MSNBC sticks it to the man
While I was home for lunch just now, I managed to catch some of an MSNBC special about the gas crisis (with the curious title "Stick it to The Man"), and it actually brought up a couple of clever ideas.
Check out www.fuelbank.com. This site allows you to pre-pay gas online and—get this—allows you to lock in as many gallons as you want at the current gas price, no matter when you purchase the gas at the pump. In other words, if you pay $2.80 a gallon now, you can collect that gas from the pump at that price years from now, even if gas prices have gone up considerably. MSNBC spoke to a man who was paying $0.98 a gallon today, because that was the price he locked in years ago. Even better, if the price goes down before you use the gas you've purchased, Fuelbank will refund the difference. (Begs the question of how they make money on any of this, but I'll let their accountants worry about that.)
The program also highlighted a man who recently decided he can kill two birds with one stone by quitting the gym and biking 12 miles to work every day. Obviously this isn't a viable option for everyone, but it does point out how illogical it is to pay an arm and a leg to get to work and back, then hit the gym after work and run in place for an hour. (Reminds me of Lewis Black's observation that he can't understand how in New York, a city with millions of stairs, people will pay almost $100 a month to use a Stairmaster and then refuse to live in a walkup apartment.)
Check out www.fuelbank.com. This site allows you to pre-pay gas online and—get this—allows you to lock in as many gallons as you want at the current gas price, no matter when you purchase the gas at the pump. In other words, if you pay $2.80 a gallon now, you can collect that gas from the pump at that price years from now, even if gas prices have gone up considerably. MSNBC spoke to a man who was paying $0.98 a gallon today, because that was the price he locked in years ago. Even better, if the price goes down before you use the gas you've purchased, Fuelbank will refund the difference. (Begs the question of how they make money on any of this, but I'll let their accountants worry about that.)
The program also highlighted a man who recently decided he can kill two birds with one stone by quitting the gym and biking 12 miles to work every day. Obviously this isn't a viable option for everyone, but it does point out how illogical it is to pay an arm and a leg to get to work and back, then hit the gym after work and run in place for an hour. (Reminds me of Lewis Black's observation that he can't understand how in New York, a city with millions of stairs, people will pay almost $100 a month to use a Stairmaster and then refuse to live in a walkup apartment.)
posted by Zackattack at 1:58 PM
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