Is gas cutting into your coin buying?

For me it's a whopping 1 mile to work and back so I decided to let the van sit and went out and bought an inexpensive moped to get me to work. Even with weekend travels to the store, etc. with my regular vehicle I have dropped my gas usage to 10 gal per month.

 

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Might be roughly the same here in NW (Western Germany); some gas stations now charge €1.50 per liter. But comparing prices "here" and "there" is almost like comparing apples and oranges. Roughly two thirds of that prices is (various) taxes, on the other hand commuters can deduct some of what they pay to get to their workplaces. Also, depending on the destination, weather, and distance, I may drive my car, take the subway, walk, or use a bike - the non-motorized variety.

Have gas prices affected my life lately? Sure. Have they affected my coin "budget"? Not really. So far.

Christian

 

Yes. I'll not be going to the Baltimore Coin Show anytime soon between the gas prices and parking fees associated with this show I'll just go to smaller shows closer to home. Although I can afford to drive to Baltimore it just doesn't make sense to drop $50-$60 dollars for gas and parking to spend $50-$100 on coins!

 

What part of Africa? Let's compare the standard of living there. I did a few minute's worth of searching around and found that most of the countries outside of South Africa have much lower vehicle ownership (up to 90% less). This image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UN_Human_Development_Report_2007_(2).svg gives a good look at the basic quality of life in all those other countries. I don't see how the fact that some large percentage of Africans not having vehicles is an appropriate comparison to say that everyone else should not have vehicles. (I'm not trying to make a correlation, just saying that the comparison is illogical to me)

I think it's great for those that can to avoid driving as much as possible. I currently live in an area where I personally can do that. I grew up in an area where it would be extremely impractical, as many people do. There are many options for a person's choice of vehicle and I think Americans in general need to start taking a more serious, realistic view of those options and what's really necessary for them, this time taking into consideration fuel economy, etc more than in the past.

But this is a large country that is actually sparsely populated for the total land size, meaning there are many places and situations where it's impossible to get by without having a vehicle. Better vehicle choices are what's important, I think.

On the original topic: since I walk to work, no.

 

It does cost an awful lot to fill up my bike... :-D

I rarely use my car, because it stays at home when I'm at college. But when I am home, I notice how pricey it gets - still, it doesn't quite cut into my coin budget.

 

Amen

I don't even have a drivers license! (I'm 26)

 

no way jose

not at all.

 

The rising cost of fuel and related cost increases have definitly slowed my coin buying.
I am fortunate that I only live a few miles from work, but I have little choice other than driving. (smallish town with no public trasnport) I could leave home early and ride my bike, but would be awfull hard to pick up my daughter from school with her 50 pound backpac and her gym bag.
And for most of us it's hard to replace an existing car with a more fuel efficient one. Unless I can find a cheap car that gets 40 mpg, I'm stuck.

 

that would be a fine an dandy cause we are drilling some of our oil but it is being shipped over seas for a higher price...its all about the dollar..

 

I live 5.5 miles to the highway, Supermarket, Civilization, PO etc. I try to plan my stops along the varied paths from work. It works out OK for me.
I travel 11 miles to work. So, I have to plan where I'm going to shop and where I'm going to travel to shop.

If I didn't have an old small gas sucking pick up truck, I'd do better. But for now I have to pay, pay,pay. The smoging is due in 2 weeks and it is certain to fail. So, I have to get it smog ready ($5-800 to fix) and it doesn't last for 2 months. Just like last year. Are they trying to shame me into being a "Gross Polluter in California)?

In my Ford Ranger I get 15-18mpg. So a round trip, for gas, to the P.O BOX is $3.88.

If I have a sale & send the coin out it costs $3.88 gas +.90 for the bubble envelope + $2.00 (AVG)postage.

The gas is killing me. If I had multiple sales and could mail them all in 1 day, it would work out better.

I know I'm talking SMALL TIME, but a lot of us don't sell much which makes us small time ebayers. Nothing derogatory here just the truth.

Bruce

 

is that $5 to $800 or $500 to $800?

If it's the latter it's probably worth just getting a new vehicle. Seams kind of crazy to pay that each year!

 

Bruce....If you use paypal or online stamps, the USPS will pick up for free...zero gas used except for the mail truck. The only thing my mailman will not pickup is wheat bags because he is elderly nd they are to heavy, so I take them to his truck myself for him

 

i just rememberd a friend of mine who lives in Spain and he travels so much arround the country with a Van. His car is on diesel and he uses Sunflower oil to run his van! He says that when u drive the car it kinda smells like Chips and that its realy realy realy cheap to run it! maybe you guys should consider goin to diesel type of engines! you can run them as low as $0.66/gallon if even cheaper! Just an option which will increase your Coin buying imho :goofer:

 

try one of these WWII delivery bikes (called a whizzer)

http://www.whizzermotorbike.com/

 

WOW it's totally cool !!!! A motorized Pee Wee Herman !!

 

If you use that idea in the US right now, you'll have even less to spend on hobbies than before, as diesel is more expensive than regular gas. Considering it's produced at a three to one ratio over gasoline, I'm not sure why it's price overshot gas. A lot of people who bought diesel a few years ago, including myself, are a bit annoyed at this point.
Guy~

 

Thanks Jack for your suggestion. I've thought of it before and It's not really practical for me, where I live. I can't just be putting out large envelopes for the postman to pick up. I've had my mailbox broken into a few times before. Once, the Perps were caught because they used one of my unsolicited checks to buy $78 in pizza and then got caught leaving the restaurant with my other unsolicited checks on their person. Oh, Well. Dumb Kid, who went to prison for 19 months for this crime.

If I could stay home I'd surely try to have my packages picked up, but I'm in a very rural area and I just couldn't leave valuable packages outside for pickup.

 

$1500 out the door in Avondale.I took a test drive and I am considering it.

read about them here
http://www.motoredbikes.com/forumdisplay.php?f=99

 

Not quite. It is also about refinery capacity and a few other issues. Otherwise there would be no reason for American companies buying oil from European spot markets for example.

Diesel? For some reason, diesel is currently more expensive here (DE) than regular gas. And biofuel is a somewhat ambiguous alternative: If more and more agricultural area, or even plants directly, are used to run our engines, we will run into different but similarly grave problems.

As for coins, come to think of it, I have indeed spent less lately - not so much because of fuel prices but because of coin prices. Modern coins with an issue price that is way above the face value do not make it into my collection that much any more. My overall budget though is ... very volatile anyway.

Christian

 

What i ment was maybe you should get diesel powered car then use Sunflower oil which is proven to work with the cars but to have a "profit" you will have to get huge quantities of Sunflower oil like 1k+ liters. Many people in Europe are doing it and the car runs normally without any problems

Rado