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Car Forum / UK Car Forums / Car Maintenance (UK group) / November 2007Overpriced filling station or Newsagent?
My love affair with LPG is being strained to the limit at the moment. Saturday night, I dropped into my local Shell Station, to fill up with LPG. Sadly, all the local cheap independent LPG sellers close in the evenings and weekends, so I'm forced to fill up with shells overpriced gas. My local independent retailer can sell it for 40p/L however a giant multinational such as Shell, charges just under 50p/L. Anyway, the Shell LPG pump was still out of order a week after I last tried to use it. No problem, I'll fill up at the local BP station with expensive LPG, Sunday morning, on my way to work. Gone to pull into the BP station at about 6am, only to find cones across the entrance and the cashier farting about with Sunday newspapers. I asked her how long it would be before I could have some gas? About 15 minutes she replied as the papers have to be dealt with. I told her I was on my way to work and couldn't wait 15 minutes, however, she could only apologise and said she couldn't help. What is it with these filling stations, I can't have gas 'cos they're too busy selling papers! Incidentally, I filled up with Unleaded at Morrisons this morning paying 96.9, as opposed to the 101.9 my local BP station is demanding This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in a hurry tox. > My love affair with LPG is being strained to the limit at the moment. > Saturday night, I dropped into my local Shell Station, to fill up with [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > What is it with these filling stations, I can't have gas 'cos they're too > busy selling papers! They likely make them more money than the fuel. > Incidentally, I filled up with Unleaded at Morrisons this morning paying > 96.9, as opposed to the 101.9 my local BP station is demanding > > This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in a > hurry My local BP is 102.9 and 107.9 for diesel. Funnily, I don't use it. >> My love affair with LPG is being strained to the limit at the moment. >> Saturday night, I dropped into my local Shell Station, to fill up with [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >> What is it with these filling stations, I can't have gas 'cos they're too >> busy selling papers! > They likely make them more money than the fuel. Yup. >> Incidentally, I filled up with Unleaded at Morrisons this morning paying >> 96.9, as opposed to the 101.9 my local BP station is demanding >> >> This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in a >> hurry > My local BP is 102.9 and 107.9 for diesel. Funnily, I don't use it. Hmm - for my usual areas, Shell, supermarkets and Total are usually the cheapest. BP is often a penny a litre dearer.  SignatureThe DervMan www.dervman.com > >> What is it with these filling stations, I can't have gas 'cos they're too > >> busy selling papers! > > > They likely make them more money than the fuel. > > Yup. Only if they're selling the fuel at a loss. Newspapers have even tighter margins than petrol. SignatureSteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo' www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE - COSOC KOTL BOTAFOT #87 - BOTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC # > BP is often a penny a litre dearer. Yes but their stations are a nice green colour :-) SignatureRegards - Rodney Pont The from address exists but is mostly dumped, please send any emails to the address below e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk >> BP is often a penny a litre dearer. > > Yes but their stations are a nice green colour :-) And annoyingly the Saab is less grumpy on the stuff. I'll fill up where I need to and won't worry about the price difference too much. Over 25,000 miles a year and just over 50 to the gallon, 5p a litre is only a couple of tanks of diesel. SignatureThe DervMan www.dervman.com >> Yes but their stations are a nice green colour :-) > >And annoyingly the Saab is less grumpy on the stuff. Has it got the GM V6 engine? My Omega likes the BP stuff, especially the Ultimate. Less grumpy is a good way to describe it. SignatureRegards - Rodney Pont The from address exists but is mostly dumped, please send any emails to the address below e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk > They likely make them more money than the fuel. I should imagine the margins the multinationals make on LPG, are something they could only dream about on petrol. If a small independent can sell LPG at 40p/L and make a profit, what sort of margin is the multinational working on. Clearly, because the Exchequer has treated LPG generously, this has given the multinationals an excuse to cream it and not pass the full saving onto the motorist. The generous terms given to LPG users, was meant to encourage people to covert to LPG. Surely, Cheap LPG, amongst other things, was meant to offset the cost of a conversion, and not to line the pockets of companies such as BP and Shell? tox >> They likely make them more money than the fuel. > > I should imagine the margins the multinationals make on LPG, are something > they could only dream about on petrol. Doubtful. > If a small independent can sell LPG at 40p/L and make a profit, what sort > of margin is the multinational working on. Clearly, because the Exchequer > has treated LPG generously, this has given the multinationals an excuse to > cream it and not pass the full saving onto the motorist. > The generous terms given to LPG users, was meant to encourage people to > covert to LPG. Most, if not all, petrol stations are run on a franchise basis. The chap running them has to make money or he goes out of business, as so many of them are. > Surely, Cheap LPG, amongst other things, was meant to offset the cost of a > conversion, and not to line the pockets of companies such as BP and Shell? Business sets out to make money, shock! If you don't like it, do as you have done already, go somewhere else. BP< Shell et al will still make their money selling the fuel to the supermarkets. > My love affair with LPG is being strained to the limit at the moment. > Saturday night, I dropped into my local Shell Station, to fill up with [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > tox. Newspapers give a better profit than selling petrol/diesel/lpg. > > This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in a > > hurry > > > > tox. > > Newspapers give a better profit than selling petrol/diesel/lpg. Wrong. SignatureSteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo' www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE - COSOC KOTL BOTAFOT #87 - BOTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC # >> > This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in a >> > hurry [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Wrong. Out of interest, why do supermarkets (or newsagents) bother selling papers? Is it down to to the fact that people tend to buy a packet of fags or a mars bar at the same time? > >> > This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in a > >> > hurry [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Is it down to to the fact that people tend to buy a packet of fags or a mars > bar at the same time? Newsagents do it because they sell other higher margin stuff, as you say. Supermarkets do it to offer customers almost everything they could possibly want under the same roof. The reason why margins are so low on them is that they're all sale or return - so it's swings and roundabouts, really - low margin but almost zero risk. However, timescales are very tight to get credits for returned stock, so it would be more important for a member of staff to process the papers and mags. properly than it would be to flog someone a tank of fuel at zero margin. SignatureSteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo' www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE - COSOC KOTL BOTAFOT #87 - BOTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC # >> >> > This is one p*ssed off customer, who will not be returning to BP, in >> >> > a [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Supermarkets do it to offer customers almost everything they could > possibly want under the same roof. Or to be c.nts and squeeze newsagents until they go out of business and people have to go to Tesco for their fags. OTOH Supermarkets don't sell porn so the newsagents just need to diversify ;). > My love affair with LPG is being strained to the limit at the moment. > Saturday night, I dropped into my local Shell Station, to fill up with [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > tox. Like many employees - they work to a set of procedures and are not allowed to make any judgements. It is called progress. You cannot have it all ways - one minute someone complaining because the fuel stations are trying to make a profit - the sods :) Previous posts complain that fuel stations are closing as they are loosing money > My love affair with LPG is being strained to the limit at the moment. > Saturday night, I dropped into my local Shell Station, to fill up with LPG. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > such as Shell, charges just under 50p/L. Anyway, the Shell LPG pump was > still out of order a week after I last tried to use it. The funny thing I find about petrol is that as the average consumer you really don't know if there is any difference between 96.9p/l or 102.9p/l. Is there any difference in the quality of petrol? My guess is people just assume petrol is petrol, this probably causes the manufactures to produce the cheapest product as nobody will want to pay more. Around our way, it appears people seem more interested in the shop attached to the station. We have a Tesco station and a Shell about 200 yards away from each other. The Tesco station is always packed (even on the days it's 1p/l more expensive), the Shell station only ever has the odd car or two. The thing is, it's the Shell station keeping the Tesco prices down (the Tesco station down the road that killed of the local competition is 2-3p/l more expensive). Regards, Tim |
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