Gas Price Explanation

I’m not an economist, but I’m going to play one on the internet today. I mean, I have a minor in International Business, so that has to count for something. Basically, I learned that culture is important in business. And guns and butter are a thing. 

Which brings me to gas prices. They can differ significantly depending on location and time of year. There are taxes involved, which impacts the price, as well as supply and demand. For example, with millions of people traveling for Thanksgiving and more people needing gas, you can expect prices to increase. There's also microeconomics and macroeconomics. I'm just going to write economic terms!

All of this brings me to a gas station a few miles from my Northern Virginia home. Last week, I dropped off my two younger kids at school and got gas for the car. The price was $2.759 per gallon. Nearly 12 hours later, I returned to the same gas station and the price was $3.099 per gallon, an increase of 34 cents. Knowing that this would be pointless, I went inside the store to ask for an explanation. The guy simply said that they have no control over the pricing as this is done by corporate.

So my next step was contacting corporate. While I won't say the name of the gas company, the first three letters are the same as a star closer to Mercury and Venus than Earth. It's also very hot. Anyway, this company passed me on to their partner, who has free Slurpees on a specific day in July, since they own and operate this location. 

This is the message I received:

Thank you for contacting us with your question about the change in fuel price at our location in redacted.  Although I do not have the specific metrics as to why the price changed yesterday I do know that our Fuel department felt the need to change the price throughout all of Northern Virginia.  The prices may go up or down several times a weeks for any number of reasons.  I appreciate your interest in this matter and for being a loyal customer.  

Now my turn:

I appreciate your quick response. While I certainly understand that gas prices may fluctuate regularly, an increase of 34 cents per gallon on the same day seems extreme. I'm just trying to figure out an explanation of why there was such a significant increase in such a short amount of time. Are there any specific reasons?

Naturally, I haven't heard anything back from my email. There wasn't a natural disaster in Northern Virginia causing disruptions in getting gas to the station. Instead of speculating, let's play a game. Please leave your guess (real or silly) as to why gas prices at this particular station went up so much.

What Would Bruce Springsteen Do?

We recently visited New Jersey for the Memorial Day weekend and had a great time. That’s not of the point of this post, though. New Jersey is one of the last places (along with Oregon, I believe) that requires full service when you get gasoline. Besides New Jersey, I actually don’t even remember the last time I had the option of getting full service when filling up the car.



Anyway, my question regards the protocol of tipping the gas station attendant. I didn’t tip the guy since all he did was take my credit card, swipe it in the machine, fill up my car (while walking away to do the same to another car) and hand me back the card. I didn’t even need to sign a credit card receipt. Back in the Stone Age, the gas station attendant minimally washed off your car windows and often checked your fluids. If that occurred in New Jersey last weekend, I definitely would have tipped the attendant a dollar or two.

When I mentioned my New Jersey experience to a friend, she said that I should have tipped the attendant. Since I disagree, I pose this question to you. Should you tip the gas station attendant when full service is required?