Was regular unleaded gasoline $7.89 per gallon and diesel $8.98 per gallon on March 19, 2021, at a Maverik convenience store in Albuquerque, New Mexico? No, that's not true: The sign is at a store that isn't scheduled to open until April 2021, a man answering the phone at the store on March 23, 2021, told Lead Stories. The man, who identified himself only as Michael, said electricians were recently working on the sign, resulting in the very high gas prices being displayed. The prices don't reflect what the price of gas will be when the store opens, he said.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published March 21, 2021.The post contains a photo of what appears to be the exterior of a Maverik store, including a LED gas price sign. Unleaded is listed at $7.89 per gallon and diesel at $8.98. It opens:
Albuquerque, New Mexico
3-19-2021
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Mar 23 18:46:02 2021 UTC)
Maverik's website showed regular unleaded gas prices at its Albuquerque stores ranging from $2.59 to $2.78 per gallon on March 23, 2021. The price of diesel ranged from $2.89 to $2.99 per gallon. Lead Stories has contacted the company's corporate offices regarding the post's claim of unusually high gas prices at Maverik. We will update the story once the company responds.
The gas prices for cities in New Mexico page on fueleconomy.gov contains links to sources showing that the highest gas price for regular unleaded gas in the Albuquerque area was $2.99 per gallon on March 23, 2021. (The listing does not rank diesel prices.)
The highest ever recorded average price for regular unleaded gas in Albuquerque was $3.987 per gallon on July 17, 2008, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA, website, which tracks gas prices throughout the United States. The highest recorded price for diesel in Albuquerque was $4.821 per gallon, also on July 17, 2008.
Some commenters on the Facebook post were skeptical about the gas prices shown in the photo. The poster responded:
just shared it because it was on their sign another trucker sent it to me
