quanity vs. price

[medic]

As a rule, anything bought in higher quantities is cheaper per unit. example: 1 can of pepsi vs. a 12 pack vs. a case. The price per can gets cheaper as you buy more.

The recent gas prices & SUV thread got me thinking about this. The general idea is that SUV owners use more gas (not always true, but we will say it is for this topic). Now, it makes sense to me that these people who use up to 100% more gas than there compact car counterparts should be given a quantity discount. This is true because the overhead lessens as the quantity sold increases.

The other idea would be for SUV owners to put tanks on their own property. They could buy 500 gallons at a time and cut out the middle man, saving up to 8 cents per gallon.

 

[Drew99GT]

That'll be the day! I think the market for gas is a true market, a commodity; when demand goes up, price increases. Buying more quantity cause your gas tank is huge is synonamous with more demand.

 

[JHZR2]

Drew, you hit the nail on the head. fuel is a commodity, and this was proven secondarily by a lot of the posts that fuel tanker man put up.

It would be smart to put up one's own tank for the purpose of cutting out middlemen. That would be smart regardless of what kind of car one drives. I guess the issue is heat for an aboveground tank, vapors for a basement mounted tank, and environment for an underground tank. Not to mention that a low turnover rate, even on an 8mpg suv with their own 500 gal home tank, may cause unstable/spoiled gas.

JMH

 

[Drew99GT]

quote:

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Originally posted by JHZR2:
Drew, you hit the nail on the head. fuel is a commodity, and this was proven secondarily by a lot of the posts that fuel tanker man put up.

It would be smart to put up one's own tank for the purpose of cutting out middlemen. That would be smart regardless of what kind of car one drives. I guess the issue is heat for an aboveground tank, vapors for a basement mounted tank, and environment for an underground tank. Not to mention that a low turnover rate, even on an 8mpg suv with their own 500 gal home tank, may cause unstable/spoiled gas.

JMH

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Not to mention the fact that you'd have a potential 500 gallon bomb on your property!

 

[medic]

quote:

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Originally posted by Drew99GT:
Not to mention the fact that you'd have a potential 500 gallon bomb on your property!

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Actually, gasoline is pretty safe. Depending on the ambient temperature, carbon monoxide can be much more explosive than gasoline. You would have to work pretty hard to get gasoline to explode. The chance of it happening accidently is pretty slim.

 

[fastbear]

Gas will not be cheaper by the 500 gallon tank or whatever unless you are a dealer. Lived on a ranch had a 500 and a 300 gal. tank. CO-OP delivered at the same price as they charged in town. Plus at the time there were 3 of us using gas from the tanks, believe me it was cheaper to allocate money for the gang to buy gas in town as the buck went further.

 

[eljefino]

Back when priceline.com sold fuel you could pre-buy in, IIRC, 25 gallon increments. Then you'd take delivery as your vehicle needed it. Liked the idea of buying your own gasoline futures, always having fresh gas, and not having something one's homeowner's insurance would object to around the property. The idea folded; I presume because they'd refund your money if the price dropped but you'd be locked in if it rose.

Part of the popularity of fuel company sponsored credit card rebates, I think, is that it gets the customer to finish at his/her space at the pump faster. A larger vehicle is going to take twice as long to pump twice as many gallons, but the transaction time is lessened with credit card swiping at the pump or those speedpass doohickies.

 

[moribundman]

Groucho, do you enjoy living dangerously? Maybe it's time to move.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Due to the high price of fuel and the increase of station robberies in this area as they have become depots for cash, many stations are pondering pay at the pump only with a credit/debit card. Otherwise, you may be facing a firearm.

 

[medic]

quote:

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Originally posted by GROUCHO MARX:
Due to the high price of fuel and the increase of station robberies in this area as they have become depots for cash, many stations are pondering pay at the pump only with a credit/debit card. Otherwise, you may be facing a firearm.

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A station is Olean, NY has adopted 4 "speed pumps". At these pumps you can pay with credit/debit cards and cash. The pumps have a cash machine similar to those in vending machines. I haven't used them, but I would imagine you need to go inside the sotre for change if you over pre-pay.