Gas prices are up. Gas prices here in Nova Scotia are among the highest in the country. The (regulated) price at the corner is $1.321 per litre. People are freaking out. One by one, freaking out. But how much can you freak out, and for how long?
Antishay writes about the whining on her blog:
I had a conversation the other day that went something like this:Friend: OH MY GOD Gas is now $3.71 a gallon!
Me: Oh?
Friend: THAT'S JUST INSANE. I can't afford that.
Me: I don't really look at gas prices.
Friend: I always go to Arco, they're usually $0.05 less.
Me: I don't know... five cents doesn't really add up. My tank holds about 14 gallons, so that's only a savings of $0.70 per gallon. It just doesn't make much of a difference to me. Granted, when we were in high school it was $1.14 per tank, but the day-to-day savings doesn't give me much to celebrate.
Friend: How can you not care? That's like $4 a month!*sigh* Let me explain. Even if you're buying 5 tanks of gas every month - whew! - is $5 really going to BREAK YOU? Shut up! It's not a life-altering savings. You would be better off figuring out a way to buy only 3 tanks a month than driving around, hunting for the lowest gas price.
I don't know. I am a person of action. I see something I don't like in my life, I change it. I figure out a way around, through, or over the obstacle. I don't like whining, and so this will be the only rant for a while. I just don't UNDERSTAND why the milk costs or the gas costs are the cause of so much angst lately.
If you do the math, it doesn't matter that much! Go out and make an extra $5 a month and you're covered! $5! Come ON! Offer to walk your friends dog for a week and she'll give you $5 (hopefully more) and you'll have all your gas inflation covered for the month.
As a go-getter, I have trouble watching people complain their lives away without doing anything creative to stop the stress at the root.
Nice thoughts. Fixing stuff isn't easy, but whining doesn't usually fix anything.
You're so right -- drive less or suck it up. I do drive to work, but I moved to a place where my commute was halved time wise but dropped to 1/4 distance wise.
ReplyDeleteIf gas is a necessity for you -- than you're going to have to start budgeting more for it -- same as for bread and rice too apparently.
The economy is never going to be perfect and something is always going to cost more than you think it should.
Some people DO have reason to complain, like those (like myself) who MUST drive FOR work (not just TO work; I can't complain about that, my employer doesn't control where I live....yet). Sure, we get reimbursed with a *small* "travel allowance" per pay period, plus a 23 cent/km reimbursement.
ReplyDeleteThing is, these amounts are determined (and generally increased) when the collective bargaining agreement is decided (every few years) and seemingly have nothing to do with the cost of gas, which fluctuates much more frequently.
Granted, the reimbursement is supposed to go toward all car expenses (maintenance, etc.). However, any increases in the reimbursements have certainly not been reflective of the cost of gas, which is generally the largest car expense. The per km amount just increased this fiscal year from 22 cents to 23 cents....and the cost of gas has certainly increased more than that!
I do what I can - I drive a smaller, fuel-economic vehicle. Those employees who drive around in their big SUVs are definitely not getting any large percentage of their expenses back, but they have chosen to drive such a vehicle.
I'm just glad to live in Halifax, where the longest I might drive on any one trip within the city is maybe 20kms. When I used to work in Southern Ontario, I could drive 100kms or more a day....and I would be very very poor right now.