a few years back when diesel went a lot higher than gasoline the truckers were protesting and boycotting and shutting down the transportation industry, and it wasn't long coming back down. Now the truckers and all other shippers just add the fuel surcharge to their bills and don't care? Just another side effect of deregulation, good for some and not so good for others. Same thing applies to the natural gas industry, when the suppliers raise their price, your local company passes the cost on to the consumer. I wish the supply and demand concept applied to labor, I would just raise my hourly wage to suit myself! Be like hitting the lottery!!!

infidel

Out west about 20 years ago you could get used fuel oil tanks for a dime a dozen, often with the fuel included, because everyone got rid of them. I don't know of even one home in my area that still uses fuel oil.

DustyRock

Right before Memorial day (May 30th) fuel prices always SKYROCKET. Why? Because they know that we want to travel for the weekend and or summer vacation. They do it because they can, and the sheep will continue to get fleeced.

SoTexRattler

I do believe we are getting "conditioned" for a planned hike in price when ultra low sulphur diesel officially arrives in the U.S.
I am pleased that diesel prices have finally dropped back into the middle range of unleaded gas prices.
I have been logging every fillup since I bought my CTD. Looking back over the log, prices have really jumped last year while gas stayed suspiciously low..

A friend is an engineer at a local refinery and he says their company is having to spend lots of capital $$$ on government mandated processing to wring the remaining sulphur out of motor fuel stocks.
If you think about it, the govt is the biggest benefactor of fuel sales. Taxes on a gallon of motor fuel FAR outweigh the refineries profit margin!
Basically, refineries catch heat for high fuel costs while the govt enjoys the taxes off of a vital necessity of our American way of life.

After years of watching diesel prices rise and fall compared to gasoline prices, STABLE crude prices do seem to allow the law of supply and demand to work. But when crude starts getting jerked around, the "I got mine" profit protection factor seems to take over when setting prices for motor fuel!

Previously, diesel prices would jump a day or two after gasoline prices jump but took a LONG TIME to "drift" back down to their pre-jump price assuming crude price changes remained reasonable.
Last year their price playbook seemed to be thrown out the window!!! Never have I seen diesel prices as high in comparison to gasoline for so long!

New U.S. EPA and other govt regulations looming for US companies, China emerging as a MAJOR diesel consumer, old order of the Middle East changing, Dollar weakness, increasing demand on increasingly limited petroleum sources make the energy sector a wierd place to predict ANYTHING! So, to keep the profits and energy company stock dividends up, we take it in the pocket book when at the pumps!

I think many in the USA (and myself!) got a good wakeup on just how dependant our American economy is on CHEAP energy!
Look at the airlines! Ye GAD! prices went up and stayed up and they started filing for bankruptcy right and left!
And just look how enjoyable it is to fly now... Govt run TSA screeners almost required to do cavity searches on elderly, obviously unlikely threats to security while we're paying a bloody fortune for tickets!
Trucking companies paying the higher prices and passing it on to the ultimate end customer, YOU! Every hamburger, every sheet of plywood, every Cummins engine trucked to Mexico to be installed cost YOU in higher prices.
Railroads use HUGE amounts of diesel! They have to pass those costs on to their customers too! Rail rates for finished CTD's have undoubtably gone way up too!
My own company I work for is threatened by higher energy costs. Our long term viability is ultimately determined by cheap energy costs.

Stability in the market seems to be the best defense against STUPID price gouging, Period.

I'm no expert in economics by ANY stretch of the imagination.. Just a CTD nut that enjoys getting 18 to 24 mpg in a heavy ol' pickup truck..

K.

roadranger

Scotty, I don't know about the Canadian side of the story, but I've found that Flying J has got to have some of the crappiest diesel around. They must look hard for the cheapest diesel to be found.
You get what you pay for...