ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Tuesday morning, AAA is reporting the national average price for gas has now passed $4 a gallon.
Thankfully, some stations in our region are still below that mark, but drivers are feeling the pain at the pump.
69 News reporter Rob Manch was at a Sunoco gas station in Allentown for us with the latest.
The price at the station is $3.89 a gallon right now, so it’s below that national average. But just down the street, the Wawa is at $4.19.
Manch had the chance to talk with a driver who commutes to New Jersey. He said it’s getting harder and harder for him to make that trip every day.
“It’s real bad man, real bad. It’s eating, I’m working for really, probably gas,” said Anthony Benton, who has to commute from Allentown to New Jersey every day for work in a pickup truck that’s not exactly gas efficient.
We asked him how he’s dealing with the prices.
“I put the $20, and when it gets down half, I put $20 and stay up,” he said.
Finance Analyst Matt Schultz at the company Lending Tree says many consumers like Benton are changing their behavior right now.
“Some people are even going and filling up with gas a day or two early to get ahead of things, because they know that it’s probably going to cost more in a few days,” Schultz said.
And the high prices may only just be getting started. Analysts at the Macquarie Group believe gas could get to $7 a gallon by the end of June if the war in Iran doesn’t stop.
“I’m going to have to start picking up cans. Selling cans to make it to work,” Benton said.
Wondering what gas prices look like near you? Head on over to wfmz.com and click on our “Pump Picks” banner. From there, you can either search the interactive map, or scroll through a list that sorts gas from lowest to highest prices.