CHARLOTTE – By now, you’ve likely heard about the cyberattack on a large gas pipeline operated by Colonial Pipeline Co. While your immediate reaction may be to audibly groan and mumble under your breath “Oh great, another one…” I want to offer some advice and some words of reassurance.

First and foremost, yea, this is going to be a bit of a pain for a brief period, but there is good news. The company expects to be back to something similar to normal by the end of the week as of this writing, which likely means by the time you’re reading this, they already will be.

So if you need gas this week, sorry, it’s gonna be a bit hard to find and a little pricey. But fortunately, this isn’t an issue of lack of product but rather a collapse of digital infrastructure. That’s of course not a good thing, but considerably quicker to fix than say, a shortage of crude oil.

Just whatever you do, please do not run the pump. I cannot stress this enough. Do. not. run. the. pump. Running the pump is like running a bank, it only makes the situation worse than it needs to be. Buy what you need and that’s it. Hoarding gas ruins it for everyone. Don’t be that person with seven cans at the pump. A hurricane isn’t coming through, the apocalypse is not upon us. It is a temporary, regional gas shortage. We’ll be OK.

Questions? Check us out online at www.manchesterautoandtire.com.