Rising Cost Of "cache" Prices?

[+NatureGuy360]

Hey there,

 

With the price of gasoline rising well over $3 a gallon in many locations I have been curious to find out just how much of an effect it has had on your time spent Geocaching?

 

A lot?

Somewhat?

or Not at all?

 

Also what are some conventional or perhaps not so conventional ways that you have come up with to Geocache on a tight fuel budget?

 

Thanks

[+jasond]

Gas is $2.60 at the station down the road from my house. Prices haven't affected my caching schedule yet.

 

I find that by giving up breakfasts on Mondays and Wednesdays, lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and supper on Fridays and Sundays, that the average amount of money I spend per week is about the same as it was in 2003.

[nobby.nobbs]

petrol at £1 a litre over here.

 

still caching as much but plan trips to do several things as well as caching. no more trps to just grab a cache or two.

[+Renegade Knight]

The main impact is that I can't sell my Bronco. My caching is picking up but for the most part I've always used my Corolla except for off road where I only use the corolla sometimes. At 30 mpg on a bad day I may spend 3 bucks caching around town.

 

The main impact comes from real life that has me doing a lot of work around the house. That takes time and I'm not done yet.

[+Team JSAM]

I use some of these sights before filling the tank.

 

Gas Buddy

 

GasPriceWatch

 

MSN

 

Fueleconomy.gov

 

Edited to add: 3 days ago we drove by a gas station and they had a radio station there and had gas for 0.99 a gallon for the first 20 people we were number 17 wooohoooo and on empty....

Edited May 8, 2006 by Team Jsam

[+Glenn]

Gas is around $3.20/gal here and I haven't changed my driving any. I started caching while living in Italy and I was paying over $4/gal (converted to US$ and the gallon that the US uses). As long as gas stays inexpensive I'll continue to cache as normal. It is the rising price of everything else that will put a cramp in my caching first.

[+Geo-Cad]

If it's something I really enjoy doing, Then gas prices have little weight in my plans. Plus it's only 3.25/gal...lol

[awphoto]

DownUnder in Australia gas is now $1.39 per litre. I think that's $3.67 per US gallon. It makes driving my old Pajero 4WD(Shogun? in US) very expensive but not as bad as hitting a kangaroo while riding a motorbike.

I'll continue to cache as before but eat a little less.

[uber_bike_geek]

As I've said before...

 

So long as the price of pasta stays down, I'm not too affected by the rising fuel costs

 

I pulled into a full-serve station on my bike the other day... the attendant got a nice chuckle!

 

Happy Caching!

Jeff

[+TheConaways]

petrol at £1 a litre over here.

 

 

That's like US$7.04/gallon, right? Somebody check my numbers.

 

Aaron

[+Tzoid]

petrol at £1 a litre over here.

 

 

That's like US$7.04/gallon, right? Somebody check my numbers.

 

Aaron

 

Thats about correct. I filled my tank with petrol yesterday. At 11.55 norwegian kroners pr liter it converts to $7.14/gallon. This is in the oil-producing country of Norway. About two thirds of the price is due to different "environment" taxes.

 

However, when one calculates the cost of petrol as a percentage of yearly average income, petrol has never been cheaper. Go figure.

 

And it certainly does not stop me from caching.

[+Team Hassnander]

Gas is 2.89 at the station I work at.

 

I cache every weekend and will not stop.

 

Sometimes though its between spending the 20 bucks on a new DVD or going caching the next day. The caches always win

[+JohnAengus]

Gas prices will not affect my caching. Most of the caches I do take 2-4 hours to complete and twice this week I drove 120 miles round trip to get to caches. I have been cooped up too long this winter and will not let gas prices stop me. Gas here is about $2.80 per gallon, that only translates to $1.50 more for a trip like that this year over last summer. Even at $3 per gallon, it is about $2.50 more. I'm not going to stop caching for $2.50!!!!

 

It makes me laugh when people complain about gas prices, yet spend $3-4 per pack of cigarettes!! Now that is silly!!!!

[+jelinidas]

Great topic,

 

We are quite rural but by no means in BFE. There is another cacher in the area that has hid a few recently and we also have as well. My thought is to get several new caches out in the area and make it worth people's time making the 30 mile drive.

 

I love to only drive a short distance and be able to hit 6-8 caches that are very close together!

[nobby.nobbs]

to be fair it's not really the petrol that costs that much it's the $%£$^ tax we pay!!!

[+wesleykey]

As I approach 1000 finds I find that I drive over 100 miles for a day of caching. I have not slowed down though.

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

Just my humble opinion, but if a $1.00 per gallon increase in gas prices is a sufficient enough price hike to cause you economic strife, you might have much bigger problems then just geocaching...

[+Torchbearer]

I can say for a fact that gas prices have taken a toll on my caching time. I have a Chevy Blazer that is 10 years old and doesn't get great mileage. So after spending $40.00+ to fill up, $20.00 on swag, and paying the monthly bills, I don't feel so motivated to drive 100+ miles to go caching. I am really missing it too. I've pretty much hit the ones that are within 20 miles of me so I have to drive a little further now. If my wife would just let me use her car!

[+RonGerth]

At $2.45 per gallon it hasn't slowed me down at all. I live in an area where we drive about 100 miles round trip to hit a Walmart and a decent grocery store about two times in three weeks anyhow so I had a couple of side trips on to hit a few caches along the way. We also travel with kids sports so I have cache maps for routes taken and for the cities that the games are in. I have only made one trip that was a geocaching trip only though.

 

Ron Gerth

[+Night Stalker]

While i am working there is not effect. that is because the company i work for provides the rental car and gas. When I get home though there is more thought going into a caching trip. We try and combine it with something else like my wifes pilgrimages to the area quilting stores, or a trip to Sam's in the next town. I don't see gas prices slowing my caching in the immediate future, but if they were to continue to climb I would seriously think about riding my bike to the local caches so I could justify the car when it came to the out of town ones.

[+Team Dromomania]

Just my humble opinion, but if a $1.00 per gallon increase in gas prices is a sufficient enough price hike to cause you economic strife, you might have much bigger problems then just geocaching...

 

Gas was $3.35/gal today at the "cheap" gas station in town. My commute uses 22 gal of gas a week. My other activities (including caching) adds another 6-8 gal a week. If that was only a $1 increase then that adds up to over $1,500 / yr extra for just gas. It's not causing "strife" but it sure makes me notice the difference.

[+JakeBond]

all of my caches I've found an placed were done so without the use of a car. its called walking/biking. doesnt anyone do this anymore?

 

so i guess to answer the question, no the price of gas hasnt affected me going gcing.

 

[+Team_Talisman]

As I posted in another forumn...

 

Dropped one pack of cigs a day....thats a gallon and half more caching fuel a day

cut down on drinking thats....25 gallons a month

 

Well, 2 of my three vices will pay for caching for some time

Plus its better on my health.

 

[+Team Torque]

None at all. My motorcycle gets 50mpg.

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

None at all. My motorcycle gets 50mpg.

 

That's a tired argument. Even if your motorcycle got 1000 miles to the gallon, you're still buying gas, and your incremental gas cost has gone up the same percentage as someone who drives a Hummer.

[+Octoboy and CruiseChick]

None at all. My motorcycle gets 50mpg.

 

That's a tired argument. Even if your motorcycle got 1000 miles to the gallon, you're still buying gas, and your incremental gas cost has gone up the same percentage as someone who drives a Hummer.

 

But the percentage of you income that you spend on fuel is much less if you drive a motorcycle!

If I use 20 gallons/ month on the motorcycle, gas goes up $1/gallon, I have $20 less each month. If I use 50 gallons/month in the Hummer, I have $50 less each month. For the easy math, let's say I earn $100/month - Motorcycle - I have 80% of my income left, Hummer only 50%!

 

For me, I have reduced my travel for all purposes just a little - traveling a little smarter, combining trips, etc... and I have cut out one or two restaurant meals per week.

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

None at all. My motorcycle gets 50mpg.

 

That's a tired argument. Even if your motorcycle got 1000 miles to the gallon, you're still buying gas, and your incremental gas cost has gone up the same percentage as someone who drives a Hummer.

 

But the percentage of you income that you spend on fuel is much less if you drive a motorcycle!

If I use 20 gallons/ month on the motorcycle, gas goes up $1/gallon, I have $20 less each month. If I use 50 gallons/month in the Hummer, I have $50 less each month. For the easy math, let's say I earn $100/month - Motorcycle - I have 80% of my income left, Hummer only 50%!

 

For me, I have reduced my travel for all purposes just a little - traveling a little smarter, combining trips, etc... and I have cut out one or two restaurant meals per week.

 

Yes, but if you can afford to drive a Hummer in the first place, you probably can afford the 50 dollars a month more so than the person who drives the Honda or the bike.

[+Bilder]

Just bought an old Huffy mountain bike for 10 bucks.

 

Problem solved for the in town caches, will hit the out of town ones during times I am headed that way for other reasons.

 

Save gas and get in shape at the same time. Sounds like a winner.

[+AuntieWeasel]

My caching patterns are far more affected by the fact my car has exceeded 200K miles. Bless its faithful little heart, when it dumps me, I want it to be close to home.

 

On the bright side, it's a two-seater convertible, so it gets good gas mileage and it's fun to drive in Summer.

 

Okay, a one-seater. I took out the passenger seat so it would hold my inflatable dinghy.

[+dingermcduff]

Yes. I've been much more restrained about caching and my other obsession, birding. I'm mostly a check to check guy and with the rising gas prices have come little increases in the costs of other things as well. As long as prices are high, I'll be staying closer to home and passing up the FTF race in favor of trying to grab caches on my way to do other things.