Gas Price Graphic

The Army/Air Force Exchange Service, or AAFES, provide goods and services to U.S. Military Members all over the world. AAFES operates what is commonly known as the Base Exchange, the BX on an Air Force base, or the Post Exchange, the PX on an Army fort. The BX provides merchandise like TVs, computers, clothing, personal goods, household goods and more. They are essentially like a Walmart. They charge U.S. Service members a fraction above cost, and no tax for the goods they provide. They also run many concessions on base, such as a pizza parlor, a Taco Bell, a Baskin-Robbins, a sandwich shop, and the base gas station. AAFES purchases one-year contracts on the gasoline they sell to U.S. members in the continental U.S. (CONUS) and overseas. The gasoline prices are very competitive. Recently, in the Pacific region, AAFES renewed its contract for gasoline. They upped the price of gasoline to $1.62 a gallon. As usual, Air Force people whined about the price increase, and accused AAFES of trying to make a fast buck on the backs of service members. I was personally offended and embarrassed by the complaints of fellow service members and their dependents. The price of gasoline on the economy of Japan is approximately $3.64/gal. In England, it is over $4/gal.

When we decided to run the AAFES press release concerning gas price increases in the Pacific on the front of our newspaper, I decided we needed an info-graphic to go with it. I had seen a similar info-graphic on CNN. I sent out a request on the Military Public Affairs mailing list to query gas prices around the world, mostly I got responses from people in the states. I found a U.S. Department of Energy Web site that lists gas prices around the world. I used this data and constructed this graphic from the data on the web site, a line graphic on the Web site, and a piece of clip art off the Web.

The line graph that is gray in the background of this graphic is actually the price of U.S. gas per gallon compared to gas prices around the world. I decided to not use their graph entirely, so I removed the legends and words from it, it serves no informational purpose, it is there for effect.

I hoped this graph would show everybody that AAFES probably has the lowest gas prices in the world, and they should stop whining and embarrassing the Air Force. CTLOPEZ (Publication date, September 22, 2000)