With world financial markets in turmoil and the price of oil at its lowest mark in a long time, we get to see one small benefit from that big mess.  The retail price of gasoline for our cars and trucks is about the lowest it’s been in many years. We saw prices in a couple of communities drop below the $ 2.00 a gallon mark in Michigan a few weeks ago but it was short-lived.  But over the last 10 days, gas prices in Michigan began a nosedive. The hotspot for Michigan’s low gas prices the last couple days has been in the small town of Clare, not quite 15 miles straight north of Mount Pleasant. Five gas stations in Clare were holding overnight at $1.71 a gallon for regular. The Beacon and Bridge convenience store in Clare appears to be the first in that area to drop to the low point and the others soon followed. The ten lowest-priced stations in Michigan are at or below $1.77.

The Allstar station on Capital Ave. in Battle Creek dropped to $1.87 a gallon, the lowest price so far in Battle Creek in a long time. Other stations are hovering just over the $2.00 a gallon mark. And that’s as much as a $0.15 cent a gallon drop over the last day or two. Up until yesterday, many had been in the $2.10 to $2.20 range. A half dozen or so Kalamazoo area stations have been in the $1.90’s for the past week, especially near Sprinkle Road and I-94, and on the city’s west side.

Triple-A reports its survey of gas stations shows the average throughout Michigan is $2.23 a gallon, an $0.11 cent a gallon drop in the last week. Prices in Hawaii and California top the national charts at $3.54, and $3.44.

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