How much does a gallon of gasoline cost? Nobody knows. The price of gasoline is all over the place in Centre County right now. A gallon of 87 octane can cost anywhere from $3.54 to $3.85, depending on what station you visit. Even the prices from one Sheetz to another can vary depending on which end of State College you are on. It’s enough to make you crazy. I’m accustomed to prices varying from city to city, but not such large disparity within one town!
I’ve never been the kind of person to drive around chasing the best price for a gallon of gas. But a difference of 30 cents per gallon when I put 13 gallons into my Subaru is $3.90. That’s more than the cost of one gallon. And that’s worth driving a little further for—there’s no way that I’m going to burn a whole gallon of gas just driving across town to the less expensive station.
Luckily there are ways to lower your per gallon price, as well as ways to know how much your local stations are charging before you make the drive. I’ll be honest….that $3.54 per gallon price is at Sam’s Club, so you can only take advantage of that with an annual membership (which I maintain for other reasons—gas prices are a bonus for me). But there are stations in Bellefonte charging similar prices without a membership fee. I’m a Sheetz loyalist, but my local Sheetz has the advertised price of $3.85. I never pay full price for gas at Sheetz, though. I save three cents per gallon by using my My Sheetz card, and an additional five cents per gallon for using my Sheetz branded credit card. I also collect rewards and offers on my My Sheetz card, so right now I have an extra 11 cents off per gallon waiting to be used. That will bring my next Sheetz gas purchase down to $3.66 at my local Sheetz, or $3.56 at one at the other end of town. Sam’s is still cheaper, but not enough to make it worth going out of my way.
So how is a person to know where to go to get the best price on gas? Just driving around defeats the purpose. Thankfully, there is an app for that. I use the Gas Buddy app on my phone to check the prices at local stations whenever it is time to fill my tank.
Someday I’ll get an electric car so I can avoid all this gasoline nonsense and just charge up at home. But that’s not an option for me right now. But I feel like I’m making the best decisions I can to fuel up in an economical way. Are you getting your best deal on fuel?
