Locally, I've seen ads from one of the school bus companies that makes them seem pretty desperate. They'll hire you without a CDL, pay you while you train and get the CDL, and pay a sign on bonus. The bonus is bigger if you already have a CDL.
Locally, I've seen ads from one of the school bus companies that makes them seem pretty desperate. They'll hire you without a CDL, pay you while you train and get the CDL, and pay a sign on bonus. The bonus is bigger if you already have a CDL.
For the average person with say one truck I'm not sure the gas price doubling will move them into small cars. The couple of people in my office are putting 12K a year on thier trucks. So they are buying 700 to 900 gallons a year, so even at $6 a gallon they are only looking at an $2,700 per year or $225 per month.
We are talking about $50,000 - $80,000 vehicles; the people able to afford these are very likely able to afford the extra money, they might groan but they'll pay the price.
A large number of trucks sold are vanity purchases; as often pointed out here very few people use them for anything other than commuting.
Again I think they'll be a lot of whining but very few people leaping to Honda Fits and the like.
In reply to Tom1200 :
South Carolina used to use high school students to drive busses. They would train them in the summers and put them to work during the year. There were no issues filling positions then. The HS students would deliver elementry and middle school kids. Go back out, pick up the HS students, deliver the HS kids and go to class. Then they would do the reverse and park their bus at the house or at the school.
Unfortunately, the feds sued the state and brought that to a halt. The state took over the bus system and hired drivers. That worked fair but not as good as the HS kids did and it was much more expensive. Some politicians decided it would be a good idea to put it out for bid. It's been a E36 M3 show ever since.
In reply to pointofdeparture :
So we just ignore the cause of this mess, and complain about it all in the name of political correctness? That will have fun results.
15 months ago the same gallon of gas was $2. I'm sure it's all just unlucky coincidence.....
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
No, instead we respect the wishes of the people who provide this awesome forum on which we are having this discussion, and don't deliberately flounder in threads because we have specifically been asked not to and it ends poorly *every single time.*
I don't know why this is so hard. And for the record, you seem to think you know where I stand politically, but I'm not sure you do, and this isn't the place for me to have that conversation anyway.
JG Pasterjak said:Until people stop buying 3/4-ton pickups to commute with I'm not going to take them seriously when they complain about gas prices that are still substantially cheaper than most of the world. Yeah, towing to events is going to sting a bit more this year, but my Prius is going to only use about $12 more in gas every month. Sure I drive less than the average bear, but the point is there's good tools out there to combat higher fuel prices by increasing travel efficiency, but too much of the driving public refuses to use them.
I did the math today. This currently is going to cost the wife and I $30/ week just to go to work 5 days a week. That's $120 a month and we are driving Rios for berkeleys sake. If it goes to $6 now we are talking $50 per week. You can condemn us for not living in a cookie cutter subdivision 2 miles from our work or a E36 M3ty apartment in an overcrowded locale. Oh wait.. we don't live in NYC.
there are many ways this could be fixed but sadly the people we have chosen to lead the country will not be doing those.
Just checking in to make sure we've covered the "Nobody needs a big truck" and the "This is all politician X's fault" points. Check and check. Carry on. 
In reply to bobzilla :
I don't see how US political effect could do much. It is not as if the US has the whole world at our beck and call, and it is either arrogant or naive to think that the US can or should be able to dictate world policy.
Either way, oil prices are driven by speculators. It is tulip bulbs on a global scale.
Some of you guys don't seem to follow the price of West Texas Crude...
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:Just checking in to make sure we've covered the "Nobody needs a big truck" and the "This is all politician X's fault" points. Check and check. Carry on.
Well, a vanishingly small number of people NEED a big truck. A lot of people WANT one. And then buy them, because that is their freedom of choice.
Choice is not without consequence. One has to accept the consequences of their choices. You buy something that gets 9mpg, that is the choice you made, and it is a bit immature to complain when forced to accept the consequences of that choice.
I will still need a truck because I do construction but an awful lot of people do just have them just because.
In reply to pointofdeparture :
I didn't say anything about where anyone stands politically. What I said is that being PC is now considered the highest value one can attain. As a result, we just ignore the cause of lots of problems and their obvious solutions in the name of being PC. I don't care where anyone stands politically. I'm not going to tell lies just to be PC though. I've been told to "die in a fire" because I wasn't being PC on this very forum, so there is that too. I never wished death on anyone for their beliefs. I just challenged the PC point of view. If challenging belief systems can't be tolerated here, then maybe I'll just move on. Being PC is not making the world or any forum a better place.
And for the record, it always ends poorly "every single time" because no one can acknowledge anyone's differing point of view anymore. There is no compromise. It's be PC, or else. That is the only choice given regardless of the issue. Logic, facts, direct quotes, data, graphs, tests, and even science.... none of it is accepted if it challenges the PC stance on any issue.
Gas prices were super low 15 months ago. Now gas is at a record high in the USA. If you can't figure out why, you are lying to your aren't being honest. You can't ever expect to have any open, or valuable discussions with anyone if being dishonest and PC is your starting point. You'll also never fix anything if you can't be honest about the problem. Have fun!
I don't enjoy conversing with anyone who is disingenuous on PC topics, so I'm out of this one.
I will take my knowledge of how much oil and gas there is in the world and what it costs to produce and enjoy the show that we will all have to endure. If you are ever ready to have an honest discussion about this issue, it's solutions and how we can help fix it, let me know. Until then, adios on this topic.
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Gas prices were super low 15 months ago because demand was super low because most people were staying home, by government order.
The takeaway is that this argument requests that the government should subsidize fuel prices by paying people to stay home and not go to work.
I just know that, while the Mazda6 isn't terrible, the 100miles/day has me wishing the 40mpg Toyota crapcan was still around.
Filled up the company provided service van using the company provided gas card on March 2nd,March 4th and again today. $419 In Canadian dollars so far this month. I would gladly take a EV service van when they become more widely available just so I don't have to fill this pig 3 or 4 times a week.
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
I miss my S40 for a lot of reasons but the 40mpg it could get was a lot of them.
Same for my Golf. Wonderful car, could easily get 42mpg on 93 octane. When I was doing this, 87 was $3.79, 93 was $4.59, and I was making $8/hour. The sliding scale of income to fuel economy with the current car (which decidedly does not get 42mpg) means fuel would have to be about $9.50 per gallon to make the same amount of hurt. So it's still a lot cheaper now...
I would imagine more people who need a pickup will be looking at the new Ford Maverick now. The F150 Lightnings will also be in demand. Looks like Ford has this covered.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
I saw one of those out and about for the first time a couple weeks ago. Neat little truck! I would be seriously looking at one if I still owned a home, it really is "right-sized".
Haven't seen an F150 Lightning yet. Lots of the new Rivians out here in Silicon Valley though, super cool trucks in the flesh, but obviously an order of magnitude away in price. Happy to see them delivering the product at least.
Tom1200 said:For the average person with say one truck I'm not sure the gas price doubling will move them into small cars. The couple of people in my office are putting 12K a year on thier trucks. So they are buying 700 to 900 gallons a year, so even at $6 a gallon they are only looking at an $2,700 per year or $225 per month.
We are talking about $50,000 - $80,000 vehicles; the people able to afford these are very likely able to afford the extra money, they might groan but they'll pay the price.
A large number of trucks sold are vanity purchases; as often pointed out here very few people use them for anything other than commuting.
Again I think they'll be a lot of whining but very few people leaping to Honda Fits and the like.
I'm uncomfortable with defining a large group of anybody in simple terms. Look at me. I commute daily in my truck. I use it for my race car and to handle boats . Plus hauling stuff to work on the house.
Yet daily you'll see me driving to and from work.
It doesn't matter why someone owns a truck. Or SUV. Or Miata
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
You do not have to be PC to just completely sidestep all political discussion. That's not PC, that's avoiding offending your host and breaking the rules of the forum you chose to join. Rule is: no politics. Not only PC politics. Just say nothing political and you are golden. Say anything political and you are not. Simple.
I have seen this kind a jump a couple times before , gas went from $1.20 a gallon to $2 a gallon when we were in Greece at the first Arab-Israel war
and gas went up 60 cents a gallon over night on time in German when they raised the gas tax to help pay for Eastern Germany upgrades.....
comparing prices from the middle of COVID and the last few months is not fair , and hopefully this will level out by summer..... fingers crossed.....
And who remembers gas lines ? Would you like lower prices and limited supply ?
So many questions , so few answers.......
I remember in 2005 and 2006 I had an expat assignment in Italy. I calculated the Euros per liter and factoring in the exchange rate it was over $7 per gallon THEN.
Meh, maybe it's my privilege talking, but for gasoline and milk, I never pay attention to general market pricing.
I need X number of gallons a week of both commodities. I buy X number of gallons of each a week. If it's $5 a gallon, that's what it is. If it's $3 a gallon, that's awesome.
I mean, I avoid stations I know are typically expensive, but that's mostly just to not reward them for being dicks. If grades of gas are equal and I can see signs to compare prices, I'll pull in one station over another. But I won't drive across town to save $0.10 a gallon on a fillup.
In reply to frenchyd :
When it comes to truck usage you are likely in minority in the way you use your truck. Of my friends neighbors & coworkers who own & daily pick up trucks at best 10-15% use them as you do.
I live in a community where owning a full size pick up truck or big SUV is a status symbol, so that may be skewing my view.
Toyman! said:In reply to Tom1200 :
South Carolina used to use high school students to drive busses. They would train them in the summers and put them to work during the year. There were no issues filling positions then. The HS students would deliver elementry and middle school kids. Go back out, pick up the HS students, deliver the HS kids and go to class. Then they would do the reverse and park their bus at the house or at the school.
Unfortunately, the feds sued the state and brought that to a halt. The state took over the bus system and hired drivers. That worked fair but not as good as the HS kids did and it was much more expensive. Some politicians decided it would be a good idea to put it out for bid. It's been a E36 M3 show ever since.
NC used to do the same and it seemed to work well.
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