Recently, EasyAutoSales was able to speak with a gas station manager in the area. With the current state of gas being in very high demand and the depleted supply due to damage from Hurricane Gustav and Ike, EasyAutoSales hoped to get some special insight into fuel crisis, first hand. We would love to share this interview with you in hopes to educate the public. Without further adieu, an interview with Mr. Fuel:

EAS: Do you all get gas from the same supplier?

Mr. Fuel: All gas comes through a network of pipelines that is tapped into at various terminals, in the case of Atlanta most of it comes from terminals in Doraville, the terminals are owned by various companies.

EAS: When you foresee the shortage to end?

Mr. Fuel: I wonder the same thing, without gas our inside sales are falling drastically and that’s where we profit.

EAS: When are the pumps in the gulf expected to come back up?

Mr. Fuel: From my understand they were authorized to come back on as soon as they had electricity.

EAS: Why is communication so bad that no one knows when they will be getting more gas?

Mr. Fuel: It really depends on the station. Franchised stations such as B.P.s, Chevrons, and Citgo, there owners probably do know considering they would have to order there own fuel. In the case of corporate owned stations such as mine, we don’t know because that is controlled by a division in corporate. On top of that< the delivery drivers sometimes have to drive to several different terminals to get each of the octanes and ethanol which can take hours of waiting.

EAS: Do you sell until you’re empty or do you coordinate with your neighbors to limit how many hours a day you’ll be open so each of you can get some business?

Mr. Fuel: Honestly gas stations don’t profit from gas, which is why there is so much advertisement at the pumps. So we don’t care when we sell it. We sell to a certain level of gallons then we will have to cut off due to the risk of burning out the motors that pull gas from our tanks.

EAS: Can you explain the process of deciding how much to raise the price for you station?

Mr. Fuel: We decide by surveys at the beginning of both day shifts. The manager coming in will survey the surrounding stations prices. There prices will then be reported back to corporate who compare it to how much they can buy gas wholesale for and the price is sent to the store and changed promptly.

EAS: How are gas prices at your station regulated?

Mr. Fuel: By the surveys, honestly, we could lie and raise/lower the prices a couple cents, but it’s not worth risking the job so someone can save 30 cents on a 15 gallon fill up.

EAS: Why do we sometimes see such a difference in gas prices with in the same 10 mile radius?

Mr. Fuel: Because of stations surveying each other and thus trying to complete with the best price. As managers survey throughout a given area at differet times of day, prices may rise and lower throughout the day and end up with a spread from the earliest to latest to survey.

EAS: What is your biggest challenge as a gas station manager?

Mr. Fuel: Nothing to do with gas, it’s basically speed of service and store appearance. All we try to do is increase inside sales and therefore, profit margin.

EAS: Can you describe your experience with the Atlanta gas shortage?

Mr. Fuel: I’m having to hunt for gas just like everyone else i live 25 miles from my work. On a store level though, people calling all the time asking us if have gas then getting angry because we don’t. A lot of ignorant people thinking we are just saving gas till the price goes up.

EAS: Lastly, can you recount one or two stories about various incidents since the gas shortage has started?

Mr. Fuel: We had all the 87 octane pumps bagged one morning and during a mild rush this man comes in with a strong southern accent and says, “Well, I just went and pulled the damn bag off and it pumped just fine. Ya’ll just trying to make extra money.” My response after seeing if he really did and how much he pumped was, ” Sir, you probably just pumped about 5 gallons of water in your tank.” His car was towed away about an hour later because the water sized the engine.

Another one is I was working overnight one night during this shortage and about 12:30 I notice about 5 cars sitting outside just waiting and about ten minutes later a guy walks in and says, “You guys have a delivery scheduled at 12:40 right?” Obviously, since I don’t even know when we are getting deliveries I said no. I ended up getting several calls and people coming in saying that some gas prices website said my store (same address and everything) was getting a delivery at 12:40 a.m.

This is some great insight from someone “working in the trenches”. EasyAutoSales hopes to have more interviews like this in the future with people who can give first hand experiance and information.

Hybrid. Efficiency. Not exactly the words you want to be thinking about when you look to purchase a new car and rightfully so. Since we were teenagers, the automobile has meant excitement, speed, adventure and all that America stands for: freedom (or as Cadillac puts it: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit). Some of us take it a step further and spend our weekends at the local race track reaching speeds most people only dream about. So, when we sit in our econo-boxes outside the local Shell station pumping regular gasoline @ $4.03 per gallon, buying something that will put a lot of wind in your hair and a huge smile on your face is the farthest thing from your mind. I’m here to tell you that your next car may not only be significantly more efficient than your current car, but it might might be pretty quick too!

Let’s start this discussion out with an American icon, the Chevrolet Corvette. Since 1953, the Corvette has won the hearts and minds of America with it’s sporty and muscular styling, extreme performance and bulletproof reliability. It’s a super car that you can use every day, and hundreds of thousands Americans do. So, how can I contort the Corvette into wearing a “green” badge on it’s sleeve? Let’s say you pop down to your local dealership and pickup a standard Corvette coupe or convertible, you’re looking at a 6.2L V8 engine. Assuming you want a little more gusto under the hood, a 7.0L Z06 with 500 stampeding horsepower is available as well. Looking at equivalently performing Ferrari’s or Lamborghini’s, you’d expect highway mileage to top out at 18 MPG and city driving would sink into the single digits. The standard Corvette hits around 18 MPG in the city and real-world mileage of around 30 MPG on the highway. Even with the Z06 you’re looking at around 16 and 26 in city and highway, respectively. Mind you, the Z06 does top out at over 200 MPH. Not to mention, the Chevy LS based engines are some of the most reliable on the planet. You could trot down to your local dealer today knowing that you’d be one of the fastest on your block, yet still keeping the environment and your pocketbook in mind.  Do a car search by mileage here.

Next on our list is a small company based out of Hethel, Norfolk, England by the name of Lotus. Since the early 60s, Lotus has been creating cars with the mantra, “less is more”. From the very first Lotus Mk1s and the famous Lotus Elan (weighing in at a spritely 1600lbs) to the most modern Lotus Elise (tipping the scales at approximately 2100lbs), Lotus knows the #1 way to make cars perform both efficiently and quickly is to remove all the extra weight you can. Now mind you, this doesn’t mean you remove the safety as well. With a solid aluminum monocoque (a chassis type used in most racecars), the Elises can take a jolt as well as most cars on the road, but with the performance an Elise gives you, it’s party trick is it’s amazing avoidance ability. With roughly 1/2 the weight of most cars on the road today, the Elise is a modern marvel in lightweight engineering. By the way, did i mention that you’d be driving a car that does around 30MPG and does 0-60 in well under 5.0 seconds?

The next car is a particularly popular modern “vintage”: The Mini Cooper. Whether you buy a brand new Mini, a new Mini Cooper S or an old Austin Mini, you are bound to max our both your miles per gallon and smiles per gallon. These amazingly fun and fast microcars are large enough to fit you and a loved one, packed for a long weekend and able to get your there in judicious style (with the basic Mini Cooper getting close to 40MPG and the S getting in the low 30s). They have passed safety ratings consistently with the highest ratings, but more to the point, the Mini urges you to go Motoring and take the long way home (the really long way). The Mini’s legendary road holding ability lets you hit a full .9 lateral Gs if properly setup. A stock 2008 Corvette hits .93 lateral Gs. How’s that for a giant killer? There are millions of Mini owners, new and old, and I can bet you that you’ll never come across one that regretted their purchase.

The final car on my list is an oldie but a goodie. It’s a car that’s no longer made, but even legends fade into the past from time to time. The final car on my short list for fun and economical cars is the Honda CRX. It’s another car that goes by the Lotus mantra and espouses this by a curb weight of between 1700 and 1900 lbs. (depending upon the year and spec). The 1984-87 ‘HF’ spec. car hit a whopping 49 and 54 MPG cycles for city and highway driving, respectively. Even the “performance” Si version and tuner versions are seeing well over 34 MPG combined cycle. The CRX is a very popular car for club racing and weekend drivers schools, which lend themselves some street-cred as exhilarating drives.

As the fuel prices continue to rise, I’ll be adding to this article more cars, both new and old for all budgets. So, please stop back again and we’ll try to have more cars for you to read about. Thanks for stopping by!