We Love Our Cheap Gas!

You may not be aware, but there are high and low seasons for gasoline consumption. (Yeah, it was a surprise to us, too.) The summer driving season ended last week, on Labor Day, and in the resulting plummeting of gas prices, St. Louis ended up with the lowest in the nation.

Yes, we are finally first at something!

The bearer of these glad tidings is Lundberg Survey, an independent market research firm based in California that specializes in checking gas prices. According to Lundberg, the national average gas price is $2.5911. In St. Louis, we pay $2.26.

Like just about everything in the economy these days, the explanation for the fall in gas prices is unclear, but there are theories. Bloomberg News reports that the gas market is oversupplied: For whatever reason (unemployment? financial conservatism? environmental conservatism?) people are driving less and therefore buying less gas.

"We're heading into a seasonal decline and demand was already down because the economy is still very weak," Trilby Lundberg, the survey's mastermind, told Bloomberg last month. "The one bright spot for consumers is that gasoline is down $1.06 from a year ago, but that doesn't help motorists without jobs."

According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, which compiles a daily survey of national gas prices, gas prices are highest on the coasts and lowest in the South. Alaska is the national leader, with an average price of $3.38 per gallon.

If you really want to gloat over cheap gas, though, go to the Costco or Sam's Club in South County, both of which, according to Missouri Gas Prices, are charging $2.11.