Buyin' gas long term

Hey guys I'm from the Seattle area and I remember a long time ago reading something in the newspaper about how you can buy gas in a large amount and have it stored for you at the current price. Has anyone heard of this?:wierd:

I was thinking about that today. I would only do it though if I wasn't buying gas that was litterally going to be "stored". It would go bad too fast. Now if you could buy a set amount and then pull it from fresh tanks....Hell yeah I would be all over that.

yah i never considered that... so does it exist?

It is a commodities program.
You are making a commitment to buy a given amount of fuel. You pay for all of it up front and use it as you need.
Think of a pre paid debit card. You pay, say, $500 for the card, and in this scenario are locking in the price of the fuel at today's prices. You could even use the card a year from now and still be paying today's price.
That is a simplified version but you get the point.
Its not available everywhere, and I'm not aware of any place in SoCal that has that kind of a program.


edit;
Ahh...Ron has it!

Zuki-Ron said:

http://mygallons.com/

Click to expand...

Looks like they are in limbo. If you go under their locations button it says it will be available when they get the new "payment" system up and running.

Great idea though.

wow! thats awesome i hope they get up and running while gas is still cheap

Great Idea, unless you end up upside down...

Say one buys 500 gallons at $2.00/gl. That works out great if the price climbs above that during the time ones 'reserve' is being drawn down. It sucks if the price drops below. It wouldn't be so bad if there was no time limit on how long one had to use it up... In the example above, one then could just pay the lower price at the pump, and hold back their 'reserve' $2/gl fuel until retail prices climb above it)

Same thing happens with home heating fuel. Some folks agree to pre-buy a quantity of fuel during the summer (when prices tend to be lower) When winter comes, they are contractually obliged to buy a set quantity of fuel at that price, even if it's selling for a lot less at the time it's delivered. Good luck getting out of a contract like that.

So unless there is no time limit on how long one can retain the option, it's a lot like gambling IMHO.

It's a gamble like anything else. You are betting the price will go up and justify your investment, they are betting that the price will go down and that they will make money off user fees.

There is an overdraft fee. Say your card has 10 gal on it and you pump 11. That's an overdraft and you pay them a penalty.

There is a $30/year cost of the card.

There is a credit card transaction fee for "refilling" your card on-line with a CC.

It looks like there are other conveniences with it. I have a gas card at work. It's nice not having to worry about paying out of pocket for a refill.