Waiting for the rollback

Oh, how the times they are a-changing when it comes to filling up your tank.

Sometime in the not too distant past, I gassed up once a week (I’m not one of those who wait till the tank is near empty and the warning light comes on, having this mortal fear of running out of gas and stalling on some dark and deserted road in a bad part of town) and my weekly gas bill for my little Toyota Corolla was a little over P300.

I don’t remember or I just didn’t notice the price climbing up, until I was paying up to P1,000 a week for my Honda City. The fault, I must quickly point out, isn’t with the car as it is with the price of gas, as I diligently watched my per liter mileage.

Earlier this year the chore of gassing up became a traumatic event, as pump prices soared. Each week the price signs at the station changed, and it was a matter of getting a full tank before the price increase of the week took effect. Consumers quickly learned that increases were effected at midnight on the weekend, so people gassed up Friday night, and there were always long lines at my neighborhood station on Friday nights.

Sometimes the oil companies were sneaky and effected the increase a day before; if I got naunahan by the price increase – meaning I did not get to gas up before the increase–– I’d be mainit na ulo (in a bad mood) the whole day.

Thank goodness it’s a different game these days – the game now is to wait for the rollback of the week. The rollback usually comes towards the end of the week, so I wait. One week I was near empty and was forced to gas up, but I told the attendant I only wanted P200 worth of gas because “naghihintay ako ng (I was waiting for the) rollback.” The gas boy told me with a big smile, “Nag-rollback na po!” whereupon I told him, “Sige, full tank na.”

Consumers have to be creative these days, and comparing prices, checking content volume or weight of goods at the supermarket isn’t something only the kuripot (misers) do.

Economists say the brunt of the economic meltdown and global recession will be felt on our shores by next year. Hopefully the decreased demand for gas will keep world oil prices low, and the game will still be waiting for the rollback instead of trying to beat the increase.