Gas Goes Up – Demand Goes Down

As the price at the gas pump continues to climb faster than a mountain goat, consumers are filling up less and less.  With wallets getting thinner, and dollars getting stretched the result is a decrease in demand for fuel.

MasterCard SpendingPulse tracks the amount of gas sold around the nation at 140,000 stations and has reported that gas sales have decreased.  The demand for fuel has decreased over the past 5 weeks and this has resulted in less fuel being pumped in comparison to one year ago.

During the first week of April, 2011, consumers purchased 2,400,000 fewer gallons of fuel than they purchased in the first week of April, 2010.  This reverses the trend in America where their was a steady increase in the demand and purchase of fuel.  Higher fuel prices seem to be taking their toll on the average consumer and the result is less fuel is being pumped at the service stations.