Shell discount gas station

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There is a Shell gas station in my neighbourhood whose price is always about 4 cents/litre (works out to 11.2c/american gallon) less than the prices at the other brand name stations. Not surprisingly there is always a lineup of cars at this station.

Is there any reason why I should not buy gas from this place? Obviously it is a high volume gas station and, being Shell branded, must be selling the same top tier gas as the other Shell stations. I am hoping Shell enforces maintenance standards at all their outlets regarding dirt and water contamination.
 
Might be an independent franchise who may have been grandfathered into an older contract. Of course, I know nothing on how gas stations are set up. Mom and pop stations are nonexistent these days and those that are still around and "struggling" are often using old and inaccurate pumps and some are found guilty of fraud by watering down gasoline, etc.

There is a shell station near me that is cheaper than other top-tier fuels, but the same price as the race track gas across the street.

That shell station near me doesn't look like the others and is using older pumps than other shell stations, so its really hard to tell about the quality of gas.

Wouldn't hurt to try that station out as they would be shut down if they were watering down gasoline.
 
Originally Posted By: accent2012
...race track gas across the street.....
Race Track Gas! I'd buy that. We have boring stuff like Pump Handle, Quik Stop, U-Gas, blaa. Race Track! Where can I invest?
 
Certainly in the US, branded stations (nearly all franchises) have contracts that allow the company to set the price of fuel by neighborhood. The franchisee can adjust the prices a bit, but not enough to make that big a dent without losing money. I know of a couple of gas stations across the street from each other that almost always have the identical prices, down to the same difference for cash vs credit. One is a Valero station and the other is Shell.

I know of this happening all the time where there's this one station with a well-known brand that's always cheaper than any other place nearby. It just happens sometimes, and I think the marketing arm of brand owner (not always a refiner) has something to do with it.

The odd thing is that there's a gas station I know of where prices are about $1/gallon higher than any other gas station for miles. There are theories that it's mostly supplying city and wholesale accounts at negotiated prices.
 
I hate lining up too but I usually fill up early morning (7am), so lining up isn't an issue. The gas tank is large at 129l/35gal, so I only fill up every two weeks.
 
If it is clean and does a high volume, why not?
Shell is the blessed "Top Tier" fuel. So why sit and second guess whether or not a "Top Tier" fuel purveyor is actually pumping "Top Tier" fuel without a valid reason to do so?
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
If it is clean and does a high volume, why not?
Shell is the blessed "Top Tier" fuel. So why sit and second guess whether or not a "Top Tier" fuel purveyor is actually pumping "Top Tier" fuel without a valid reason to do so?

There's a lot of mistrust and conspiracy theories out there. A lot of people are fearful that they might be lured into a gas station with lower prices only to get cheated. When something is cheaper, there's always a strong suspicion that there's "a catch".

People are fearful of:
  • inaccurate pumps
  • bad/old/contaminated fuel
  • intentional delivery of lower octane fuel than labeled
  • intentional adding of water that isn't filtered out
  • fuel that doesn't contain the promised level of detergents
It's really not that hard to understand. The customer is left wondering if the equipment might have been altered. You have little way of knowing if the fuel is what's advertised without expensive tests. The only real thing keeping the gas stations honest are spot checks by county weights and measures and checks for gasoline quality by government regulators.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
If it is clean and does a high volume, why not?
Shell is the blessed "Top Tier" fuel. So why sit and second guess whether or not a "Top Tier" fuel purveyor is actually pumping "Top Tier" fuel without a valid reason to do so?

There's a lot of mistrust and conspiracy theories out there. A lot of people are fearful that they might be lured into a gas station with lower prices only to get cheated. When something is cheaper, there's always a strong suspicion that there's "a catch".

People are fearful of:
  • inaccurate pumps
  • bad/old/contaminated fuel
  • intentional delivery of lower octane fuel than labeled
  • intentional adding of water that isn't filtered out
  • fuel that doesn't contain the promised level of detergents
It's really not that hard to understand. The customer is left wondering if the equipment might have been altered. You have little way of knowing if the fuel is what's advertised without expensive tests. The only real thing keeping the gas stations honest are spot checks by county weights and measures and checks for gasoline quality by government regulators.


I understand that all that is probably the case. But if that is the case, then what is the purpose of "name brand" stations, let alone "Top Tier" stations?" Price is generally determined by competition in a given area. If a group of stations in a given area are vying for business and adjust their pricing to aggressively seek that business, the consumer wins (and that is a good thing.)
If a station is putting out a product that is not above board, usually the word gets around quickly (at least so where I live.) Therefore, the marketplace will take care of that when people stop frequenting the station with the substandard product. While, IMO, exercising reasonable caution and being prudent is a good thing; people need to explore a given situation rationally, and not be needlessly paranoid all the time.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
There is a Shell gas station in my neighbourhood whose price is always about 4 cents/litre (works out to 11.2c/american gallon) less than the prices at the other brand name stations. Not surprisingly there is always a lineup of cars at this station


Sweet, which location!? In the West end?
 
It is in the west end of Toronto, on Dupont, between Landsdowne and Dufferin.

This one station is significantly cheaper than all the others in the neighbourhood, even cheaper than the non name brand stations. I am under the impression that the retail margin on gasoline is only around 3 to 4 cents a litre, so naturally I wonder how they make any money. This is not a temporary promotion, they have had these low prices for years.
 
I buy fuel from whatever high volume station comes up cheapest on my gas buddy app. I have never had a fuel related problem of any kind.

Costco around here usually has the best prices but their is always a line and I refuse to wait in line.
 
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