In The News

Motorists now have an early warning system for gas price spikes, courtesy of Meijer Inc.

In a system expanded in the last few days to northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, the chain sends text messages to participating cell phone users two hours before prices increase at the retailer's gas pumps.

"So far, the response has been amazing," said Stacie Behler, a Meijer spokesman in Grand Rapids, Mich. "We expect several thousand more people signing up." About 6,000 people had signed up for the free service in test markets in Indianapolis and western Michigan, Ms. Behler said. It now includes customers at 165 gas stations in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

The chain began experimenting with the service last year in Indiana.

With prices skyrocketing - including an increase yesterday to $3.50 a gallon at many stations in northwest Ohio in advance of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend - Meijer will likely find lots of takers for the alerts, said Roger Dreyer, president of the Ohio Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association in suburban Columbus. "People are very conscious of prices right now," he added. "It's super sensitive." He was unaware of any other gas stations offering the service.

"We haven't looked into it," said Angela Graves, a spokesman for Speedway SuperAmerica LLC in Findlay. The Marathon Oil Co.-owned chain's Web site allows users to check the price of gas at their neighborhood Speedway station, but Ms. Graves didn't know if traffic has increased as fuel prices have risen.

Spokesmen said Kroger Co. and Giant Eagle supermarkets don't offer the service either but have instead focused on programs that offer gas-price discounts as a reward for grocery purchases.

At 10:59 a.m. yesterday, this message popped up on the cell phone of a user in southwest Toledo: "Meijer gas alert! Meijer Gas prices will increase after 1:30 p.m. EST 5/22/07." The message didn't state the existing price of gas there or how much it would rise.

"With the price of gas, it's definitely a good idea," said Angelo Alfaro, a Toledo construction worker who was filling up his vehicle at the Meijer in Oregon yesterday as prices were about to increase. He will likely sign up. "I'm spending more on gas than food now," he complained. "It doesn't sound bad," added another potential user, Frank Timming, a Toledo taxi driver. "Anything that can help cab drivers. We're hurting. Every dime we make, we're putting back into the tank."

Dorothy Stucky, who was topping off her tank at the Oregon store, said she doesn't have text service on her cell phone but likely wouldn't use the service even if she did. "I'm going by here twice a day, so I know the prices," she said

While the Meijer service is free, cell phone providers typically charge customers a small fee for each text message received. And people who want to know when gas prices drop are on their own, because the retailer doesn't provide notice of that. To make sure users receive information about prices closest to their house, they are required to submit a five-digit ZIP code.

When gas prices are changed with less than a two-hour notice, messages won't be sent because Meijer officials don't want to encourage unsafe driving by motorists who would race to the station before prices rose. The text messages are designed to boost sales of gas and other products at the chain's convenience stores.

The risk is that motorists will read the message and then buy fuel elsewhere. "If we're telling you the price of gas is going up, it's going up everywhere," Ms. Behler conceded.

Sales rose in the test markets after the gas alerts, but the Meijer representative said it is too soon to gauge the impact now that the program has been introduced throughout the chain.