I posted this in the $200/barrel Oil thread in the D&D but thought it deserved its own thread because most of the people here live in Texas. As for gas stations cheating consumers, I took my 1 gallon gasoline canister up to the Shell station last to test them out. It took me $4.27 to fill up a gallon container to the fill line and the price per gallon is marked at $3.79. Hmmm...... At $0.48 extra per gallon, that is pretty significant. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080722/tx_gas_pumps_cheating.html?.v=1 AUSTIN (AP) -- Texas drivers who recently bought gas at hundreds of Sunmart stations probably were shortchanged, according to results of a state investigation released Tuesday. A weekend investigation found 990 pumps were rigged to favor Petroleum Wholesale, which operates gas stations under the name Sunmart, by as much as one-tenth of a gallon for every five gallons sold. Pumps found to be in violation were immediately shut down by state inspectors. "I strongly suspect this was an intentional act," said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, whose office is charged with checking fuel pumps. Attorney General Greg Abbott's office is investigating, Staples said, noting that his office could fine the company as much as $100,000. A call to The Woodlands-based company seeking comment was not immediately returned Tuesday. Staples said his office began investigating Friday, after noticing a spike in violations. It's not unusual for pumps to be slightly inaccurate, but Staples said the pattern of discrepancies found at Sunmart stations were beyond the norm. "I believe the facts would have been even more incriminating had the company not dispatched a band of technicians scurrying to get ahead of my team of inspectors in order to recalibrate faulty fuel pumps," Staples said. Across the state, 990 of Sunmart's 1,704 fuel pumps were found to be cheating consumers, according to the investigation. Sunmart, the operating name for Petroleum Wholesale, also operates gas stations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Staples said he has alerted officials in those states to his findings. "At a time when families are struggling to purchase fuel, I am sure that all Texans would agree with me that despicable violations such as these are repulsive and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Staples said.
The anecdotal evidence is silly. The error in 1-gallon containers is huge. That being said, Texas Weights and Measures checks gas pumps at 5-gallon increments. There are some unscrupulous station owners who re-program their pumps to be accurate at 5-gallon increments, read higher than actual in the interim. They can't ever be 10% off, but they can short-change you a few hundredths of a gallon here and there and make a few extra bucks.
What if my container is spot-on? I'm not going to report the station or anything but I'm not going to dismiss it either. At $0.48 that's about 2 cups which is a pretty significant portion of a gallon (12.5%).
I'm tempted to say your gallon container is not super accurate, but it is hard to believe it'd be off by 12.5%. Go ahead and report the station. The W&M folks might come and test them, or they might dismiss you as a crank. But, it doesn't hurt (unless you have thin skin) to try.
I realize the container is not going to be 100% accurate but I believe the difference is too significant. Well I live in Arkansas so I don't know who to report them to. I'm going to test it out with some other stations around my house after I mow the lawn and use the gallon I just purchased.
I believe it, my tank holds 15 gallons, and the other day i was filling up at some type of "Mart" and it pumped me 16+
i cant start threads....so i will post here... does anyone know of any websites where I can learn about oil and gas pipeline trading? basics, principles, strategies, ect...
