The Biz Buzz - Tacoma Shell station lowers price of gas to $3.99 per gallon

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Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Tacoma Shell station lowers price of gas to $3.99 per gallon

Posted by C.R. Roberts @ 05:22:15 pm

It seems like it was only a few days before Memorial Day that a gallon of regular hit $4 in Tacoma.

Now, as of about an hour ago, it’s back. The Tacoma Shell station on Portland Avenue – the one near the Emerald Queen Casino – lowered its price for regular gasoline to $3.99 per gallon.

Graphic evidence that there is sub $4 gas in Tacoma

“The cost of gas is going down,” said John Weymer, spokesman for the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, which owns the station.

AAA reported earlier today that the average price of a gallon of the cheap stuff was going for $4.253 in Tacoma. That’s down from yesterday’s $4.265, and (oh what wonderful days those were) $2.964 a year ago today.

Update on the $3.99 gas: With the tribe advertising the price on its huge I-5 casino message board, business was brisk at the station this morning. The driveway was often jammed with cars, but the traffic moved through quickly. When I was there, it took 10 minutes or so to reach the pump. During that same period, two dual trailer gas trucks pulled in to replenish the station's underground tanks -- John Gillie

Categories: General • 7 comments

COMMENTS:

Comment by SonicCruiser @ 18:11 - Thursday, July 24th, 2008

YESSSS!!!!!! Good going!!!!

Comment by moo @ 18:49 - Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Let's see it go under $3, but even then the B@!!$rds at big oil will have already made several months of profits on obscene gas prices. And how about prison for Phil Gramm & the speculators?

Comment by wendymead @ 21:41 - Thursday, July 24th, 2008

This station consistantly has lower prices than anyone. This is where I buy most of my gas.

Comment by SonicCruiser @ 22:44 - Thursday, July 24th, 2008

If only the remainder of the stations would follow suit...

Comment by MichaelD98409 @ 00:42 - Friday, July 25th, 2008

Prices in the area are all varying quite a bit.

Fred Meyer and Shell Stations at S 19th and Stevens are $4.15

Shell at Port of Tacoma is $4.27
Chevron at Port of Tacoma $4.35
Flying J $4.13

Then go north to 54th Ave E in Fife.
Union 76 Station on both sides of freeway $4.35 and $4.31 Normally match.
But one thing I've seen since spring time at these stations. Diesel at Union 76 at 54th and Pacific Hwy was 10 cents a gallon CHEAPER than the Union 76 station at 54th and 20 Ave. Why is that? I watched the same truck unload at both stations... who is screwing the public on that??? I wrote the Attorney General's office about it when they were doing their "investigation" of gas prices, they blew me off.

The Union 76 station on Pac Hwy is company owned station and the one at 54th St and 20th Ave E is privately owned.. so the privately owned one charges 10 cents a gallon more for diesel... and who says the oil companies are the only ones screwing the public?

Be thankful you are not in Dillingham, Alaska in Bristol Bay... $6.30 a gal for gas! 400 miles from Anchorage and all fuel is barged in. Or flown in. There was a village 70 miles from Dillingham that had to fly in fuel cause the barge was late. gas...$7.90 a gallon.

Oh yeah and another remote Alaska village had bottled water flown in... $9 a gallon!!!!! Coke is $17.00 a case

Comment by TacomaMathGuy @ 07:35 - Friday, July 25th, 2008

I just hope that slightly lower gas prices don't let us ignore the bigger problem. We are oil dependent. Are country can't survive with out foreign shipments or a polluting black sludge. I think the only way to change this is reduce gas use and find alternatives. Might want to read the article on the new sound transit proposal.

Comment by dbreneman @ 09:06 - Friday, July 25th, 2008

http://tildebang.com

All this "evil oil company" BS gets a little tiring after a while. The oil companies are true benefactors of mankind. They provide a reliable, inexpensive (compare the price of gasoline with other liquids you buy) source of motive power for the people of the world and all they ask is about an 8% return on their investment. That's about twice the profit on a dollar that a supermarket makes, but compare it with Ebay at 10%, Nordstrom's at 13%, Boeing at 22% and Microsoft at 30%. Sure, it would be great if gas still cost the 58 cents per gallon it cost when I got my driver's license. Come to think of it, a $2 sixpack of beer and $3 movie ticket would be nice, too. There are a lot more people driving cars nowadays, and the law of supply and demand can't be repealed by Congress. Anybody remember the long gas lines when they tried to do just that?

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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.

C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.

John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.

Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.