By 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, more than 11 cars and trucks formed a line behind the pumps at the Fred Meyer gas station. The line was only getting longer.
Between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Fred Meyer dropped its fuel price by a dollar. The supermarket company’s gas prices had been in the low $2.90s for a couple days until Tuesday morning, when the marquee read $1.91.
Several Juneau residents expressed surprise and joy on social media as pictures of the gas prices started circulating. Some people even questioned whether it was a mistake. It was not.
Store Director Jim Floyd didn’t say much about the price drop, but he did confirm that it was intentional. For all other questions, he referred the Empire up the corporate ladder to spokesperson Melinda Merril, who did not respond by press time.
“The customers are really happy about it,” Floyd said.
Juneau resident Paul Leopold was one of the drivers taking advantage of the low gas price — the lowest he’s seen here since the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, he said.
“First we were paying almost $5 per gallon,” he said while he filled his large red truck. “Then they dropped it like a dollar in a day!”
Leopold said that filling his work truck’s 35-gallon tank is not a cheap endeavor, typically costing about $100. On Tuesday, however, he smiled as he watched the ticker on the pump.
“I just hope it stays this low,” he said.
The Empire, through reporter James Brooks, published an expose in its Sunday edition about price-gouging and why Juneau residents were paying more at the pump than residents in Anchorage, Seattle and across the Lower 48 states. Fred Meyer and Safeway, Juneau’s two largest fuel purchasers, did not respond to repeated requests for comment for that story.
Before Tuesday, the cheapest place to buy gas in Juneau was Fishermen’s Bend in Auke Bay, which sold fuel some 30 cents cheaper than everywhere else in town.
