@DaringSprinter I like your posts. And you understand a lot of stuff and I suspect are more honest than the average person walking down the street.
@achetocuddle: Aw, gee. I'm blushing. Thanks.
Umm its not stealing. They undersold themselves...its on them. And i woulf fill up and go.
Not that I’ve seen it happen, but I wonder what would happen if a pro were to accidentally set their rate to $10/hr and someone booked this rate.
@sunnysideup Oh boy. Now there is a conundrum. That is even more interesting.
I think everyone has a touch of larceny in them but filling up at that price is no minor deal. If you put 20 gallons in your tank it should cost $139.80 but due to the error you only pay $13.98. I don't think I could walk away with someone else's $125.92
@Btown - Are not the current fuel prices also larceny? When demand for fuel plummeted at the stare of the Covid virus, rather than flood the market with fuel, and deal with a drop in prices, the big oil companies shut down several large refineries, to reduce the supply and keep the price up.
When demand rose again, one might think that the thing to do would be to re-open the closed refineries. One would be wrong. Be keeping the refineries closed, they created artificial shortages, which drove up the price. They discovered that they could make more money by selling less. If that isn't price manipulation, I don't know what is. These are the same oil companies who screamed when OPEC deliberately created crude oil shortages back in the 1970's.
I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for them. I suspect that the station that lost all that money has been seeing the highest profit margins they've seen in many years. I know that the big oil companies certainly have. In what other industry is it possible to reduce expenses by purchasing less raw material. shutting down production facilities, and laying off workers, while at the same time enjoying even greater profits?
@GreatHornedOwl Gas stations make only 15 cents a gallon of gross profit and wind up with 2 to 3 cents net profit after fees, taxes and credit card fees. They rely on the convenience store but with gas prices so high people are going to buy less gas and spend less at convenience stores. Yes, the oil companies may be gouging but gas stations are not reaping any benefit from it.
At this point in my life I would have had to say something to the employees inside the station that there was a glitch on the pump !
The reporting on this story is so sketchy. There is like so many obvious questions to ask but can't find any source that asked any. It is reported there were hundreds of cars backed up. Wouldn't that have alerted the employee's something was wrong? I don't think we have all the facts on this story. 🙄
@FunCartel - That was true six months ago, but I'm not sure that it is today. I just checked with Gas Buddy. Within a 3-1/2 mile radius from me, regular gas ranges from $5.29 to $5.89. Are you asking me to believe that one station is paying $0.60 per gallon more for their gas than is another station 1/2 mile away. Bty, the price does not correlate with the brand.
@GreatHornedOwl I was merely stating what I thought I would do in that situation. I wasn't looking to be lectured on the doings, wrong or otherwise, of big oil companies.
@OhioMike Regarding your spoiler, I agree, but I was not gonna say it first. Just not my style to do so. I have a limited amount of energy and inclination to verbally spar.
The guy at the station who got fired for the error takes no blame & set out to re-pay the owner ($20,000 dollars his error caused) … I was going to donate $100 & match up to $250 with peoples donations here that can prove you donated, I was surprised to learn that more than the $20,000 of the goal has been met … so I won’t donate the $100 but my offer to match up to $250 stands
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/guy-accidentally-charged-69-cents-164345904.html
If you accidentally dropped $100 and the person behind you picked it up, I'm sure you'll want them to give it back.
@GreatHornedOwl - Gas dropped to under $2 per gallon in 2020 when people weren't going anywhere.
I answered the poll as a no. As a business owner myself for over 30 years I just couldn't stomach something so obviously wrong.
But as a fellow business owner I would want to know everything that happened and what could be done so it never happens again. I understand mistakes happen, but you are allowed to fix mistakes too.
@OhioMike I think you are correct about not having all the information. The OP'S question was about what we might do in that situation not what we thought about big oil companies. If someone is do inclined they can start a thread on that subject. BTW I liked your response.
@Btown I certainly wasn't intending to lecture you. I guess that I was venting because I can;t afford to take my usual 5,000 mile summer trip with a 3/4 ton diesel, towing a 5th wheel, and getting around 10 mpg.
@Mike403 - I would want them to give it back, but had I been picking their pocket for the last six months, I'm not sure that I would expect them to do so.
Yes, gas did briefly drop below @2.00, but how long did that last? They reacted by shutting down refineries until prices went back up.
@GreatHornedOwl No worries. We all have frustrations.
@mike403 You are a very honest and trustworthy person. It is very easy these days to write off not being honest as “sticking it to the man” but you see clearly through all the smoke screens people put up. Honesty is honesty. I commend you. I am not sure I would always do the same if I am being honest, but you have been unwavering here and in other threads about what you believe. Kudos to you.
@achetocuddle
I agree with that - and curiously there was a GoFundMe setup to recover lost revenue. There have been fradulent sob stories to try to get free money on GoFundMe in the past. Although apparently there are pictures of the incidence on Instagram of the low price, though I don't care enough to search for it. And Shell themselves informed Fortune that the station in question was independently owned atleast, which lends some credibility to the story. Real or true though, it doesn't change the interesting moral dilemma posed by Mike!
@sunnysideup Thanks for your interesting post. I don't care enough to search either. I like to learn and read, but even I don't have all day and limitless energy to put into things like that.
I deliver for Grubhub on the weekends to make some extra cash. It's been a struggle for me because I depend on tips now more than ever just to cover gas.
I've always believed that rideapps should just pay their workers a fair wage and not rely on the mood of the customer to ensure a good wage. Which raises another moral dilemma - by tipping, am I supporting that system, or is it better to not tip to try to get ride apps to lose workers thereby encouraging them to pay more (I always tip food app drivers well as myi conscious won't let me otherwise).
Grubhub charges the restaurant around 30% of gross sales, charges the customer a delivery fee, then pays the driver around $3 per order before tip.
https://thehustle.co/the-economics-of-gas-stations/amp/
Everytime an order comes through, an offer screen comes up showing the total payout including tip and we can choose to accept or reject it. Everytime it is rejected, the base pay increases a little as it is passed around from driver to driver until somebody accepts. Non tippers usually wait longer for their food. My car doesn't move for less than $10.
When speaking in hypotheticals, because that's all this discussion is , it is important to not confuse local independent shop owners with big oil, and politicize it to where the small business owner is held in contempt for the sins of corporate and political shot callers and 1 percenters
@pmvines Exactly my point in several posts and in the article I posted. Most gas stations are individually owned.
@Mike403 Interesting - so non tippers are still indirectly tipping, as by not tipping they are increasing the price of the delivery. But probably still less than tippers as a more desperate (or hybrid) or less calculating driver may accept it.