Falling gas prices: Think of it as going on sale
By Beth Teitell
Boston Herald Columnist
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Al Gore, I’m sorry, but you know what gives me a high these days? Filling my car’s tank. As in full.
        The prices are so low it’s almost like I’m making money. Well, not low low, but as Einstein pointed out, everything’s relative. So even though I’m paying $2.55 per gallon now, when 20 months ago I was paying way less than $2, I feel good about it, because last month I was paying more than $3 a gallon. See? It’s a bargain.
        True, this kind of accounting could explain why my savings account isn’t as large as I’d like it to be, but I prefer to think of it as economics for optimists (the guiding principle of which is: You have to spend money to save money).
        Yesterday morning, as I was pumping my gas savings into another money-making venture - namely a marked-down sweater at the new Back Bay Filene’s Basement - it occurred to me that the gas pump phenomenon parallels the fiscal physics of the Basement. Namely, the crucial number is not the price you actually pay for a garment (or gas), but rather how much you saved by not paying the full retail price. Yes, $399 sounds like a lot for a sweater, but not if you consider that it originally cost more than $1,000. Then you can’t afford not to get it. Am I right, or am I right?
        I’m no energy-company executive, but if they were smart, they’d post the all-time high prices prominently on the pumps and then make one of those showy slashes. People would buy Hummers just to take advantage of the savings, you’d see.
        Proud of my theory, I mentioned it to one of the more serious people I know - actually the only serious person I know - who insisted that not everything in life can be likened to shopping. She’s right, I guess. Sometimes a dieting analogy is more apt.
        For example: Let’s say your ideal weight is 125 pounds, but the holidays hit and you start to pack it on a little, topping out at 131. On the way up, you feel heavy at 127, but on the way down? One hundred and twenty-seven feels positively svelte.
        I called an economist, Peter Morici of the University of Maryland, to get his take on my theory of bargain-tivity. He confirmed my theories (albeit in more technical language, using terms such as ‘‘consumer confidence”) and then went on to explain that people are very sensitive to gas prices because it’s the one economic statistic that everyone sees every day.
        Well, that and their weight.