Coping with Gas Crisis

TREDYFFRIN TWP, PA — As gas prices continue to rise, 38-year-old Lisa Walker, a mother of four, looks for other ways to save money and to make ends meet.
Walker of Wayne joined the gas rewards program at Giant Food Stores, earning her 10 cents a gallon in savings for every 100 points earning shopping.
“Food shopping helps me save money on gas,” Walker said today as she was filling up her tank at Gateway Mobil, on Valley Forge Road in Tredyffrin Township.
“We have four kids, and we drive around a lot,” she continued.
Walker said the family has not been going on vacations during the pandemic, and have no immediate plans to do so.
For the sixth straight week, the nation’s average gas price is up, rising 8.0 cents from a week ago and stands at $3.42 per gallon today, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
The national average is up 12.3 cents from a month ago and 97.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.
The prices are the highest in eight years, as the price of crude oil rises and tensions in eastern Europe escalate.
The recent price increases are driven by a supply shortage during the pandemic and geopolitical issues threatening supplies, according to Jana Tidwell, spokeswoman for AAA Mid Atlantic, Philadelphia.
Tidwell said other reasons are the tensions between Russia and Ukraine creating concern for potential Western sanctions.
The cost of crude oil is in the low $90s per barrel, nearly $30 more than in August.
Robert Delanoy, owner of Gateway Mobil, said the gas prices are the highest in recent years. He said the traffic at the gas station was very slow at the beginning of the pandemic, and has since been picking up.
“Some people come for gas just to get out,” he noted.
Rerun of the 1970s gas shortage
Bob McDonald of Newtown Square remembers the gas panic in the 1970s.
In 1973, an oil embargo was imposed by members of the Organization of Exporting Petroleum Exporting Countries.
McDonald said he was filling up his Honda Civic, at a price of $43 for 11 gallons.
“It’s a very real cost for regular people,” he said.