posted on Jun, 6 2008 @ 04:47 PM
This observation is only specific for Western Washington, I'm interested in finding out if it is being observed nationwide or if it is purely a local
trend. Two weeks ago regular unleaded gas jumped over $4 a gallon in the outlying towns East of Seattle/Bellevue. Up to that point, Diesel was
climbing at a slightly higher rate than unleaded gas was. Basically the stations held gas at $3.99 for almost a week and then, overnight seemingly,
they made the plunge and it shot directly up to $4.15 or so. Diesel went up to $4.97-ish at the same general time. Since that time gas has gone up
several cents at a time, every couple of days. The interesting thing is with every increase to unleaded, diesel has declined by the same amount. We
started at $4.15 for unleaded and are now at $4.35 (price as of last night), diesel started at $4.99 and is now $4.79 (again, as of last night.)
Is this a move by the stations or gas companies to try and give the trucking industry a break and pass the inflated costs off to the "average"
driver? I don't have a major problem with that, if it is the case, as it will (hopefully) keep delivered good prices from continuing their upward
march and eventually even bring the prices back down, but I'd think if that was the case we'd have heard something about it somewhere. On the flip
side, I also haven't heard about any increase in diesel production that could account for their decline in price, either. Has anyone else observed
this around their home region?