Hundreds of drivers lined up at a Hermosa Shell station on Tuesday for a one-day promotion that sold gasoline for $1.99 a gallon, turning the station at 4357 W. Belmont Ave. into a traffic jam of bargain hunters. By 2:30 p.m., 366 cars had been fueled and 4,700 gallons had gone out the pumps.
The crowd formed as Chicago-area gas prices climbed above $5 a gallon for the first time in four years, making the discount feel less like a perk and more like a reprieve. T-Mobile hosted the event to mark the 10th anniversary of T-Mobile Tuesdays, and the station was dressed in the company’s pink branding for the occasion.
For Alyssa Gonzalez, who said she recently lost her job and usually spends nearly $50 a week to fill her tank, the wait lasted more than two hours. She said prices at that level had not been seen in years and that the break let her breathe a little now. The promotion mattered because the station’s regular price was $5.09 a gallon before the sale, and all grades dropped to the same price during the event.
The savings were real, but they were also brief. The one-day offer delivered about $14,000 in discounts, yet it did nothing to change what drivers would face once the line disappeared and the pumps returned to $5.09 a gallon. Rupert Medina, who lives two blocks away, bought nine gallons and said the stop was worth it.
What T-Mobile does next is the unanswered part. Tuesday’s turnout showed how quickly a sharp price cut can pull in drivers when fuel costs are squeezing a city, but the company has not said whether it will repeat the promotion at another station or on another date.
