WORCESTER, Mass. — For several hours Thursday morning, a Massachusetts gas station gave motorists some relief, slashing prices to 10 cents per gallon.
The promotion was part of UniBank’s first anniversary celebration, and customers took advantage of the deep discount at a Chop Chop Convenience store in Worcester, WFXT reported.
The promotion ended at 10 a.m. ET, but motorists lined up to grab the discount fuel while they could. There was a 30-gallon limit per vehicle.
“When we were coming up on our one-year anniversary next week, we thought, all right, we’re going to do something even better and bigger,” UniBank CEO Michael Welch told the television station. “So we decided to do 10 cents in honor of the one-year anniversary — just as a way of giving back to the community.”
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy, the lowest average price for a gallon of gasoline was 17 cents in 1931, at the height of the Great Depression. The agency said that some areas of the country had outlets selling the fuel for as low as a dime.
Prices also hovered around 20 cents per gallon during World War II, but rationing probably discouraged motorists from actively taking advantage as travel was limited.
A gallon averaged more than a dollar for the first time in 1981 (1.19). It broke the $2 plateau in 2005 ($2.30) and jumped past $3 three years later ($3.27).
According to AAA, the national price for a gallon of gasoline on Thursday was $2.991.
Not surprisingly, customers who were able to fill up were thrilled. The lines were reminiscent of those that bedeviled motorists during the oil embargo of 1973-74, but there was no shortage of happiness among customers in Worcester.
“I think it should be every day,” one motorist joked to WFXT. “If I ran the world, gas would be free.”
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