Ask the petrol company dude

[Immortality]

Egg-zachary,when you've only got a total population of 4 million the big companies do f**k all for big money cos they've got the attitude "where else you gonna go?" and they chase off any smaller competitors by lowering prices so much the little guy can't cover his loss as much as the big guy can so he either goes bust or buggers off somewhere else (Air New Zealand did it a few years back) and then once there's no competition they up the prices to way past where they were before to recoup their losses!
Basically the NZ public have to bend bare arsed over a barrel and wait for the shafting(mind you,according to you Aussies,we like to bend the sheep over a barrel too with the same result! ).Another problem we have is that because demand is down,alot of companies don't carry stock on their shelves prefering more to order from overseas as required so you (us plebs) end up paying more because it's a one off order,unless there's a local company manufacturing parts,we pay top dollar and have to wait for it to come into the country.

yep, it sucks. everything is either really expensive or they don't have it and it's put on back order costing more and then they wanna charge you for freight as well. i'vetaken to using the Summit racing in the US for parts for the V8 where i can etc but even then the goverment tried to do you for import duty tax/gst etc although at the mo i'm flying under the radar and they are leaving me alone

 

[1991_Vn2nV]

Just a few things I wanted to post after reading the thread:

Regarding country prices and freight it is a rip off. My pop was a tanker driver and even the tanker drivers that come into work agree... That the cost to most regional areas to cart fuel is only around 3 cents per litre... No matter where it is.

Also, most fuels are the same no matter who makes it. The additives in fuels are added when the fuel is put into a tanker, so just because fuel comes from a Shell refinery doesnt mean its the same as Shells fuels... They are all 98 octane, but all the additives vary and this makes a big difference between the fuels.. And I will always say stick to BP Ultimate or Mobil Synergy 8000.

Also, the profit on fuel is minor and at Mobil, 60% of our profits are actually from cigarettes... Another large percentage is from in store sales of soft drinks, food etc... And a MINOR percentage of our profit comes from selling fuel. We make more profit selling one can of coke than we do 30L of petrol.

As for the discounting cycle, the price goes down on days of low demand to encourage people to purchase fuel... If it wasnt for this discount cycle you would most likely be paying the more expensive weekly price every day... So I wouldn't be complaining.

 

[Tatiana]

Rant:

Went to the servo to fill up the other night and needed a certain product for my car. What a scream - it really is a supermarket, not a service station anymore. Right in the back corner was a handful of pathetic dusty looking car related products. Guy behind the counter had no idea about cars, other than you fill them with petrol. He could name all the food specials in the store however.

Apparently once upon a time you would pull into a service station, the guy would fill your car, check the fluids, clean the windscreen, and if you needed mechancial repairs/advice, there was a mechanic in the workshop attached to the servo.

Sad times when the monkey behind the console doesn't know the differance between coolant and motor oil.
/end rant.

C.

 

[PaRaDoX]

motor oils green right???

 

[PaRaDoX]

in my experiance the old version of 98RON from shell was crap (optimax)
but the new one (V-power) is good

i havnt run 92 octane /95 octane fuel in my car for over 6 months...i refuse to

 

[shaggerz]

I feel sorry for the actual individual service stations in all this. They just have to charge whatever the suppliers charge them, plus a miniscule amount to just cover staff and expenses, but they are at the mercy of the supplier and cop the scornful eye of the public blaming them for the high prices.

 

[PaRaDoX]

I feel sorry for the actual individual service stations in all this. They just have to charge whatever the suppliers charge them, plus a miniscule amount to just cover staff and expenses, but they are at the mercy of the supplier and cop the scornful eye of the public blaming them for the high prices.

oilcode will change that...

i think its comming in march, my role at shell has changed, im dealing with retail sites now and resellers, ie Coles express,

pretty much with oilcode ALL oil companies arnt aloud to charge surcharge when selling to resellers, ie no proffit when selling to servo's just frieght, tax and Terminal price

but cmon over %45 of the price of petrol is tax.... thats just about HALF

anyway, we should see a price drop when oilcode comes in but we might see the cost to make fuel increase as petrol companies loose profits

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

The fact that fuel is a huge revenue raiser for the government is reason enough for them not to change the tax. Jumping on oil companies and resellers to try and lower their prices is them being seen to do something. As long as the government puts any surplus back into the community I don't have a problem. Track record shows they don't though. Except at election time.

 

[1991_Vn2nV]

Rant:

Went to the servo to fill up the other night and needed a certain product for my car. What a scream - it really is a supermarket, not a service station anymore. Right in the back corner was a handful of pathetic dusty looking car related products. Guy behind the counter had no idea about cars, other than you fill them with petrol. He could name all the food specials in the store however.

Apparently once upon a time you would pull into a service station, the guy would fill your car, check the fluids, clean the windscreen, and if you needed mechancial repairs/advice, there was a mechanic in the workshop attached to the servo.

Sad times when the monkey behind the console doesn't know the differance between coolant and motor oil.
/end rant.

C.

Its because of laws gone overboard. At mobil we hire out trailers, yet legally we are not allowed to touch them or help you attach them to your vehicle... I kid you not.

We are allowed to fill your vehicle with petrol, and if you ask a console operator they WILL do it for you... we have to apparently. However we are not allowed to fill your car with oil, we cannot check the oils in your car and we are not even meant to advise you on which oil to use although I always do because thats bull****. I change tyres, fill coolant, jump start cars... We're not meant to but in my honest opinion thats bull****.

Legally, we can't even give prices over the phone... People ring up for trailer prices or prices on goods in store etc. but we cant give any price over the phone.

However, cars are a part of life now days and there is no excuse for people having no idea themselves. We have some of the dumbest people come into the servo.. From people that do not know what petrol to use, what to do because they are meant to run leaded in their car... People that dont know what oil to use in their car or what coolant. We have charts if you dont know, but its YOUR car and YOU should know. Cars are not a luxury anymore, everyone has them and ignorance is NOT an excuse so learn how to change a tyre so I dont have to do it at 3am in the morning... Learn how to fill your car with petrol (although its only ever old ladies that ask us to do it), learn how to clean your own freaking windscreen. And LEARN how to check your own fluids. We dont get paid to do it, and im sure you would only complain if you had to pay extra at a service station because we DID get paid to do it. At 7am when the servo is full and all 12 pumps are taken, how many people do you think the service station would have to employ if we had to fill everyones fuel, clean their windscreens and check their fluids? Instead of 1 person working, we would literally need 12... What do you think that would do to the prices? Where do you think the money comes from?

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Back in the day when there were no supermarket fuel outlets and there was less competition and less cars on the road the operator could afford to hire people to be driveway attendants. Things cost less, people earned less and there was no sponge bob. I was younger, my wife wasn't born, you went to school with wogs and abo's and no body had an Xbox. Was it a better place?