Posted on 05/07/2006 2:23:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Most motorists are feeling the pain as gasoline creeps toward, or over, $3 a gallon - but not Art Altrichter.
"This feels pretty good!" Altrichter said as he filled the tank of his Ford F-150 pickup for $2.03 a gallon on Thursday, when the average here was $2.73. "Right now, to be a few pennies over $2, when it's as high as it is? That's a real deal."
A year ago, the retired milk truck driver bought 500 gallons of gas at First Fuel Banks, locking it in at the then-current price of $2.03 a gallon. He taps that reserve whenever gas rises above that mark. If the retail price drops below $2.03, he can leave his reserve alone and buy elsewhere.
First Fuel Banks bills itself as the only retailer in the country where customers can buy gasoline for the future and hedge against rising prices. It advertises no service charge and no storage charge, just a $1 lifetime membership fee.
Altrichter said one of his neighbors got in at First Fuel Banks several years ago and is now is withdrawing from a reserve that cost him 99 cents a gallon. "How about that!" he said.
Both people and businesses buy gas from the company, which has six stations in and around this central Minnesota city. The city of St. Cloud fills its fleet of cars at the company's stations.
The program is open to anyone who drives off the street. Customers buy whatever amount they want at the current price - the most ever purchased in advance was $400,000 worth - then swipe a card and key in a PIN number when they draw from their reserve.
Chief executive Jim Feneis, who runs the company with his brother, Dan Feneis, said 300 of its members are still filling up with gas that cost them less than a buck a gallon as recently as 2002. Many more are locked in under $2.
"We're offering a pretty attractive concept to the savvy buyer," Feneis said.
(AP) Mark Levandowski of Sartell, Minn., fills his company truck with diesel fuel at First Fuel Bank in... Full Image
Each station has a 50,000-gallon tank for each grade of gasoline - regular, mid-grade and premium - compared with 6,000 to 8,000 gallons for each product at a typical convenience store, Feneis said.
That's enough capacity to handle short-and medium-term demand, he said. For people holding onto reserves for a year or longer, the company hedges its obligations by buying gasoline futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
First Fuel Banks started with a single station in 1982 and now has about 8,000 members, Feneis said. It makes its money just by selling gasoline, diesel and some specialty fuels since its stations aren't convenience stores. He said it has less than 5 percent of the St. Cloud area market. But he said it's just one part of a larger business, East Side Oil Co., that has other divisions such as oil recycling.
"Our 43-year-old family fuel business is happy, healthy and completely debt-free," Feneis said. "And I think we're definitely the minority."
A few other stations in the country have tried a similar approach, but none have succeeded, he said.
Lance Klatt, executive director of the Minnesota Service Station and Convenience Store Association, can understand why: price volatility and risk.
"There's no margins anyway" in the gasoline business, said Klatt.
It was a new idea to Ron Planting, an economist with the American Petroleum Institute in Washington. "But in the Northeast and maybe elsewhere there are heating oil dealers that do something similar with a customer who wants to lock in a price for the current heating season," he said.
Sheila Hallerman learned about First Fuel Banks when she received a gift card a year ago, and a few months ago she bought 100 gallons at $2.40.
"It still hurts," she said of shelling out more than $2 for a gallon. "But not as much as it could."
In my neighborhood, self serve regular $2.89, full serve $3.03 and it goes up in ten cent increments from there!
Regular Self-Serve in Hawaii?
$3.25/gallon
Here in Pittsburgh, gas is $2.89 but right at this moment the temperature has finally crept above 60degF, and the weather is non-stop gloom. According to weather.com, it's 79 degF over there and partly sunny.
I wouldn't mind trading places with you, personally.
D
How weird is that?
Near Chapel Hill, it was $2.65 Friday night!
Yep... Warm, and unless you live near a beach - it isn't worth the cost of gas to drive to the beach, search for parking, and idling in traffic near the beaches.
Either that, or maybe I just don't think much of beaches, sand, and salt. Give me a pool any day of the week.
What a novl concept. I'm suprised the gov't hasn't stopped it.
Neat idea.
I paid $2.81 for Midgrade today.
I am sure there is hanky panky going on at the retail level. But, those are big political money men - and bullet proof.
I thought Hawaii was sufficiently small that you're always fairly near a beach, although I'm sure traffic and parking are problems just as you say.
How warm's the water over there? Is it more comfortable to use a swimming pool because it's warmer?
D
The government does it for itself...with crude.
Its called the Strategic Oil Reserve - a price and availability hedge against unavailability due to aaahhhh.......middle-east tensions.
It's still $3.50 here in Eureka Ca...
The water is always cold, and the swimming pool in my complex is cold too. But then again, my perception of cold water is probably several orders warmer than someone from your region.
$3.79 a gallon self serve in Los Angeles/Hollywood this morning when I filled the tank.
Check out: http://www.hawaiigasprices.com
There should be a similar web site somewhere for your area.
I was furious that I didn't have my van!
You can bet I'm going to South Carolina on an empty tank -- they have almost no tax on their gas!
Regular self-serve in No. County San Diego is from $3.41-#3.69 and has been changing upwards at least twice a day.
I understamd that some stations in San Diego are now over $4 for self serve regular.
You gotta be kidding? WOW!
The average self-serve regular in San Diego this weekend is $3.41!
Ugh. It's $3.20 here for regular (on base, so it's the cheap gas lol). My husband's car can't take Regular, so I think he'll be parking his car for a while and driving mine. :o)
I've been to Oahu several times, and for a guy from Iowa, the water is perfect.
By the way, $2.63 here.
You can buy for under $2.70 a gallon around here (E. TN) of late ... down from $2.79 last week.
When you consider that the State is getting 25 cents of that in sales tax alone the only gouging on gas prices is the government!
$2.69 here in Dayton, OH, today.
$2.61 where I am. Of course, if you add the 60-cents/gallon tax, it's $3.21.
$2.65 a gallon in Tulsa today.
Last time I swam in the ocean in the US it was about 60 degree water and I didn't like it at all.
When I swam in South Florida water during the winter (February), I found it almost, but not qute, comfortable. I think it was probably about 75 degrees or so.
When I was in the Philippines in February I was disappointed at how cold the water is (probably 70 or so) but that's probably because I was in the open ocean, not the protected area down south.
So how cold do you think I'd find your water?
D
Summit, NJ...the most expensive on the east coast with the exception of Nantucket hit 3.40 for a day last week and dropped back down to about 3.03
I'm moving from Las Vegas to Penna. this summer. And because Oklahoma is always cheaper on gas our trip has been changed to go straight through Oklahoma!
Give them time .....they are probably drafting the necessary documents and cooking up some 'law' that makes this illegal. Seriously, give them time and watch (especially if gas prices stay high nationwide).
I think this is a great idea? Too bad more people didn't think of doing this...
I always thought gas in NJ was devoid of a lot of taxes! Here in FL (Tampa) today the gasline is 2.78 for regular.
We took a taxi from the Halekulani (foot of Lewers on Waikiki) just a couple of miles to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and back last time over...cabfare damn near equaled Ruth's restaurant check!
($3.40 all this last week here in Coachella Valley, 87 octane)
$2.79 in West Michigan.
I was SHOCKED and even talked with other patrons about it. It's disgusting. Two weeks ago it was $3.29.
I love Capitalism.
I hope this is a profitable venture for First Fuel Bank.
What an idea!!!!
LOL, you'll find the ocean water here warm. At least the top couple inches aren't that bad. I personally think the water is chilly, especially since there's usually a lot of ground water seeping out along parts of the coast.
I think 70 degrees is freezing, if that's any gauge to my relative scale.
(I grew up in American Samoa where the water really is warm. Our pool back home is positively a hot tub during the long summer days, but considering the water is still cooler than the ambient air temperature, that's considered nice and cool by our standards. And the ocean is about as warm.)
Self Serve 92 octane = $3.59 and up, Los Angeles. Can't use anything lower than 92 in my car.
2.71 in San Antonio last night.
Looks like we Californians are paying about $1 more than the midwest. They gouge us here in Cali, probably because we drive so much here they can get away with it. Doesn't make sense because we have some big refineries nearby.
Southern CA is getting hosed at the pump.
Hitting $2.79 in southern MN.
Dubya should call for the suspension of Federal fuel taxes until the Democrats cooperate on ANWR and new refineries.
Really? I was in NJ two weeks ago. Gas was $2.56 on the NJTP while it was $2.91 in Richmond where I live.
lol, we don't even have full serve here. you pump it yourself, and pay through the nose.
Nope. You're being gouged because your state requires refineries to have several special blends specifically for your state.
The rest of us are just getting screwed by the EPA doing essentially the same thing, but on a national basis.
Not to mention the insane level of taxation that exists on petrol.
Averaging $3.35 in S.F. bay area for 87 octane.
$2.72 in central Indiana.
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