Fuel Prices in Death Valley

[goodellj]

I fell victim to this exact station about 10 years ago. I was a naïve newbie pulling my 5th wheel with about 1/2 tank of fuel. I thought I would just get a fill up when we got close to the park entrance. We entered on the east side and there was nothing but open desert for 20 miles on that side prior to entering, and then about 40 miles to get down to the park village where the gas station is. After camping and site-seeing for a couple of days I figured out what I would need for fuel to get out to a decent fuel stop, and I think I had to buy about 15 gallons. Needless to say it was an expensive lesson!

[Jorick]

I was in the Army and stationed at Ft. Greeley, Alaska back in 1983. Gas at the time in the States was about $1.25/gallon and gas in Delta Junction just outside of Ft. Greeley was over $4/gallon. One day, some Korean guy and his family moved to a place a couple miles outside of town that had a gas pump and large room on the bottom floor of his two floor place. Probably an old logging camp with gas pumps for trucks. He converted the upper floor to his house and the lower floor to a convenience store and started selling gas from the pumps. He set the price at $1.50/gallon and immediately took all the business away from the gas stations in town. Two weeks after he opened, all of the gas stations in town lowered their prices to $1.50/gallon. 6 months later, the Korean guy closed up shop, although he still lived above the closed store. Prices at the stations in town remained at $1.50/gallon until I left the Army and returned to the states a year later.

[Camp CA]

You might already know this but two reasons for high gasoline and diesel prices in California are tight supply due to oil refinery closures AND lack of a pipeline from the Gulf Coast and Midwest to California to transport gasoline and diesel.

[Cjblodgett]

Originally Posted by gearhead

Death Valley is in California right? I really really don't understand how people tolerate those prices and not take revenge at the ballot box. I paid $2.99 for my last fillup of diesel.
I guess they are different people than my people. Maybe they like it.

In a Capitalist society this is what you get, especially when there are few and far between gas stations. We paid about this much on the stretch of I-10 between Needles (which prices were outrageous) and Barstow. Desert prices. Prices are not that high everywhere in California, just where they can get away with it.

[daveinaz]

yep. fuel prices up 50%.

thanks Joe

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Cjblodgett

In a Capitalist society this is what you get, especially when there are few and far between gas stations. We paid about this much on the stretch of I-10 between Needles (which prices were outrageous) and Barstow. Desert prices. Prices are not that high everywhere in California, just where they can get away with it.

Thank God we live in a capitalistic society, otherwise we would be paying those Death Valley prices EVERYWHERE!

[larryflew]

Corpus Christi TX $2.99

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by larryflew

Corpus Christi TX $2.99

Regular at the Stripes station in Sanderson Texas is $3.55 a gallon. If you have even ridden a bike out Hwy90 that is a MUST stop as there isn't much between Del Rio and Alpine. I am thinking the more remote, the more for fuel. Corpus ain't remote. Gas price in SATX is $2.58.

[RV802]

I would not use the one gas station in Furnace Creek as an indicator of anything more than that it’s todays price at the one gas station in Furnace Creek.

[rhagfo]

Originally Posted by RV802

I would not use the one gas station in Furnace Creek as an indicator of anything more than that it’s todays price at the one gas station in Furnace Creek.

Well just paid $3.95 a gallon in Salem, OR for diesel!

[BigBobIa]

Slight change of subject. We are at Ft Huachuca AZ. No problem with diesel but I am getting low on DEF. Anybody know of a bulk DEF stop nearby? Senile and old. Those plastic containers are a pain!!

[Flynglfr]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

Fella in the photo is my BIL's brother who was traveling through Furnace Creek yesterday. Fill 'er up?

I lived in CA most of my life. They have several refineries in CA so the prices don't make sense. Those prices in Death Valley and along the Eastern Sierra on highway 395 thru Mammoth, June Lake, Lee Vining, Bridgeport and Walker Coleville are similar.

Make sure you fill up before going thru those areas.

[gearhead]

Originally Posted by Flynglfr

I lived in CA most of my life. They have several refineries in CA so the prices don't make sense. Those prices in Death Valley and along the Eastern Sierra on highway 395 thru Mammoth, June Lake, Lee Vining, Bridgeport and Walker Coleville are similar.

Make sure you fill up before going thru those areas.

Yes, there are at least Chevron and former Shell refineries. Shell sold the Bakerfield plant to Flying J, I think. I was told by a vendor that the state had locked down any construction and even any upgrades. So pumps, rather than using new upgrades were still using packing for shaft seals and polluting similar to the 1930's. (Packing as in stuffing boxes for inboard boats).
I understand if you are selling the only tomatoes in town and can charge whatever the traffic will bear, but that don't mean I have to like it.

[skmct]

I will bet the locals don't pay that price. I was on one of the small Hawaiian islands a few years back. And the only gas station on the island had two sets of pumps one set was hidden from the public which the locals used with a much lower price.

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by skmct

And the only gas station on the island had two sets of pumps one set was hidden from the public which the locals used with a much lower price.

"Tubalcain!"

Here in town we have a small sandwich shop with a menu written on butcher paper and hanging on the wall. The second sandwich on the list is called "The Tourist." Near the bottom of the list, there is a sandwich called "The Local." It's the exact same sandwich, 75¢ cheaper.

It was a source of fun for the regulars and staff. If anybody actually ordered The Tourist, the staff would smile and say "Keep reading!"

Of course, some Karen made them take it down. Karens are humorless.

[flybouy]

I'm still trying to figure out how "a small Hawaiian Island" would have enough "tourists" buying gas to make it worthwhile for the station to pay to have "hidden pumps" installed so they could sell gas at a lower price. What am I missing?

[LHaven]

Hertz?

[flybouy]

Perhaps, but I think it would take a lot of rental cars requiring a lot of fuel (on a tiny island?) to make installing a secong set of pumps financially viable. I'd like to see that station. Just say'in.

[notanlines]

Marshall, do I remember reading about that gas station on Facebook?

[flybouy]

Couldn't tell you, I don't do Facless, I mean Face Book.