Run on Gas in South Carolina

The State | Gas reaching $5 in Columbia

Everyone knows what a bank run is.  Someone gets word that the bank is close to failure, or doesn’t have enough deposits to carry through to the next business day.  So people want to get their money out before the well dries up.  One person sees this and thinks the same thing, and it continues until the bank actually runs out of money.  This could even be the case when the bank IS solvent and would have had enough money to stay open during normal operations, but the stampede action and groupthink mentality forces the bank to close because they couldn’t satisfy the demands of it’s depositors.

The same thing is starting to happen in South Carolina.

I first heard about the run this morning (shows how much I’m in the loop around here), but at that point, I was probably asleep when it started yesterday afternoon and into the evening.  When I got into work, two things caught my attention.  The first was that the Pitt Stop gas station had run out of gas, as evidenced by the bags on the nozzles.  The second was that I looked down the street to the Gator (independent) gas station and thought I saw a 4 in the dollar place.  I thought I was seeing things though at the time.  Then while at work, the supervisor notified all of us that we were to fill our tanks completely when we finished our routes, because there would be shortages of gas this weekend and going into next week.

The run was on.

By the time I left the city, gas was already at $3.73 to $3.92 and there were reports on the radio that there had been long lines in Sumter and Lexington.  Driving to Myrtle Beach was a mixed bag.  The truck stops (Pilot) along I-20 and I-95 were showing normal prices, at least the same as yesterday, $3.62 or so.  Then when turning on the local sports radio show, I was somewhat surprised when the announcer started off the show by going on a rant about gas prices.  Basically, he was saying that anyone charging over $4 a gallon was “gouging you” and that you should talk to the manager.  As he was saying this, he announced that the Markette convenience store he was broadcasting from dropped their price from $4.20 to $3.93.

Continuing on to Myrtle Beach, I saw a trend appearing.  Most stores had raised their price to $4, but the ones that had left them at $3.80 or so had nothing left.  At the Costco in Myrtle Beach, I saw about 15 cars getting gas (this was at approx 10:15 AM), not surprising for Costco on some mornings.  When I left about 10 minutes later, the amount of cars waiting had doubled, with cars beginning to block the entrance to the store.  The price was a relatively miniscule $3.52.  The cheapest in the state at the time, most likely.

For the rest of the drive, I could see that prices were in the $3.60 to $3.80 range but nothing out of the ordinary.  One store, the Petro United in Surside Beach, was at $3.58 and there wasn’t a line of cars there.  The remainder of the drive to Georgetown was uneventful in terms of long lines or high prices.

The trip back to Columbia was an entirely different story.  While local news didn’t have anything to say about the gas prices, the Fox News national report had an excerpt about how “one regional gas store that operated in 11 southeast states” was asking customers to limit this information, but nothing else was new here, as this was already reported locally.

When I arrived in Lake City, that all changed.  The first store I saw (a little mom-and-pop), had taped over their $3 with $4 sheets of paper.  It was $4.57.  I thought that this was just a little store taking advantage of the situation.  Not even close.  Getting into the downtown area of the town, I saw how relatively ;inexpensive; this all was.  One store was at $4.70 and a group of three at the main intersection of US-52 and Business 378 were all at $4.80 a gallon.  It was also the first time that I saw any price (including premium) at $5 as well.

Going from there to Sumter I saw a pattern emerge.  Anyone who was actually selling gas had their price set at $4.  Anyone not selling gas had a price below that (probably because they ran out at that price).  This continued all the way into Columbia.  There, prices were generally at $4 with the cheapest being $3.90 at a Murphy USA (read Walmart).  I was able to fill up at $4 at a Sunoco, although some of their pumps said that they only had diesel remaining.  I pumped regular, paid the regular price (vs. the cheaper diesel price), so I should have regular in my tank.  If I don’t, then I suppose Monday will be an interesting trip to the coast.

Getting back to my workplace, I saw that the two places that tipped me off this morning had changed their prices.  The Pitt Stop had raised their price to $4.30, but they had gas.  The Gators…$5.  The highest I’ve seen in the state.

And people are still flocking to get gas as far as I can see.

So while nobody is talking about it, there is a full-fleged run on gas in South Carolina, and perhaps in the Southeast.  And there’s no FDIC to backstop this run.

What Robert Novak Can Teach Us About Driving (and the Media)

I saw this article on Friday and was all set to post it this week about the scourge of aggressive driving and how the elites think they can get away with anything:

Novak cited after hitting pedestrian

You can just see in the article all of the ways that the writers try to paint Novak in a bad light. His previous record. His driving off from the scene, only to be stopped by the vigilante biker. Even the caption on the photo says it all: “Novak, 77, has earned a reputation around the capital as an aggressive driver.”

It’s pretty easy to see how one could see how Novak is the bad guy. And his only excuse was that “he didn’t see him. I didn’t know he was there.” Pretty lame excuse, right?

Not so much: Robert Novak diagnosed with brain tumor

This makes it quite clear that Novak was telling the truth. But the problem now becomes whether a $50 citation is enough. There’s no reason for Novak to be on the roads right now, but he’s not going to be required to turn in his license or be medically cleared to drive. At least that’s not what it’s looking like. Heck, he might even get a handicapped sticker for his illness.

But this brings up the larger question of how to treat older drivers as the general population of the United States ages. Just this week, there was a story in South Carolina about a taxi driver who had a heart attack, while driving his taxi, and hit a telephone pole:

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – New information has been released in the death of a Columbia tax driver.

The driver died of a heart attack before the crash happened, according Richland County Coroner Gary Watts.

The crash happened Wednesday afternoon on Broad River Road at Greystone Boulevard.

State troopers say 54-year-old Johnny Dotson was driving the taxi when it crossed the median and hit a pole.

Dotson worked for the Blue Ribbon Taxi Company.

There was a passenger in the car who was also injured; authorities expect her to be fine.

This leaves the question of what to do with older drivers on the road as America ages. Given the political clout of America’s seniors, I doubt anything is going to get done. But there’s going to be more accidents of these types as drivers age. Anything mandatory for seniors has already been met with fierce resistance, since these are the drivers who vote and have time to pepper their representatives with phone calls. I think the first thing to keep in mind is that driving is a privilege, not a right, granted by the state. There are already restrictions on commercial drivers for health reasons. It will only take more high profile cases to start introducing restrictions on non-commercial licenses as well.

Liveblog of T. Boone Pickens interview with Sean Hannity

I heard on the way home that Sean Hannity was interview T. Boone Pickens on the Pickens Plan. Since I was in the car, I couldn’t post directly to the internet, so I had to write it down and copy it now. As Pickens is a Republican supporter (he sponsored the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth), I can now look in hindsight that Hannity would throw softballs at Pickens. But I was expecting at least some questions that were more critical than were asked.

You can read the liveblog after the cut…

Honda Proves Me Right

In a previous post, I wrote that Honda has the most upside to any US automaker because of their relatively smaller model lineup, which enables them to shift production more quickly and keep R&D costs low.

Honda’s profit in the US grew 8.1%.

The article cites that other carmakers with model portfolios of smaller cars are doing better. Which goes without saying, given all the anecdotal evidence. It also means that people are adjusting and there isn’t the need for radical government policies to shift consumption data or gas prices. People are already doing that themselves.

Toyota will have similar but less impressive results because they have more models and are thus more exposed to gas problems than the sleeker Honda lineup.

Ford Continues Unending Fall

From Bloomberg:

Ford Motor Co., the world’s third- larges automaker, expects U.S. industrywide auto sales this month to decline from a year earlier…

Fields declined to comment on details of the company’s plans to boost small-car production and to build U.S. versions of models made by its European unit. The company disclosed its general plans on June 20. Ford said it would bring the European version of the Focus small car to North America to replace an older version of the model made in the U.S.

I think this can be traced back to the redesign of the Taurus back in the late 90’s. I, and apparently alot of other people, liked the original version of the Taurus and the styling of the car. After the horrible redesign of the Taurus, most people went very, very far away from Ford cars. Ford Trucks maintained a place at the top.

This worked when gas was cheap. Ford had no problem with maintaining profitability when selling marked up trucks and SUVs, even as non-truck buyers left Ford and never came back. Fast forward to today, and Ford is in alot of trouble financially.

Ford suffers from a paradox: They have way too many models and yet rely on a particular market segment for sales. Compare Ford with Dodge, Toyota, Honda, and Chevrolet.

Ford has 19 models. Toyota also has 19, while Chevy has 20! One of the issues that Ford and the US automakers as a whole are dealing with is that they have way too many models to deal with. Yes, I know Toyota has that many as well, but the difference is the way the balance is with their model sales. Toyota only recently went into light-trucks/SUVs, compared with US automakers. Toyota doesn’t have the reliance on fuel dependent sales like the Big Three do.

So the easy solution would be to cut down on the number of models and simply the business model. But Ford has so many different power bases to satisfy (dealers, consumers, shareholders, factory workers/unions) that it may just be too difficult for them to do.

Meanwhile, Honda is a much more lean company in terms of models. They have room to expand compared to the other big automakers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they come out ahead in terms of future growth.

Electric Cars Closer to Universal Standards

Remember what I said about government intrusion into how much it costs to fuel your car?

You can apply that to electrics as well, except that the electric market is even more confusing and more tightly regulated than the natural gas market. Everything is micromanaged economically in the electricity market. Even in so-called deregulated markets. I say so-called in this case, because in the course of allowing consumers to choose their electricity suppliers, they added more regulations to govern how the process would work. In fact, there are probably more regulations with consumer choice than under the previous regime. But that’s more of a reflection on the nature of bureaucracy than anything else.

But as an outgrowth in the desire (increased demand) for electric vehicles, electric companies and car manufacturers are coming together to create a common set of standards for the charging of electric vehicles. This isn’t a bad thing, as this will be necessary for the common US/Canada market and to enable cars to be used in multiple places.

But the best part? No mention of government anywhere. So the next time someone, probably a politician, tells you government is needed to develop technology for anything, remember this article and the fact that the private sector can come together without prodding (ie mandates) from the feds.

Ok, I have to make one snarky comment. I found this quote amusing:

“Customers could drive from Montreal to San Antonio and then move to San Francisco and they could be connected and charged,” he said. “We are working together to make sure this can happen.”

Given the 40 mile range of the Volt, the only way this trip is happening is on the back of a trailer.