By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

It was literally a sign of the times: “Price change in progress” flashed the lettering on the tiny TV-like screen on the 7-Eleven gas pump.

Robert Pratt, hoping to gas up a borrowed SUV hauling a trailer filled with his household goods – he’s moving from Auburn to Leeds – was getting frustrated.

He figures that move will boost his commuting costs from about $20 a week now to about $60.

And on Wednesday, not only was he about to pay a record high price for fuel, he had to wait to do it.

“It hurts” he said.

Elizabeth Snyder of Lewiston, who pulled in next at the pumps, agreed.

“I think they suck,” she said. “We don’t have enough money as it is.”

Snyder stopped at the 7-Eleven on Lewiston’s Main Street a little after 2 Wednesday afternoon to put in $4 of gas. It’s all she had, she said. Her $4 purchased a gallon and a half of regular.

She said she’s eating peanut butter and crackers instead of “real food” in order to put fuel in her car so she can get to work at Live Bridge, a telemarketing business.

If Pratt is right about what he sees as a trend, Snyder might consider peanut butter and crackers to be gourmet food soon.

“I think by winter time it will be $3 a gallon for regular, and for heating oil, too,” said Pratt before he gave up on waiting for the price change and drove off.

Dick Metayer, the 7-Eleven’s assistant manager, said customers are telling him his pump prices are “too high.”

But he also says they realize he’s not to blame.

No drive-off trouble

And he has noticed a change in the buying patterns of customers. Instead of topping off their tanks, many are now buying less – $4 purchases such as Snyder’s – but visiting the pumps more often.

He has also noticed a bright note. His customers are remaining honest, despite the record-high prices. People are paying. “We’ve had no trouble with drive-offs,” said Metayer.

At BJ’s Wholesale Club in Auburn, Patricia Gunther of Rumford was feeling almost smug about her gasoline purchases.

She buys her fuel exclusively at BJ’s. Members pay $40 a year to join it, but buy gas at a discount. Wednesday afternoon, it was $2.539 per gallon, compared to say, 7-Eleven’s $2.579.

Gunther said she has spent about $1,800 on gas over the past four months, most of it to commute from Rumford to BJ’s, where she also works. As prices have risen, she figures she’s spending an extra $10 a week on fuel, but adds “it could be worse” if she were paying regular service station prices.

She’s also cutting down on her commuting, often “staying at a friend’s house” about halfway between Rumford and Auburn.

Dale Bilodeau, a BJ’s co-worker from Minot, says he’s tried to conserve a bit – by putting more air in his car’s tires and tuning its engine.

‘Getting crazy’

Back in Lewiston, Tom Nadeau was smiling, but shaking his head in disgust at the same time.

“It’s getting crazy,” said Nadeau as Les Scott filled the gasoline tank on one of Nadeau’s 13 trucks.

The place was Grimmel’s Service Station on Lewiston’s Lisbon Street. The price: $2.549 per gallon for regular at the full-service pumps.

“Crazy” was Nadeau’s description for the way gasoline prices are climbing.

Scott said that climb at Grimmel’s amounts to “10 to 15 cents a gallon over the past couple of weeks.” It was a nickel between Monday and Wednesday alone.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Office described that increase as the “pain at the pump” in its Wednesday report on petroleum product prices.

Between Aug. 8 and Aug. 15, the agency said, retail gasoline prices rose “by the largest amount ever” since EIA began its weekly price survey 15 years ago.

“Almost every driver experienced a shock last week when they went to fill up their car or truck,” EIA said.

In Nadeau’s case, make that shock times 13, actually 14 counting his son’s hobby of motocross racing.

Nadeau runs Nadeau Refrigeration, Heating, Air Conditioning and Plumbing, a service business that employs a fleet of 13 trucks and vans.

“In the last six months, my gas bills have doubled,” he said of the liquid gold that Scott was pumping into the pickup. “I’ve gone from $1,500 to $2,000 a month to $2,500 to $3,000,” he said.

The cost is passed on to his customers. He has no choice on that if he wants to remain in business.

He’s trying to conserve. He’s doubling up his service technicians in one truck when he can, in order to reduce fuel consumption. He tried using minivans as service trucks a few years ago, but they weren’t big enough to haul all of the equipment his technicians sometimes needed on a job.

“They’d end up having to come back to get something, losing an hour on the job and burning more gas,” he said.

Copy the Story Link