Think gas is expensive?

Parent Cafe
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<p>By David Pogue, from the New York Times column Pogue’s Posts:</p>

<p>Compared to Other Liquids, Gasoline is Cheap</p>

<p>In five years of writing this blog, I’ve generally resisted passing along some of those great little tidbits that get passed around by e-mail—jokes, quotes, factoids, and stuff like that. Most of the sob stories are bogus, most of the jokes aren’t funny, and so on. But I did enjoy this one, which winds up making a tech-industry point. I’ve fixed some of the formatting and updated the price of the final item… Enjoy. </p>

<p>Think a $4 gallon of gas is expensive? Consider the prices of these other fluids that people buy every day without complaint.
Lipton Iced Tea, 16 oz @ $1.19 = $9.52 per gallon
Diet Snapple, 16 oz @ $1.29 = $10.32 per gallon
Gatorade, 20 oz @ $1.59 = $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray, 16 oz @ $1.25 = $10.00 per gallon
Evian water, 9 oz @ $1.49 = $21.19 per gallon (!)
Wite-Out, 7 oz @ $1.39 = $25.42 per gallon
Brake fluid, 12 oz @ $3.15 = $33.60 per gallon
Scope, 1.5 oz @ $0.99 = $84.48 per gallon
Pepto-Bismol, 4 oz @ $3.85 = $123.20 per gallon
Vicks NyQuil, 6 oz @ $8.35 = $178.13 per gallon</p>

<p>But here’s the kicker:
HP 02 Black Ink Cartridge, 16 ml $18 online = $4,294.58 per gallon.
Yes, that’s right: inkjet printer ink goes for over four thousand dollars a gallon. What’s in there, anyway — gold filings?</p>

<p>So the next time you’re at the pump, be glad your car doesn’t run on water, Scope, Wite-Out, Pepto-Bismol, NyQuil, or — heaven forbid — printer ink!</p>

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<p>Yeah. I’m glad I don’t use 20+ gallons of any of those in a week…</p>

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<p>At my supermarket, Gatorade is a buck a quart for quart bottles so it’s a bit cheaper than gasoline.</p>

<p>Last night, we bought bottles of shampoo from the local supermarket. We used to buy one gallon containers at BJ’s until they cranked up the price. The per-gallon cost ranged from $6 to $58. BJ’s was $13 the last time we loaded up.</p>

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<p>Gas is more expensive now that it was during the 1979 energy crisis.</p>

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<p>Blast! There goes my plan for a Nyquil powered car!</p>

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<p>thats deceitful because like pmrlcomm said you dont 20+ gallons of any of those (with the exception of water) per week. If you are using a gallon of nyquil a week you have a problem.</p>

<p>Anyway one ink Cartridge can last a long time depending on what you print. IF you bought a gallon of ink Cartridge for domestic use it would last more than 3 years. Now tally how much money u spend on gas in 3 years you’ll see those things are actually cheaper.</p>

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<p>What you really need to know is what those liquids cost a month ago, a year ago, five years ago. The “tech industry point” I got is that the public can be deceived into thinking a list of numbers has meaning.</p>

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<p>I would imagine if we consumed any of those things in the quantity we do gasoline the price point would come down. It’s all about supply and demand…</p>

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<p>I am going to offer a different point of view. I drive to NYC to work everyday because of infrequent public transportation from where I live. It now costs me $10-$15 more a week for gas, but I am able to save 15 min each way because of less traffic on the road, that is 2.5 hours I am cutting out of my commute each week, and that is priceless.</p>

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<p>I fill my tank ( 16 gallons) twice a month.
I don’t buy bottled water, flavored water, or liquid medications.
I do buy organic milk ( $5.69 gal)
but I haven’t bought white-out for years.
I admit some of those things can seem pricey, but he needs to go to a cheaper store-
[Buy</a> Pepto-Bismol Regular Strength Liquid, Cherry Online at drugstore.com](<a href=“Walgreens: Pharmacy, Health & Wellness, Photo & More for You”>Walgreens: Pharmacy, Health & Wellness, Photo & More for You)</p>

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<p>If you think this oil stuff is scary wait till people catch onto the other stuff we’re running out of. Long term I think running out of Phosphorus is going to hurt us more than oil ever could. The US has (estimate) 30 years of it left(the world has about 60, and growing usage will probably offset recycling), and without it a lot of fertilizer can’t be made. Everyone knows what copper prices have been doing, and it’s for a good reason; we’ve got 25-65 years of it left depending on how much scrap we’re able to use. We’ve got about 20-40 years left of Tin but we’re using more scrap which will help a bit. The worst (to my knowledge) is Gallium, which there are less than 10 years left of.</p>

<p>Oil gets the media play because it’s the sexy topic. There’s the oil companies to get mad at and you have to go buy it’s byproduct every week. But we’ve got a lot of problems down the road that really need to be addressed by extreme scrapping and metallic recycling efforts. It’s going to get pretty rough.</p>

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<p>Without complaint? What low-brow restaurants charge for iced tea is appalling.</p>

<p>Anyway, I see they didn’t put Starbucks up on there. ;)</p>

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<p>I notice he also didn’t post the prices of microbrews or a Pomegranate martini.</p>

<p>I rarely go to the liquor store but I have been craving some [url=<a href=“http://www.harbrew.com/limoncello.htm]limoncello[/url”>http://www.harbrew.com/limoncello.htm]limoncello[/url</a>] and too lazy to make it.</p>

<p>but the tax makes me think maybe I should.</p>

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<p>Just bought a 1.5 L bottle of Yellow Tail @ Costco for $8.99 plus tax - I’m not complaining :D</p>

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<p>I just got back from Iceland, supposedly some of most expense gas in the world - $7.96 a gallon. We averaged 20 cent per mile - about the same as I get at home in my Subaru. I guess it all depends on the car you drive.</p>

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<p>Our fax machine at the office drinks ink. The machine was cheap, but the ink-- its killing us. We’d buy a new fax if we were sure we wouldnt have the exact same problem with another one. Too bad it doesnt run on gasoline! Or yellowtail! Well, maybe if we dring the yellowtail, we won’t care so much about the cost of the ink?</p>