TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Email
Print
Pain At Pump May Worsen
Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH
Kelly Alexander, of Tampa, won't be taking road trips as often as she'd like because of rising gas prices.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: January 7, 2008
Updated: 01/07/2008 03:20 pm
Related Links
TAMPA - Kelly Alexander has curbed her road trips and Ruby Wilson has put off buying a new car.
Both filled their gas tanks Monday under a BP sign that declared $3.09 as the price for one gallon of regular unleaded gas. Analysts say the upward creeping prices are only a small taste of things to come. Between February and May, analysts say, the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded could reach $3.75.
Alexander, a 28-year-old Tampa hair stylist, uses her economical Ford Focus mostly to get to and from work.
"I don't take leisurely rides on the weekends," she said. And, no matter what the price is, she has to buy gasoline. "I can't buy any less gas."
Spending about $26 to fill her tank every 10 days or so, Alexander said, "This definitely affects road trips for me." She's glad she has a small car.
"I'm kind of a hippie," she said. "I never considered an SUV."
Nearby, Wilson watches as the pump hums. The rising prices have changed her mind about buying a new car. She drives an eight-cylinder Mercury Grand Marquis, but was thinking of getting a sport-utility vehicle.
"I've changed my mind," said the 51-year-old health-care worker, as she replaced the nozzle.
Gasoline costs her about $60 a week and she mostly uses the car to get to work at Memorial Hospital.
"And," she said, "I live just down the street."
The recent small change increases are just the beginning, analysts say.
In January 2007, motorists paid $2.34 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. During the holidays, prices typically drop, and in February they typically rise.
So if the price already is high, the February spike will be even worse.
"And that's problematic for consumers," said Gregg Laskoski, spokesman for AAA Florida. "This time of the year in the past, we have seen much lower prices."
He said the national average is $3.10 a gallon for unleaded regular. In Florida, the average for a gallon is $3.16, he said.
"It's been going up a penny or two for the past couple of days."
Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, prices tend to drop, he said, but not this year.
"In the fourth quarter of 2007, we had a rally in oil prices that kept the price at the pump somewhat elevated." Laskoski said. "We never saw the prices follow their cyclical pattern." That pattern typically means the annual increase in prices from February through May comes when the prices are low.
"If we are going to see a run-up where the floor is $3.16 a gallon," he said, "that is worrisome for a lot of people. A lot of analysts say we could be looking at between $3.50 and $3.75 a gallon by May."
Increases in gasoline prices trickle into the cost of other goods, he said. Getting goods to the market will be more expensive, and that cost will be reflected in those prices.
The result is new consumer strategies in how to more efficiently spend paychecks, he said. "I think it is going to result in people thinking about what kind of vehicle they are driving. We always see spikes in sales of hybrids when gasoline prices hit new milestones."
At the very least, the price at the pump will cause a lot of people to cut down on discretionary spending, Laskoski said. "If people are tightening their budgets, they will eat out less and go to the movies less often. Those are the types of businesses that are going to get hurt.
"It's not a bad time to buy oil stock."
In the Bay area, gasoline prices vary by more than a quarter. According to gasbuddy.com, a Web site that monitors gasoline prices across the nation, the cheapest gas in the area is $2.95 a gallon at Sam's Club pumps. The most expensive is at a gas station in Winter Haven, where motorists are paying $3.22 a gallon, the Web site said.
Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.
Email
Print
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
