Anyone changing their ways with gas prices? So many industries are impacted by this and having tough times. Gas stations are going out of business because no one has money for sodas anymore after paying $80 for gas. Starbucks is closing 600 stores....no one has money anymore for $4 coffee. Car dealers can't sell **** and the only things people want to buy, they don't have in stock (Go unions and stupid corporate leadership....you have ruined your industry).

We are definately staying closer to home and I am going to start car pooling in August to work (once kids go back to school).

 

nope, im not, then again, 9 out of the 12 months im at school and dont really have to drive. if i do, its to the mall where its about 1.5 miles away.

 

Lol, mall..

 

Yea I only drive my 94 civic around town and to work sometimes. If its short and not too hot out I ride my mountain bike

 

hey, when your a college student, the mall has everything...

 

***, ***, and more ***!

 

My daily driver gets like 25-30 mpg.

 

Yeah, my sixer is my daily driver and I drive a lot. It's hurtin lol. I really need a bike or somethin

 

Yes, I am. I had a summer full of road trips planned that has been curtailed to three, because of the gas prices. The sad part is the things that are close to home have become so expensive because the increase is being passed right down to the consumer, we aren't doing much locally either. These businesses are really shooting themselves in the foot by raising their prices. I think some of them are just taking advantage of the excuse. But even if they aren't they are asking more from consumers who have less to give. Heaven forbid some of the top execs take a pay cut or forego a bonus....just raise the price.

 

cant say im really struggling. but it hurts to put $40 worth of gas just to fill up. I dont drive often just to and from work which is exactly 18 miles round trip and I get $300 a week. But then again the only thing i have to pay for is gas. So Im just lucky

 

I try not to drive unless I have to and I consolidate my trips whenever I can. Since I work two different jobs, instead of driving home to eat and change clothes (one requires proffesional dress, the other is casual), I bring my change of clothes with me and change in my hot-as-*****-car. I also pack a lunch rather than go to a fast food place, or home like I said earlier. I even ended my lease at my college apartment in order to move closer to campus and be able to walk to class. Also becuase they are building a new business building on top of an exsisting parking lot that I use everyday durring the semesters and it's already hard to find a parking spot.

As far as driving style goes, I try my best to resist rapid accelerations and stuff like that. I go the speed limit and set the cruise. I used to not use my A/C and just let the windows down but after Mythbusters I use my A/C more and leave the windows up. I have considered buying a 250cc bike but the money I'd spend on it would dimish the returns of buying less gas too much for me. I have changed my habits alot since gas has gotten more and more expensive, and not really becuase of the price of it, I'm going to buy it no matter what the price, but I want to buy it less often.

 

nah not really.

 

doing pretty well, but could be better.

 

I work for a big corporation. Our annual sales are about $5.5B. Our raw material costs because of fuel have increased by $100M this year over last year...that is just about the companies entire profits for a year. So, we are forced to either lay people off or raise prices. In truth, we will probably do both. If the company can't profit, then the share holders loose too.

So, here is the story.....our sales force has to go to our customers and explain why we need to raise prices and we give all the strandard excuses (high fuel, high medial insurance, high raw materials...). However, the employee has no recourse. Think about it....who is giving US a pay raise? After all, MY expenses are going up too. It is a viscious circle.

The people impacted the most are those in low paying jobs who live in rural areas. This explains many of our employees....those that do the jobs that often times, no one else wants to do. Pretty soon, they will be quitting because they just can no longer afford to drive to work. We also charge our employees $120/month for parking.

 

Life has been difficult, I have definitely not been going out and "playing" nearly as much as in the past.

I don't go to the movies, I take my fiance' out to dinner maybe twice a month instead of the 5-6 times a month in the past. Alot of the little things are definitely being put on the backburner.

$40-$60 a week in gas + food + insurance + utilities, cable & electricity leave little to play with...

 

at some point or another the government will have to step in.

 

Not while your faithful leaders are in office. Its comedy when people scream about "oil shortages" ect.

As far as suffering nope, I'm not, I'll actually be making the most money I ever have this year, even with high gas prices.

Water your right, go unions, mine pays if I have to drive out of town, and I'm not charged 120 bucks a month for parking (ridiculous)

The only thing that may benefit from these oil companies tossing up higher prices is the push for more efficient ways of energy.

Ethanol plant is being ready to be built here, more wind farms are going up right now, diablo nuclear power plant just underwent a huge remodel including a new engine

And theres talks of a refinery expansion to go up here which will produce some ungodly amount of barrels of gasoline and diesel each day with a better process to turn the crude into the fuel.. if it happens, the ground breaking will be in November, and these horrible unions will build it and it should be done within two years.

 

to bad europe has been doing this for 5 years...

 

i dont care for Bush. sorry Water Dr. i know he is your buddy.

 

Then again last I checked europe doesn't have nearly the amount of oil we do..

 

God help us all if Osama... errrr well close enough, gets elected into office... If that happens we might as well all quit working and go on welfare.

 

Can't do much worse then good ole George Dubya..biggest deficit in American history.. highest gas prices in our history.. one of the worst commander and chiefs in history..stocks dropping quicker then a hookers panties.. and McCain.. it's like.. Dubyas twin or something..

 

all i can say is that if McCain goes in office, some of us here are going to be drafted most likely, unless your already in the military for the some of us.

(now im not sayin the military is bad, im just saying that its not for some of us)

 

Gas prices here in Phoenix are killing me! I'm havin to drive my other car!

 

I obviously need to explain my union comment....

The auto unions FORCE the automakers into agreeing upfront how many cars of each model they need to make. This is the make sure that the workers have jobs for a pre-determined amount of time and forces the auto makers into securing parts and engine contracts (and all the things you need to assemble a car) for the entire build length. Sounds good? Well, not really. You see, the only way to get this right is to have a crystal ball that allows you to know what the exact demand will be for each car model....this is impossible.

As a result, 99% of every car built in the US has no buyer. Cars sit on lots for lengthly periods of time. This means that many models are over-built while others, do not have enough. This is a completely shitty way and short-sided way of doing business and is driven 100% by organized labor contracts.

In Japan, in contrast, no car is built unless an order has been placed by a buyer. The customer always gets what he wants, and market popularity is determined by the needs and demands of the consumer and not by some labor contract that was created 5 years earlier (as they are in some caseds). Unfortunately, most hard-working union workers never see nor understand the bigger picture and never realize that in the end, they are often times working themselves out of a career.

So, what you have now are union workers out of work because plants have had to shut down. Instead, everyone could be working...just making the cars that the consumer is currently demanding.

Organized labor contracts have a HUGE influence in how business gets conducted in those industries where they are used.

BTW, every company that I know pays their employees for out of town travel. We do the same.....and have no unions. We pay for parking because we are located in a big city and we park in public garages. The company does not charge us for parking....the local businesses do...the parking garage owners. In fact, my employer is unusual in that they subsidize the parking costs (the actual cost is higher). Those that can take a bus pay just $35 a month for a bus pass because the company also subsidizes this cost as well. Which means that a worker could get to the office and home for a $1 a day. Lower paid employes generally live further away from the city where housing costs are cheaper which irononically means that busses are not an option and car pooling can be difficult because they are spread out. We also have a 401k with a match, an employer paid pension (yes, we have both), vacation, medical, and no union fees to boot.

Am I fan of organized labor? Not really, but trying to stop it is sort of like keeping the sun from comming up. It's here and we have to deal with it. I just wish for once....just one single time a union worker would try to defend organized labor by showing how this is better for the customer or the success of the business rather then what it puts in their pockets.

As to the oil situation, we need to drill right here in the US to address the short term situation and also find alternatives for the long haul. Instead, we are all being swindled by the big oil companies. While we pay $4+/gallon, the big oil companies are posting record profits.

 

 

I don't think a draft will ever happen unless there is some sort of major world conflict. I have not seen anything that McCain has said or done that would support this. Seems like propaganda.

Truthfully, I don't think either candidate is in position to lead this country out of this hole. Obama lacks experience. As much fun as people make of Bush, I think all the jokes will be forgetten within a few months of Obama at the helm. While I encourage change and find the guys attitude refreshing, so is mine....but I ain't qualified either. McCain....I am not sure if he is brave enough to evoke the change we need....to stand up and do what needs to be done. Obama is, but I just don't think the Americans can stomach higher taxes to go with their gas.

To be honest, I like the senator from CT and am hopeful he will find his way on a ticket.

 

Just had one of those wreck right in front of my house tonight. The asshat was drinking and doing wheelies. He came up and down the street 3 or 4 times. The last time, he fliped the bike over and slid about 100 feet.

 

Benefit the customer? Ok..

About 45 miles north of my town a highschool was being built, they decided to try something new out, went with a non union contract, because his bid beat ours, due to guys being paid less, and he kinda gouged the actual price of material.

Two years later, hes saying he under bid the project, and needed more money to fund it, well obviously, the school district told him to **** off, the project was taking too long anyways.

They called us back up, we said ok, it will be time and material, because the bid on it is screwed now that they have set transformers distribution panels and basically finished out all the switch yards, we don't know what all may be wrong or screw up on us, and it wasn't our stuff, we aren't dealing with it.

They give us a deadline of August 1st, 2008, we start the project in January.

With a crew of 20 we covered an entire highschool, pulled the wire, set the lights, finished the gym, auditorium, autoshop, welding shop ect.

Last week, a transformer burns up, not one we set, we check wiring, its correct, turns out this *** clown left this transformer uncovered in the rain for god knows how long. School is worried it'll take 2 months to replace this thousand amp transformer..

We get them one in two days, at normal price. We have it set and wired back up, the same day.

The job is now complete, ahead of their schedule, on time and material.

As far as being paid to travel out of town, most here don't. They have to drive 60+ miles out on their own dollar unless it is a prevailing wage job.

I toss in 20 bucks a month, I get college courses, lessons from things like..the basics of electricity to engineering to blueprints to welding to programmable logic controls and the list continues. My retirement is paid for by the contractors we work for. Its paid into a private account, when I retire, I will be 50, with a very decent amount of money paid to me each month, including health benefits for myself and my future wife for the rest of our lives. My kids will have medical/dental benefits. If I am to die on the job, my wife will get the retirement I have, benefits for life, and if i'm in the process of buying a house, they'll finish paying for it so she doesn't have to worry or suffer.

The deals the automakers have I'm sure is probably shitty.. but as of late I'm a little annoyed with the anti unions for the guys target unions as a whole, we are different.

But, like I said, life isn't easy right now, but its not that bad for me. I'll still make the most money I have ever made this year.. even with the high gas prices... so far at 19 as a first year apprentice, I'll be looking at making 42 grand..

As for the McCain/Obama stuff, tbh I'm not comfortable with either one.. but.. I don't like how McCain thinks its cool to continue sitting in Iraq..

And quoting 4 Star General Wesley Clark "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."

 

Wesley Clark is an ***. Not because I am defending McCain, but because McCain never said that being shot down in a plane was a qualification either. In fact, McCain talks very little of his experience as a 5 year POW...or the fact that two of his children (I think I have that number right) are currently serving in Iraq. Depending on how you look at that, THAT makes McCain either the best candidate or the worst candidate to be Commander in Chief.

As to your "Union Example", that is a straightforward example of how the cheapest is not always the "cheapest". This happens every day....when companies make a decision based soley on price. The saying "you get what you paid for" is often true. That is not an example showing a union partnership, but that when business make decisions soley on price, they often loose.