Exactly how bad are fuel prices gonna get?

motorguy

Herzlos said:

Thrugelmir said:

Return to the days of higher usage of public transport. 

Not whilst public transport is less convenient and more expensive than using the car. I'm maybe an edge case by the only direct train between here and where I work is twice a day in each direction, and costs £25 return. I can do the same in a car by myself for £10. Fuel would need to go up to about £4/l before the train became the cheaper option, assuming the train doesn't also get more expensive, and even then there wouldn't be any more of them.

I'm a big proponent of public transport, but outside of the cities is pretty much garbage.

Of course, we really need to do something for the people who drive when they could just walk, but people are largely lazy.

Yup totally agree.  I think theres one bus a day from where we are to the nearest town.

Home delivery is key for us to keep fuel costs down - we get a weekly Tesco delivery and pretty much everything else comes from Amazon or Ebay.  We generally have "a reason" to go in to town once a week (last week, haircut!) so anything else we need i get at that point - so thats usually fresh fruit and veg.

I'm just not playing their game frankly.  A lot of this pricing is driven by scaremongering, fear and profiteering.  I'll use the minimum amount of fuel i can, and the minimum amount of heating oil we can (without impacting comfort too much).  I appreciate other people need to get out for commutes, etc.

JustAnotherSaver

Shell has gone silly here. Jumped from 158 to 165 in a day then to 169 the next day. 
Texaco on the other hand remains 157 & their price changes aren't as erratic. 
The other shell at the other end of town is 159 so not sure why this one particular shell & also the BP near it which is run by the same people are above and beyond everywhere else. 

Diesel prices that is. 

Also hasn't stopped the rally boys any. 

Ibrahim5

Good time to get on your bike.

Herzlos

motorguy said:

Home delivery is key for us to keep fuel costs down - we get a weekly Tesco delivery and pretty much everything else comes from Amazon or Ebay.  We generally have "a reason" to go in to town once a week (last week, haircut!) so anything else we need i get at that point - so thats usually fresh fruit and veg.

That's a great point actually. We moved to getting stuff delivered after we decided that in most cases the delivery cost was less than fuel + time.
We also try and chain together visits to stuff. So instead of doing a 20 mile round trip for something, if it's not urgent we'll wait until we're already going in that rough direction and do both visits in the same trip. Saves a fair amount of time as well as mileage.

motorguy

Herzlos said:

motorguy said:

Home delivery is key for us to keep fuel costs down - we get a weekly Tesco delivery and pretty much everything else comes from Amazon or Ebay.  We generally have "a reason" to go in to town once a week (last week, haircut!) so anything else we need i get at that point - so thats usually fresh fruit and veg.

That's a great point actually. We moved to getting stuff delivered after we decided that in most cases the delivery cost was less than fuel + time.
We also try and chain together visits to stuff. So instead of doing a 20 mile round trip for something, if it's not urgent we'll wait until we're already going in that rough direction and do both visits in the same trip. Saves a fair amount of time as well as mileage.

+1

Exactly what we're doing.  Our local Tescos is a 20 mile return trip.  Our car does 27 mpg, so its around £5.00 to do that run currently.  Tescos deliver to here for £4.50.  Factor in getting there, walking around the shop, packing the car, getting back, unpacking the car, and its 1.5hours easily of our free time gone doing something we dont enjoy doing.

And agreed yes RE: chaining stuff.   We do that too.  Previously we'd have went out for something one errand now we make a point of chaining stuff together.

Amazon and Ebay are also very good for a lot of stuff so saves us running for pet food, etc and they're moreoften cheaper anyway, and we can get stuff in bigger quantities so saves more (we've two huge tanks of huge fish so bulk food buying makes sense).

Thrugelmir

Herzlos said:

Thrugelmir said:

Return to the days of higher usage of public transport. 

Not whilst public transport is less convenient and more expensive than using the car. I'm maybe an edge case by the only direct train between here and where I work is twice a day in each direction, and costs £25 return. I can do the same in a car by myself for £10. Fuel would need to go up to about £4/l before the train became the cheaper option, assuming the train doesn't also get more expensive, and even then there wouldn't be any more of them.

Fuel is only one element of the actual cost though of your journey. 

troffasky

motorguy said:

  Tescos deliver to here for £4.50. 

I wonder how they make money charging this little for a delivery, I assume it's very little or it's a loss-leader. Even just the wages for the picker/packer/driver doesn't leave much left over to fuel and operate the van.

Herzlos

Thrugelmir said:

Herzlos said:

Thrugelmir said:

Return to the days of higher usage of public transport. 

Not whilst public transport is less convenient and more expensive than using the car. I'm maybe an edge case by the only direct train between here and where I work is twice a day in each direction, and costs £25 return. I can do the same in a car by myself for £10. Fuel would need to go up to about £4/l before the train became the cheaper option, assuming the train doesn't also get more expensive, and even then there wouldn't be any more of them.

Fuel is only one element of the actual cost though of your journey. 

Last time I'd looked at it, I'd factored in tyres, servicing, insurance, for a sporty car that did 20mpg vs the train and for a single journey with a single driver the car won by a fair margin.

Fuel is the most obvious and significant factor, since many drivers are at the pumps every week or so but only replacing tyres every few years.

motorguy

troffasky said:

motorguy said:

  Tescos deliver to here for £4.50. 

I wonder how they make money charging this little for a delivery, I assume it's very little or it's a loss-leader. Even just the wages for the picker/packer/driver doesn't leave much left over to fuel and operate the van.

Agreed.  I assume it must be a slight loss leader, but they'd know people generally do a reasonably big shop so they'll get revenue they otherwise wouldnt have.

I notice they charge an extra £4 for orders under £40 so their cost could maybe be closer to £8.50 overall, and they absorb it if its over £40.

Its a very labour intensive way they do it, compared to the likes of Ocado.

Thrugelmir

motorguy said:

troffasky said:

motorguy said:

  Tescos deliver to here for £4.50. 

I wonder how they make money charging this little for a delivery, I assume it's very little or it's a loss-leader. Even just the wages for the picker/packer/driver doesn't leave much left over to fuel and operate the van.

Its a very labour intensive way they do it, compared to the likes of Ocado.

Ocado has struggled to make it's automated offering profitable. Amazon's retail division likewise for decades. The cost of automation to handle low value, low margin goods is expensive. Returns can only be processed manually as well.