Bottoming out - just for posterity.
Now I know many Aussies have probably seen their local petrol prices even lower than this, but I recorded this local servo on my afternoon walk recently as it seemed to me that the lowest prices in years could not last forever. With travel restricted and our pump prices loosely tied to the rise and fall of international prices, petrol prices in many of Australia’s larger cities at least go through cycles from highs to lows and back again on an all too regular basis. And not just small price movements either. We are often urged to buy now, it’s the bottom of the cycle.
Fuel companies are fairly well despised for the manner in which the saw toothed prices will go up considerably overnight. In Brisbane, which has one of the worst cycles in Australia, the highest price pre-coronavirus was normally $1.73.9 for standard 91 octane unleaded. It would then slowly fall over a number of weeks to about $1.29.9 before shooting up again. We are urged to use independents but most sell, in Brisbane for about the same price. One exception is a Puma station not that far from us at Northside Zillmere which usually has the best prices around.
The large supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths will argue that although these are their standard prices, customers can obtain fuel cheaper by using their docket discounts, usually 4c per litre and even more if you buy a certain amount of “grocery” items. Some independent stations also accept their dockets or give similar discounts if you show your local motoring organisations’s card.
The truth is, most believe, including the government and motoring organisations that most of the time we are being ripped off. Here’s another example. Just prior to the lockdown when we were at the Sunshine Coast, average prices there were 10-15c per litre cheaper than Brisbane. Consistently, not just at one station. And often the same applies once you cross the Pine River Bridge in metro Brisbane’s northern suburbs to Redcliffe where the prices will shoot up by a similar amount - just by crossing a bridge. They must think the public are suckers! They say it’s lack of competition.
The station photographed is a barometer of prices....it is consistently the first one to put prices up often a week or more before the said Puma goes up.
On yesterday night’s TV news, they announced the price had suddenly gone up round town. Strange, that coincides with the lifting of local restrictions on travel from this weekend to 50 kms. By my estimate, from what I saw, the price per litre increase was to about $1.19.9, still cheap but approximately 30c or more per litre, overnight. Is that same % reflected in the international oil price? Somehow I doubt it.
Unless we get a second wave, and travel is restricted again, which is entirely possible in my mind we won’t see prices this low again. So, this one is definitely for posterity!
In March 2022, the price per litre, post Ukraine had climbed to $2.19.9
Bottoming out - just for posterity.
Now I know many Aussies have probably seen their local petrol prices even lower than this, but I recorded this local servo on my afternoon walk recently as it seemed to me that the lowest prices in years could not last forever. With travel restricted and our pump prices loosely tied to the rise and fall of international prices, petrol prices in many of Australia’s larger cities at least go through cycles from highs to lows and back again on an all too regular basis. And not just small price movements either. We are often urged to buy now, it’s the bottom of the cycle.
Fuel companies are fairly well despised for the manner in which the saw toothed prices will go up considerably overnight. In Brisbane, which has one of the worst cycles in Australia, the highest price pre-coronavirus was normally $1.73.9 for standard 91 octane unleaded. It would then slowly fall over a number of weeks to about $1.29.9 before shooting up again. We are urged to use independents but most sell, in Brisbane for about the same price. One exception is a Puma station not that far from us at Northside Zillmere which usually has the best prices around.
The large supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths will argue that although these are their standard prices, customers can obtain fuel cheaper by using their docket discounts, usually 4c per litre and even more if you buy a certain amount of “grocery” items. Some independent stations also accept their dockets or give similar discounts if you show your local motoring organisations’s card.
The truth is, most believe, including the government and motoring organisations that most of the time we are being ripped off. Here’s another example. Just prior to the lockdown when we were at the Sunshine Coast, average prices there were 10-15c per litre cheaper than Brisbane. Consistently, not just at one station. And often the same applies once you cross the Pine River Bridge in metro Brisbane’s northern suburbs to Redcliffe where the prices will shoot up by a similar amount - just by crossing a bridge. They must think the public are suckers! They say it’s lack of competition.
The station photographed is a barometer of prices....it is consistently the first one to put prices up often a week or more before the said Puma goes up.
On yesterday night’s TV news, they announced the price had suddenly gone up round town. Strange, that coincides with the lifting of local restrictions on travel from this weekend to 50 kms. By my estimate, from what I saw, the price per litre increase was to about $1.19.9, still cheap but approximately 30c or more per litre, overnight. Is that same % reflected in the international oil price? Somehow I doubt it.
Unless we get a second wave, and travel is restricted again, which is entirely possible in my mind we won’t see prices this low again. So, this one is definitely for posterity!
In March 2022, the price per litre, post Ukraine had climbed to $2.19.9