Depends on whether you are getting Regular, Plus, or Supreme unleaded, I suppose. I was referring to Regular, although I admit I saw a gas station earlier today (yesterday, now, actually) at 2.87 for Regular. I pumped a twenty into my tank, as I expect prices to rise soon due to that oil field shut down up northwest in Alaska, and my tank was already below a quarter full.
Very true on the luxuries bit. They always increase the fastest. On the other hand, with a membership card and being careful to choose to buy soda only on those visits when it is on sale for a dollar a double liter (or getting the generic store brand for about that, even if not on sale) is not too bad a choice either.
As for Amazon, I've never had any problems with them. In fact I recently placed an order for David Attenborough's documentory "Life in the Undergrowth" and a nice sounding book called "After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America". The continent IMCW where mammals evolved passed over the south pole about 60 - 110 million years ago, and I want to make sure I'm not making too many mistakes in my presumptions on what happened and how things developed afterwards. As for the other - insects can be interesting. Especially if you increase them to at least Diminuative size.
Think of it as research for more realistic future encounters. Three of the eight demiworlds tied to the Prime IMCW have greater air pressure, allowing for larger insects (as well as requiring acclimization, in much the same way as when adventuring in high altitude locations). Of course, some Diminuative and Tiny versions with book lungs might also have found their way into the Prime at some time or another. Think of an ant colony - where all the ants are the length of your clenched fist (ie: diminuative size). A termite colony working on a redwood could also be interesting. Make fire ants elemental-ish and they could be working in the nearby hill. Perhaps the local mining town will soon accidentally breech one of their tunnels, leading to . . . unpleasantness. Time to call the exterminators - I mean PCs.