The Miracle of Gas Prices
I have written before about how amazing it is that gasoline can be delivered to your car so cheaply. The investments, the technological complexity, the distances covered, the molecular-level processing necessary, the density of retail distributions establishments -- they are all simply staggering.
I hate to steal this in full from Mark Perry, who has an awesome blog, but he has a list of the price per gallon of other liquids you buy. Think about the complexity of, say, orange juice as opposed to gasoline.
| Product | Cost Per Gallon |
|---|---|
| HP Printer Ink | $4,500 |
| Nyquil | $107.52 |
| Premium Vodka | $76.80 |
| Honey | $46.72 |
| Hair Gel | $44.80 |
| Pancake Syrup | $32.26 |
| Red Bull | $28.00 |
| Windex | $23.81 |
| Real Lemon Juice | $22.91 |
| Soy Sauce | $22.66 |
| Chicken Noodle Soup | $21.25 |
| Mouthwash | $19.65 |
| Tide Laundry Detergent | $18.18 |
| Dawn Dish Detergent | $17.92 |
| Craft Beer | $17.78 |
| Mustard | $17.41 |
| Mayonnaise | $17.02 |
| 409 Cleaner | $16.64 |
| Ranch Dressing | $16.00 |
| Half and Half Cream | $15.87 |
| Shampoo | $15.36 |
| Spaghetti Sauce | $14.59 |
| Ketchup | $13.95 |
| Vegetable Oil | $13.44 |
| Orange Juice | $11.69 |
| V-8 | $10.37 |
| Tomato Juice | $9.47 |
| Juicy Juice | $8.83 |
| Cranberry Juice | $7.94 |
| Soy Milk | $6.66 |
| Gatorade | $6.53 |
| Apple Juice | $6.00 |
| Iced Tea | $5.89 |
| Ammonia | $4.10 |
| Milk | $4.00 |
| Pepsi | $3.71 |
| Vinegar | $3.07 |
| Sparkling Water | $2.94 |
| Gasoline | $2.05 |