About the people who took advantage of a price error at the gas pump.

Mike403Mike403
in General

People thought they were sticking it to the oil companies when they were filling up for 69 cents per gallon. That actually costs the gas station's owner who usually doesn't have anything to do with the price of gas. They still buy it from their supplier at regular price. If you know the price is wrong and you fill up anyway, it is literally stealing.

  1. If you see a too good to be true price at the pump, would you fill up anyway without telling anyone?128 votes
    1. Yes
      57.81%
    2. No
      28.13%
    3. Not sure
      14.06%
«134567

Comments

  • [Deleted User]rhorho1234 (deleted user)

    It is hard to imagine what I might do in that situation. In my ignorance, I might just happily fill the gas without suspecting it is an error. But, for sure if I get to know later that that was an error, then I will go back to the gas station and pay the fair amount based on how much I filled.

  • CharlieBearCharlieBear Mod

    I know with 100% certainty that I would not. I have been in similar situations so many times and my conscience won’t let me screw someone over like that 😅

  • Sheena123Sheena123

    For me, I don’t usually pay attention to the price. When I need to fill up, I just go to my fave gas station, pump away and then leave. I know, responsibly, I should be paying attention to the price but I don’t 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

  • matt2345matt2345
    edited June 2022

    I am not totally sure what I would do, if there was a coupon for P&G that allowed me to get 10 bottles of tide for free and it was a mistake in the value of the coupon or released at a time when the price of tide dropped. I wouldn't feel bad screwing over P&G, *

    but I don't know how small or profitable or unprofitable a gas station is. Maybe the owner made a ton or is making a ton, without the information about how much they make, I wouldn't know what I would do.

    If I knew the owner made over 200k in a year or if they were originally selling the gas for 40 cents more than they normally would, then I wouldn't feel bad taking it for 69 cents.

    *please don't correct me on my facts if P&G isn't the company that makes or loses money from selling tide. You get my point.

  • Mike403Mike403

    @Sheena123 - I don't always check while filling, but I know what my final cost is when I'm done and if it was less than $10 to fill my tank, I know something is wrong. lol

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    The gas station owners lost 20,000 due to the workers error and he then got fired. There’s a gofundme to help him and try and help repay the gas station.

  • cuddles_ndreamcuddles_ndream

    If its a corporate gas station I’m definitely gonna fill up (they dropped the gas refining process to make gas “more scarce” and pocket more money, they’re literally stealing from us), if its an independent gas station I won’t do it.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl
    edited June 2022

    @cuddles_ndream - Absolutely. Given how the oil companies have been price gouging us for months, I can't blame people for having taken advantage of a mistake.

    @Sheena123 - You must have a small tank. When it takes $180 to fill my 30 gallon tank, believe me, I notice.

  • mc_quiettimemc_quiettime

    I’d fill up 2x’s! Take the win when you can get it! LoL…They can re-charge my credit card if needed but I’m not asking to be charged more.

  • davidb3212davidb3212

    I understand the gas station owner loses money, but its far from stealing. If it's listed at a price and you purchase it at the listed price, that is a valid transaction.

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    I'm with @Sheena123, I literally wouldn't even have noticed. 😆

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • Mike403Mike403

    @SunsetSnuggles - You don't budget expenses? I use the EveryDollar app on my phone. It keeps me from spending more than I make. That means I do I have to check what I paid at the pump.

  • GentlyJamGentlyJam

    I don't think it's that bad to fill up your tank when the price is incorrect. As long as people don't start filling extra containers and such. It's up to the business owner to keep the pricing up to date. They need to check there pumps often for safety issues anyways so they should be checking the price. Also they should have some system to check the volume and profitability compared to previous days.

  • cuddles_ndreamcuddles_ndream

    @GreatHornedOwl 💯!! …. And I’m shaking the nozzle when it stops just to get the last few drops.

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    @Mike403 I loved EveryDollar, and used it for quite a long time. I have also budgeted manually with Excel spreadsheets. But gas needs to be bought, so I stick in my card, let it go until it stops, and throw the receipt in my purse to log later. 😋 Gas isn't where I overspend, it's the colorful things at TJ Maxx that get me in trouble. 🤑 (Or did, when I lived within two hundred miles of one. 😐)

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod
    edited June 2022

    @davidb3212

    I understand the gas station owner loses money, but its far from stealing. If it's listed at a price and you purchase it at the listed price, that is a valid transaction.

    Not necessarily. Many legal systems have the concept of 'manifest error'. If the price is obviously a mistake, then it is not a valid price.

    If an estate agent says the price is "one sixty five" you can't shout "I'll buy it!" and then claim the price of the house is £1.65.

    To the people who would take the gas, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that if the mistake was the other way, and at the till you were charged $1,000, you'd just pay up and not say anything. Otherwise you would be a person who will point out a mistake that hurts you, but not point out a mistake that hurts someone who is helping you.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    Independent gas stations don't make hardly anything on gas. One time I bought several dollars and some change. I laid the change on the counter and the cashier said "Well, there is our part". I might do like @cuddles_ndream.
    If I were tired and inattentive and realized later I didn't pay the correct price at a corporate anything, I would lose no sleep and would not try to make it right.

  • cuddles_ndreamcuddles_ndream

    @achetocuddle - ‘at a corporate anything, I would lose no sleep’ … this!

  • Mike403Mike403

    Avoid high gas prices when traveling short distances with one of these. Pick it up and plug it in when you get home.

  • CuddleKhat72CuddleKhat72

    If that's the price, that's what I'll pay.

  • MelancholyMelancholy

    It's sad to see so many people who would not think twice at ripping off a gas station.
    I hope it's because they don't realize that gas station owners don't make a big profit off the gas prices going up. It's not under their direct control.
    It's similar to if an employee forgets to lock the cash register or close it and you just help yourself to the cash sitting there. Really the same concept. You know the price is a mistake but you took advantage of it anyway.
    That's immoral in my opinion.

  • Mike403Mike403

    @Melancholy - I created this thread because I saw so many comments on YouTube and Facebook about how they wish they lived there or knew about it so they can fill up all their vehicles and bring extra gas cans. Humans have a tendency to be selfish and I wanted to see how this community felt about it.

  • sunnysideupsunnysideup

    I put no. But desperate times call for separate measures - if I were broke and needed to be somewhere, I’d probably take advantage, maybe, idk. Havent been in that situation. All other times I would report it.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    @Melancholy I agree it is immoral. I just don't know that the morality of it would concern me when I'm aware that many corporations do immoral things themselves. That would not make it right or OK. And I am not able to offer a definite factual example of immoral things corporations do.

    I absolutely could not do it knowing the individual had to pay it back.

    It is generally easy for a lot of people to say they would not do something wrong if their lives have not been hard and they have not literally had to do without enough to eat, essential transportation, etc.

  • pmvinespmvines

    As a gainfully employed adult, I can say no. As someone who has in my past faced really tough choices out of pure desperation and done a few things I'm not proud of in order to survive, I completely get why so many people would jump at this without hesitation

  • relaxtoday221relaxtoday221

    I buy my gas 50.00 at a time. I always have to add gas everyday because of my work. I’ll be honest until I read this thread I thought gas was 4.10 a gallon. I just looked and it is up to 5.25 in my area.
    I would not have known the price error till I filled up. But I would have gone back inside and asked if this was a special promotion. If he said yes I would call everyone I know to bring a car and a gas can. If not he would know about the problem.
    It is not wrong to accidentally benefit. It is wrong to actively deceive.
    It is sad that people talk about the big bad companies that are taking advantage of us, but cash a paycheck from one of those same companies.
    I am a small business owner who employs 30 people and a loss that big could effect the existence of over 75 people that need the money derived from my sales.
    I am surprised that on a site that is about helping people feel comfort, people would endorse the stress and pain this could cause.

  • MxSmithMxSmith

    I was in Germany and probably 15 years old when the currency switched to the Euro. I remember giving the cashier deutch marks and she gave me my change in euros. It was a significant mistake. I didnt say anything and kept it, but it haunted me for so long!! I still remember how bad that felt. like I was robbing that cashier. I want to think I wouldn't do it again.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    Good thread and thoughtful answers.
    @MxSmith I can hear it in your voice that you would not do it again :) Good going!

    I don't correlate being a cuddler with morals, but I understand why some might see it that way. I prefer to cuddle someone with fairly high morals and I don't generally care what they did in the past if I can clearly tell it is in the past. And I don't go by what they say. For me, deceit and mistreatment of people is so much different from buying a product that is priced wrong.

  • MrMarkAndrewMrMarkAndrew

    Cuddling? Bueller…Bueller?

  • [Deleted User]KYtransplant (deleted user)

    I could not have done that.

    Most stations only make a few cents on the gallon over cost. It is make or break for many of these places.

    They depend on fuel sales to get people in the door to buy other things like sodas and snacks.

    I also buy most of my fuel at a local place that I know the owners, they maintain thier tanks well and have a high volume turnover and I am even friends with the driver that delivers there.

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