Victor Jackson pours fuel into his vehicle after running out of gas and rolling to the RaceWay gas station off Rossville Boulevard late Monday morning.
Samantha Clem’s gas-guzzling minivan once seemed like a necessity, but even as fuel prices fall, she’s finding the extra space is just too costly.
Clem drives from East Ridge to work at Wendy’s in Fort Oglethorpe every day. She said fuel prices haven’t fallen fast enough this month and is thinking about getting a tiny car rather than see so much of her paycheck go to pay for gas.
“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of it goes to gas,” she said.
A smaller vehicle will mean less room for four kids, but “I’m just going to squeeze them in,” she said.
Clem isn’t the only one hurting. Though prices fell from an average $3.58 per gallon at the start of the month to an average $3.46 Monday, some say that 12-cent difference is just a drop in the bucket. U.S. benchmark crude oil prices dropped by nearly 20 percent in that same period, and international prices fell 92 cents to $107.70 a barrel Monday.