If Chambers was out and about on Saturday, he might have caught Chris Hill, owner of Chills on Hustonville, happily changing his sign from $2.29 to $2.27.
"Well, it's only two cents but it should help a little," Hill said, adding that he recalls buying the station two years ago with gas at $1.39 a gallon. Now, he struggles to make pennies on the gallon while trying to keep prices low.
"People aren't buying in-store like they used to. Heck, they're scraping up change to pay for gas. And customers don't realize that when you have low gas prices, you might make five cents on the gallon, but for every credit or debit card that's swiped, bank companies are charging us a processing fee," Hill says, explaining that at times it ends up actually costing him six cents a gallon to sell gas.
Hill says that he hasn't had any drive-offs at Chills, and Chambers says he's reported just one in the last few months.
Barb Warner, manager of Thoroughbred Shell on Bluegrass Pike, says they've not been so lucky.
"We have someone fill up and drive off about once a week. At the station in Junction, it's more like one every two days," Warner says, adding that the stations ditched the pre-pay system a few years back because customers complained about that more than they comment now on the price of gas.
Hill's wife, Debbie, says most customers are understanding about prices, but she has a regular every weekend who really shows his anger.
"He complains every Saturday morning, saying the same thing: That it's the Republican party's fault, the President is to blame - I mean, he goes on and on and I'm afraid he's going to say the wrong thing in front of the wrong person," she said.
Others are feeling the effects
The stations are not the only ones who are feeling the effects of the high prices.
Garrard County Board of Education has budgeted an additional $25,000 for fuel, said Superintendent Ray Woolsey.
"It looks like we will use all of the budget and then some," Woolsey said, and then will be forced to look for ways to offset that expense, such as higher fees for bus use on activities and less travel in general.
Garrard raised its mileage expense reimbursement to 35 cents per mile last year, and will need to raise that again this year, Woolsey said.
"Right now we're making some minor adjustments in the way that we're operating our vehicles," said Danville's Assistant Police Chief Jay Newell. Officers no longer leave their cruisers idling when on traffic patrol, for example.
The police department is at 90 percent of its fuel budget right now, when it normally would be at 70 percent with its fiscal year ending in June.
"We are doing what we can to cut costs, but we're not willing to reduce our actual responses to calls," Newell said.
Danville's police have definitely noticed an increase in drive-offs since the price jump. Newell said police took a call on Friday from Dart Mart Chevron after someone pumped $17 worth of gas and drove off. But so far, there are no reports of gas tank siphoning in Danville.
"They got a parked car last Sunday and siphoned out $22 worth of gas, which of course is probably worth more like $30 today," said Jo Preston, the records clerk for Harrodsburg Police Department.
Preston said she has reports showing two drive-offs, both in March, with one totaling $75 in gas.
"I've noticed some things on my own, too, like the speed people are driving," Preston said. When she drives to Danville, she usually does about 60 miles per hour in a 55 zone, and people pass her as if she's "sitting still."
"But not lately," she says, "and I've even slowed down a lot more to conserve gas, and now no one's passing me, so I think everyone's decided to take it easy and change some things."
"I'm considering some changes now," says Jamey Elliott, a Lexington resident who commutes to work at Centre College daily. He drives an average of 350 miles per week. Cutting down on eating lunch out, Elliott says, and finding someone to carpool with from Lexington are some things he's considering.
"There are steps like this that we can take to become more environmentally aware," says Dave Anderson, an associate professor of economics with Centre.
"We drive such large SUVs when there are cars that get 66 miles per gallon available," Anderson said.
"We saw in the '70s how gas prices creep into everything and cause inflation. Every form of transportation needs some form of gas, and when gas goes up, it costs more to bring raw materials into the manufacturing plants and the finished products out. As consumers, we're definitely going to absorb all of these costs."
Does this mean the price of gas will cause a depression?
"No," Anderson says, adding that we've learned more about how to handle inflation.
It didn't cause a depression in the 1970s, Anderson says, just minor problems.
"Or, Jimmy Carter will probably say some major problems," Anderson jokes.
"The federal reserve has been more effective in keeping a leash on inflation, and I think (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan is keeping a watchful eye on it now. I don't think we'll see double digit inflation, nor do I think we'll have another large recession."
