Shell doesn't care about marketing regular gas?

[TmanP]

As I filled up at a Shell tonight, I noticed something odd: the "base cover" of the pump said "V-Power" in large letters and "Shell" in tiny print, like an afterthought. All other brands advertise, well, their brand there (i.e. BP has a BP logo there). Shell isn't advertising their brand, they're advertising one product. The area by the V-power select button was red to grab your attention, instead of the yellow found elsewhere on the pump. As I was filling up (with Shell regular, no less!) I noticed promotional literature for, you guessed it, V-power Nitro. No mention of their regular gas anywhere, except right above the 87 octane button. Car magazines don't have ads for Shell gas, they have V-power Nitro ads. Anyone else noticed this? BP advertises Invigorate in all grades of their gas. Exxon/Mobil advertise Synergy, again, in all grades. Same deal with Sinclair's Dinocare or Citgo's Triclean. All these companies advertise the quality of their fuels (all octane levels), but Shell advertises its "V-power Nitro" and just happens to sell 87 as an afterthought. Although their regular is Top Tier, they make no mention of it anywhere. It's all about the premium (probably ten percent of their sales).

 

[anndel]

Are you serious??? $3.699 per gallon? Shell regular gas in my neighborhood is $3.059/gallon. I always thought when Shell came out with V-power it was for Premium gas only.

 

[TmanP]

Oops. This was a pic I found on google. It was $2.44 for regular. And that's what I'm saying- they market V-power, which is premium only, but don't market regular/midgrade at all.

 

[ammolab]

The price premium for V-Power exceedes that of most, or all, of top grades of gas significantly everywhere I drive (TX & NM). They want 80 or 90 cents/gallon more than regular for V-Power. This is why they want to sell it...BIG PROFITS!

 

[eljefino]

Why would you market something everyone needs? You market what they want, and/or your profit center. Hi, I'm your landlord, and I interrupted your TV for 30 seconds to remind you that you need to get that check in the mail this month. Ciao!

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I have decided if you going to Shell, you better have the Fuel Rewards. PEA is nice, love the ad packs, but do you really need it every fuel up? V-Power is where the profit is, that is why it's advertised. Knowledgeable consumers know Shell is TT. Honestly, the gas be [censored]. I'm patronizing stations now that offer FREE AIR. I find it downright retarded to pay for compressed air, especially when the money they force you to pay goes to a "charity" which is a scam.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL

I have decided if you going to Shell, you better have the Fuel Rewards. PEA is nice, love the ad packs, but do you really need it every fuel up? ...

Yeah, the only time I fuel up at Shell is when I use my Fuel Rewards card. The closest Shell to me is about $0.10 more a gallon than other nearby places, and that is the cash price (credit is another $0.10 more). And as said, The Shell Premium is a good $0.30 more expensive than other stations premium price.

 

[Andy636]

Stop whining about your gas prices, if I post a pic of 6$/gallon from my neck of the woods half of you will have a stroke )))

 

[StevieC]

It's $4/Gallon in Ontario, Canada at the moment and we are an oil rich country. Go Figure!

 

[Virtus_Probi]

My Fuel Rewards card used to be great for me, was a minimum of 10 cents off per gallon and I would build up extra discounts buying lunch at the Shell station next to my gym...I was already doing this before I got the discount card, so whatever extra I got off on gas was just gravy to me. I almost never bought gas at this station because the pumps were horribly cramped and the whole place looked pretty old. Now my minimum discount is only 5 cents per gallon, I go to a different gym due to changing jobs (actually walk to my new gym, loving that) and don't dine on Shell cuisine, and the Shell where I actually bought gas is out of my way with my new commute. I was going to switch to a Mobil sort of between home and work, one that a deceased neighbor used to own, but I had a terrible experience last time I went there...the buttons on the pump didn't really work, the paper was empty so I had to go inside for a receipt, and the cashier rolled his eyes at me after I stood in line because I was bothering him and not even buying anything from the convenience store. Guess my search for a new station continues. Shell pushing V-Power can only mean that it is a higher margin product than regular and they really want people who don't "need" it to buy it anyway. They must have bribed the mechanics at my local Subaru dealer because those guys told me that I couldn't come and whine to them if I used anything other than 93 V-Power and my FXT didn't run well! That was their explanation for my car being hard to start when it was fairly new, I was using bad gas...well, until the new ECU program came out, and I was already running V-Power at the time.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

V-power 93 is 10c a litre more than regular here ($C 38c per USGallon). Husky Oil sells a 94 premium, but most stations are 93. Regular has been fluctuating lately around here (Saskatchewan Canada), from a low of 0.90 to a high of 1.10L for Top Tier Certified. That is $C so account for the exchange rate (all oil and gas is priced in $USD throughout the system from well to pump) and the smaller size of the USG vs Imperial Gallon and you get: Regular: 0.904 x 3.8L = $C 3.435 x today's exchange rate [9Nov17] = $US 2.68/USG 1.109 x 3.8L = $C 4.21 x today's exchange rate = $US 3.29/USG Premium is 1.19.9 today = $C 4.56 x today's exchange rate = $US 3.56/USG ... so $US 27cents more than regular I used 3.8L per USG, the actual conversion rate is 3.785411784, so those prices/gallon in $US would be a few pennies less Imperial Gallons are 4.54 litres; the USG was never used in Canada People in Ontario (the other poster above) get their fuel from offshore (Venesuela, Saudi Arabia) or from the US Midwest; we get ours from, well, right here. Back in the early 80's the Pierre Trudeau government enacted the National Energy Plan, which dictated that western Canadian oil and gas doesn't go to eastern Canada (Ontario is considered "East" here, while it would be "Midwest" in the US), although some of it gets to Chicago and up to Ontario that way. But their demand can't be met by that alone.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Originally Posted By: StevieC

It's $4/Gallon in Ontario, Canada at the moment and we are an oil rich country. Go Figure!

You can thank Pierre. Western Canadians would be happy to sell you product from our "Oil Rich Country", but with the NEP he insured that we can't sell to Ontario or east, and now that every third idiot fights any new pipeline proposal, it will never happen. Note that Atlantic Canada offshore oil goes to the US Eastern Starboard, also as a result of the NEP. Just so you know who to blame. Enjoy your Arab and Banana Republic oil, you're stuck with it. And even 35 years later, it's still the reason you can't get elected as a Federal Liberal west of the Ontario/Manitoba border. Note as well, no matter where in North America you live (there are about seven separate and distinct oil markets, and it's rare for product to move from one retail after-refinery market to another) that this is the time of year when the changeover to winter formula gas happens, which requires a brief shutdown of refineries, which drives up demand and therefore, prices. Diesel is currently $C 102.9 here, by the way ($US 3.04/USG)

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL

I have decided if you going to Shell, you better have the Fuel Rewards. PEA is nice, love the ad packs, but do you really need it every fuel up? V-Power is where the profit is, that is why it's advertised. Knowledgeable consumers know Shell is TT. Honestly, the gas be [censored]. I'm patronizing stations now that offer FREE AIR. I find it downright retarded to pay for compressed air, especially when the money they force you to pay goes to a "charity" which is a scam.

Interesting. In my area Shell regular is competitive with the other stations without Fuel Rewards.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Originally Posted By: opus1

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL

I have decided if you going to Shell, you better have the Fuel Rewards. PEA is nice, love the ad packs, but do you really need it every fuel up? V-Power is where the profit is, that is why it's advertised. Knowledgeable consumers know Shell is TT. Honestly, the gas be [censored]. I'm patronizing stations now that offer FREE AIR. I find it downright retarded to pay for compressed air, especially when the money they force you to pay goes to a "charity" which is a scam.

Interesting. In my area Shell regular is competitive with the other stations without Fuel Rewards.

Same here, plus Shell pays out AirMiles (you don't have that in the US) which are worth 10c each, and you get 10 per $20 if you fill with Premium (a dollar off per C$20 spent, basically). I'm with you on the Air, although the "Charity" line is a new one to me. No corporation "gives" to charity when it's a byproduct of a sale; YOU are the one giving to charity, one not of your choice, with no tax receipt for your efforts (although true charity doesn't involve any reward, but still, when it's forced on you, that's different). The Shell stations, by the way, all offer free air here, and free car washes if you buy enough gas. Shell uses a slightly different (proprietary) additive package than other Top Tier vendors (most use a Techron-based package) but apparently it's excellent, so just as a FYI. But it's part of the reason they market V-Power as different from other brand fuels, as it is, actually, different than other brands.

 

[ATex7239]

Shell around here with the 10 cents off for Kroger points, typically, equals Chevron, Texaco, and QT prices. So, for us it is more about convenience than anything.