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Jerry
Jerry PowerDork
5/13/21 12:35 p.m.
aircooled said:

The extra absurdity of this, and points to the fact that it's all panic.

Florida was experiencing 31% without gas (as shown above).

Florida gets NONE of it's gas from the pipeline! 

ProDarwin
ProDarwin MegaDork
5/13/21 12:36 p.m.

If everyone around you is doing jumping jacks and you aren't able to get the oxygen you need, its still a berkeleying shortage.  Doesn't matter what caused it.

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
5/13/21 12:37 p.m.

On my way back this afternoon I panic-filled the MPV, which was dipping dangerously near 1/2 a tank.  The station had gas, and at "only" $2.99 per gallon.  I didn't have any plastic bags (or laundry baskets) in the car, so I was limited to the 7 or so gallons that fit in the tank.

SVreX (Forum Supporter)
SVreX (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
5/13/21 12:43 p.m.
Duke said:
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Duke said:
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Of course there is a gas shortage. Don't be ridiculous. Just because the cause was panic buying doesn't change the fact that there is a shortage of fuel. 

No, there isn't a shortage.  There is plenty of fuel supply.  It's just currently in the wrong places.

There is a problem and that problem has multiple causes and faults, I agree.

But the problem is made exponentially worse by panic buyers and hoarding.  Remember all that "flatten the curve" stuff from last year?  Panic buying gasoline right now is the exact opposite of flattening the curve.  It's as if everybody started holding love-ins the month after COVID broke out.

 

I love you Duke, and I always will, but this is really silly. 
 

If I lock you in a room and pump out all the oxygen, will it be ok if I say you have no oxygen shortage?  There's plenty of oxygen- it's just in the wrong room. 
 

The Southeast has been experiencing fuel shortages at the pumps caused by panic buying. Period. 

But let me alter your analogy a little to make it a little more realistic:

You lock me in the room but only pump out a little less than half the oxygen, and it will only be for a short time.

If I minimize unneccessary activity I will be perfectly fine, if a bit uncomfortable.  There will still be enough oxygen to get by until the air gets refreshed.  And it will get refreshed, because there is another room full of good air right on the other side of that wall.  There is no shortage oxygen; we're not on the moon.  It's just in the wrong place for little while.

But if I start doing jumping jacks, I'll be unconscious in short order.

This situation was always going to be uncomfortable.  It didn't have to be a crisis, except thousands of idiots started doing jumping jacks.

 

Right, except you can't fix stupid. 
 

I have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to change my buying patterns. 
 

But I can't buy gas. 
 

How is that not a shortage?  
 

There IS a shortage in the Southeast US caused by panic buying.
 

Please stop quoting BS from Hannity. 

06HHR (Forum Supporter)
06HHR (Forum Supporter) Dork
5/13/21 12:51 p.m.
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Duke said:
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Duke said:
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Of course there is a gas shortage. Don't be ridiculous. Just because the cause was panic buying doesn't change the fact that there is a shortage of fuel. 

No, there isn't a shortage.  There is plenty of fuel supply.  It's just currently in the wrong places.

There is a problem and that problem has multiple causes and faults, I agree.

But the problem is made exponentially worse by panic buyers and hoarding.  Remember all that "flatten the curve" stuff from last year?  Panic buying gasoline right now is the exact opposite of flattening the curve.  It's as if everybody started holding love-ins the month after COVID broke out.

 

I love you Duke, and I always will, but this is really silly. 
 

If I lock you in a room and pump out all the oxygen, will it be ok if I say you have no oxygen shortage?  There's plenty of oxygen- it's just in the wrong room. 
 

The Southeast has been experiencing fuel shortages at the pumps caused by panic buying. Period. 

But let me alter your analogy a little to make it a little more realistic:

You lock me in the room but only pump out a little less than half the oxygen, and it will only be for a short time.

If I minimize unneccessary activity I will be perfectly fine, if a bit uncomfortable.  There will still be enough oxygen to get by until the air gets refreshed.  And it will get refreshed, because there is another room full of good air right on the other side of that wall.  There is no shortage oxygen; we're not on the moon.  It's just in the wrong place for little while.

But if I start doing jumping jacks, I'll be unconscious in short order.

This situation was always going to be uncomfortable.  It didn't have to be a crisis, except thousands of idiots started doing jumping jacks.

 

Right, except you can't fix stupid. 
 

I have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to change my buying patterns. 
 

But I can't buy gas. 
 

How is that not a shortage?  
 

There IS a shortage in the Southeast US caused by panic buying.
 

Please stop quoting BS from Hannity. 

As much as I'd love to see this conversation play out, i don't want the thread to get locked.  Guys, you are both right.  There's plenty of gas available, just not in the Southeast because of panic buying.  So, in essence, both of your positions are actually correct.  Does it make a tinkers damn worth of difference?  E36 M3 no..devil  

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
5/13/21 12:55 p.m.

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

What 06HHR said. I don't want to see this thread get locked, either. 

06HHR (Forum Supporter)
06HHR (Forum Supporter) Dork
5/13/21 12:57 p.m.
RevRico said:
aircooled said:

Never under estimate the stupidity of the common American

Can't even divide this up by gender anymore, over the past 20 years it's been made painfully clear to me that modern Americans, as a group, are some of the stupidest people to have ever existed in human history.

Sure, individually, there's some smart ones, but a broken clock tells the right time twice a day.

Dude, i'm stealing that.  It's at once the most truthful and poetic description of our current condition that i've heard today.  Bravo!

mazdeuce - Seth
mazdeuce - Seth Mod Squad
5/13/21 12:58 p.m.

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Agent K. 

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
5/13/21 12:58 p.m.

https://i2.wp.com/ted.gideonse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tumblr_ngk6j0Tgpz1tfrqxeo1_500-1.jpg?fit=500%2C292

Duke
Duke MegaDork
5/13/21 1:00 p.m.
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Please stop quoting BS from Hannity. 

Hannity who?  I'm quoting no one.

[edit]  By inference, I will cease my half of this conversation.

 

bobzilla
bobzilla MegaDork
5/13/21 1:00 p.m.
mazdeuce - Seth said:

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Agent K. 

One of my most favorite quotes of all time.

Toyman01 + Sized and
Toyman01 + Sized and MegaDork
5/13/21 1:26 p.m.

I have told all my guys to look for gas if their truck drops below 1/2 tank. Is that panic buying? I also filled my personal fleet Monday. That's 10 vehicles, call it 200+ gallons of fuel. Is that panic buying? 

It would cost me about $3400 a day to park the company fleet, so what you may call panic, I call prudence. 

I have been out and on the roads every day, but have yet to see one person filling gas cans or any other vessel other than their vehicle tank. How about the rest of you?

Even our local news station posted the picture of the bags of gas. The posters of these pictures are not in the news business, they are in the business of clicks and ratings. You might keep that in mind before you spread the same crap. 

mazdeuce - Seth
mazdeuce - Seth Mod Squad
5/13/21 1:32 p.m.

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

Yes. It's the same thing that happens when a hurricane is coming to anywhere that hurricanes show up. People worry that they won't be able to get X. Whether X is bread or water or gas, so they stock up and the store shelves and gas stations all run out. The longer you hang around in hurricane country the earlier you recognize to do this so you're the guy in the front of the line instead of the back. It doesn't really matter if I buy an extra loaf of bread, it's going to run out either way and I may as well be the one that can make sandwiches. 

Buying extra prior to a percieved shortage in an effort to get in front of the shortage is the very definition of panic buying. Not saying that it's not smart, your business needs to eat it's sandwiches, but it is what it is. 

06HHR (Forum Supporter)
06HHR (Forum Supporter) Dork
5/13/21 1:41 p.m.

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

No, you're running a business and parked vehicles don't make money.  Nothing wrong with filling up the tank on your personal vehicles either. I don't think anyone here is pointing fingers at anyone else.  But, demand has spiked at multiples of normal levels because a supply pipeline went offline almost a week ago.  I bet most of the public didn't even notice anything happened until the news outlets got ahold of the story, sales over the weekend in my area appeared to be normal, no lines at gas stations and no stations out of gas until the run started Monday.  A friend of mine drives trucks for one of the fuel delivery companies, he couldn't even get into stations to make his deliveries Monday because the lines were so long.  Things were ok, until they weren't. And no matter how much gas is available, the infrastructure isn't there to support everybody trying to fill up at the same time.  So, it is what it is i guess.   Too bad we can't see new posts before we do, but pretty much what Mazdeuce said.  I'm riding it out at home because I can, until next week anyway.

infinitenexus
infinitenexus Dork
5/13/21 1:51 p.m.

RE: Florida

Remember that a gas supplier in Pensacola got shut down due to EPA violations.  That further complicates the situation.

06HHR (Forum Supporter)
06HHR (Forum Supporter) Dork
5/13/21 1:58 p.m.

In reply to infinitenexus :

That and a lot of tanker truck drivers were lost because of the pandemic.  Demand was low so the ones that got laid off went to drive for other companies, and many haven't returned.  You have to have a special certification to drive a tanker, so there's a shortage of drivers to make deliveries.

bobzilla
bobzilla MegaDork
5/13/21 2:01 p.m.

I try to keep my vehicles over half all the time. Is that panic buying too? I'm ttrying to keep the fuel pumps happy and have gas on hand for power outages and such we know will happen in the midwest. I guess I am and I too should die in a fiery crash as some have wished upon others.

SVreX (Forum Supporter)
SVreX (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
5/13/21 2:10 p.m.

Panic buying is when you change your buying patterns because of concerns about an event that may impact you that is out of your control. 
 

If you have not made any changes in your buying pattern, then you are not panic buying  

That doesn't make panic buying bad. Sometimes it's prudent. Or smart. Or necessary (like in Toyman's example).  But it's still panic buying- not good or bad. 

mazdeuce - Seth
mazdeuce - Seth Mod Squad
5/13/21 2:20 p.m.

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

Yea, that was my point. I'm not passing judgement on people changing their purchasing decisions based on new information. 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
5/13/21 2:29 p.m.

I just refreshed GasBuddy for our area and noticed at least one station turn from green to yellow. (Although, at the same time, one local station has since gone from yellow to green.)

captdownshift (Forum Supporter)
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) UltimaDork
5/13/21 4:59 p.m.

No issues getting E85 in Maryland today. 

jb229
jb229 New Reader
5/13/21 5:07 p.m.

I filled up on Monday night after I heard about the hack, I was on a quarter tank and managed to get in while it was still $2.53.

 

https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/1392845989145366530

OHSCrifle
OHSCrifle SuperDork
5/13/21 5:13 p.m.

North metro Atlanta on my commute path got no gas this afternoon. There was some for sale at 6:15 this morning though. 

MrJoshua
MrJoshua UltimaDork
5/13/21 5:18 p.m.
jb229 said:

I filled up on Monday night after I heard about the hack, I was on a quarter tank and managed to get in while it was still $2.53.

 

https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/1392845989145366530

Lol-Worthless without pictures.

mapper
mapper HalfDork
5/13/21 5:44 p.m.

If normal demand is 100% and supply is 100% (assuming JIT supply strategy) with a small reserve, is panic buying really the problem when supply is cut drastically?  Did the eastern seaboard suddenly go from 100% demand to 150% demand?  Is it panic buying when you are buying the same amount you did previously?  It's fun to poke at the people in the trash can pictures (old, stagged, or limited in reality) but are they the real cause of the shortage?  I don't see how this compares to the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 when there is a real reduction of supply now.

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