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National

The pain at the pump shows no signs of slowing down, with record-high gas prices being br0ken almost daily. 

Why it matters: Even as gas prices inch closer to a national average of $5 a gallon and Americans grapple with inflation, there are some ways to save money on a fill-up from searching for the cheapest price to using loyalty programs.

Driving the news: The national average for regular unleaded was $4.956 on Wednesday.

16 states, along with Washington D.C., had averages exceeding $5 a gallon Wednesday, according to the latest data from AAA.

California ($6.39) and Nevada ($5.56) had the nation's highest prices Tuesday.

Georgia has the lowest at $4.38 a gallon.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told Axios that gas could hit an average of $5 nationwide in the “next week or so.”

Check apps like GasBuddy, AAA and Gas Guru to find the cheapest gas prices before filling up.

What they’re saying: GasBuddy spokesperson Nicole Petersen advises shopping around for the best gas prices, but the cheapest station isn’t always the most convenient.

“Drivers can save in the range of 30 cents per gallon just by comparing prices and driving a few extra blocks,” Petersen told Axios.

Costco members say fuel savings is a top perk of their membership. Photo: Gabe Ginsberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam's Club are known for having some of the lowest gas prices around, which also can make their gas stations some of the busiest.

Retailers have considered it common for members to shop while visiting the store for a fill-up for many years.

But Bob Nelson, a Costco senior vice president, said May 26 during the retailer’s quarterly earnings call that a lot more members are coming by to “top off their tank just because the value proposition, in some cases, is over $1 a gallon.”

Meanwhile, at BJ's Wholesale, save 10 cents on each gallon of gas for each eligible item purchased with its "Fuel Saver Program."

There's also a BJ's promotion through June 15 to get 75 cents off a gallon when purchasing four qualifying items in one transaction.

What they're saying: “If you fill up at the wholesale club the majority of the time, you do get an advantage and the more often you do it, (the membership) can pay for itself,” GasBuddy's De Haan said in an interview with Axios.

Be smart: Almost every major gas station chain has a loyalty program and some regularly offer savings.

Through June 12, Wawa is offering 15 cents off a gallon when you pay for gas through its app.

With 7-Eleven’s 7Rewards program, get 11 cents off every gallon, up to 20 gallons, on seven fill-ups in the first 90 days of signing up and then 3 cents off per gallon.

Other top gas rewards programs include BPme Rewards, Exxon Mobil Rewards+ and Shell Fuel Rewards.

Kroger, Safeway, Walmart offer fuel rewards

Quick take: Grocery store chains including Kroger and Albertsons offer gas savings when buying groceries with their loyalty programs.

At Kroger earn Fuel Points with the loyalty program and get between 10 cents and $1 off a gallon, depending on how many points you redeem.

With Safeway and Albertson’s loyalty program, earn one fuel point for every dollar spent and with 100 points get 10 cents a gallon off at Chevron and Texaco stations.

Members of Walmart+, which costs $12.95 a month or $98 a year, save 10 cents per gallon at participating Exxon and Mobil locations.

The big picture: Bankrate’s Ted Rossman said using a gas rewards credit card is the best bet to save, but it can depend on the card.

Rossman said gas station credit cards don’t offer the highest discounts and were between 5 to 10 cents a gallon.

Look for cards offering a high percentage back for gas and if you're a wholesale club member, Sam's Club offers 5% back on gas and Costco 4% with their branded cards.

Reality check: Paying in cash can sometimes save you money because of credit card surcharges, but watch out as gas stations that charge this fee often charge higher prices.

High gas prices at a California gas station

California has the nation's highest gas prices. Photo:  Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Krispy Kreme brings back its "Beat the Pump” promotion Wednesday, which ties the price of a dozen doughnuts to the national average price of a regular gallon of gas.

The deal will be held every Wednesday through Aug. 31 and there's a limit of two discounted dozens per customer.

Flashback: Krispy Kreme first offered the promotion in April, when the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline exceeded $4.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on June 8.

5 top ways to save on high gas prices

The pain at the pump isn't slowing down, but it's possible to save.

Yellow taxi cab driving in front of a gas station

The national average for regular unleaded was $4.91 a gallon June 7. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Gas prices

Transportation

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Whats Next

Axios What's Next

We're encountering lots more robots in our daily lives — delivering our food, pouring our drinks, mowing our lawns — but they're just a small glimpse of what's to come.

Why it matters: As brainy machines take over tasks as diverse as chopping vegetables, driving trucks and assisting the elderly, the human labor force will see major shifts in what jobs are needed.

Driving the news: The number of labor-saving robots on the market is exploding, thanks to improvements in AI and lower development costs. People have grown accustomed to some of them (hello, Roomba vacuums), but others still fill us with wonder.

Robot bartenders are cropping up everywhere, from sports arenas to hotels, while robot servers in restaurants bear bowls of Ramen noodles, plates of chicken curry and other dishes.

Delivery robots tote meals and groceries on city streets and sidewalks (where they're still a curiosity), as well as college campuses (where students are eager to name them).

Professional kitchens are being transformed by robots that can flip burgers and brew coffee.

In Japan, robots are "commonly employed in jobs like chopping vegetables and making sushi," according to Robotics and Automation News. They also help farmers plant rice and other crops.

Robot dogs are being employed in ways that would make a border collie proud — as pets, tennis ball caddies (good boy!), watchdogs and facilities inspectors.

But other uses have courted controversy. The New York Police Department stopped using its "Digidog" amid civil liberties complaints, and a proposal to deploy them on the U.S.-Mexico border has raised concerns.

What they're saying about the robot revolution: "I would compare it to the computer industry in the early '90s, when the software was just evolving," Ajay Sunkara, CEO of Nala Robotics, tells Axios. "I believe this is the first stage and that robots are here to stay."

His company just introduced "Pizzaiola," a pizza-making robot that can churn out 50 pies an hour. It takes voice commands and can knead and stretch dough with its robotic arms (and apply 35 types of toppings).

Between the lines: The ongoing labor shortage is fueling demand for robot workers, while the pandemic heightened concerns over hygiene — making people sensitive to who is touching their food and groceries.

The big picture: Robots are poised to make a particularly big difference in caring for the elderly, experts say.

Robotic home monitoring systems will detect if an older person falls — and summon help.

A robot health care worker "could take care of us, tell a story, cook and clean," says Professor Lionel Robert Jr., a roboticist at the University of Michigan. "So they could do the messy work, but they could also be our friend — and take our pulse and blood pressure."

The anthropomorphic angle: Robots are interacting with people in increasingly human and personal ways, which deepens our connection to them — and scares us. 

Humanoid robots can sing and tell jokes and even paint artistic pictures.

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa are going to grow sophisticated enough to engage in meaningful dialogue, predicts Professor Christopher Atkeson, a roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University.

"You’re going to have real immersive conversations with these personal agents, and they’re going to become your friends," he tells Axios. 

What's next: Robots under development will eventually be able to empty the dishwasher, fold the laundry and collect the toys your child has thrown on the floor.

They'll even suck up the stray potato chips lodged in your sofa cushions, per a new video from Dyson.

"Any kitchen appliance you can think of is going to have a bigger brain and more sensors," Atkeson says.

Self-driving delivery robots await packages to deliver.

Serve Robotics supplies delivery robots to Uber Eats, which has service in L.A. Photo courtesy of Serve Robotics

Editor's note: This story was originally published on June 9.

Welcome to the summer of robots

Robots cook, clean, drive — and will soon care for the elderly.

A robot dog carries tennis balls at the Madrid Open.

A robotic dog carries tennis balls at the 2022 ATP Tour Madrid Open. Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

Robots

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

David Axelrod, chief strategist for former President Obama’s two winning presidential campaigns, told the New York Times in an interview that President Biden's age would be a liability if he runs for a second term in 2024.

Why it matters: Nearing the midterm, some Democrats are growing wary of Biden seeking a second term, especially given that former President Trump may seek to return to the White House, the Times reports.

Biden has said that he intends to run in 2024 with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate if he remains in good health and if his predecessor runs again.

What they're saying: “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,” Axelrod said.

“Biden doesn’t get the credit he deserves for steering the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House,” Axelrod added. 

“And part of the reason he doesn’t is performative. He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality.” 

The big picture: Biden's approval rating is extremely low going into the midterm elections, as the country faces inflationary pressures, as well as rising food, energy and housing prices.

It's common for the president’s party to lose seats in Congress in the midterms, though Biden's legislative agenda and judicial nominations could be completely stymied if Democrats lose control of the House or the Senate or both, Axios' Sarah Mucha reports.

Biden's age would be a liability if he runs in 2024, David Axelrod says

"The stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term" Axelrod said.

David Axelrod in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2015.

David Axelrod in Las Vegas in 2015. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Joe Biden

Elections 2024

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

The Seattle field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said Friday it was helping authorities in Oregon investigate a fire that was "suspicious in nature" at a pregnancy center run by a Christian organization.

Why it matters: The fire at the Gresham, Oregon, facility came after a similar anti-abortion facility in Eggertsville, New York, was damaged in an alleged arson attack earlier this week. That incident is also currently under investigation, according to the Buffalo News.

The U.S. government is preparing for a potential surge in political violence from the Supreme Court's ultimate ruling on abortion rights in the coming weeks.

What they're saying: First Image, the anti-abortion organization that runs the Gresham Pregnancy Resource Center, said in a post on its website that a fire broke out at the facility about 3am on Friday.

Extensive fire damage was mostly contained to one room but there was additional water and smoke damage in other parts of the building, the organization said. No one was injured in the incident.

“We don’t know who’s involved in this. But there’s enough to tell us that it is suspicious in nature,” Jason McGowan, Gresham's fire battalion chief, told KOIN 6, a CBS affiliate, on Friday. “And that’s why we need to have multiple agencies looking into it and seeing what exactly happened this morning.”

CompassCare Community, the Christian-based anti-abortion facility in New York, said Tuesday that a fire broke out in the building, several windows were smashed and the outside of the facility was vandalized with graffiti.

The big picture: A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo from last month said that law enforcement agencies are investigating social-media threats to burn down or storm the Supreme Court building and murder justices and their clerks, as well as attacks targeting places of worship and abortion clinics, Axios' Sophia Cai and Stef W. Kight report.

Political acts of violence could be carried out by both anti-abortion and abortion-rights extremists, the memo stated.

The DHS publicly warned this week that the U.S. faces an increased threat of violence stemming in part from the court's ultimate decision.

A man was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland home this week. He confessed to law enforcement officials that he was having suicidal thoughts and had traveled from California to Maryland to kill Kavanaugh.

Go deeper: Man charged for attempted murder of Justice Kavanaugh

ATF investigating "suspicious" fire at Oregon pregnancy center

A similar anti-abortion facility in New York was damaged in an alleged arson attack earlier this week.

Axios

Saturday's top stories

5 top ways to save on high gas prices

Welcome to the summer of robots

Biden's age would be a liability if he runs in 2024, David Axelrod says

ATF investigating "suspicious" fire at Oregon pregnancy center

Axios AM Deep Dive: Inside the metaverse

How to help stressed teachers

America's hidden boom

Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée wants LIV golfers "banned" from some PGA Tour tourneys

Rep. Brooks slams Trump for endorsing his opponent in Alabama Senate race

Supply chain issues are creating a tampon shortage

Time for digital detox

Exclusive: Ex-Taliban detainee secures release of American woman in Afghanistan