One is volume -- the typical Costco sells far more gas monthly than your average stand alone retail gas station.
Two is subsidies -- Costco charges a membership fee which helps offset its discounting practices, including for gas.
Three is "loss leader" pricing -- while Costco isn't selling at a loss, it is selling at a reduced margin as a way to attract customers to its stores, where they spend money on thing other than gas.

In short, comparing what Costco charges to what stand alone gas stations charge is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison.

in Sonoma County, California.

Regular is $4 and change

What is it in Europe? Are oil companies subsidized in Europe?

Wow! Haven't seen that low a price in a CA in a long time that I recall. We'll be there later in the month for an xmas gathering and have a long drive in the plans, it'll be nice to not pay $5.50-6 a gallon like it feels like it always is when we visit (though we did not do so during COVID).

for years.

put in calls to "Big oil" to lower prices because it makes him look bad. You know your industry could go thru some things.

If that means lowering prices in exchange for who knows what promises from the Tangerine Shitgibbon, well..,

Probably a sign that the economy is going in the tank.

Which is another sign the real economy is in the toilet.

There are probably over 290 million vehicles on the road in the US. The total number of Teslas is probably around 3 million, tops and the total number of other EVs is another million.

Fuel efficiency of new cars has improved over the past 25 years, but because people are keeping their cars longer, the impact on overall fuel consumption increases very slowly. Certainly not enough to explain the up and down shifts in gas prices this year or any other year.

3.99 at costco

But 15 miles NE on the Arizona strip it was $289.9.

Still over $3.00 and higher than when Trump took office in January.

Usually supposed to go down after September.

Price of oil is below $60/barrel today. While it's nice to pay a little less at the pump, lower gas prices is probably not a great sign for the overall economy.

The flip side is that Trump has convinced OOEC to keep production up because lower gas prices make him look good.

Happens almost every winter.
OPEC has increased production just at a time when demand has dropped as it typically does as we move from summer to winter. And winter blends are cheaper to produce than summer blends.

Since 2008 -- as far back as I bothered to look -- the monthly average retail price of a gallon of gas has been lower in November and December than October almost every year.

I am curious as some of my projected business is in oil business.

I paid $4 last week.

The price at the gas station depends on the cost of crude oil; the cost of refining, which includes distillation, conversion, treatment, and blending; the varying demand for gasoline, heating oil, diesel, and jet fuel; the cost of distribution; taxes, and local competition. These costs change all the time. There's also a thing called "crack spread," which is the difference between the cost of crude and the cost of refining ("cracking" ). When the demand for gasoline increases its price rises faster than the cost of crude, widening the spread. Refiners typically increase production, but the high product prices mean gas costs more at the pump. There is less demand for gasoline in the winter, so the spread becomes narrower, meaning there is either more supply or crude is more expensive. A narrow crack spread means lower gas costs.

cheapest I've seen in a while.

the oil fields, all they way to the gas pumps. They are beyond regulations as they own the government. Citizens United says it all. There are no Free Markets, they are all paid for.

which kinda surprised me.

Still over 4.50 at Tahoe
Don’t remember last time I bought gas at 2.75

That's just one station, not connected with a group purchasing service like Costco. Usually, I pay $2.99 per. as I'd have to drive far enough for 10 cents less to wipe out the 10 cents.

Reports from late 2025 indicate significant increases in U.S. oil and gas subsidies, largely due to legislation like the "One Big Beautiful Bill," adding billions in tax breaks and incentives, alongside cuts to clean energy programs, effectively boosting fossil fuel support despite overall efforts to curb them. Estimates suggest an additional $4 billion per year in direct fossil fuel subsidies from new legislation, adding to existing substantial annual support, totaling tens of billions in direct and indirect aid.

Of course, it's throwing the country deeper into debt. Republicans will just sit on their hemorrhoidal asses, and point their shit stained fingers..