So, some consequences of high gas prices I've noticed locally. People are prepaying inside at the gas station a lot more than they used to. While in line I have seen several people prepay with cash, like me. Also the last several months I've seen an even dollar amount, like $30, on the pump from the previous person. So the use of cash to budget for gas has increased in popularity. Another possible reason for this is some debit cards and banks limiting large transactions, if you have a big truck that requires more than $75 to fill up for example.
Another effect is traffic in my town and surrounding areas, on Friday nights and weekends, is down considerably. So much so in fact that literally the only good car wash in town had barely any customers on a Sunday afternoon. When normally there are 20 or 30 people in the vacuum area and several waiting in both lanes, I was the only one waiting. The weather was clear, sunny and mild. And last Sunday around the same time, I was surprised they were closed even though people were still in the wash tunnel and vacuuming afterwards.
I asked one of the workers about this. He said they have to meet a certain daily quota or they have to shut down early. He said they only had about 70 people come through all day. He said "We really should be closed right now." My guess is with so few customers driving and getting their cars washed, and inflation killing people on energy costs, the place is likely barely breaking even. More people seem to be washing their cars at home or washing them less. Their "quick wash" is $10 and it's up from there.
/Jurassic-Hummer:b
