Zen and the art of dealing with high gas prices

updated 4:37 p.m. ET May 16, 2007

NEW YORK - For all their complaining as they pay $3 a gallon or more to fill up their cars, few American drivers have yet to reach the point of cutting back.

That’s the message from government statistics showing that demand for gasoline is only just starting to level off even as refinery outages and tight supplies have sent pump prices soaring by 43 percent since the end of January.

And brace yourself: Experts say with gas already closing in on $4 a gallon in Chicago and San Francisco ahead of the peak summer driving season, higher prices could be in the cards.

“I drive 55 miles each way to work every day,” said Sandy Colden, of Medford, N.J., while loading groceries into her Honda Pilot SUV. “So I really don’t have a choice, unfortunately.”

Colden’s not alone. Most Americans are locked into their driving habits, and can do little to alter their fuel-buying patterns when prices rise, experts say. For example, the number of workers with commutes lasting longer than 60 minutes grew by almost 50 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to Census Department data.

But that usually means they have to cut back elsewhere, as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is finding to its distress. The world’s largest retailer said Tuesday that earnings in the current quarter will fall short of Wall Street expectations, in part because of higher gas prices.

Weekly gasoline demand in April rose as much as 1.9 percent over the year-ago period even as the average national price of a gallon of gasoline climbed from $2.71 to $2.97 by the end of the month, according to Energy Information Administration data.

Only in the first week of May, when prices jumped to $3.05 a gallon, did demand for gasoline abate slightly — by about 0.02 percent, EIA figures showed.

Experts disagree over how high prices have to rise before consumers are shocked into driving less — at least temporarily.

“We might actually see some reaction at $3.50 (a gallon)” nationally, said Larry Compeau, executive officer of the Society for Consumer Psychology and professor of marketing and consumer psychology at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.

Lars Perner, assistant professor of clinical marketing at the University of Southern California’s business school, disagrees, saying the tipping point is more likely $4 a gallon.

Try telling that to Jennifer Hoover, 32, a graphic designer who lives in the San Francisco area. She said she was startled by her bill — $58.69 to fill up her silver Audi sedan with premium gasoline at $4.09 a gallon Tuesday — but was late for an appointment and had no other choice.

“I was just thinking when I drove up — 'Why am I stopping here when it’s $4.09?'" she said. “But it’s on my way and I’m late and I have to do what I have to do.”

Eddie Engles, 37, didn’t blink twice after he filled up his GMC Yukon at a gas station near downtown Chicago Tuesday. At $3.71 a gallon, the fill-up cost the clothing distributor $83.89. “That’s a new record. Every time I pump up, it’s a new record,” he said.

Engles, who uses his SUV to haul his wares, said he has few options when it comes to cutting travel and gas expenses. “I just need it,” he said. “What am I going to do? Not fill up?”

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