Truckee, CA - If you stop for gas in Truckee, it doesn't matter where you go, the price is the same at every station. And it's not cheap.
"$4.99. That's basically $5," says Evelyn Azucena, a Truckee driver.
But it's not $5. In fact, the price has stayed below the $5 mark for a few days now. While gas prices in Reno and other parts of California have fluctuated pennies each day. the price in Truckee has been stagnant.
"I've been paying $4.99 since Thursday," says Shannon Parratto, a Truckee driver.
The owner of the Chevron right off I-80 says he's kept that price on purpose. If he'd passed on his increased costs to customers, he'd have to charge $5.15 a gallon for regular unleaded. But he doesn't want to be the first - or only - station in town to hit that $5 mark. Even though some drivers say charging just under that isn't much cheaper.
"I think it's maybe a little mind trick that people try to play on themselves. Like $4.99 s better than $5. It's really not," says Azucena.
"This being a small town, there's plenty of places to find gas," says T.J. Pelletier, a Truckee driver. "And if there's one place that's $5, people are going to avod it."
