Gasoline prices up again

It happened again today, the same as it does every Thursday, it seems. Gasoline prices jumped more than 10 cents a gallon at most convenience stores in the Tri-State. I was driving around the area working on an editorial for Sunday and the prices caught my eye. They were $2.699 a gallon in Huntington and $2.759 in Ironton and in Catlettsburg, Ky. I happened upon a station in Kenova and bought some at $2.589 before the price went up.

I asked the clerk behind the counter if her store took fifty-dolllar bills. She said they had to, even if some places don't. Some cars need $50 or more to fill up, she said.

Anyway, we can expect prices to keep going up. You know, the price of crude oil, the shortage of ethanol, the changover to summer formulas -- all the usual suspects. Industry experts will say prices go up because inventories are either up or down. Either way inventories go, prices go up, it seems.

The next thing to wait for is Memorial Day weekend, when the summer driving season kicks off.

So far, no one I know says fuel prices have caused them to change their driving habits. There's a point at which prices will cause some pain and people will make significant changes in their driving habits, we we apparently are nowhere near that yet.