WTF Gas Prices! This is INSANE

[ps2fixer]

Some day Big Oil is going to crash permanently; it won't be in my lifetime, but I sure would like to see them bastards go down the tubes....

Sadly it seems like they are doing pretty good money wise , my cousin works for a oil well drilling company, 12 hours a day, something like $16 per hour and overtime pay over 8 hours, $75 per day he works because he works away from home, and works 7 days a week, I guess he don't really get off days, except around hollidays some times. Sounds to me he is making a lot of money, and I don't understand why that couldn't hire 2 people at a fair rate and make the work a little less draining, like 8 hours a day 6 days a week or something. Of my understanding, he is basiclly working this job with "no life" to build up enough cash to outright buy a house.

[poolieZerUK]

You guys are lucky it works out at $9.58/gallon here diesel is more as its better mpg so they get you there. Engine sizes are creeping up all the time back in the day a 3000cc v6 ford was big engine now regularly see 5400-6200cc motors as cars too big because of supposed safety features, dont know where people get the cash, utility bills about $2800/year fu*"ing council tax double that national insurance, paye, vat blah blah blah its never ending, and all the twats with money are paying F@#K all tax as too many loop holes if you can afford top accountant. WAN*ERS
Looking out of my window can see oil rigs being built but you cant get a job on them cause its all closed club

[ps2fixer]

I assume utility bills include heat? If so that is about the average cost over here unless you just have a huge house.

Every time I see videos based in the UK most of the cars are tiny like mini coopers and such. I drive a Toyota Corolla with a 1.8L that actually gets better mpg (epa based) than the 1.6L setup (lower geared). You can find cars with smaller engines if you do your research first. If you stick with American made, good luck finding anything smaller than like 2.3L (ford ranger). If you don't hull much but need a truck, keep an eye out for a 80-83 VW caddy pickup, they get around 45-50mpg with a 1.6L diesel, turbo it and add a cold air intake and you *should* get better mpg if you don't abuse the extra power.

[Scootertrash]

Sadly it seems like they are doing pretty good money wise , my cousin works for a oil well drilling company, 12 hours a day, something like $16 per hour and overtime pay over 8 hours, $75 per day he works because he works away from home, and works 7 days a week, I guess he don't really get off days, except around hollidays some times. Sounds to me he is making a lot of money, and I don't understand why that couldn't hire 2 people at a fair rate and make the work a little less draining, like 8 hours a day 6 days a week or something. Of my understanding, he is basiclly working this job with "no life" to build up enough cash to outright buy a house.

16.00 an hour isn't a fair rate? plus overtime? + 75.00 per diem? Is he in North Dakota? What is he doing? Is he a roughneck?

Sounds like he chooses to work those long hours to get ahead and buy a house for cash or mostly cash. If he is a roughneck or lease hand
he is at the bottom of the ladder for oil rig workers and can only go up from there. Everybody in NoDak is working long hours. EVERYBODY. I've been out there several times over the last couple of years.

If I was 30 years younger I'd head west to NoDak, but I would be driving truck or building houses, NOT working on an oil rig.


While I agree that 4.50 a gallon is ridiculous, Before you throw all the blame on the oil companies, you may want to take a look at how much TAXES are paid to our government. Not just the taxes paid at the pump (.40-.60 cents per gallon), there are many other taxes paid before the fuel even makes it to the pump.

Bottom line, the oil companies do what they do to make as much money as possible, just like any other business large or small. Just like you would if you were running a business of your own. Problem is when you run a business, it seems like no matter how cheap you price your product people still b!tch because it costs too much. Funny part is you never see them start up their own business to give their product away at 2% over cost.

If it was easy to run a business and be a millionaire there would be 300 million of them in this country and no one would be whining

You can also blame the Government and the tree huggers for not allowing companies to build more refineries.

[ps2fixer]

I have no clue, I havn't talked to him since he started working there. I think he don't have a choice on the hours, and they move him every so often. I think right now he is in Texas or somewhere southern usa.

$16 seems pretty fair to me for an inexperienced worker in that field and I think he has been there for like a year now. He has a felony on his record as well, so I bet that effects his pay as well. Either way he makes more money than me even if you cut his hours down to 40 per week and my job requires a 2 year degree in computers.

[Scootertrash]

My nephew has been out in NoDak for I think 3 years now. He drives a truck and has HAZMAT and tanker certification (or something like that)and other misc duties related to fracking. He makes around 25.00/hour. I think he made $90,000 last year. That means roughly $30,000 of that goes to Uncle Sam. He works very long, odd hours and is working for 2 weeks on and then off for 4-6 days.

[gus]

gas here is 3.23 im seriously considetring getting my R street legal i have a titan now that's a gas guzzler a womping 13 mpgs

[Tri-Z 250]

If you don't have drugs in your system, a bad record, some or little experance in the drilling pipe line field, a CDL or Cert to weld....Ohio is starting pay $25per hr with benifits plus 401k and profit share, manual labor on the rig...Cert welder starts out around $35-up dependig on Cert...Heck the pipe haulers just driving get over $18 plus extras. They can find NO one and are looking far and wide for any experanced help...They have Job fairs in the area 1000 people show less than 100 pass the pee test....10 of those only make the grade because of past history with police/jail. You can live a real nice life on 50k in Southern Ohio land/tax is cheaper and schools aren't half bad considering the number of students is smaller compaired to Suburbia. If I was coming out of HighSchool I'd take a community class given by the Oil Co....and forget going to college for 4yrs. Trust me you'll be futher along without huge debt hanging over your head looking for a position that pays in your degree.

[ps2fixer]

gas here is 3.23 im seriously considetring getting my R street legal i have a titan now that's a gas guzzler a womping 13 mpgs

2 strokes normally don't get the best mileage, go buy a 350x and get it legal or something that is smaller . I want a street legal 350x ^.^, probably get around 50mpg with it . I would suspect a 250r would get like 35 lol.

[hatc200x1]

Better idea, get a 350x, and put a kawasaki ninja 500 or 600 engine in it, those get like 75 mpg dont they? Gas keeps going up here btw,

[kb0nly]

I'm going to reset the trip odometer the next time i top off my 200ES and see what i am getting for MPG. Granted sometimes i do pull a small trailer, but still i want to see the average mpg from it.

On another note.. I have family working up in ND's oil fields, they told me its not as simple as showing up and asking for a job. After it got over publicized on the news and such they said the companies clamped down. He sees it daily at the office, guys come in to apply, the first question is do you have a place there to live? And it must be permanent, a camper in a rented camping spot is sufficient, but it cant be a van in the WalMart parking lot. There was a ton of guys living out of their cars at one time, and there was a whole tent city until the weather got too cold over the winter and most of them either moved to permanent housing or gave up and went home.

He said no living arrangements no job.. The companies did this because of the public outrage of the people who live up there and were getting sick of people camping out everywhere. There was a WalMart he said that had a couple dozen people camped out in vehicles and campers in the parking lot, using WalMart for a bathroom and a nearby truck stop for a shower. Stuff like that was just stressing the local systems, over 200 guys a day filing through the pay showers, sure the place was making money, but they could no longer serve the people who it was intended for. And when it got cold guys would pack into bars and restaurants and nurse a drink or meal for an entire afternoon or even most of a day to stay somewhere warm. They were just over populated.

He said now they turn away over 80% of anyone coming in looking for a job. The hiring boom is over. He told me general labor is getting harder to get hired in, but if your a truck driver with the right endorsements you can almost write your own paycheck yet because thats one area they are still demanding.

[ps2fixer]

Better idea, get a 350x, and put a kawasaki ninja 500 or 600 engine in it, those get like 75 mpg dont they? Gas keeps going up here btw,

It isn't the engine or transmission that makes something get 75mpg, it is driving habbits, vehical weight, areodymanics, how well the engine is tuned and how efficent it is at converting fuel into movement, oh and gearing can make a huge difference too.

Quick example, Toyota Corolla has several different setups for engine + transmissions. The BEST seems to be the 1.8L with the 5 speed manual, while the worst is the 1.6L with an automatic with no over drive or lock up converter. Mind you this is the same car, so no change on areo, and I'm going off EPA ratings, so how it is driven is standardized.

Most likely, the 350x would get the best mpg if the final gearing is similar to the 500/600 cc kawasaki engine, unless your really pushing the engine (over 80% max output @ given rpm). Main reason is the kawasaki engine is nearly double the size and the 350x is a great torque engine which = mpg in most cases.

Here is an artical about a user of ecomodder that got 116mpg out of his ninja 250cc bike, there are people with them 49cc mopeds that can do 50+ top speed and get near 200mpg with a similar setup.

http://ecomodder.com/blog/interview-...er-competitor/

@KB

My cousin is still paying for rent in a house he don't live in because he got moved and the contract isn't up yet. Him and 3 guys were paying $600 each for a HUGE house I guess.

[Scootertrash]

It isn't the engine or transmission that makes something get 75mpg, it is driving habbits, vehical weight, areodymanics, how well the engine is tuned and how efficent it is at converting fuel into movement, oh and gearing can make a huge difference too.

Quick example, Toyota Corolla has several different setups for engine + transmissions. The BEST seems to be the 1.8L with the 5 speed manual, while the worst is the 1.6L with an automatic with no over drive or lock up converter. Mind you this is the same car, so no change on areo, and I'm going off EPA ratings, so how it is driven is standardized.

You're contradicting yourself a bit with your statements. First you say it's not the engine or transmission that makes a difference, then you say it is, based on EPA ratings with standardized driving habits.

And here's a link from the ecomodder home page:
http://ecomodder.com/blog/engines-tr...ld-difference/

As far as ecomodder.com goes, it looks like you can spend A LOT of money and time for a potential minimal increase in mileage.

Some people need a large vehicle for their work, so "adapting" as some here have put it doesn't work. Do I find a new job so I can drive one of those little matchbox cars? Do I charge customers more to compensate for the increase in fuel costs? Yup! Just like every other business that uses fuel to get to your jobsite, or haul materials to your jobsite, or mow your lawn, etc, etc, etc.

You may be saving a little money by dumping a ton of money into your vehicle to save a few pennies, but you are still paying more for everything you buy when fuel prices rise (including all of the little gadgets and gizmos you bolt to your Gremlin to get better mileage). The majority of goods we use are hauled by rail and/or trucked all over the U.S. When fuel prices rise so does the cost of your goods and services. The pinch you feel in your pocketbook when you fill your tank is just a drop in the bucket.

[oldskool83]

This is somewhat off topic but then again its sorta on topic. I just want to point out per old days taxes and debs not paid with in 7 years were abolished...it's stright out of the bible. Not saying we need to go that route but its just somthing to think about. I would like to see more US oil, then foreign. They want us to buy their oil but yet they hate us and want to blow us all up.

[sweetip2000]

We were at 3.69 2 days ago now today 3.90. 30 miles due north of NYC. I will tell you how to jack these sk00mbags, Standard Oil which is Mobil Exxon is owned by Rockerfeller. You never buy from Mobil Exxon. Next Shell. Owned by Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands.
Its always these royal inbred satanic pedophile d00shbagz that own these oil companies.
Next BP. never buy from them. Look what they did to the gulf of mexico. Its still freakin leaking oil. These mutants need to be hung upside down by their ballz.