Gas stations need to go metric

Henning

Henning

Taxi to Parking
Gone West
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Feb 26, 2005
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iHenning
At least in liters the ratio between product and payment wouldn't pizz me off so much.:mad:
 
Ha. One to one instead of four to one. I like it.

$3.79 for one gallon or for 3.79 liters
 
Careful what you wish for - you might get $3.79/liter... :hairraise:
 
grrr....

I got clobbered for 50 cents more per gallon yesterday because the fine print says 3.85/gallon if you buy a car wash, otherwise it's 4.35/gallon. Sneaky bastids.

$5.50+ this summer, here we come.
 
fgcason said:
grrr....

I got clobbered for 50 cents more per gallon yesterday because the fine print says 3.85/gallon if you buy a car wash, otherwise it's 4.35/gallon. Sneaky bastids.

$5.50+ this summer, here we come.
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I'm surprised that's permitted.
 
fgcason said:
grrr....

I got clobbered for 50 cents more per gallon yesterday because the fine print says 3.85/gallon if you buy a car wash, otherwise it's 4.35/gallon. Sneaky bastids.

$5.50+ this summer, here we come.
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Coming back from the Safety Standdown last weekend (to add some aviation content) I saw regular for $3.95/gal, as opposed to the $4.25 that is prevalent closer to home!
 
We spend summers in Sweden so I've learned quite a bit about US vs European gasoline prices. In the US the price of crude oil is the major component of gasoline prices. Compared to the rest of the (western) world, taxes are a subcomponent. In Europe taxes are the major component so the swings in oil prices have a lesser affect on the price at the pump.

Based on relatively current data, a gallon of gas in Sweden costs USD $8.73/gallon.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Yeah, but going from 15 gallons to 55 liters would also be hard to take.

I think I like it the way it is.
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At least I'd feel I was getting more for my money if I decided not to think about it.:D Driving by the signs wouldn't be quite as annoying either. We're just at $4 here.
 
Yeah - We'll need some other factor for gas prices pretty soon, like its own version of an AMU. Maybe charge per pound or something.

When I spent some time in Europe, I did notice they charge by the liter. It still looks too high that way, though. Trying to convert Euros per liter into miles per gallon is about as much fun as trying to convert the way they calculate fuel economy over on that side of the pond. Here, it's miles per gallon, there it's liters per 100 kilometers (or something like that).
 
They could stay with the English system and sell by the ounce. It would only cost around $.03. That way, it won't sound so bad when it jumps to four cents per ounce, where jumping to $5.12/gallon sounds terrible.
 
Back in the 70s, when when automobile gas first hit $1, lots of gas stations in the US sold by the liter. That's because their pumps weren't able to charge more than $0.999 per unit volume, so they changed the unit volume from gallon to liter.
 
The US should switch to metric for everything, since it makes way more sense. But forgive me if I don't hold my breath...
 
Why not just charge by the quart at that point? Dividing by 4 is easier than 3.78.
 
It's time to buy some land and buy in bulk.
Or a siphon and midnight refuelings at the ripoff stations..
 
fgcason said:
It's time to buy some land and buy in bulk.
Or a siphon and midnight refuelings at the ripoff stations..
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Around here, and in other places, there have been cases of vans that have a section of the floor cut out. They pull over the covers where the underground tanks are filled, then try to pump out the gas into drums inside the van.
 
steingar said:
The US should switch to metric for everything, since it makes way more sense. But forgive me if I don't hold my breath...
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You scientists. My daughter the vet school student says the same thing. :loco::loco::loco: You're both nutjobs. :D
 
Isn't this kinda like setting your alarm clock ahead so you think you're running late when it goes off? :mad2:
 
steingar said:
The US should switch to metric for everything, since it makes way more sense. But forgive me if I don't hold my breath...
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Who is going to pay to change markings on all the aircraft?
 
Bob Noel said:
Who is going to pay to change markings on all the aircraft?
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They will just issue an AD for all aircraft, and let the owners bend over and take it. I never understood the whole owners get shafted on AD, but if there's an situation like that in the automotive world, the manufacturers eat the cost to fix it.
 
NoHeat said:
Back in the 70s, when when automobile gas first hit $1, lots of gas stations in the US sold by the liter. That's because their pumps weren't able to charge more than $0.999 per unit volume, so they changed the unit volume from gallon to liter.
Click to expand...


Incorrect sir. To the best of my recollection Shell, a Royal Dutch company where the conversion simplified their overall operation, did, and it was during a push during IIRC 3rd grade to metricize America. The plan wast to slowly convert, it failed dismally. They should have done it over night as other countries did. Since that time though everything has been doubly labeled metric and imperial.

Shell quit doing it after just a few weeks/months IIRC because the people without the willingness/ability to do a mental conversion quit going there because they couldn't compare price with across the street. I never did figure out why they didnt just double the sign, BWTF does a 3rd grader know. Looking back now I realized that it wasn't worth the expense of the signage due to the general hostility the public was showing towards the subject anyway. Regrettably we did not have a leadership willing to do what was best and took the path of least resistance.
 
One of the last remaining remnants if that craziness was a sign on I-55 near Joliet that said "Chicago 100 km". I wonder if it's still there.
 
Even the English use Metric. But what the heck do they know! :)
 
The goofiest thing I ran into was a rental car in upstate NY. We went across the bridge to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls for the day. We were about to head back that night, but the bridge closed just as we were about to cross it. The guy putting up the barricades right in front of us said something about a suspicous package. I thought, heck, just toss it over the side and reopen the bridge, but that would have been too easy. So now, I'm stuck with just one of those cartoon maps and had to try to find my way to the next bridge back into the US. We drove on the Canadian highway with the speed limit marked in KPH (100KPH, I think), and a speedometer that was marked only in MPH. OK, I know enough to know that 60MPH is close enough to 100KPH, but it still bugged me that there was only one marking on the speedometer, and not the dual markings that I was used to seeing. Eventually, we made it back to the US, but that speedometer still bothered me. I finally noticed a button marked "E/M". I didin't know what else to do, so I pressed it. Turns out it's the "English/Metric" switch for the speedometer. I pressed it, and the indicator on the panel changed from MPH to KPH - but the cool thing was that the dial indicator gets re-calibrated and jumped from 60 to 100. So I told my kids, "Hey, let's make the jump into warp speed!" and then pressed the button. My kids stopped thinking it was funny long before I did though.
 
I received this e-mail a few minutes ago.

-John

CHEATING at the gas pumps (PRINT OUT YOUR RECEIPTS!)




This email was sent by the LA fire captain.

This is true. It happened to them three weeks ago somewhere in Pomona on our way to Pechanga. The pump should have totaled @ $68.00 (and change). When the receipt was printed, and she checked it was $ 77.00 (and change).

She got mad, went inside the store, asked for a calculator and let them do the math. They refunded her. she told them that if they cheat, they had better make it right. Normally, her husband would skip printing the receipt. Not her

We saw on the news the other night that this is
happening everywhere.

Brian pumped exactly one gallon of gas. The price did not match the cost of one gallon. It was higher.. He went inside and complained, got a refund.

There is also a number on each pump that you can call and complain.

This is a true story, so read it carefully.

I stopped at a BP gas station in GA. My truck's gas gauge was on 1/4 of a tank. I use the mid-grade, which was priced at $3.71 per gallon. When my tank is at this point, it takes somewhere around 14 gallons to fill it up.

When the pump showed 14 gallons had been pumped, I began to slow it down. Then, to my surprise, it went to 15, then 16. I even looked under my truck to see if it was being spilled. It was not.

Then it showed 17 gallons on the pump. It stopped at 18 gallons. This was very strange to me, since my truck has only an 18 gallon tank. I went on my way a little confused, then on the evening news I heard a report that 1 out of 4 gas stations had calibrated their pumps to show more gas had been pumped than a person actually got.

Here is how to check a pump to see if you are getting the right amount:

Whichever grade you are using, put EXACTLY 10 GALLONS in your tank, then look at the dollar amount. If the dollar amount is not EXACTLY 10 times the price of the fuel you have chosen, then the pumps are rigged.

In my case, as I said, the mid-grade was $3.71 9/10 per gallon; my dollar amount for 10 gallons should have been $37.19. I wish I had checked the pump. It doesn't matter where you pump gas please check the 10 gallon price . If you do find a station that is cheating, contact the state Agriculture Department , and direct your comments to the Commissioner the info is on the gas pumps.

Please don't delete this until you have sent it to all people in your address book. We need to put a stop to this outrageous cheating of customers. The gas companies are making enough profits at honest rates.


This is the same thing as the butcher with his finger on the scale the company has nothing to do with the station owner's practices. Yes the big oil is making big bucks but the dishonest guy will still be dishonest



​

​
 
If that is accurate it is a criminal offense typically investigated by the State Dept of Agriculture.
 
And the way of checking for a "rigged" pump only catches where they're charging more per gallon than advertised. It will not show if the pump is mis-calibrated to show more gallons than actually pumped.

John
 
Henning said:
At least in liters the ratio between product and payment wouldn't pizz me off so much.:mad:
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When you finish filling your tank the $$$$ will be the same.
 
John Baker said:
I received this e-mail a few minutes ago.

-John

CHEATING at the gas pumps (PRINT OUT YOUR RECEIPTS!)


This email was sent by the LA fire captain.

This is true. It happened to them three weeks ago somewhere in Pomona on our way to Pechanga. The pump should have totaled @ $68.00 (and change). When the receipt was printed, and she checked it was $ 77.00 (and change).

She got mad, went inside the store, asked for a calculator and let them do the math. They refunded her. she told them that if they cheat, they had better make it right. Normally, her husband would skip printing the receipt. Not her

We saw on the news the other night that this is
happening everywhere.

Brian pumped exactly one gallon of gas. The price did not match the cost of one gallon. It was higher.. He went inside and complained, got a refund.

There is also a number on each pump that you can call and complain.

This is a true story, so read it carefully.

I stopped at a BP gas station in GA. My truck's gas gauge was on 1/4 of a tank. I use the mid-grade, which was priced at $3.71 per gallon. When my tank is at this point, it takes somewhere around 14 gallons to fill it up.

When the pump showed 14 gallons had been pumped, I began to slow it down. Then, to my surprise, it went to 15, then 16. I even looked under my truck to see if it was being spilled. It was not.

Then it showed 17 gallons on the pump. It stopped at 18 gallons. This was very strange to me, since my truck has only an 18 gallon tank. I went on my way a little confused, then on the evening news I heard a report that 1 out of 4 gas stations had calibrated their pumps to show more gas had been pumped than a person actually got.

Here is how to check a pump to see if you are getting the right amount:

Whichever grade you are using, put EXACTLY 10 GALLONS in your tank, then look at the dollar amount. If the dollar amount is not EXACTLY 10 times the price of the fuel you have chosen, then the pumps are rigged.

In my case, as I said, the mid-grade was $3.71 9/10 per gallon; my dollar amount for 10 gallons should have been $37.19. I wish I had checked the pump. It doesn't matter where you pump gas please check the 10 gallon price . If you do find a station that is cheating, contact the state Agriculture Department , and direct your comments to the Commissioner the info is on the gas pumps.

Please don't delete this until you have sent it to all people in your address book. We need to put a stop to this outrageous cheating of customers. The gas companies are making enough profits at honest rates.


This is the same thing as the butcher with his finger on the scale the company has nothing to do with the station owner's practices. Yes the big oil is making big bucks but the dishonest guy will still be dishonest



​
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I'm not sure about the quantity issue (though I've never filled up beyond my fuel tank quantity), but I think the pricing issue is not true. For business purposes I track my fuel purchases, and have a handy little spreadsheet inputting the miles driven, fuel price, gallons, miles per gallon, and total cost. I've been doing that since about 2000, and not once have I come up mathematically incorrect to the total price.
 
nddons said:
I'm not sure about the quantity issue (though I've never filled up beyond my fuel tank quantity), but I think the pricing issue is not true. For business purposes I track my fuel purchases, and have a handy little spreadsheet inputting the miles driven, fuel price, gallons, miles per gallon, and total cost. I've been doing that since about 2000, and not once have I come up mathematically incorrect to the total price.
Click to expand...


Over a million miles of tracking fuel and getting receipts I never saw that either.
 
Henning said:
Over a million miles of tracking fuel and getting receipts I never saw that either.
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It reads like that email was written by a snot-nosed little 20-something who hasn't taken a receipt in his life if he can't download it onto his smartphone, has not idea how pricing works, and had just realized that the price of gas is causing him to limit his trips to Starbucks for $6.00 cups of extra fruity foamy coffee stuff, and damnit, it must be someone trying to rip him off. Friggin wealthy oil companies taking all of "our" money. :rolleyes:
 
nddons said:
It reads like that email was written by a snot-nosed little 20-something who hasn't taken a receipt in his life if he can't download it onto his smartphone, has not idea how pricing works, and had just realized that the price of gas is causing him to limit his trips to Starbucks for $6.00 cups of extra fruity foamy coffee stuff, and damnit, it must be someone trying to rip him off. Friggin wealthy oil companies taking all of "our" money. :rolleyes:
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They do that without rigging the pumps lol.

Saudis just leased 14 new tankers to feed bulk to their burgeoning refining business in the Gulf ports region. This is all while American refineries are going under. This mean we are looking at sending MORE of our money to the Saudis rather than weening ourselves from foreign oil.
 
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The only trick I've seen in person, so to speak, is the price changing if you buy certain things. You can watch it happen on the little displays next to the fuel grade. Usually $10 car washes.
 
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