Today’s fuel price musings - Prices could creep down a little more

Add comment July 1st, 2009

Traded emails today with Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service, to see how long the recent drop in gas prices will continue.Basically, he said maybe/maybe not. He thinks the prices from earlier this month will be close to the peak for the year…

Generally, I wouldn’t call it long term relief.  I’m pretty sure that you’ll see very high prices again in this decade, perhaps even in the $3-$4 gal range.

But not yet.  The big sprints in the last year (lower in the last half of 2008, and higher in the first half of 2009) are over, and we’ll see gasoline prices jog slightly lower (probable) or higher (less probable) for the next 60 days.

More in Monday’s paper and on BusinessRockford.com as I write about where prices are headed. What questions do you have for local and national experts?

Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):

Gasoline: Rockford dropped slightly but remains at $2.68 a gallon today. We’re third in the state and  tied at 87th of the nation’s 280 metro areas. The Illinois average dropped almost a cent to $2.74 a gallon. The national average dropped slightly but stayed at $2.63 a gallon. Illinois has the eighth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia.

Diesel: Rockford dropped almost a cent to $2.66 a gallon. We have the fourth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped slightly to $2.68. The national average increased slightly but stayed at $2.63. Illinois has the 14th-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia.

A little logistics humor

Add comment July 1st, 2009

I don’t usually write about logistics and distribution centers on this blog because it’s probably the driest thing I cover (even more than fuel prices!) even if it’s oh so important to the local economy.

But today, at the groundbreaking for another expansion of the Sara Lee distribution center in Rochelle, there was this funny little nugget I couldn’t pass up.

It was under 60 degrees, prompting folks to show up in jackets and hats in July. Sara Lee VP Larry Rogers quipped, “I actually saw someone with hand warmers. That’s for the freezer inside, though, that’s not for out here. It’s not that cold.”

Wifi on the road - what do you use?

1 comment July 1st, 2009

Sitting here at the Culver’s in Rochelle because of their advertised free wifi. Too bad that, for the second time in the past month, it’s not working for me. I guess nothing is free!

Instead, I logged into the for-pay wireless connection from the Petro truck stop across the street. I’m fascinated by the proliferation of wifi here - it appears Road Ranger also has a connection, and perhaps when Rochelle opens its utility office nearby it’ll have one too.

I’ve toyed with getting a laptop card that can connect me to the Web anywhere, but I don’t really travel enough to justify the monthly cost. I usually will pay the per-hour or per-day rate at airports, hotels and rest stops. I’m intrigued by Comcast’s wireless rollout that may eventually come to Chicago (though the company doesn’t know yet if that will include Rockford).

So what do you folks do for wireless connection when on the road?