Woman shocked at price of petrol story

tech77

Just read this in the indo today: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/driver-shocked--at-836495-cost-of--filling-tank-1215621.html

Basically a woman gets a nasty €95 shock AFTER filling up at Statoil's Usher's Quay filling station.

I think what's more shocking is she doesn't check beforehand what the rates were.
She gave some excuse about the sign being small or something..

I just thought if people aren't price-conscious and don't shop around etc it's no wonder prices are rising.

Fooz

The woman sounds like a bit of a tool in that article (the price is also displayed on the pump itself if she cared to look). I'd rather push my car out of the city than refuel at those prices.

JHMEG

That is funny, but the Indo missed the point with that story. Headline should be "Tool never looks at pump prices and gets stung"

Guy:Incognito

The woman is an idiot. As above, even if there was no price displayed outside , it's on the pump.

So when she was filling it and it went past her usual "maximum of €55", did it not set of an alarm in her head? what about when it hit €70? no still no problem? €80? €90? nope all the way to €95 before she noticed.

Stupidity wins the day yet again.

colm_mcm

interesting to note she was driving a peugeot convertible.

FruitLover

Oh man, it's only a matter of time before we'll have to put foam padding on all sharp corners for these people.

colm_mcm

I love the way it's 179.9 per litre. makes it look so much cheaper than 1.80 per litre. I don't see why they don't charge €2 per litre, there's still enough tools in Dublin that will keep the place open.

tech77

colm_mcm wrote: »

interesting to note she was driving a peugeot convertible.

Yeah noticed that as well.
Without being slanderous my immediate impression was more money than sense.
As I say no wonder prices are rising.

po0k

Apparently, that station is mainly for limo/taxi/fleet cars who have an account and who get a special rate. Hence the Joe Spud price is astronomical, because it doesn't matter to the owner.

Tails142

The economics of this are quite interesting to me;

If we're to believe petrol stations they apparently make very little profit on petrol these days;

maybe 1 or 2 cent litre?

So this station instead of charing the usual 1.12 is chargin 1.79, that's 67 cent more than anywhere else, and possibly 67% more profit than other petrol stations.

That means they only need 1 idiot for every 67 customers a standard station might get to be making the same money. Not to mention the standard profit they get from fuel card holders. Not that unlikely given the number of mouth breathers about these days.

Interesting really when you think about it.

colm_mcm

The Gardai get their fuel there, but apparently they pay the districutor for it. I think this is the case with fuel cards as well.
Apparently their rent is very high. which explains why Tesco in Jervis St. charge the same for groceries as Tesco in Maynooth :rolleyes:............

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

Apparently their rent is very high. which explains why Tesco in Jervis St. charge the same for groceries as Tesco in Maynooth............

This is completely OT, but can you explain the above statement?

Rowley Birkin QC

Filled up in Urlingford on the way home today , 107.9 I think.

mikemac

I've heard people say:
"Sure why shop around, €20 of fuel still costs €20 no matter where you go"

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have heard this or something similar

colm_mcm

edited to include:rolleyes:

their excuse as to why they charge so much is that their rent is so high. but because of their great location, they're always busy, so the amount of fuel they sell should more than cover their costs without charging so much for fuel.
If all businesses were this greedy, buying your groceries in a city centre supermarket like Tesco in the Jervis Centre (which is a very expensive place to have a shop, never mind a whole floor) would cost you 60% more. but it doesn't because of the huge turnover of customers they have,

The_Conductor

Its the first petrol station that drivers come to after they exit Dublin port. When you compare the price they were charging last week (5 cent less at 1.74.99) it is pretty comparable with the current price in the UK (where a lot of the people from the ferry would be after coming from). They wouldn't necessarily know that its rip-off- they get charged so much more tax and duties over there. Its also the only station in the city centre- so people often get caught out with low fuel and end up getting a tenner or whatever it takes to tide them over there.

Yes- its a total and utter rip-off, but they are playing on the fact that they have a monopoly and that there are shiploads (literally) of gullible drivers going past them twice a day........

I filled up with diesel last weekend at 103.9 at a Shell on the Galway side of Ballinasloe- cheapest I've seen in a few weeks......

snaps

im sorry but i feel sorry for the women. How can a garage get away with charging so much? The Gardai fill up there? Oh, thats where my hard earned taxs go then? I quite often stop in a garage and fill the car up and just put the pump in the nozzle without looking at the price. Soon as it clicks off i put it back in the pump. Perhaps she is a fool, but such a price for fuel is robbery.

mikemac

snaps wrote: »

The Gardai fill up there? Oh, thats where my hard earned taxs go then?

Did you even read the thread?
They pay a set price and it's far below what the station is charging.
Been discussed here many times already.

2stageturbo

Shocking price:eek::eek::eek:

Stupid women deserved it:D

snaps

sorry, perhaps the set price is a high one!! I did notice that in the thread, sorry

colm_mcm

the service there is apalling too, for that proce I'd expect a smile at least. the only time I ever get fuel there is if it's on expenses.

Robbo

colm_mcm wrote: »

interesting to note she was driving a peugeot convertible.

That pretty much explains everything. I'd also wager that she thinks that holding her pink clamshell Motorola in front of her face whilst it's on loudspeaker constitutes hands free usage.

milltown

Tails142 wrote: »

The economics of this are quite interesting to me;

If we're to believe petrol stations they apparently make very little profit on petrol these days;

maybe 1 or 2 cent litre?

So this station instead of charing the usual 1.12 is chargin 1.79, that's 67 cent more than anywhere else, and possibly 67% more profit than other petrol stations.

That means they only need 1 idiot for every 67 customers a standard station might get to be making the same money. Not to mention the standard profit they get from fuel card holders. Not that unlikely given the number of mouth breathers about these days.

Interesting really when you think about it.

^ The mathematics of that are interesting to me

If everywhere else is making 1 cent per litre profit and he's making 67 cent per litre, that's 670% not 67%.

Sorry to be pedantic. I'll get me coat.

JHMEG

milltown wrote: »

^ The mathematics of that are interesting to me

If everywhere else is making 1 cent per litre profit and he's making 67 cent per litre, that's 670% not 67%.

Sorry to be pedantic. I'll get me coat.

Someone said to me before that 15% is the typical margin. So 1 cent per litre seems very unlikely.

What irks me most is that Statoil (and the rest) negotiate the price individually with each and every fuel station, instead of selling it to the all at the same wholesale rate.

colm_mcm

depends on the garage, I know at one point a garage I knew were making 1 cent a litre, I saw the invoices, Shell were selling them the petrol for more than the Maxol down the road was charging retail. It is merely a way of getting people into the shop to buy overpriced sandwiches etc.

speaking of rip offs, the restaurant in Dublin Airport charges 49c for sachets of ketchup mayo and mustard. - on top of the €10 for a fry up.

Guy:Incognito

colm_mcm wrote: »

edited to include:rolleyes:

their excuse as to why they charge so much is that their rent is so high. but because of their great location, they're always busy, so the amount of fuel they sell should more than cover their costs without charging so much for fuel.
If all businesses were this greedy, buying your groceries in a city centre supermarket like Tesco in the Jervis Centre (which is a very expensive place to have a shop, never mind a whole floor) would cost you 60% more. but it doesn't because of the huge turnover of customers they have,

Not really the same though. You're comparign the garage owner to a huge multi-national company. Tesco could probably afford to rent the whole of Jervis st centre and chargwe their standard prices.


Plus how does this garage manage to get it's own thread (filled with regular posters) every few weeks? It's the third thread this week its been extensivly covered in, we really need to move on.We all know about the prices, it's been there for years.

Seth Brundle

snaps wrote: »

im sorry but i feel sorry for the women. How can a garage get away with charging so much?

Its a free market and they can charge what they like. She is a tit for not noticing the big sign facing the road, the price per litre on the machine or the total cost as it increased. If she is that poor at observation then she shouldn't be driving on the road! She is an even bigger eejit for going public about her stupidity.

JHMEG wrote: »

What irks me most is that Statoil (and the rest) negotiate the price individually with each and every fuel station, instead of selling it to the all at the same wholesale rate.

No they don't. They send out recommendations but don't have direct control. I did some work in this area last year!
Anyhow, this Statoil was once the cheapest in Dublin but a couple of years ago for whatever reason they increased their prices to become the most expensive (by far) in the country. So much so that the Danny Murray, the MD of Topaz (who own Statoil and Shell in Ireland) has made a number of public statements telling people not to buy petrol at those prices and to avoid this forecourt. He also said on Newstalk recently that Topaz would not be renewing the Ushers Island contract when it falls due next month.

Stky10

A friend of mine is one of the head sales people for one of the big fuel companies. He was telling me how they reduced the price of petrol in a poorly performing selling station in the town I used to live in to try and increase sales, only to receive phone calls from every other petrol station in town giving out to them for selling it so cheaply, and telling them to bring it up to what every other station in town was charging.

The number of different providers has dropped in the last couple of years, so its no surprise that competition has decreased, and a monopoly has emerged.

JHMEG

kbannon wrote: »

No they don't. They send out recommendations but don't have direct control. I did some work in this area last year!

Care to elaborate? Who has control?

As for not renewing the contract.. we'll see.

Stky10 wrote: »

The number of different providers has dropped in the last couple of years, so its no surprise that competition has decreased, and a monopoly has emerged.

The Competition Authority did admit they made a major boo boo in allowing Topaz to buy Statoil.

Seth Brundle

JHMEG wrote: »

Care to elaborate? Who has control?

Not going to elaborate. However, its evident in the fact that Ushers Island is ripping people off and Topaz can do nothing!

JHMEG wrote: »

The Competition Authority did admit they made a major boo boo in allowing Topaz to buy Statoil.

In fairness, they couldn't admit anything else!

Jeapy

Stky10 wrote: »

A friend of mine is one of the head sales people for one of the big fuel companies. He was telling me how they reduced the price of petrol in a poorly performing selling station in the town I used to live in to try and increase sales, only to receive phone calls from every other petrol station in town giving out to them for selling it so cheaply, and telling them to bring it up to what every other station in town was charging.

The number of different providers has dropped in the last couple of years, so its no surprise that competition has decreased, and a monopoly has emerged.

Thats a cartel and should be reported!!! Happened in my area with home heating oil companies, one man was fined 22k for it!
...and that woman, lol! Everyone knows that petrol station who's ever passed it! I think she shouldnt have gone crying to the newspaper, should have hung her head in shame and told nobody! :cool: