Gas

Yesterday I had to run to the post office, Wal-Mart, and the truck couldn’t go much farther without adding gas.  The day before, I had seen a price of $2.95 at Cumberland Farms, so I assumed it would be the same.  Couldn’t get near the pumps anyway, so I skipped it even before I saw it had gone to $3.05, hit the post office, and rapidly got the idea that around $3.05 give or take is the current norm.  The full serve station around the corner is $3.07, and they are often below, and generally no more than slightly above the low priced places.  I don’t remember the price at Prime, but couldn’t get near there either.  It’s the Middleboro regulation that renders one side of the pumps almost unusable.

On my way down 44 I say $2.94 at Joe’s Gas, which used to be Shell, and which is on the eastbound side.  I watched the other places, but figured I’d stop there on the way back.  Sure enough, they were the lowest.  They’re not even prepay, and they lack pump numbers.  There was something about the place, an almost rustic friendly feel, that seemed familiar.  Turns out we’d been to their other location, on 140 in Taunton.  And that’s an entirely different possible post, how one might that successfully capture a pleasant vibe in multiple locations so transparently and apparently effortlessly.

While I pumped the $6 I could afford, bringing the tank almost to a quarter, the guy at an adjacent pump started proclaiming to me that it had gone too far - he’d seen gas at $3.59 down at the rotary.  Wow, I said, but it sounded odd.  The station right off the rotary is a discount place that’s also a liquor store.  I kept an eye out as I approached.

Heh.  $3.59 was the prominently displayed price for diesel, visible from the rotary.  That’s what he saw.  They were something like $2.95 for regular.  Too funny.  Yet I know I’ve done that sort of thing myself.

I wonder how many people see the more prominent sign intended to lure truckers, don’t notice it says diesel underneath, and make a similar mistake.  If you’re local and go by the place enough, you’d probably catch yourself.

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