Has the price of gas affected your coin collecting?

Are you still working at the gas station? Are gas station employees making 25 bucks an hour now?

Sorry,
I cant see the logic in this.


Gas is high here in SE Michigan thats for sure, has it curtailed my purchases? Not yet. last fill up was just over $70.00 and it happens about 6 times a month.

 

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Probably not, but in 1950 I earned 35¢ an hour minimum wage, pumping gas for 17.9¢ a gallon (full service). So, 1 gallon = ~30.7 minutes.

Today, in California, minimum wage is $7.50, and self-service regular gasoline is selling for $3.419 two blocks from my house, which makes 1 gallon =<27.4 minutes.

Doesn't that logically mean gas is cheaper (at least in my neighborhood) than it was 57 years ago?

BTW my coin budget was a whole lot smaller in 1950, both in dollars and in percentage of my income; but that was because back then I was a minimum wage slave, not because I had lesser desire.

Even then I loved Walking Liberties, but consider what a relatively major expenditure I was making by keeping one from circulation.

 

My coin budget is smaller, but not just because of the price of gas. It a combination of price increases in everything, including the coins themselves. When I compare coin prices in price guides that are only a few years old, it's amazing how they have increased. If coins were priced close to, say, the 2003 Redbook prices, I'd be buying a lot more. As things stand, my buying is way down.

 

Mine is a stick shift Neon (2005) last year they made them. 36 mpg. Today I went 30 miles to try to buy a 1953 Franklin at a flea market. I saw the coin a few weeks ago marked at $175. But I was too busy getting his 1927S quarter marked at $30 for $9. So I went back trying to get the $175 Franklin for about $20.
Nope. He says he overpaid and he's keeping it. Maybe he still remembers me getting the $30 coin for $9. He says the Franklin is unc. Worn bell lines were shown to him and also by his 2006 redbook the price of $16 for MS-60 was shown to him. He stuck the coin underneath others saying he will check on it.
Then he says it's high priced because it's a proof! Not. I walked.
I priced gas on the way home. $3.27/gal. So I'm running on empty. Will go Southbridge, MA tomorrow to get gas cheaper. Check out www.gasbuddy.com

 

Back years and years ago we may not have had the bill we do now. Think of home owners insurance, the cost of tuition, Eyes glasses if you need them. Co payment to doctors and prescripton medication (part of getting older for a lot of people) mortages, every increasing property taxes and sales tax. The list goes on forever. I can remember paying 25c per gallon for gas but my bills were few then. Now with the ever increasing price of gas and the associated items it affects, I am seeing much less play money than I ever have.

When I started collecting and running a paper route I still had my feet under my folks table and sleeping in my rent free bed. Oh the good old days.

 

I guess a better way to ask the question would have been, do you factor in the price you'll have to spend in gas when you go somewhere and buy a coin? I look at coins from many different sources, ebay, coin shops, other online coin sellers, people selling their collects, and I usually take into consideration all the cost associated with each purchase. I think of the value or cost of each coin as the sum of what I had to shell out to own it. Costs can be shipping, discounts, premium price dealers like Littleton, and of course driving.
I noticed that the cost of gas was making some purchases more expensive than if I had bought them from Littleton. I just hadn't expected this to be so drastic and I wondered how many of you were feeling the same pinch.

 

No I really don't factor in the cost of gas when going somewhere to buy coins. The coin dealers that I go to are about 20 miles round trip and my Scion TC gets 26 mpg around town. Last month I made two purchases, the first purchase was from my one of my renters (had to pick up the rent anyway) and the second one was from a friend at work.

As for shipping price here's something to think about. For every 1 cent that gas goes up the United States Postal Service has to pay and additional 7 million dollars to keep it's vehicle fleet gassed up.

Lou

 

I figure that the cost of gas is mostly a wash against the cost of postage from buying from an internet dealer.

 

If you wish to discuss economic theories please go to the opt-in Politics, Relgion and World Events forum.

 

yes with gas price the way they are my big f250 is standing still

 

I HAVE spent a lot of time recently combing the internet/E-Bay and Yahoo for sellers/dealers that have reasonable shipping fees. They DO exist.

Over this weekend, I ordered 500 2x2's, 40 air-tites and a 40 gram silica gel thingy. Even if you include shipping, it was still cheaper than the local dealer by about $5 and I only have to go as far as the mailbox to get the stuff.

In addition, I've worked with several sellers (usually individuals, not "dealers") who have very reasonable shipping rates (You work with them and you really only do pay the cost of postage).

I dunno, it's about a 18 mile round-triip for me to my dealer and I have a 30 mpg car. I'll still be going there, but I won't be going there on a lark just to kill time or see what new has come in..... I can call him for that.