Our store bumped hourly starting pay from $17.50 to $17.75. Without notice, as of my Friday paycheck they raised my pay by 2.0%. It's probably an unofficial inflation bump.
In the Seattle area, the most common price for regular unleaded is $5.80/gallon. A few places are around $5.50/gallon. My car has a 15.9 gallon gas tank. If I had to fill the entire gas tank, it would cost $92.22 at $5.80/gallon. It's really depressing!
14 miles away from where I live, a truck stop in Seattle's South Park neighborhood is known for the lowest gas prices near Seattle. The truck stop's bargain price was $5.10/gallon. My car has a 15.9 gallon gas tank. At the truck stop's price, if I had to fill the entire gas tank, it would cost $81.09 @ $5.10/gallon. Since I needed to go over to that area on Saturday, I went by the truck stop and filled up to the tune of $71. Even so, I just get angry that the prices are almost double of what was charged in 2019. (I have some old receipts from buying gas at the truck stop for $2.69/gallon back in 2019).
Most parts of the US, gas prices aren't quite as punishingly high as in the West Coast states. Just sharing the pain here. I've certainly cut out most recreational day trips.