The World is Not Flat

Gas prices in Michigan are the highest in the nation. According to a brief Detroit News article, the reason is our unique geography. Michigan is a peninsula at the "northern end of the country," placing the state at the end of pipelines. I'm sorry. I don't buy that. Why doesn't everything in Michigan cost more then?

Lots of products are shipped to every stinking inch of the US and the prices are fixed at "suggested retail" amounts. They may be priced higher or lower at the discretion of a store, but could all be sold for the same price. And think of all the cheap products from China. In addition to being shipped to our peninsula at the northern end of the country, they first travel thousands of miles from China.

Take a look at the USA National Gas Temperature Map at GasBuddy.com and see if you can discern a pricing pattern based on geographic remoteness. I just don't see it. As for remote northern peninsulas, what about northernmost Maine?

Gas prices are the highest in Michigan, because they can be. Flatworld technology can't save you, where gas is concerned. Go ahead try to network or blog your way to cheaper gas. You can't because you live in Michigan--a peninsula in space and time and your car's wheels roll on the terra firma portion of the sphere we call home.