What happened over there, and what it costs you here.
Every morning Wade Cantrell picks one thing happening in the world and follows it to a dollar figure on a bill you pay. Then he tells you what he'd do about it this week. It comes to your email.
One gallon of Army fuel in Afghanistan, 2009. Marine Corps and Pentagon estimates.
One gallon of Army fuel in Afghanistan
The same gallon, priced at every stop.
The fuel itself was the cheap part. Every mile between the depot and the men who needed it went into the price, and the farther out they were, the more it cost.
Marine Corps Energy Assessment Team, Afghanistan, August 2009. Worst case: Pentagon estimate given to Congress, 2009.
Your fuel rides the same kind of road, with smaller numbers.
Trouble at any stop shows up on your number within a couple of weeks. Wade spent two tours in Iraq riding behind fuel trucks, and that road is what he watches for you.
- A strait
- A tanker
- A refinery
- A trucker's tank
- Your pump