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The search for low gas prices around Utah led some to the 7-Eleven station near IKEA. It was listed at $3.68 a gallon this morning.
For one brief, shining moment, the station was the answer to a commuter's prayer. Liz Sanders has a receipt to prove it.
"I saw the sign and went, ‘Whoa, that's something I haven't seen for a long time!" Sanders said.
As news got out on the Internet and KSL Newsradio, drivers came from all over to fill up. "They were, like, pumping fast because, like little kids with their hands in the cookie jar, like someone's going to catch them at this low price; and so they were pumping fast," Sanders said.
At a competing establishment across the street, gas was 30 cents higher.
A Quizno's employee watched the 7-Eleven with amusement. "Everybody was pulling in there to get gas. Nobody could even hardly pull out from the front there was so many people," she said.
Yes, you just knew it had to be a mistake. After about four hours, signs went up and so did the prices. They had accidentally made gas too cheap, or should we say "a little less expensive?"
Sanders spent $51, even at $3.68 a gallon. "We're getting so conditioned that anything under $4, we're jumping up and down like it's Christmastime."
7-Eleven says the error resulted from a typographical miscommunication at corporate headquarters in Texas. The price is dictated from Texas. 7-Eleven won't spell out exactly what factors determine price, but it's based partly on the Utah competition.
These days, it seems as though every driver has his own gas-pricing theory. "I mean, everyone thinks there's some magical group of guys sitting at a table thinking, 'What can we do to make Utah pay for gas?' And maybe there is, but I'm hoping there's not," Sanders said.
The governor's announcement today to monitor gas prices across the state didn't exactly break new ground. He pretty much asked the agencies to do what they're supposed to do anyway. But at least it's an indication that rising frustration over gas prices has reached Capitol Hill.
The lowest prices in the Wasatch Front seem to be in the Murray area, with some stations charging $3.93.
For more on where you can find the lowest gas prices, click the related links to the right of the story.
E-mail: jhollenhorst@ksl.com
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
