Local small cheap gas chain has TT stickers, not yet on TT list

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Oct 30, 2015
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Wisconsin
I found myself at a "Mega Saver - Tobacco and Phones for Less," an Omaha-area gas station that's known for its prepaid phones, cheap tobacco, and drive through liquor window, the other day when I noticed that the pumps were displaying Top Tier stickers. I was blown away because the chain is certainly the least nice in the area (less nice than a dumpy Phillips 66 or old BP, and positively decimated by the QTs in the area) and I'd never expected them to have anything more than EPA-minimum gas. They've bought out many failing/closing independent stations around town. Most of the locations don't have bathrooms available and merchandise is often old and dusty, they have few food options, and the stores are usually dirty. So I stopped by another location that I was driving by later on, and its pumps had the same stickers. It'll be interesting to see if they make the TT list eventually, though they aren't on it yet/now. I wonder if they aren't trying to make up for the "local reputation" for having "bad" or "watered down" gas (scare quotes mine) by displaying the logo and certifying their fuel. I rarely went there, less after getting a fountain soda full of what looked like bugs, but I guess it's another option if they do, in fact, make the TT list sometime (as they do tend to be the cheapest stations in town).


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Interesting. In my place it's the opposite way, gas stations like Shell and Get Go never have stickers to show they offer TT fuel despite they're on TT list! :unsure:

Maybe try using this link to contact TT Licensing Program for verification?
 
Probably just left the stickers on the pumps from whoever owned it before. There is a company around my area that is buying up convenience stores also. They don't change anything other than bring in foreign management and remove anything good about the store. I have pretty much quit going to them when there are clean Kwik Trips, etc.
 
Unrelated question. Why is the "plus" in your area only 87?
A lot of stations in Nebraska and Iowa sell two grades of 87 - one with no ethanol and one with 10%, plus 91 (typically without ethanol, but sometimes with 10%). That makes for some strange pump and sign graphics/names for the fuels. Most Casey's, HyVee, and Kum and Go in those states advertise "SUPER UNL" (or "UNL PLUS") on their price sign which here means 87 E10 - that's the volume leader and what most people buy, but you have the option of getting non-ethanol 87 too (usually called UNLEADED, and for 30-50 cents a gallon more). Use of that is uncommon other than for yard equipment, boats, or old cars. But if you picked up the handle marked UNLEADED or pressed the first 87 button you saw without looking, you'd pay an extra 30-50 cents per gallon. This is less common at BP, Shell, etc (who usually have 87/89/91, where only the 91 is sometimes ethanol free), but ubiquitous at Kum and Go, HyVee, Casey's, etc.

(More strangely, up until 8 or 10 years ago, the options were generally 87E0, 89E10, and 91E0, where the 87 and 89 were the same price (longer ago0 or the 89 was a bit cheaper (more recently), since it included ethanol. That 89 was usually labeled "SUPER UNLEADED" or "UNL PLUS.")
 
Probably just left the stickers on the pumps from whoever owned it before. There is a company around my area that is buying up convenience stores also. They don't change anything other than bring in foreign management and remove anything good about the store. I have pretty much quit going to them when there are clean Kwik Trips, etc.
That makes sense, but this location didn't have the stickers before and neither did the other one that I checked out. Somebody went to some trouble to place them, which makes it all the more interesting.
 
That makes sense, but this location didn't have the stickers before and neither did the other one that I checked out. Somebody went to some trouble to place them, which makes it all the more interesting.
If it is like the places that moved in around here, I wouldn't take them at their word that it is Top Tier. I expect to see pirated copies of Windows on the shelves soon next to all the CBD products
 
Had this issue in my area; chain was "Gas Man"; they had TT stickers and were getting deliveries from a TT supplier, even tho they were not on a TT list; They were a valero, went to gas man, then to Mobil.
 
Had this issue in my area; chain was "Gas Man"; they had TT stickers and were getting deliveries from a TT supplier, even tho they were not on a TT list; They were a valero, went to gas man, then to Mobil.

There's nothing specifically "Top Tier" about wholesale, commodity fuel. The only thing that really makes it Top Tier is that the marketer submits additive testing results to Top Tier and that they attest that they will use at least the concentration used in the test.

Fuel itself is almost always a commodity. Even if they have a contract with Shell, Chevron, etc. to supply base fuel, it's unlikely that they're going to be supplied with the same additive. There's usually some sort of generic additive available at fuel depots.
 
lots of BS marketing allowed + food + drugs are even worse!! its always about the $$$$
 
I wouldn't put to much faith in any gas station, the world is full of old gas stations sold with the old name, and pumps. I've gone to the same Shell now for 5 years (besides a minor job out of state) and this gas station isn't a Shell, has Shell pumps, doesn't sell Shell gas.

I guess my point is don't trust everything you see.
 
On my last vacation, I checked the top tier site to see where I could get top tier rated gas. The majority of the stations in the area earned the rating including big box retail stores. It's more like who wasn't top tier rated.
 
On my last vacation, I checked the top tier site to see where I could get top tier rated gas. The majority of the stations in the area earned the rating including big box retail stores. It's more like who wasn't top tier rated.
I wish southeast giant Racetrac would get onboard with the TT program already.......
 
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