‘It’s outrageous’: Kansas City drivers cope with rising prices at the gas pump
When Daniel Paul of Parkville drove to a North Kansas City QuikTrip to fill up his truck with 23 gallons of regular gasoline on Tuesday, he did not expect it to cost $90.
Kansas Citians like Paul have been stunned by the surge in gas prices. They expect the cost per gallon to climb even higher over the coming weeks. As a result of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, President Biden has issued a ban on Russian energy, which was announced Tuesday, causing a rise in gas prices across the country.
According to the Automobile Association of America, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline hit a new peak Tuesday with $4.17.
In Missouri, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline has not surpassed its 2008 peak of $3.94, but the average has rose by over a dollar from last year’s $2.50 to today’s $3.73.
Paul delivers auto parts around the metro area and said he doesn’t expect the surge to slow until it rises by another dollar.
“People are hunting gas stations,” he said. “Instead of going where they typically would go, they’re just saying ‘Where’s the cheapest?’
“It’s outrageous.”
Walking to work
“That’s bullshit,” said Jahmeca Harker, looking at the prices as she pumped gas into her car.
Her eyes squinted as she stared at the mileage monitor, shielding her eyes from the sun with long, bright pink nails.
Harker said she didn’t understand why prices were increasing, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter — people like her are going to pay the price.
Harker works as a caregiver, which she said pays just enough.
Driving is a large part of her routine. On Tuesday, she was on her way to pick up her kids from school.
During the week she often relies on her car to get groceries for the family and get work on time.
But the increase in prices is forcing her to make changes to her routine.
“I’m going to have to start walking to work,” she said.
And though work is only a few blocks away, she anticipates if the surge continues, she will need to walk to the grocery store as well.
“I’m lucky there’s a few in my area, but it’s, you know, a walk,” she said.
Essentially stranded
Chad didn’t realize he was short on gas money until he pulled up to the station on Main Street and East 38th Street Tuesday and began to fill up his car.
He had wanted enough gas to get to Louisburg, Kansas, where he lives — about 45 minutes away from the station. But he didn’t anticipate gas prices would have increased to $3.89 per gallon.
He ended the transaction and pulled his car onto East 38th Street directly next to the station and popped his trunk. Pulling a large red tank, now empty, from the back of his car, he walked over to the pumps and did something he never expected he’d have to do:
Beg strangers for a few dollars.
“It’s embarrassing. I don’t even really want to talk about it,” he said after walking up to a driver who did not have any cash to give.
Chad roamed the pumps in cargo pants and sunglasses, looking for someone with a dollar or two to spare, no longer aiming to make it to Louisburg, but just his brother’s house a few blocks away. He has cash there that he can use to pay to fill up the rest of the tank.
“It sucks, gas prices going up,” he said.
“I’m essentially stranded at the moment.”
He’s not nervous about the prices going up in the long-term, his job as an arborist pays well, he said, and this surge just caught him at a bad moment.
After anxiously pacing the station for roughly 10 minutes, 28-year-old Michael Taylor gave him $7.
The pair met outside the station’s convenience mart. Chad promised Taylor, who does not own a car, a ride home about five minutes away for the gas money.
“It just happen to be a bad situation,” Chad said, now smiling.
“But it’s all right I got through it.”
No more cartons of milk
William Ried pulled his car up to the pump, bags of 97 cent hamburger buns and salami in his car.
“I try to live close to the earth,” he said, which to Ried means not budgeting, and at times, missing payments.
For the last four years, he and his wife have been in bankruptcy.
And now with rising gas prices, he said, he’s concerned about missing his next house payment.
“Right now we don’t need to get food from a food bank. I have a job and I have what I need to get by,” he said.
“But when we do have to make cuts it usually comes out of the refrigerator.”
Ried drives nearly two hours to his home in Paola, Kansas, everyday.
The countryside town is about 50 miles from the station, so in the past week he has had to spend a lot more money than anticipated.
“My wife says we really need to be careful. We talk about it almost every morning,” he said.
His wife works in health care. Ried remodels homes and breeds falcons. Some of his birds have sold for nearly $200,000, he said.
“I have a back door just in case,” he said for when money gets tight.
But having money come in consistently has been a challenge.
As of Tuesday morning, he and his wife are out of milk and due to all the money they’re spending on gas, they’re not buying more cartons anytime soon.
“I’m not going to waste gas and go back to the store on my way home,” he said.
“It may end up being that we have to get rid of a cellphone for the person that works closest to the house ... We’re always thinking, ‘OK, what is it that we’re going to have to sacrifice?’”
‘Means I’m making more’
“It’s actually increased my workload,” Richard Leavitt said of the increase.
Leavitt, 57, works part-time as an Uber driver and part-time at Costco since retiring from a mobile medical testing company in June.
The surge in gas prices, he said, has caused many of his friends who drive Uber to find another side hustle, leaving more customers to him.
“A personal friend of mine has an SUV and he Ubers, but he stopped because he is no longer getting good gas mileage,” he said.
“With fewer people doing Uber, that means I’m making more.”
Leavitt said the workload has been nonstop, with many people requesting a ride from the ride-share service because they anticipate gas prices climbing even higher.
His car takes 14 miles per gallon, he said, which should give him time before his own business becomes affected by the surge.
“Right now its been really good for me,” he said, smiling.
“My app has not turned off throughout the last two weeks.”
He’s seen surge prices for customers using Uber go as high as $10 more than normal, with fewer drivers.
And in the last week, Leavitt has made nearly $1600.
This week he expects to make about $2000.
With the increase in earnings, Leavitt plans on traveling to Italy.
“Traveling is my favorite thing to do,” he said.
“Me and my husband are going to go in August and with everything going on, I’m able to pay for it all before we even leave.”
The Star’s Jill Toyoshiba contributed to this report
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
