Project Part 1

Everyone’s Gasoline Price

When looking at the history of gas prices they seem to constantly fluctuate over the years. I remember before I was legally able to drive how the gas prices were extremely low. I remember going to fill my mother’s car with her and saw the gas prices were $1.10 a gallon! When I look at gasoline prices now I wonder about what happened to those times now that I am driving. After a little research into the topic I found that there are many different factors that go into the price of gasoline that I never thought about. For example I didn’t realize that gasoline varied from state to state. This is why gas prices are way high in New York and California than they are here in Georgia. In this response I will go over some of these factors as to why gasoline prices vary over the years. Much like anything else that is bought or sold on the market, gasoline is controlled by supply and demand. “If demand grows or if a disruption in supply occurs, there will be upward pressure on prices. By the same token, if demand falls or there is an oversupply of product in the market, there will be downward pressure on prices.” (thepriceoffuel.com) This very much applies to local gas stations as well. For instance if a retailer sells their gas a lot higher than the competition in the area, they run the risk of losing customers to their lower priced competition. In order to gain some of those customers back the retailer would then be forced to lower their prices. This also I believe depends on the area of operation. In big cities where gas stations are plentiful and people have many choices, gas prices would not be as high as certain places. In smaller cities or towns where there are only a few gas stations, those prices tend to be higher because the supply isn’t that high. This served to be true as I lived in Statesboro, Ga for