Maine gas sales start to decline

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=189499&ac=PHnws

Maine gasoline sales are declining at the fastest rate in more than 15 years as pump prices continue to rise toward $4 a gallon and residents look for ways to cut back, state figures show.

The average price for a gallon of gas in Maine rose to $3.85 on Thursday, up 2.7 cents from the day before and 34 cents in the past month, according to AAA.

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After years of steady but slow increases in gasoline usage, he said, sales are now falling at a steady clip. "It's accelerating in the last few months," Stanhope said.

Gasoline sales during the current fiscal year are down 3.6 percent from last year. If the trend holds for May and June, it will be the steepest annual decline in at least two decades, according to the data.

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and not just one station, three in a row.

The dude was not happy...

My brother said traffic on Main St. in his town is nonexistent after 6 PM...

Don't go anywhere other than to work or the grocery store - and then only when I can combine the trips.

Diesel is selling for $1.40 CAD per liter here, which translates to $5.20 USD per American gallon. Regular gasoline is about $4.70.

Even in Portland, they seemed to roll up the streets at 8 (only being semi-facetious.)

We moved from Maine a couple months ago, and considering that there's no public transportation and almost nothing is within walking distance, I can't imagine how people are going to handle these gas prices. I knew folks who were driving from Portland to Augusta for work, or from farther west (Fryeburg and Poland) into Portland. I'm thinking of library clerks and hair stylists, not high-powered attorneys. What the hell are they doing now?

After many economists predictions came and went. We now know just what it takes to get Americans to change their habits. Unfortunatly I am not sure we have hit the Elasticity of Demand for the Global Oil Market.

They are selling like hot cakes - and lots of SUVs and trucks at the local used car dealers.

Demand Destruction has begun...