BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's a sale Jo Anne Nichols just can't resist.
When the gasoline tank on her green Dodge Ram truck has hit the half-full point over the past couple of weeks, she's pulled into the gas station to fill up again. She usually waits until the needle approaches "E."
But with gas under $1 a gallon, why wait?
"I feel like they're going to sock it to me any day," Ms. Nichols, 46, of Springdale said as she filled her tank at the Amoco station on Ohio 747 in Springdale. "Eventually it's going to go high. They're just having fun with me for a while."
Regular unleaded gasoline was 93.9 cents a gallon at the Amoco station where Ms. Nichols filled up Monday afternoon. Just a few days ago, she paid a mere 86 cents a gallon at a Fairfield gas station. Some Tristate residents said they haven't noticed the dip in gas prices over the past couple of weeks. They have to buy it one way or another, they say.
But bargain hunters such as Ms. Nichols have had a field day with cheap gasoline.
Nationally, the average price, including all grades and taxes, was just under $1.08 a gallon on Sept. 11. That's down 1.67 cents from Aug. 21, according to the Lundberg Survey of 10,000 stations nationwide.
The price was within a half-cent of the figure for March 20, when prices bottomed out for the year.
And compared with a year ago, gasoline prices nationally have fallen nearly twice as much as crude oil prices -- 25 cents a gallon to 13 cents a gallon, according to the survey.
Long-distance truck drivers are seeing the biggest financial benefit, though.
Al Vingiprova, 43, of Price Hill says he hasn't paid more than $1 a gallon for diesel fuel over the past couple of months. He had been paying $1.25 or more a gallon.
The 25-cent savings adds up to $25 a filling on his 100-gallon tank. The bargain multiplies considering he drives a six-wheeler truck that goes 10 miles per gallon.
"Profit wise, I've made a little more," said Mr. Vingiprova, who hauls loads across the 48 continental states.
Consumers aren't optimistic about how long this "sale" will go on.
"I don't think they'll last," said Rochelle Horne, 28, of North Avondale. "It would be nice. But I don't think they will. . . . I'll enjoy it now."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
