Gas retailers in the Southeast and Midwest may simply turn off their pumps

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB02T473DE.html

Gasoline Futures Surge as Concerns Shift to Storm-Battered Refineries

Gasoline supplies tightened Thursday in markets that depend on shipments from Gulf Coast refiners and pipelines, and motorists increasingly faced pump prices well in excess of $3 a gallon.

Industry officials said a small-but-growing number of independent gasoline retailers in the Southeast and Midwest may simply turn off their pumps in the days ahead, either because of shortages or because wholesale prices climbed so high so quickly that they cannot compete without selling fuel at a loss.

"This will get worse before it gets better," said analyst Tom Kloza of Wall, N.J.-based Oil Price Information Service. He added: "A retailer has to decide 'Should I keep selling gas and keep losing $4,000 a day, or should I just bag my pumps until things get quieter?'"

Gasoline futures surged for the fourth day in a row on the New York Mercantile Exchange, sending prices 25 percent higher in less than a week. Unleaded gasoline for October delivery traded at $2.42 per gallon, an increase of more than 16 cents.

Hess in downtown Raleigh is out of gas, BJ's closed their pumps at 5:30 yesterday.

on edit, here is a story link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/2774250p-9212860c.html

a little cold turkey would do America good.

I won't hold my breath for a sound answer.
The Professor

At some point we all must address the fact that oil/gas are not an endless resource.

We MUST prepare for that inevitability.

Don't be ridiculous. There will be nothing good, no matter how necessary, about that realization. There is nothing GOOD about $3.25 per gallon, especially to anyone living beneath the national median income.

How is it that suddenly the progressives here at DU become more concerned about their ideology than about the poorer among us who high prices hurt most?

It's pretty disheartening.
The Professor

You think putting our heads deeper in the sand is a solution?

You are condoning the continued lack of planning and action on the inevitability of gas/oil losses?

When it becomes unaffordable to maintain our oil habit, we'll find a way to work around the losses. Until then, we just keep putting that day off.

When compared to the cost of other forms of energy oil is still cheap. The high expected price of oil in the future has already lead increased research into sustainable energy development. As the price continues to increase alternative energy sources will used more frequently.

A quick and to some extent temporary increase in the price of gasoline will do little to change consumption habits in the long run. In the short run people will face the hardships that come with high prices. Thus little is gained for the suffering people have to go through.

Also keep in mind that other energy sources are venerable to natural disasters too.

Going off suddenly cold turkey will wreck this economy and this nation. Me, I live in the country, and can get by without gas. I grow my own food, it is harvest time, and I can keep myself warm this winter since I have wood aplenty and the means to turn it into heat. However if you live in the city, you're only three days away from massive food riots at any given time. Are you ready for that? Do you consider sucha scenario a good thing, New Orleans style looting repeated twenty times bigger in city after city after city throughout the country? Is that a good thing?

Prices racheting ever upwards is OK, it will force Americans to wean themselves off of oil, but stopping it completely, going cold turkey, well, that is a nightmare scenario that will completely eclipse what is going on in New Orleans.

Still consider that a "good" option?

Until it hits us all, on a personal level, we'll continue on the path of least resistance.

How many times have we had this discussion right here on DU?

Yesterday, for the first time in 5 years, I heard WalMart workers in the reddest of red screeching about George Bush.

Yesterday, for the first time in 5 years, those WalMart workers began to realise they have been voting against their own best interest all this time.

Yesterday, for the first time in 5 years, those WalMart workers began to realize what a foolish road we're on in this country.

Tomorrow, they may begin to look for alternatives to solve the problem. After they finish some more bitching today.

For this is what you are condemning this country to if your plan is carried out. Are you ready to put your own life on the line? Are you really willing to watch this country disinigrate into such a savage hell?

Formulate a plan for your family and neighbors and be prepared.

Grow the hell up and get prepared.

Whether it happens today or in 5 years, it's coming. Deal.

Probably much more than you are. And no, I'm not being a drama queen. In fact such a scenario that I mention is one that many experts have postulated about for years now. It is the hard reality of the matter that due to our oil intensive agriculture and food transportation system, any given city or town has only three days worth of food with which to feed its population at any given time. After that, food riots and looting(as we are seeing in NO right now).

As I mentioned before, the best scenario is to let prices rise gradually enough that we can wean ourselves off of oil, and do a transition to alternative fuels. A sudden switch is going to do nothing but cause chaos nationwide.

If you shut down the oil tap abruptly, our food delivery system shuts down, and food riots begin. And again, I ask, are you ready to die in order to see this little scenario of yours come to pass? Me, I don't have to worry, I have food, I live in the country, I can heat my house and hunt my meat. But if you're in a city, you're screwed.

So, yes or no, are you ready to go down in order to see your little Mad Max scenario come to pass?

And, if it comes to the "Mad Max" scene you portray, none of us has an option.

BTW, I don't live in a city.

doomsday scenario is the stuff of fairy tales, so we won't have to worry about it now or in five years.

a sixty mile round trip, almost every day except when there is ice and snow on the roads- for obvious reasons. I ride in the rain, and when it is bitter cold.

I have to wonder how many people on this board do that? Do you? What do you drive? And why, even though I am doing a lot to save gas, should I lose my job and my income (I HAVE to drive to work) so that others can "get it?"

Family members who work out of the house work less than 5 miles - school for kids less than 1 mile. Everyone in this house can WALK to necessities if required.

Lived on $300.00/mo. for more than a year.

Yeah, I've been there, done that. And worse.

The products are and the lack of common sense regarding finite resources.

Or so I lead myself to believe.

'Should I keep selling gas and keep losing $4,000 a day, or should I just bag my pumps until things get quieter?'

Remember when milk prices dropped so that milk producers simply open the spigot on their milk trucks and emptied whole truckfulls of milk into ditches? It was cheaper to throw it away than to try to sell it.

Fortunately, gasoline has a longer shelf life than milk.

I live in the southeast and this really sucks. I hope hope hope this doesn't happen in my town. How are people supposed to get to work and school if they don't live close enough to ride a bike?

Quite a few Hess stations are slready out of gas. My Mom is in Wilmington NC and she said people are buying gas cans and standing in line to fill additional cans when thye fill their cars.

I know of at least one retailer who ran out yesterday and shut down.

i think, or rather, i HOPE we're smart enough to prioritize food production & delivery rather than 60 mile one-way commutes.

yes i live in a city, yes i live near potable water & own a filter, yes i can ride to work on a bike, yes i grow vegetables, no i don't grow enough to make it through winter.

and yes, i am a hypocrite. you're not?