What would you do if the price of the Gasoline went up while you were waiting?

General Discussion
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What would you do if the price of the Gasoline went up while you were waiting for your turn at the pump?

Today (Sunday morning…) the wife and I went early to Costco at 9:30 AM to get gas and a good parking space; they opened at 10:00 AM.

There were already a couple of cars at each pump waiting their turn… the Price of Regular was $3.199 and it was advertised on the their sign… I filled up and we parked and went inside when they opened…

About an hour later when we come out, we noticed that sign for the price of gas was now $3.259, six-cents more a gallon…

I parked next to the station and asked the attendant if the price of gas was now $3.25 and he replied it was and I asked him when it went up, but he did not know as he had just come on duty…

As usual there are numerous cars waiting at each of the 8-pumps for their turn to fill up.

I cannot imagine what I would do if the price had gone up while I was waiting in line. I know they did not shut the pumps down and change the price, so it must have changed while folks were waiting…

I know the 6-cents is not going to break the bank and on the way to Costco, the price at Kroger’s was $3.29… Has this ever happened to you and if so, what did you do…

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If it did, I would be blaming the car driving slower than the speed limit that caused me to get caught by the red light and miss the lower gas price… :rofl: :rofl:

Couldn’t miss this opportunity… :crazy_face:

But yes, I have seen the price go up while at the drive though before getting breakfast…

But what is even worse is to get gas and later on that day see that the price went down some… uggg…

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Well you just pay it. It’s not a contract until you activate the hose. Before they were electronic, the dead giveaway was when the kid was out there with the long pole putting numbers up, and wasn’t to lower the price. They wouldn’t change the pump though until the sign was changed. Having lived through the rationing times though, I’m just happy they have gas at this point.

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Electronics allow the change in an instant.

I rarely even look at the marquee price, only the pump. Even if it changed while my hand was inserting my card, I’d just utter a profanity under my breath and pump gas.

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Never experienced that, But the price goes up 20 cents a gallon and cars are lined up Blocking the road at Costco. The one thing I do not get, yesterday every major gas station was at $2.19, today they are all 2.39. Sounds like collusion to me! I mean BP Shell Mobil etc. all match price hikes the same day. Like one brand could not do it for a penny less?

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You can call it collusion or price fixing or whatever. What it really is is good ole competition. I was in a superamerica one morning and rhe manager was calling her supervisors. She reported the price of gas at the other immediate stations and said they had to lower theirs to compete. Which they did. It’s a big organization and they were worried about a few cents different in price.

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I would get back in my car, maybe shake my head, go on, and forget about it 2 minutes later.

Life’s too short to worry about a few cents.

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That is essentially what Costco does. According to the manager of the local Costco gas station, each morning he has to survey the gas prices in the same zipcode as his station, find the lowest price, and then set his price one cent lower. This process used to be more time-consuming, but the availability of Gas Buddy (and possibly other apps) makes it extremely easy to do a quick gas price survey.

Because gas prices vary in different zip codes, Costco’s gas prices also vary–but they always hold to their policy of being the least expensive in the immediate area.

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Same here, I only look at the pump out of curiosity.

There are 2 stations by my house a Chevron and a 76, the Chevron is always $0.40 a gallon cheaper.

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Gas prices here can vary a few miles down the road in the same zip code… lol

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“I don’t know” = I KNOW.

Advice from this sage old fool:

-TireWhisperer

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I doubt it, Chances are the clerk doesn’t even know the price of gas at their station.

Customer comes in and says give $10 on pump 3

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Gas prices change daily based on historical daily sales. Weekend prices are higher than mid-week prices. There are weekly trends too.

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I learned that from asking people present where there was a hullabaloo, EG:

  • A construction site surrounding a hole in the street.

Me: “What’s going on/in?”
Flagger/Foreman: “I don’t know”

Despite the big pile of materials and pipes and what not no more than 10 feet from where we were standing!

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Have you considered the possibility that he just didn’t want to engage in conversation? Simply saying, “I don’t know”, is a pretty good way to prevent passersby from hanging around and taking-up his time.

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Happened to me more than once back in the 70’s during the oil embargo. Gas lines were over a mile long. While in line the station got a delivery. Right after the delivery gas prices went up $0.05/gal. The following day it went up another $0.05/gal

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How many options are there? Buy it or don’t. The price has to change sometime. If the price changes while you are waiting in line, is that any different than the price changing while you are driving to the station?

I was a fuel retailer for many years. If the price changes, it changes. It doesn’t change in the middle of you pumping gas, so your question is really a non-issue.

I did have a simple rule: if the price is going up, change the street sign and then the pumps. If the price is going down, change the pumps and then the sign.

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What I want to know is,

You (Mr. Gas Station Owner) bought the truck load of gas 3 days ago, You’re not getting another load of gas for 4 more days.

How come the price at your pump changes between loads?

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Several reasons. But basically it comes down to - Because he can. Don’t like it, buy your gas someplace else.

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Because ya have to generate the money to buy the next tank. It’s always based on the replacement cost of the product being sold not on the cost of the inventory. Accounting 101.