by Robert Stewart

    Drivers are seeing welcome relief at the gas pumps as fuel prices continue to fall. Savings for motorists have translated to increased sales at many gas stations, but not at every one.
     "We're definitely selling more now that gas is going down," Lisa Tobey, manager of the Bronco Spur convenience store in Utica, said.
     "The sales have really gone up quite a bit," Lucinda Pedersen, Seward Gas 'N Shop manager, said. "We've been getting a lot more customers coming. It's been good."
     Tobey said that another aspect of sales that has been affected by reduced fuel prices are items sold within the store. People are spending more on refreshments that they do not have to spend on gas.
     Mike Moore, manager of SpeeDee Mart, south of Seward at the junction of Highway 15 and Interstate 80, said that even when gas prices were high the station was selling more fuel than last year.
     "This whole summer, compared to last summer, we've had an increase in gallons every month," he said.
     Many stations throughout the county reported that sales have remained at a fairly constant level.
     Melanie Reisinger, manager of Fast Mart in Seward, said fuel prices did not have an effect on the station's sales.
     "It's been almost the same," she said. "It didn't drop down when it (the price of fuel) was high and it hasn't sped up since it's down."
     The Casey's store in Milford reported the same results, citing business from commuters as a reason for the stability.
     "It's been pretty much the same as it was," Connie Hoile, Casey's manager, said. "People still need to travel for work and they're still fueling up."
     One station, Gas-N-Snaks in Seward has actually seen fewer gas sales since prices have gone down.
     "The volume's been cut in half, it doesn't make sense," manager Norm Johnson said.
     The station has also seen another seeming paradox in that the number of motorists driving off without paying has increased.
     The station has had around eight drive-offs in the last month and Johnson said the problem is occurring with more and more regularity. Casey's in Milford reported a similar problem.
     "We've had more since gas has come down that we did when it was up," Hoile said.
     Fast Mart reported a more drive-offs when fuel prices were around $3 a gallon, and Reisinger said it has not been as much of a problem since prices have come down. Managers of both Gas 'N Shop and the Bronco Spur said drive-offs have not really been a problem, and Pedersen said that when a drive-off does occur it often is not malicious.
     "Sometimes...the customer totally forgets," she said.
     For the stations experiencing drive-offs, though, the lost revenue can be bothersome. Johnson said that the drive-offs that have taken place at Gas-N-Snaks have been on full tanks of gas, often $30 or more.
     Chief Deputy Dan Hejl of the Seward County Sheriff's Department said many times drive-offs are mere absent-mindedness on the motorists' part, but when fuel prices increased so did incidents of purposeful drive-offs.
     "Lately, especially with the high gas (prices) most of them have been intentional," he said.
     But he added that since prices have gone down the department has gotten fewer calls about the problem.
     Motorists who are pulled over are sometimes surprised to realize that they left without paying for their fuel. Hejl said that usually the department will follow a car back to the station to make sure payment is made, rather than arresting those involved in a drive-off.
     For authorities to apprehend a driver involved in a drive-off they need a good description of the car or ideally, a license plate number.
     "If they (gas stations) provide us a plate number we can do some follow-up that way," Hejl said.
     Good descriptions or plate numbers can be hard to come by however, as drive-offs often occur when stations are busy and clerks are occupied taking care of other customers.
     Johnson suggested that motorists keep an eye on those using the pumps with them, as theft of services, which drive-offs are, will eventually lead to greater prices at the pump as businesses must compensate for lost revenue.
     Hejl said that occasionally clerks have a drive-off, but report the wrong vehicle.
     He said the best way to avoid having to pay for someone else's fuel is to always get documentation of your transaction.
     "Whenever you buy gas, always get a receipt for it," Hejl said.