Gas rates keep on rising - Local residents feel the sting of price hikes. Carpooling. Slowing down. Avoiding unnecessary trips.

www.thedailyjournal.com Monday, February 24, 2003 By GISELLE SOTELO Staff Writer; gsotelo@thedailyjournal.com

VINELAND --

Penny-wise commuters are employing every trick in the book these days to offset the recent surge in gas prices.

"It's killing me," said Greg Jenkins, a Vineland carpenter who relies on his Dodge Ram for traveling about two hours a day on the job.

The average retail price for a gallon of regular unleaded has risen about 22 cents nationwide since the beginning of the year.

The price is hovering around $1.50 at most local gas stations, up 18 percent from an average of $1.27 earlier this winter.

The looming war with Iraq and a protracted refinery strike in Venezuela -- a major U.S. supplier of petroleum -- are cited as key factors behind the price spike. But some suggest refiners and retailers may be taking advantage of a pending war to unjustifiably boost prices.

"I feel like I'm being cheated," said Jenkins, 42. "Somebody's making a lot of money on the situation in this country."

Mustafa Ozturk, co-owner of the U.S. Petroleum station on Landis Avenue in Vineland, insists he isn't that "somebody."

"We don't have any control over the prices," Ozturk said.

He points to his sales as proof.

When Ozturk sold regular unleaded for $1.09 a gallon a few months back, his station sold 3,300 to 3,400 gallons per day.

Now that prices have climbed to $1.49 a gallon, sales have slowed to about 2,900 gallons a day.

"When the price goes up, business goes down because people stop driving their cars," Ozturk said. "It's like cigarettes. When the price of cigarettes goes up, people stop smoking."

For most, abandoning their primary source of transportation is not an option.

Yet commuters are refusing to idly stand by. They're actively taking measures that would fend off blows to their wallet.

"I try not to use the car too much," said Juan Cruz, 22, of Vineland. "If I have to work, I'll get a ride. If I have to pick up something, I'll go to the nearest store. I'll do anything."

Amy Moats, 57, of Pittsgrove is learning to employ various cost-saving methods, as well.

Moats, a mother of two, drives a minivan. It costs her $30 to fill 'er up, about $10 more than late last fall.

That's why she's tag-teaming with others.

On her way to drop off her children at a skating party, she had already determined that another mother would bring her children back home.

Moats also now runs errands on the way home rather than doing them during her lunch hour like she used to.

"I'll do things on my way home as I pass it," Moats said. "That way I can avoid more trips."