 He started an Internet site,
GasBuddy.com, in 2000 to track daily
gasoline prices using volunteers to e-mail what they find. "Hardly
anybody ever used it," recalled Toews, of Brooklyn Park, Minn..
By 2004, 1 million people were visiting the site daily, although the
numbers dropped when prices went down.
But at the pace hits were being recorded Thursday, the site was
likely to break its record of 4 million visitors, Toews said. As
gasoline prices have risen, so have the hits on his site and
another, GasPriceWatch.com.
"We have had to buy more servers, and it looks like we will need
more," he said.
GasBuddy.com offers information from 180 locations in the U.S.
and Canada, including every major city. The site said the average
price nationally in the U.S. was $3.22 for unleaded Thursday
afternoon, compared with $2.86 a year ago.
Brad Proctor, founder of GasPriceWatch.com in Centerville, Ohio,
said his site has added prices for ethanol, biodiesel, truck diesel
and ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Hits on his site have doubled. As many
eight people log in every second during peak periods, he said.
Dan Gilligan, president of the Arlington, Va.-based Petroleum
Marketers Association of America, said the system is a good idea but
warned consumers to remember that if they drive more than 10 miles
to save a nickel, they are losing money. He also said there's no
guarantee the price will be the same when they arrive.
"Many retailers are getting price increases twice a day. You may
have a price increase within six hours," he said.
Other businesses are also tying technology to drivers' increasing
efforts to find a deal.
A cell phone provider, Mobio Networks, launched a free service
this week telling its customers the cheapest gasoline prices in
their area.
[to top of second column] |
 BetUS.com, a sports betting site, was posting odds of the
national average exceeding $3.50 before the end of the year.
Toews' company, GasBuddy Organization Inc., claims to monitor
900,000 stations with several hundred thousand registered
volunteers. GasPriceWatch.com says it tracks 170,000 stations.
People can send an e-mail message to
gas@gasbuddy.com with a ZIP
code in the text area, and the site will reply with the cheapest
nearby stations.
The site also has a national map for those planning trips.
Relying on volunteers for price information does have its flaws.
People occasionally make false reports of unrealistically low
prices, Toews said. "We do monitor them, and we take them off and ban
the person who sent it," he said.
He also gets calls from time to time from stations embarrassed to
be on the list with the highest prices. "They don't want to be seen
as gouging people," he said.
Supermarkets and stores such as Costco Wholesale Corp. locations
often are the cheapest "because they use gas as a loss leader,"
Toews said.
Calls and e-mails to the site lead him to believe the shock of $3
gasoline has worn off.
"People are budgeting for it," he said. "But many people will
just put five bucks in until they can find a cheaper station."
Toews said despite its increasing number of hits, the site has
not made millionaires of him or co-founder Dustin Coupal, an
ophthalmologist.
"But we do have enough advertising to sustain the operation," he
said.
[Text copied
from file received from AP
Digital; article by Robert Weller, Associated Press writer]
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