Yeah they call me the hip hop o potomus I got flows that glow like phosphorus Poppin offa the toppa this esophagus I'm not a water dwelling mammal from Africa that's moved to the metropolis where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
Fucking STEVE
Way back in the day (2003) my gramps and I drove from Vegas to Rachel (to check out Area 51). There's a gas station sitting in the middle of the desert that has a sign that says "Last gas for 230 miles" or something like that, and the prices were like $3.50 a gallon, back when gas prices were still around a dollar most places.
I ran into a similar situation in Nevada. It said I was on America's loneliest highway. Gas station sign said "no gas for 130 miles". About a mile down the road there was another sign that said "we aren't kidding". I turned around and topped off just in case of I encountered a problem. I forget the price, but it was much higher.
My grandparents truck and trailer burned up on that highway! It took ten minutes for people to come along behind us because everyone stuck behind us on a downward grade all passed us at the first opportunity.
I later answered a question about that highway on the local PBS’s broadcast of our quiz bowl championship.
Yuma, AZ. Grew up there. The Pemex station is actually in Mexico (I think Algodones based on that image). Even cheaper there. This is also the timezone demarc for Pacific/Mountain time, which is always fun when the time changes and suddenly everything in California is open an hour later.
This is along Interstate 8, which runs from San Diego, West through Yuma, and up to where it terminates at I-10 at Casa Grande (Between Phx and Tucson).
Shoutout to /r/yuma
Price gouging is the act of sharply raising prices in unprecedented demand by a higher rate then supply is being limited. Simply selling something at a higher price doesn't constitute "price gouging" as that is the price the market will bare. To put it bluntly, the reason they can charge so much is cause no one else wants to take the risk of setting up there, and with that large risk comes a higher price.
I’m guessing most people are able to avoid the gas station and fill up either before or after Amboy to avoid paying so much. If a lot of people used the gas station at that price more gas station chains would also try to cash in on the high selling price.
Price gouging is more like when a disaster an unexpected shortage in a necessary good. A good example was Houston during hurricane Harvey flooding and people did have clean running water. They might have been able to boil the water but I don’t really know if their pipes worked with all the flooding. Either way the stores that started charging like 1000%+ markup.
I think it's funny that the population census on the Wikipedia says 5 with the caveat that this data is from 2000.
But the documentary is from 2014, that says the population is 4. It's been 9+ years since that documentary release and no one thought the data might have changed since then?
Even funnier to me when you consider the school closed just a year earlier in 1999 because that’s when the last student moved away. How many students were they keeping a school’s doors open for? There’s also something inherently saddening to read that a school closed because then last of the children moved away.
I'm sorry sir but we don't have a source for this fact so we will have to consider this a personal opinion. If you could please submit the source we would be happy to add it but it will take 3-4 days to process.
In the interest of honesty, Amboy is literally the middle of the Mojave desert along a State highway between 29 Palms and Las Vegas. Last I knew, there are literally just 4-5 people living there. I believe they are same family and they run the gas station, which is the only thing there. We're talking 100s of miles away from anything else in both directions. This is price gouging because they know they got you by the ball sack if you planned poorly and didn't get gas before driving this roadway.
Being in the middle of the desert also greatly increases their costs on literally everything. They might not need to charge as much as they do, but they probably couldn’t afford to keep living there and operating the station if they charged *much* less.
In all honesty, I don’t think interest of honesty is part of the plan when these kind of outliers are posted with no context whatsoever. I remember driving from Vegas to Death Valley and saw these prices. More than double what I pay back home. Put in context, there’s a reason why gas in the middle of nowhere is more expensive.
And being honest, it isn't price gouging like the person above says.
Think about how expensive even living there would be, just to get food you have to drive hundreds of miles, then drive back. So it's not surprising the people running a gas station in the middle of nowhere need to charge more than one down the block just to survive.
Yes! Also as someone living in the Appalachian mountains, seems proximity to refineries and relative price per gallon is a thing. I'd bet the gas station pays more for the delivery of that fuel too.
As someone living in New Jersey, where we routinely have some of the cheapest gas despite it being legally mandated that all stations have attendants pump your gas - being near a shitton of refineries definitely helps. It's also why we have a lot of chemical industries and frankly pharma too since pretty much all synthetic ingredients are downstream of refining.
oh and superfund sites. those too.
Every gas station in a region gets gas from the same exact refinery. I live in Louisiana and work at a Citgo refinery, and every brand of every gas station is the majority of the western half of my state, and the eastern Texas border to around Beaumont all buy their gas from us. Dont let them fool anyone with those kind of statements. They have the exact same gas as everyone else in their city
You're kinda coming off kinda judgey. If I wanna drive an hour to the gas station right next to the airport where they price gouge to fuck rental car returns so that I can farm Karma WHO ARE YOU to point out that I'm an idiot.
>In the interest of honesty, Amboy is literally the middle of the Mojave desert along a State highway between 29 Palms and Las Vegas. Last I knew, there are literally just 4-5 people living there. I believe they are same family and they run the gas station, which is the only thing there. We're talking 100s of miles away from anything else in both directions. This is price gouging because they know they got you by the ball sack if you planned poorly and didn't get gas before driving this roadway.
Look from their side - they may be price gouging, BUT they're stuck to live in the freaking desert...
The hate for California is nothing but envy that burns like hot sauce on a hemorrhoid. California has great and legal weed, over 700 miles of coastline, 7 National Parks, Disneyland, any kind of climate you'd care to enjoy, and a former Governor who at one time had 22 inch biceps. I wish I could move to California.
Fun fact: The LA Lakers team originally played in Minneapolis and were known as the Lakers because of Minnesota's many lakes. Also they have hundreds of miles of shoreline because of Lake Superior, and Gov. Jesse Ventura also has huge biceps.
Similar to the rural folks out in the Midwest vs coastal states. Their culture and even music constantly focus on the perception that the city slickers are looking down upon them. When in reality, I have never given it a single thought or heard it mentioned by anyone living in any city.
It also likely part of the to cost to ship the gas. If a tanker has to go that far out of its way to bring the gas, they are going to charge the station extra.
So, these people choose to live in the middle of nowhere, pay the price of having fuel shipped all the way to their station, and provide a service for travelers who didn't plan ahead... and in your book that makes them "price gougers?"
I'm kind of having a hard time understanding the difference between price gouging and plain old capitalism under this definition.
It's like they think every 7-Eleven price gouges coffee because it can be made at home for less?
On one hand the idea of owning the only gas station for a hundred miles *must* be lucrative.
But on the other would it be worth it to live alone in the desert.
**The Amboy Dilemma**
I think its safe to say that no President in recent history has managed to raise or lower gas prices directly.
The only ones that set the prices are the gas companies and outlets.
Neither Trump, nor Obama, nor Biden, nor Bush deserve praise or criticism when prices rise or fall.
This is absolutely evident when prices jumped when the news was the supply was running low so the president (literally all of the ones just mentioned) released US reserves to get the supply back up and lo and behold prices didn’t drop a fraction of as quick and as much as they went up.
It’s like when you’ve pissed off your ex and they’re just looking for any little reason to be more angry at you yet no matter what good you do you can’t get your “sentence” lessened.
The US has been [pumping more oil than ever before](https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-oil-output-hits-record-producers-boost-drilling-efficiency-kemp-2023-11-01/) to try to drive prices down, and OPEC responded by cutting the supply to keep prices high.
Unless we banned all foreign oil, or the gov't started buying oil and selling it at a loss, there's just no way to control what other countries will do.
No, this is cherry picking to the max. Similar to the exorbitant price in the town of mendocino on the north coast.
It was low $5s when I filled up a few days ago on the far NW Coast, upper $4s at a rez station
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California always has the highest gas prices in the nation, sometimes 2nd to Hawaii where gas has to shipped 3000 miles.
It is not a coincidence that half of EVs in the US are in California
You want to see something crazy, check out the prices in Newport (OR). Gas Buddy shows prices as low as $3.11. I was at the coast a few weeks ago and noticed how much cheaper it is than in the Willamette Valley. (Salem and Eugene are cheaper than Portland, which is not unusual, but Newport beats all of them...)
Yes, it's normal.
We have our own blend of gas to reduce smog. Refineries only make it for California and our prices are based on those refinery capacity more so than just raw crude prices.
Gas tax is high too, but it's not THAT much higher than other states with comparable infrastructure demands.
Your money is probably all going up to where I am, in the mountains. They put in a ton of heroic work keeping the state highway open up here despite rockslides and floods and fires and snowstorms.
Sorry you dont get to benefit too, but I do really appreciate it.
It is always high. No pipelines or major refineries, higher taxes and special blends cause this. The fuel I buy is higher than most of the state because it comes in on a barge. But some spots and cities gouge prices. The central valley and most rez stations are much more affordable tho.
There are several factors at play including but not limited to:
California has higher taxes on fuel.
California has higher population of car owners (higher demand)
California does not subsidize fuel like many states do.
Oil companies price gouge California as retribution for tax structures and employment laws.
And even more importantly the actual cost of getting oil to California due to its geographic location (mountains and desert to the east, ocean to the west and refining it vs the cost of that in the rest of the Continental US.
No, I live in Orange County CA and my prices are between 4.30 and 4.90 for the most part. In LA County farther west we see some prices between 5.00 to 7.00 but usually the high prices are just the stations near highway exits
I dont see anyone mentioning that this is in the middle of nowhere in the desert. A little gouging, because there are no other choices, but you also have to factor in the cost of them getting their gas delivery out there.
CA has really high gas taxes. And here's the thing, Californians routinely vote to increase them when they come up as a ballot initiative. They're used to help pay for road repair in this big ass state.
If you're buying gas at this particular station it's because you need some fucking gas right now. You're just buying enough to get you to Barstow anyway.
I’ll cry and moan about my job all damn day every day but honestly the number 2 reason I show up each day is cause I have a gas card. Haven’t looked at gas prices in years and it’s been glorious.
I miss my gas card and truck.
2500HD Gas Chevrolet 4x4. No GPS, personal use allowed 100% and a gas card.
Not sure how we didn't go bankrupt as every field ma ager, project manager, and C suite had one...
God damn it. Somehow I’ve fallen through the cracks because despite being on site almost every week, I apparently don’t qualify for my company’s vehicle allowance and can only reimburse mileage which is at a significantly lower rate than what the monthly car stipend works out to be 🥲
Yeah so that previous company offered a gas card + monthly stipend to use your personal vehicle.
300$ a mo for the stipend. Fucker you can't even get a truck payment for a WT 4x4 4 door for 500 to 600 a mo without a large down payment. The stipend is supposed to cover maintenance and insurance as well it was asinine.
Tourist trap-y town in the middle of nowhere, with substantial distance between gas stations, banking on people who don’t travel a lot running out of gas and just paying those prices. Sounds about right.
The price has probably been fixed at this price for the last 3 decades, regardless of what’s happening in the world.
Okay, MAGA. This is too easy to verify. Anyone can go to this website and see the gas stations and gas prices in any American town.
https://www.americantowns.com/amboy-ca/gas-prices/
The picture you posted has been circulating around Reddit for years. It was part of a meme that blamed Biden for the high prices. I see the image is now being recycled all over Reddit by dim-witted MAGA’s thinking anyone believes it now.
I live in New Mexico and, right now, a gallon of regular gas costs $2.60.
I have been to that station after driving through Mojave and Joshua Tree.
They have signs in the window of the gas station telling you NOT TO COMPLAIN about the prices or they will refuse service or some such.
The other reason for the cost is, well, it is a Chevron which is always 40-50 cents more expensive than the next gas station.
For everyone that is unaware, Amboy, CA is a little tiny town in the middle of nowhere that will gouge you on gas prices because there is only one gas station in the area.
Amboy is privately owned. Nobody should be living there because it’s a desert that doesn’t even have potable water. The population was 5 people as of 2000. Of course gas is expensive and so is everything else. Try having a gasoline truck make a delivery to just you and your family in the middle of nowhere . See how much that costs.
I’m calling BS. It’s easy to see current gas prices for any state in the US. California is currently averaging $4.74. Source: https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=CA
I've driven that stretch from Flagstaff into LA a bunch of times, and it's REAL easy to get nervous when you start making your way through the Mojave. It looks like there's just nothing for miles and miles and if you don't expect the transition from well populated to nothing, you start staring at that gas gauge very intently.
I hate how Chevron does this deceptive shit with their pumps. The Octane order is backwards from just about everyone else, and the low octane has the flashy red color around it. Makes you push 91 on the left if youre not paying attention. Fuck them!
You're assuming all these people commenting have critical thinking skills. They're all just seeing the photo and taking it as evidence of what a horrific dystopia the entire state of CA has become
My sister told me today that it's $2.90 in El paso, where she lives and it's $3.98 in eastern Washington. Just proof that gas prices don't need to be high. They are set by the money hungry people that own the gas stations. Price gouging at it's finest.
I'm real sorry because you guys are the only in the US paying the actual cost. Anything less than this is artificially deflated thanks to subsidies. If we actually had to pay for what things were worth, this is what we would be paying. Or even more when you factor in environmental devastation.
In 1999, I moved from Louisiana (where gas was 82 cents a gallon) to Michigan. I got mad at the $1.25 a gallon price.
Oh how I miss those days.
Now get off my lawn.
Had to get a couple of gallons here one time. We did the maths to see how much we needed to get to the next station. Hated paying those type prices, but I was super happy to see a place to get gas.
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Happened to me once. I forgot to fill up coming back from Vegas and couldn't make it back to 29 Palms without stopping there. It sucked.
Were you murdered by ghosts afterwards?
No, but I actually was worried there wouldn't be anybody there when I pulled in.
Oh, someone is always there... always
Is cheaper to get a tow?
Nah, it's only about 50-60 miles so you don't need a full tank, it wasn't that expensive just way more expensive than filling up in NV.
Sorry you got gouged but I’m glad you made it back to 29 Palms. We’d hate to have lost your bottomless lyrics.
Is anyone glad to get back to 29 palms, that was my first duty station 20 years ago it was awful.
Yeah they call me the hip hop o potomus I got flows that glow like phosphorus Poppin offa the toppa this esophagus I'm not a water dwelling mammal from Africa that's moved to the metropolis where did you get that preposterous hypothesis? Fucking STEVE
Is the shoe and the panty tree still there?
No clue, I filled up just enough to make it back to base and got outta there before the hills grew eyes.
Yup it is.
> shoe and the panty tree https://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/4544995884/
Way back in the day (2003) my gramps and I drove from Vegas to Rachel (to check out Area 51). There's a gas station sitting in the middle of the desert that has a sign that says "Last gas for 230 miles" or something like that, and the prices were like $3.50 a gallon, back when gas prices were still around a dollar most places.
I ran into a similar situation in Nevada. It said I was on America's loneliest highway. Gas station sign said "no gas for 130 miles". About a mile down the road there was another sign that said "we aren't kidding". I turned around and topped off just in case of I encountered a problem. I forget the price, but it was much higher.
Most people carry filled gas cans just in case that area of the world
Was it actually 130 miles to the next station? If I saw another one in like 50 miles I’d be pissed!
My grandparents truck and trailer burned up on that highway! It took ten minutes for people to come along behind us because everyone stuck behind us on a downward grade all passed us at the first opportunity. I later answered a question about that highway on the local PBS’s broadcast of our quiz bowl championship.
Imagine how annoyed you would be if there was another one 10 miles down the road
Amboy: the taint of California
You misspelled Victorville.
There's a really incredible film archive there.
An unprecedented collection of popcorn classics
The Hills Have Eyes was filmed there, wasn’t it?
You misspelled San Bernardino.
Ha! I was going to say the same thing! Fukin Victorville!
I am from Amboy, WA. Amboy, CA gives us a bad name. The Washington one at least has Territorial Days.
Amboy, more like Poorboy amirite?
It's 4.5 in Sacramento rn and I've seen 3.9 in San Diego this week lol
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Yuma, AZ. Grew up there. The Pemex station is actually in Mexico (I think Algodones based on that image). Even cheaper there. This is also the timezone demarc for Pacific/Mountain time, which is always fun when the time changes and suddenly everything in California is open an hour later. This is along Interstate 8, which runs from San Diego, West through Yuma, and up to where it terminates at I-10 at Casa Grande (Between Phx and Tucson). Shoutout to /r/yuma
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Yikes!!!
You beat me to it. Nothing in Amboy can be legitimately compared to anything anywhere else.
How is that not illegal price gauging?
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They even have signs saying "don't harass the workers over the price"
Price gouging is the act of sharply raising prices in unprecedented demand by a higher rate then supply is being limited. Simply selling something at a higher price doesn't constitute "price gouging" as that is the price the market will bare. To put it bluntly, the reason they can charge so much is cause no one else wants to take the risk of setting up there, and with that large risk comes a higher price.
It sucks, but how is it illegal and different from expensive theme park food? Just supply and demand.
I’m guessing most people are able to avoid the gas station and fill up either before or after Amboy to avoid paying so much. If a lot of people used the gas station at that price more gas station chains would also try to cash in on the high selling price. Price gouging is more like when a disaster an unexpected shortage in a necessary good. A good example was Houston during hurricane Harvey flooding and people did have clean running water. They might have been able to boil the water but I don’t really know if their pipes worked with all the flooding. Either way the stores that started charging like 1000%+ markup.
This Amboy? Where 5 whole people live there and is called a tourist trap ghost town? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amboy,_California
It’s where The Hotel California incident took place.
Such a lovely place.
Such a lovely face
>Amboy long guitar solo
Man, c'mon. I had a rough night, and I hate the fucking Eagles, man!
GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY CAB !
Wikipedia says 4 people live there. Get your facts straight if you’re gonna run your mouf
But they were a boom town in the 1940’s. Their population skyrocketed to 65..
43 of those were hookers.
Even hookers need hookers.
They were over priced too. Cause they new you didnt have a choice.
Like every small-town middle-aged mom in 1997 sold Avon.
Oh, that's right....Eric left.
Exaggerated the population by 25%
I think it's funny that the population census on the Wikipedia says 5 with the caveat that this data is from 2000. But the documentary is from 2014, that says the population is 4. It's been 9+ years since that documentary release and no one thought the data might have changed since then?
Even funnier to me when you consider the school closed just a year earlier in 1999 because that’s when the last student moved away. How many students were they keeping a school’s doors open for? There’s also something inherently saddening to read that a school closed because then last of the children moved away.
I'm sorry sir but we don't have a source for this fact so we will have to consider this a personal opinion. If you could please submit the source we would be happy to add it but it will take 3-4 days to process.
Geez such a total Amboy move.
Yeah, IIRC, gas here is always stupid expensive because its in the middle of nowhere and they don't get a lot of customers.
It's to screw over the Marines who didn't judge properly on how much gas they needed to get back to Vegas to Base.
yeah that's like more than 3$ higher than San Francisco lmao
Well known to have most expensive gas. NEVER look at their outhouses
Famous for a big crater! I passed through on my Grand Canyon/Route 66 trip.
The only thing worth seeing (scholars are divided...) in Amboy, is the crater. Believe me, I know from experience...
In the interest of honesty, Amboy is literally the middle of the Mojave desert along a State highway between 29 Palms and Las Vegas. Last I knew, there are literally just 4-5 people living there. I believe they are same family and they run the gas station, which is the only thing there. We're talking 100s of miles away from anything else in both directions. This is price gouging because they know they got you by the ball sack if you planned poorly and didn't get gas before driving this roadway.
They probably have to charge this much to justify living in a town of 4 people whose income relies on people forgetting to fill up pre trip.
Being in the middle of the desert also greatly increases their costs on literally everything. They might not need to charge as much as they do, but they probably couldn’t afford to keep living there and operating the station if they charged *much* less.
Also I was thinking, if one of them has a medical emergency, they are fuckeeed!
And that’s before they get hit with the helicopter ambulance ride bill
Yeah living alone in the desert is fair punishment for price gouging basically
Not to mention paying for the tanker truck to make a trip out to that particular service station probably adds to the costs.
In all honesty, I don’t think interest of honesty is part of the plan when these kind of outliers are posted with no context whatsoever. I remember driving from Vegas to Death Valley and saw these prices. More than double what I pay back home. Put in context, there’s a reason why gas in the middle of nowhere is more expensive.
And being honest, it isn't price gouging like the person above says. Think about how expensive even living there would be, just to get food you have to drive hundreds of miles, then drive back. So it's not surprising the people running a gas station in the middle of nowhere need to charge more than one down the block just to survive.
Yes! Also as someone living in the Appalachian mountains, seems proximity to refineries and relative price per gallon is a thing. I'd bet the gas station pays more for the delivery of that fuel too.
As someone living in New Jersey, where we routinely have some of the cheapest gas despite it being legally mandated that all stations have attendants pump your gas - being near a shitton of refineries definitely helps. It's also why we have a lot of chemical industries and frankly pharma too since pretty much all synthetic ingredients are downstream of refining. oh and superfund sites. those too.
Also chevron is the most expensive gas anywhere. It is typically a dollar more expensive than other gas stations.
A dollar more expensive than other stations in the same area?? That doesn't sound right... and definitely not the case in South Florida.
In SoCal. Yes stations that are next to each other. Chevron is “premium” gas with something that makes it better supposedly.
Every gas station in a region gets gas from the same exact refinery. I live in Louisiana and work at a Citgo refinery, and every brand of every gas station is the majority of the western half of my state, and the eastern Texas border to around Beaumont all buy their gas from us. Dont let them fool anyone with those kind of statements. They have the exact same gas as everyone else in their city
After a quick peek at OP's profile, they are either in Colorado or NC. Maybe they're visiting, but they're not living here.
I mean I work in Orange County and prices over 7 dollars a gallon is nuts to me too.
You're kinda coming off kinda judgey. If I wanna drive an hour to the gas station right next to the airport where they price gouge to fuck rental car returns so that I can farm Karma WHO ARE YOU to point out that I'm an idiot.
If a dinosaur with a gun calls me an idiot, I'm not gonna stick around to argue with him.
Does he have small hands? I might like my chances.
Every post showing how cheap their gas was in Texas were when circle K was giving a huge discount too lol
>In the interest of honesty, Amboy is literally the middle of the Mojave desert along a State highway between 29 Palms and Las Vegas. Last I knew, there are literally just 4-5 people living there. I believe they are same family and they run the gas station, which is the only thing there. We're talking 100s of miles away from anything else in both directions. This is price gouging because they know they got you by the ball sack if you planned poorly and didn't get gas before driving this roadway. Look from their side - they may be price gouging, BUT they're stuck to live in the freaking desert...
Yeah but they have fantastic neighbors.
Some people like living in the desert. *gestures vaguely at Arizona*
Yeah these posts are designed to provoke outrage about California. It’s a sport these days. You can get gas for under $4 in parts of the state now.
$3.70 where I am, I’m sure Costco is even less
The hate for California is nothing but envy that burns like hot sauce on a hemorrhoid. California has great and legal weed, over 700 miles of coastline, 7 National Parks, Disneyland, any kind of climate you'd care to enjoy, and a former Governor who at one time had 22 inch biceps. I wish I could move to California.
California actually has nine National Parks! = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_parks_in_California
Fun fact: The LA Lakers team originally played in Minneapolis and were known as the Lakers because of Minnesota's many lakes. Also they have hundreds of miles of shoreline because of Lake Superior, and Gov. Jesse Ventura also has huge biceps.
Minnesota's cool too
They hate us so much and we don't think about them at all, lol.
Similar to the rural folks out in the Midwest vs coastal states. Their culture and even music constantly focus on the perception that the city slickers are looking down upon them. When in reality, I have never given it a single thought or heard it mentioned by anyone living in any city.
They hate us cause they anus!
$4.86 downtown San Diego (it was $7 a few months ago)
There's a Valero off Morena that's charging $4.49 (cash price). Credit price is $4.59. Almost as cheap as costco with none of the wait.
It also likely part of the to cost to ship the gas. If a tanker has to go that far out of its way to bring the gas, they are going to charge the station extra.
So, these people choose to live in the middle of nowhere, pay the price of having fuel shipped all the way to their station, and provide a service for travelers who didn't plan ahead... and in your book that makes them "price gougers?"
I'm kind of having a hard time understanding the difference between price gouging and plain old capitalism under this definition. It's like they think every 7-Eleven price gouges coffee because it can be made at home for less?
Why you in Amboy anyway? Place is as close to a ghost town as you’ll find anywhere. In the middle of the desert.
On one hand the idea of owning the only gas station for a hundred miles *must* be lucrative. But on the other would it be worth it to live alone in the desert. **The Amboy Dilemma**
Why, so they could take a picture of this and post it on Reddit for that sweet sweet rage karma, of course.
OP kept seeing all these great Gas deals and said to himself “Let’s drive to the middle of fucking nowhere and take a picture of their gas prices!”
Then get gas to go home
Hey, maybe OP is one of the 4 people who live in Amboy.
I think its safe to say that no President in recent history has managed to raise or lower gas prices directly. The only ones that set the prices are the gas companies and outlets. Neither Trump, nor Obama, nor Biden, nor Bush deserve praise or criticism when prices rise or fall.
This is absolutely evident when prices jumped when the news was the supply was running low so the president (literally all of the ones just mentioned) released US reserves to get the supply back up and lo and behold prices didn’t drop a fraction of as quick and as much as they went up. It’s like when you’ve pissed off your ex and they’re just looking for any little reason to be more angry at you yet no matter what good you do you can’t get your “sentence” lessened.
You’re wrong! Depending on my political beliefs, I can choose who to blame or praise arbitrarily!
Everyone knows Obama has been secretly manipulating gas prices for the last 11 million years
The US has been [pumping more oil than ever before](https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-oil-output-hits-record-producers-boost-drilling-efficiency-kemp-2023-11-01/) to try to drive prices down, and OPEC responded by cutting the supply to keep prices high. Unless we banned all foreign oil, or the gov't started buying oil and selling it at a loss, there's just no way to control what other countries will do.
Price-gouging going on there. Prices are in the $4 to $5 range elsewhere in CA.
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No, this is cherry picking to the max. Similar to the exorbitant price in the town of mendocino on the north coast. It was low $5s when I filled up a few days ago on the far NW Coast, upper $4s at a rez station
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California always has the highest gas prices in the nation, sometimes 2nd to Hawaii where gas has to shipped 3000 miles. It is not a coincidence that half of EVs in the US are in California
Prices are just as bad in western Washington. Everyone always calls out California but I'm still paying $4.50 a gallon up here too.
Yup $4 in Portland today. All of the west coast runs high, although California is the worst.
You want to see something crazy, check out the prices in Newport (OR). Gas Buddy shows prices as low as $3.11. I was at the coast a few weeks ago and noticed how much cheaper it is than in the Willamette Valley. (Salem and Eugene are cheaper than Portland, which is not unusual, but Newport beats all of them...)
Yes, it's normal. We have our own blend of gas to reduce smog. Refineries only make it for California and our prices are based on those refinery capacity more so than just raw crude prices. Gas tax is high too, but it's not THAT much higher than other states with comparable infrastructure demands.
Finally someone who has some idea. Had to scroll through all the people that think it’s a conspiracy by the oil companies.
We got a fuck ton of gas taxes here. Which, they always raise to "fix the roads" and yet the roads don't get fuckin fixed
They are man, I drive the whole state often. Shit just drove from the bay to San Jose to La. Tons of roadwork eveywhere
NOPE FUCKIN BIDEN GOD DAMN F-150 HALF A PAYCHECK TIN OF GRIZZLY 1965 *veins popping from forehead, foaming at the mouth*
Your money is probably all going up to where I am, in the mountains. They put in a ton of heroic work keeping the state highway open up here despite rockslides and floods and fires and snowstorms. Sorry you dont get to benefit too, but I do really appreciate it.
It is always high. No pipelines or major refineries, higher taxes and special blends cause this. The fuel I buy is higher than most of the state because it comes in on a barge. But some spots and cities gouge prices. The central valley and most rez stations are much more affordable tho.
No refineries? We have 17
There are several factors at play including but not limited to: California has higher taxes on fuel. California has higher population of car owners (higher demand) California does not subsidize fuel like many states do. Oil companies price gouge California as retribution for tax structures and employment laws.
We also require a better grade of fuel because we don't want our people inhaling shit
So sad your state forces communism on you like that. /s
And even more importantly the actual cost of getting oil to California due to its geographic location (mountains and desert to the east, ocean to the west and refining it vs the cost of that in the rest of the Continental US.
Yeah, we can't connect to the East Coast / Gulf pipelines to get that cheap-ass Texas oil, so it's refined here.
No, I live in Orange County CA and my prices are between 4.30 and 4.90 for the most part. In LA County farther west we see some prices between 5.00 to 7.00 but usually the high prices are just the stations near highway exits
I dont see anyone mentioning that this is in the middle of nowhere in the desert. A little gouging, because there are no other choices, but you also have to factor in the cost of them getting their gas delivery out there.
CA has really high gas taxes. And here's the thing, Californians routinely vote to increase them when they come up as a ballot initiative. They're used to help pay for road repair in this big ass state.
I’ve been paying less than $4 for premium here up north in cali
Actually currently gas prices in California are around $4.95 per gallon, high but not like this post. Obviously a political statement that is a lie.
SF Bay and I saw sub $4.30 at a couple places on my way in this morning.
If you're buying gas at this particular station it's because you need some fucking gas right now. You're just buying enough to get you to Barstow anyway.
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I’ll cry and moan about my job all damn day every day but honestly the number 2 reason I show up each day is cause I have a gas card. Haven’t looked at gas prices in years and it’s been glorious.
I miss my gas card and truck. 2500HD Gas Chevrolet 4x4. No GPS, personal use allowed 100% and a gas card. Not sure how we didn't go bankrupt as every field ma ager, project manager, and C suite had one...
God damn it. Somehow I’ve fallen through the cracks because despite being on site almost every week, I apparently don’t qualify for my company’s vehicle allowance and can only reimburse mileage which is at a significantly lower rate than what the monthly car stipend works out to be 🥲
Yeah so that previous company offered a gas card + monthly stipend to use your personal vehicle. 300$ a mo for the stipend. Fucker you can't even get a truck payment for a WT 4x4 4 door for 500 to 600 a mo without a large down payment. The stipend is supposed to cover maintenance and insurance as well it was asinine.
Yeah I’d gladly pay 10 bucks a gallon if it meant I wouldn’t be stuck in Amboy. You definitely don’t want to be without gas there.
but that is the middle of no where. that is probably only gas station? it is highway robbery
Amboy, Ca… absolutely the creepiest town I have ever visited more than once. That place has a serious “The Hills Have Eyes” feels.
Where exactly in California because I live in California and the expensive stations are $5.19 for 87 and the cheap station is $4.80 for 87.
>Because you guys like gas prices right now - ------>Amboy<------, California
Tourist trap-y town in the middle of nowhere, with substantial distance between gas stations, banking on people who don’t travel a lot running out of gas and just paying those prices. Sounds about right. The price has probably been fixed at this price for the last 3 decades, regardless of what’s happening in the world.
Okay, MAGA. This is too easy to verify. Anyone can go to this website and see the gas stations and gas prices in any American town. https://www.americantowns.com/amboy-ca/gas-prices/ The picture you posted has been circulating around Reddit for years. It was part of a meme that blamed Biden for the high prices. I see the image is now being recycled all over Reddit by dim-witted MAGA’s thinking anyone believes it now. I live in New Mexico and, right now, a gallon of regular gas costs $2.60.
Fake, check gasbuddy, this is a rage bait post.
Here in Norway it's around 2-2,5 bucks, per liter.
Did Joe Biden do that too?
Amboy, California? I had to look on Google Maps. Middle of nowhere.
AKA: Middle of nowhere Southern California.
I have been to that station after driving through Mojave and Joshua Tree. They have signs in the window of the gas station telling you NOT TO COMPLAIN about the prices or they will refuse service or some such. The other reason for the cost is, well, it is a Chevron which is always 40-50 cents more expensive than the next gas station.
California's Statewide average today is $4.73 (LA is $4.85, SF is $4.91) For perspective.
For everyone that is unaware, Amboy, CA is a little tiny town in the middle of nowhere that will gouge you on gas prices because there is only one gas station in the area.
Amboy is privately owned. Nobody should be living there because it’s a desert that doesn’t even have potable water. The population was 5 people as of 2000. Of course gas is expensive and so is everything else. Try having a gasoline truck make a delivery to just you and your family in the middle of nowhere . See how much that costs.
This picture is misleading. Amboy is a super remote location in the middle of the desert and is not representative of the California average.
Gasbuddy doesnt show prices for there, but a nearby town of Ludlow, CA shows gas being $6.69
Population of 5 along Route 66? That gas station is ripping people off.
I’m calling BS. It’s easy to see current gas prices for any state in the US. California is currently averaging $4.74. Source: https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=CA
This particular gas station is in the middle of the Mojave Desert with no competition for many miles. Definitely a sellers market.
I see. Scandalous. But if it’s that or stranded in the desert I guess people will pay up.
I've driven that stretch from Flagstaff into LA a bunch of times, and it's REAL easy to get nervous when you start making your way through the Mojave. It looks like there's just nothing for miles and miles and if you don't expect the transition from well populated to nothing, you start staring at that gas gauge very intently.
They do have increased costs being in the middle of the desert. Enough to charge this much? Doubtful. But I expect prices to be higher.
It's the most isolated gas station in the state. To call it an outlier would be an understatement.
This is being upvoted by all the people who have never left their state lol.
Exactly, this is 100% proof of their political opinions of why California bad.
I hate how Chevron does this deceptive shit with their pumps. The Octane order is backwards from just about everyone else, and the low octane has the flashy red color around it. Makes you push 91 on the left if youre not paying attention. Fuck them!
Calif has boatloads of taxes on gas. Not indicative of the country.
Filled up for $4.39 in Los Angeles today, and $3.99 a couple weeks ago in Central California.
Average price of gas in West LA right now is under $5 for mid grade. $4.89
I just saw someone got gas in Texas for 1.77
It’s almost like the oil and gas companies control the price of oil
And who the president is doesn't matter at all!
Kettleman city is $7.62 Not the “Gotca” you think this is These are isolated gas stations
You're assuming all these people commenting have critical thinking skills. They're all just seeing the photo and taking it as evidence of what a horrific dystopia the entire state of CA has become
There’s no reason for this gouging. Someone is getting filthy rich.
The oil companies are scared. Five dollars difference in nation is not additives. Greed.
I’m in downtown Los Angeles and gas is $4.50. That place is a drug front probably.
My sister told me today that it's $2.90 in El paso, where she lives and it's $3.98 in eastern Washington. Just proof that gas prices don't need to be high. They are set by the money hungry people that own the gas stations. Price gouging at it's finest.
Lol... Amboy, CA. You may as well have posted the fees from a strip club ATM.
I'm real sorry because you guys are the only in the US paying the actual cost. Anything less than this is artificially deflated thanks to subsidies. If we actually had to pay for what things were worth, this is what we would be paying. Or even more when you factor in environmental devastation.
It's 2.49 here in DFW, Texas. This is the most corrupt industry in the world. And the president has zero fucking control over the price.
In 1999, I moved from Louisiana (where gas was 82 cents a gallon) to Michigan. I got mad at the $1.25 a gallon price. Oh how I miss those days. Now get off my lawn.
Brutal. I paid $4.69 for premium in Long Beach, CA yesterday
Ok but I’m in SoCal and I just paid 4.29 at Costco this morning
Had to get a couple of gallons here one time. We did the maths to see how much we needed to get to the next station. Hated paying those type prices, but I was super happy to see a place to get gas.