Keith Benman and Joseph S. Pete, Times of Northwest Indiana Staff Writers
Purdue University Northwest finance student Matt Csonka, 19, traded in his Jeep Grand Cherokee for a Chevy Trax last year, so he's getting a double discount at the gasoline pump these days.
He was spending about $50 a week on gas when the price of regular was around $4 per gallon. Now he's filling up for about 15 bucks and spending a total of about $20 per week on gasoline.
So what does he do with the more than $100 per month that he puts in his pocket?
"Saving and buying other things," Csonka said as he studied a textbook over a cafe latte at Starbucks on a recent afternoon. "Going out to eat, buying clothes."
Consumers like Csonka get direct and immediate relief from low gasoline prices, said Micah Pollak, assistant professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest.
"In addition, low gasoline prices tend to especially help middle- and lower-income households who often must spend a much larger percentage of their income on gasoline."
The average price of a regular gallon of gas in Northwest Indiana was $1.94 on Wednesday, which was 54 cents less than it was at the same time last year, according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
And the average price nationwide in March was about $1.60 less than it was two years ago, when the price hovered above $3.50 per gallon of regular. In the Region, the average price reached $4 per gallon.
Gas prices in the United States have been rising for the past few weeks and finally broke the $2 barrier last week, averaging $2.05 for a gallon of regular at mid-week nationwide, according to the AAA report. But they are still expected to average below $2 for the year.
Pollak said low gas prices boosted the local economy, since the savings let consumers afford goods and services they couldn't before.
"Ultimately, the savings at the pump and lower transportation costs that get passed along mean economic relief for us as consumers," he said.
Low prices mask other issues?
Csonka's friend, Hannah Miller, 19, a political science major at IUN, also is spending much less of her budget on gas after she traded in her 2002 Mercury Sable for a Honda Fit.
So with a gallon of regular around $2 per gallon, she can fill up for about $12, as compared to the $30 or more it took to fill the Mercury Sable.
Though she knows that's putting some extra money in her pocket, she doesn't really notice or think about it all the time — except for one place.
“But when you are at the gas station you say, 'Wow! I can use this for something,'” she said.
Still, she worries low gasoline prices may be lulling us all into a false sense of security, particularly when it comes to the environmental and geopolitical cost of oil.
“We need to find jobs in the solar industry and like that, for people who are losing jobs in oil,” she said.
Csonka thinks the same way about the impact low gas prices may be having on our psyches.
“I think it's giving people a false sense of security that things are going well when they are not,” he said.
With average gas prices recently spiking up by nearly 30 cents per gallon, Matt Muha, 43, of Lowell, still remains suspicious of just how the price is set.
“They're going up again, absolutely, and what's the explanation for that? No reason,” he said as he shopped at Shops on Main, in Schererville, on a recent afternoon.
He's definitely happy it's not $4 per gallon in the Region like it was two years ago. But he had a hard time pinpointing just how he makes use of the savings.
“Maybe I have a little extra change in my pocket,” he said. “Maybe I take that extra trip to Dairy Queen to treat my family. But nothing big.”
The low gasoline prices haven't been noticed by everyone. Cheryl Oprisko, of Portage, a restaurant owner, is one of them.
That's because in September 2014 she brought home a new, all-electric Tesla Model S.
"To be honest, I don't even know what they are,” she said. “Because I don't even look. Isn't that bad?”