Beware the Chevron Gas Pump

[Qwkynuf]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

The simple fact that they are near a rental car place is why they have higher prices. People don't want to pay the extra charge for returning a car without a full tank of gas and just stop at the closest place on the way back.

It's the same reason I can drive a few miles down the road for a gallon of milk and pay $1.99 or I can go to the gas station 2 blocks away and pay $4.99.

How much extra are you willing to pay for "convenience"?

As Mr. Dan posted above... caveat emptor.

I'm all for looking out for yourself, and have no problem paying for convenience - but I can't bring myself to defend someone who willingly paid fines of $250/day for refusing to display their gas prices on a sign visible from the street, in line with city ordinance - for years.

Caveat emptor doesn't excuse an *intent* to deceive.

The one time I stopped there - probably in 2015 or so, the pumps didn't even display the price until you swiped your card and selected a grade. I canceled the transaction and drove up the road.

[The Evil Twin]

The Sheetz near me has all of these at the same island:
87
89
93
E15
E85 Flex
Diesel
DEF

Of course, the three E10 grades are on one hose. The E15, E85 and diesel are on their own as is DEF. The pump looks like a bowl of spaghetti.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

I'm all for looking out for yourself, and have no problem paying for convenience - but I can't bring myself to defend someone who willingly paid fines of $250/day for refusing to display their gas prices on a sign visible from the street, in line with city ordinance - for years.

Caveat emptor doesn't excuse an *intent* to deceive.

I didn't click your link so I didn't know about that part.

There is at least one gas station in my town that has their prices blocked by a neighboring restaurant. So you can't see their prices until you are either already past the entrance or actually in their parking lot.

I guess technically you can see their prices if you are coming the other direction but I never need gas when I'm going that way.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

I didn't click your link so I didn't know about that part.

There is at least one gas station in my town that has their prices blocked by a neighboring restaurant. So you can't see their prices until you are either already past the entrance or actually in their parking lot.

I guess technically you can see their prices if you are coming the other direction but I never need gas when I'm going that way.

I never worry about the hidden price signs. I figure every gas station that has an entrance also has an exit. If I don't like the price I use it.

[MilCop4523]

lol - I thought you were going to say you hit the end of the pump with your trailer.
we pay 4.5 a gallon for regular gas here 1 hour away from 1 of the largest refineries on the east coast.
and that's low.
generally its over $5.20 a gallon

[AlaskaErik]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

There is a station in Orlando called SunCoast Energy- it is the closest one to the airport if you are coming in the north entrance from the east. Their price sign is not readily visible from the main road, and many people returning rental cars have been caught off guard. Their typical price is 2-3x the going rate elsewhere in the area.

A few years ago I stopped there on the way back to the airport and found that all grades of gas were priced at $4.99/gal. A half mile down the road was a Wawa with regular at $2.35. I see some recent stories that say that they have had premium as high as $6/gallon.

It's somewhat infamous in the area: https://www.google.com/search?q=orla...hrome&ie=UTF-8

GasBuddy is really your friend at a time like this. I always check it before returning a rental car.

[AlaskaErik]

I'm a numbers person, so I always look at the buttons to make sure I select the correct grade, especially since my 6.2L prefers premium, as recommended by GM. Chevron stations, like most others, are independently owned or part of a small chain. It is the owners who configure their pumps. I've seen Chevrons do it both ways, in regards to where the octane selection buttons are. $27 is a cheap lesson. At least you didn't put diesel or DEF in your tank!

[lewisra]

Originally Posted by BehindBars

The best effort I have ever seen for a fuel station to catch customers off guard is at Conoco in Ogallala, Nebraska. The big sign shows the price for regular gas. The station has ten pumps. The small wording at the bottom of the sign says “regular at pumps 9 and 10 only”. Those are the pumps at the far end of the station. The unobservant customers zip in to the conveniently located pumps 1 through 8, closer to the entrance, and pay a significantly higher price for gas as a penalty for their lack of attention to the price sign. I sit there and watch customers come and go. This deceptive system seems to work very well, or else most people really don’t care what price they pay.

Fat Dogs in Ogallala, next to the Conoco, had "regular" on huge Red illuminated sign at a low price, $1,79. When you get to the pump it's for 85 Octane, 87 Octane was 40 cents more and labeled simply unleaded.

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by Underdog

I have been indoctrinated to the standard configuration of all gas pumps that I have used, so perhaps this is my own fault. I am used to the lowest octane and cheapest gasoline always being the leftmost selection on the gas pump buttons. While on a trip in the west US west, I pulled into a Chevron station and habitually punched the leftmost octane selection without looking at the octane numbers. After filling the tank, and noting the price, I saw that I had used the premium gas and spent an extra $27+as a consequence. I just wonder if Chevron reversed from the most common button position to get marginal revenue from mistaken octane selections.

It was clearly marked which was which, you just neglected to read the pump, Right?

You assumed it was like other pumps.............It is NOT Chevron's fault and NOT some scheme to defraud you out of your hard earned money.

Time to put your Big Boy pants on, own up to a mistake, and move on, being more careful next time

If this is a problem, my advice to you is NEVER, EVER buy a Diesel truck. Most diesel pump handles are green, but some are yellow and others black.

Putting gasoline into a modern diesel engine is a HUGE mistake costing well in excess of $10,000 to fix...............you got off cheap this time.

[Qwkynuf]

This whole thread (and the "I'm never buying gas from BP again!!!" thread) reminds me of a concept that my manager loves to share and talk about - "The ladder of accountability"

If you aren't aware, it describes dealing with problems into 8 "rungs" on a ladder, with the bottom 4 being "victim behaviors" and the upper 4 described as "accountable behaviors". It's really up to each of us to decide where we want to be on the ladder.

8) Fix the problem
7) Find/Create Solutions - "What can I do to make it better?"
6) Own the Problem - "Yep, it was my fault"
5) Acknowledge Reality - "Yep, this happened"
4) Wait and Hope - "Maybe it will be ok"
3) Make Excuses - "I was in a hurry"
2) Blame Others - "Wasn't my fault"
1) Unconscious/Unaware - "I didn't know"

There is a great video on YouTube where a guy breaks it down in terms of his son's homework assignment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpE9...nnel=DavidPike

[hobienick]

I like that ladder. I will have to review it with my 10 year old. We are at the stage where everything is someone else's fault. It is really annoying. By blaming one's mistakes on everyone else you pass up the chance to learn from them. What a waste. As I tell her making mistakes isn't bad. Not learning from them is.

When I first traveled to Malaysia I went during the dry season. I was in Kuching and I noticed the rather large open sewers. They were a 6ish foot deep trench between the sidewalks and the roads. There were no rails. When I asked the locals why it was so unsafe they said it wasn't as long as you paid attention. Based on this experience I find it hard to feel sorry for those failing to read numbers on a button.

[eye95]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

This whole thread (and the "I'm never buying gas from BP again!!!" thread) reminds me of a concept that my manager loves to share and talk about - "The ladder of accountability"

If you aren't aware, it describes dealing with problems into 8 "rungs" on a ladder, with the bottom 4 being "victim behaviors" and the upper 4 described as "accountable behaviors". It's really up to each of us to decide where we want to be on the ladder.

8) Fix the problem
7) Find/Create Solutions - "What can I do to make it better?"
6) Own the Problem - "Yep, it was my fault"
5) Acknowledge Reality - "Yep, this happened"
4) Wait and Hope - "Maybe it will be ok"
3) Make Excuses - "I was in a hurry"
2) Blame Others - "Wasn't my fault"
1) Unconscious/Unaware - "I didn't know"

There is a great video on YouTube where a guy breaks it down in terms of his son's homework assignment:

If anyone blames the station for using non-standard marking, then yes, they would be at rung 2. I don’t see anyone doing that. The OP took full responsibility for his mistake. I don’t see anyone else claiming that the markings are responsible for their mistakes.

I do see some people advocating for standard markings as an additional safety measure.

I am a big believer in the “Four Safety Rules”. (I won’t say for what.) The reason being that, if you violate three of them, the remaining rule should provide protection.

As a simple mathematical example: If the chance in any instance of you not breaking a particular one of the four rules is 99%, then the chance that you will break all four is .00000001.

So, I am a fan of standards that help folks not to make mistakes. I don’t demand that stations follow standards. I don’t advocate for governmental regulations. I will just avoid stations that use non-standard symbology as part of my personal responsibility to be safe. If I encounter non-standard markings that could increase the probability that others will make mistakes, I will point it out.

I am all about personal responsibility. I used to teach my students the difference between internalizing and externalizing. If every time something goes wrong, the “victim” externalizes the reason for the mishap, he will never look to fix the problem. He will always look to others to be responsible for him and his outcomes. That is enslaving oneself to others.

It is far more freeing to internalize responsibility for things that go wrong. It results in one asking himself, “What can I do differently to avoid this mishap in the future?”

[BMullins46]

I like eye-95's comments. Seems that as a nation we are more and more falling into the externalizing mode.

wait until you pump def into the fuel tank of a diesel truck, only takes about $12K to get it fixed.
to the OP, hopefully you have learned a lesson and will not repeat that mistake. To all others, LEARN from the OP's mistake!

[Oaklevel]

You have to be careful at a Speedway Station (Pilot Gas) here........ some pumps have regular to the far left while others have regular to the far right ( pumps look alike all in the same station.

No standards and ........no diesel is not always green sometimes gas has green handles.

[Wes Tausend]

…

A while back I figured out a way to be courteous to other folks that might inadvertently get ripped off by a vending machine. The gas pump has become a vending machine and some are rogues.

I simply carry post-it notes in my glove compartment. They are neatly printed, "Out of Service".

Sometimes, if a vending machine inside the building is 'deemed a public nuisance', because it has run out of a desirable product, only apparent after the money is inserted, I have to go back outside to get a note.

Or finally: A man can get no satisfaction out of cursing a machine, nor in his absence, cursing the anonymous lazy bum that was supposed to service it. But then, sans a handy note, sometimes chronic vending machines can best be corrected by simply unplugging them, which speaks ones displeasure fairly loudly to the vendor bum that normally collects the money.

Wes

[aray]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

You have to watch. I've seen pumps with the lowest octane buttons on the left and on the right. I don't think I've seen it in the middle, but I'm sure that's possible.

I HAVE seen regular in the middle pump, several times. It’s clearly an attempt to trick people. When I see that I drive away without filling up. It’s a pain, but I don’t like giving my money to people who behave in that fashion.

Ray

[eye95]

Originally Posted by aray

I HAVE seen regular in the middle pump, several times. It’s clearly an attempt to trick people. When I see that I drive away without filling up. It’s a pain, but I don’t like giving my money to people who behave in that fashion.

Ray

Exactly. The problem is too much consumer pacifism. The vast majority of people just accept deceptive behavior from businesses. If more of us were willing to inconvenience ourselves and not give these businesses our money, we’d have to inconvenience ourselves far less—and businesses would behave much better.

I have a huge I-just-don’t-do-business-with-them-list because of bad behavior (including dishonesty) on the part of retailers and producers.

This thread and another have caused me to add BP and Chevron to the list.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by eye95

Exactly. The problem is too much consumer pacifism. The vast majority of people just accept deceptive behavior from businesses. If more of us were willing to inconvenience ourselves and not give these businesses our money, we’d have to inconvenience ourselves far less—and businesses would behave much better.

I have a huge I-just-don’t-do-business-with-them-list because of bad behavior (including dishonesty) on the part of retailers and producers.

This thread and another have caused me to add BP and Chevron to the list.

You guys are going to run out it of places to do business with soon
And of course they are out to get you and your money, it's a business!
Just curious, but is it deceptive everytime your grocery store changes the location of all of its products?

[jimmoore13]

It's best to pay attention to both octane AND blends...especially once you get into the corn belt. Lots of stations will advertise too-good-to-be true prices on their roadside signs. That lowest-cost fuel is often E-85, and if you don't have a flex-fuel vehicle, it is not compatible with your engine.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...l_mixtures.png

[Wolverine 1945]

Beware of 20% Corn !!!