Shari Smith almost skipped a friend's funeral on Friday because high gas prices left her not wanting to make a round trip of about 120 miles to pay her respects.
"I've never had to pay that much for gas and that's with my Cub discount," Smith, 72 and retired, said at a Holiday gas station in St. Louis Park, where she used a rewards card that saved her 20 cents off on gas going for $4.49 a gallon. "I think they're ridiculous."
Gas hit a new high in Minnesota on Friday, reaching $4.50 a gallon after an overnight jump averaging 11 cents a gallon, according to AAA. It was just the latest spike, with the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas at $4.39 on Thursday and $4.23 a week earlier, according to the motoring club's survey of filling stations.
With food prices also on the rise, and inflation across much of the retail economy, Smith said she's scaling back some usual summertime activities — a trip to Duluth, and regular drives to Stanchfield, Minn., about an hour north, where she volunteers.
"I've tried to be really penny pinching when I go buy groceries to make sure we have everything on the list, so I don't have to make so many trips," Smith said. She decided to make an exception for the funeral.
Michael Donahue, also filling up at the Holiday station, said he's been keep a close eye on the price of gas. Lately, he said, it's "skyrocketed." He estimates he's paying about $15 more for gas per fill-up than before, and with summer trips near, Donahue has been looking for things to cut from his budget.
"Just grocery bills alone, like a small one- or two-bag run is expensive now just to get the bare essentials like some meat, cheese and bread," he said.
Two factors fueled the steep increase, said Patrick De Haan, an analyst with the gas price tracking website Gasbuddy. Inventories at refineries in the Great Lakes and Midwest sank to near-record lows with production down about 1 million barrels a day since 2019, a drop of about 5%, he said.
