The price at the gas Essay Example for Free

The price at the gas Essay The price at the gas pump seems outrageous as the national average price per gallon hits $3. 09, but the real tragedy of the rising prices is in the unseen affects across the spectrum of daily life. While several surveys have said people are not changing much due to the rising cost of gas, they are doing some things and the rising cost of gas has affects that people do not even realize. In some cases, the effect of the effect is the real news. At the grocery store, people are not even equating the rising cost of groceries with the cost of fuel, but it is a major factor. Consciously or not, people are traveling less and putting off other expenditures because they are spending so much more on gas. The rising cost of gas is affecting the amount people spend on groceries, the amount they travel and the amount they spend on other things. It’s easy not to think about the rising cost of gas as it relates to the rising cost of groceries, but in some markets the increase has been dramatic and the cost of gasoline and other fuels are a factor in the price increases. Last week, the U. S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the cost of making a Thanksgiving dinner was up 11 percent over the same dinner last year. With some items the price increase is only a few cents, but over the course of a holiday meal or a month’s worth of groceries, the difference is very noticeable. Strangely, efforts to reduce the cost of gasoline may also be contributing to the rise in prices at the grocery store. Many of our food products are animal based, eggs, milk, cheese and meat at the very least. All of these products rely on the animal being fed, usually a mixture of corn and other things, but because of the demand for corn to make ethanol, the price of feed corn has skyrocketed. An effort to reduce the cost of fuel in one area passes it on in another means. Based on personal observation, costs of dairy products are up an average of 25 percent over last year. While consumers realize it or not, the cost of gasoline is affecting them at the grocery store. Another effect of the high price of gasoline is the choice to make fewer trips. This means that people are not simply running to the store for every little thing they need or are going to only one store instead of shopping around. It means a late night snack attack will usually have to be met by whatever is in the house and it means that people are planning their spending more wisely. By taking fewer random trips to the grocery store and other stores, impulse shopping is reduce and the entire economy is affected by the price of gasoline. Furthermore, people take fewer random pleasure trips when the price of gasoline is high. Deciding to drive an hour or so to go to a concert or another event takes on a new dimension when the cost of actually getting there has to be considered a major expense. When people do decide to travel, they are travelling to areas closer to home. This has an interesting economic effect. Smaller, more out of the way travel destinations may see an increase in business as people try to find vacations close to home, but traditional resort destinations may see significant reductions in the number of visitors because of the cost of travel. Additionally, some people may elect not to have a vacation at all. With the rising cost of gas and its effects on the costs of other items, many people are choosing to forgo vacations and luxury purchases because their disposable income level is dropping. People are choosing more fuel efficient vehicles over luxury cars and many are choosing to eat at home instead of having dinner out. Even the important things, like oil changes and other car repairs are sometimes being put off indefinitely because people are spending more on gas. It may not seem like a few cents more at the pump would make a huge difference, but when added to the other things that are affected by the price increase, it means people simply have less money. The first visible effect of having less money was the move to more fuel efficient vehicles. It meant that the ultra big sports utility vehicles which had been in their heyday were suddenly being traded in mass for smaller, cheaper and more fuel efficient vehicles. Suddenly, Americans were more concerned about where every penny was going, some without even realizing why. Ultimately, it doesn’t seem like a big deal – a few extra pennies per gallon at the gas station, but then it began to build. The rising cost of gasoline and the devotion of corn to ethanol production drove up the price of food. Then, people stopped driving as much, making fewer trips to the store and other places because they wanted to save money and that meant fewer impulse purchases. Finally, the impact of rising gasoline prices made a significant dent in the average pocketbook and Americans had to find other ways to save, by cutting back on luxuries, forgoing unnecessary expenses, or putting off necessary expenses in hope that a time would come when things might be more affordable. Suddenly, in the big picture, that few extra cents hurts a lot.