|
I wonder how much the woman in the micra paid?
|
Years ago I had an ATM that gave out twenties instead of tens and only debited the later. Needless to say that particular machine was busy!
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
|
Bit cheeky dieselicious! Good luck to you if it works, but hope no-one else was penalised, especially poor woman in Micra - being self righteous, it's stealing really isn't it? I'm one of those who always checks change - if it's too little I say so, if it's too much I also say so. Am I a mug?? Possibly, but as the saying goes "do unto others as.........
Phil
|
I completely understand the cheekyness of it, and i was quite relieved not to be struck down by lightning, and whisked away by axe-wielding goblins to a place of fire and damnation and torment for years to come, for the petty theft of fuel.
But with a 500 mile weekly commute, they get enough of my money already, so i'm thinking of it more as a loyalty bonus!!
I do however play the honesty card with change, and have always given back money when i've been given too much change.
|
|
Don't worry, they will just put up the prices to recoup the cost....
|
|
|
|
Years ago I had an ATM that gave out twenties instead of tens and only debited the later. Needless to say that particular machine was busy! --
I did hear on the news a few years ago, of an ATM that was giving out cash for free somewhere in London, however my best coup was to find £80 still in the dispenser slot when I went to get money. Needless to say that as I couldn't see who may have left it there I didn't hand it back to the over-profiteering bank it came from !
|
Reminds me of the time I opened a student account that gave 30 quid to new account holders. I got my 30 quid and then noticed they'd opened the account in the Wrexham branch, not the Sheffield branch where I wanted it. When I asked for it to be moved they just closed the account, opened a new one in Sheffield and credited me another 30 quid. You takes your victories where you finds them.
At the filling station though, personally I would have mentioned that I thought the car took a lot more than the 14 quid the pump claimed I put in. They couldn't charge me any more because the pump read 14 quid, but they may fix it and not lose any more money. I don't know about supermarkets, but in high street garages the margins on petrol are tiny.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
|
I don't know about supermarkets, but in high street garages the margins on petrol are tiny.
I think in supermarkets the margins are nil, or slightly less. Petrol is a loss leader to attract you into the supermarket. That's why if you spend £50 in Tesco you get 5p a litre off your fuel.
I remember reading about an ATM that had double-dispensed. The bank asked the police to chase up the lucky customers who were prosecuted for stealing by finding or some such.
After all, it is theft. And you are theiving from your own pension fund (which is the shareholder in the bank).
|
|
Apologies for the hideous transposition error which makes me look very foolish. Oh for an edit button that works for 5 minutes after you post...
|
A cash machine around here was giving money out but not debiting the account at all apparently. A reliable source (the girl in the pie shop) tells me they all had to pay it back though.
Something like that - then fair enough but with the petrol situation, I doubt the woman wouldn't have noticed the 30 quid loading on her usual amount. The day it costs over 70 quid to fill a Micra, we should panic.
|
>>I doubt the woman wouldn't have noticed the 30 quid loading on her usual amount.>>
Is anyone actually aware that the Micra driver paid any more than she should have done?
When I use the pump at my local Tesco, there is a short delay whilst the display is activated to record the amount of petrol about to be dispensed and the cost. You also have to press one of two buttons to select whether to pay by plastic at the pump or at the kiosk. Perhaps one of these two sequences was faulty?
I'm not sure if the staff activate the pump delivery status or if it is automatic (most likely) after the previous sale payment has been completed by card or at the kiosk.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
That's what I was getting at Stuart. I fill up by the pound not the litre but even if you do it the other way around, you'd have to notice the numbers whizzing around a light speed and finishing on a value almost double what you normally pay.
|
|
Petrol is a loss leader to attract you into the supermarket. That's why if you spend £50 in Tesco you get 5p a litre off your fuel.
I don't know about your local Tesco but at mine (Hoover building) the queues for petrol certainly don't attract me to their supermarket. I'd rather spend an extra quid and go to the filling station over the road where I'm in and out in minutes.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
|
|
|
>>Petrol is a loss leader to attract you into the supermarket. >>
My local Tesco charges exactly the same price as other garages in my area - the only benefits are Clubcard points and, as you state, 5p a litre off if you spend £50 or more. Morrisons have/had a similar scheme but the amount per litre reduction increased the more you spent.
About 80 per cent of fuel cost is duty and tax - the rest is split between the petrol station owner and the petrol company (for which petrol and diesel sales are only a tiny part of its overall operation).
In its last financial report (not sure if it was BP or Shell) one major petrol company stated it lost £186m in the previous financial year on retail petrol and diesel sales.
At the same time it was acting as an unpaid tax collector of vast sums for the Treasury and, on top of that, still had to pay tax on any profits on this section of its enterprise.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
>My local Tesco charges exactly the same price as other garages in my area - the only benefits are Clubcard points and, as you state, 5p a litre off if you spend £50 or more. Morrisons have/had a similar scheme but the amount per litre reduction increased the more you spent.
Don't worry. As you rightly point out, petrol is a loss leader for Shell, BP and the rest. They only make money out of the outrageously expensive water, sweets and milk you can buy.
|
Until a company go bust I regard statements that they have made a loss with suspicion. Funny internal accounting and tax breaks for loss making companies make losses desirable sometimes.
Anyway, even if they lost a few bob on retail sales their bottom line was pretty heathly - if I am reading them right, both companies made in excess of $15 billion in 2004.
|
About 20 years ago I worked in Denmark,and then the local shops ,of which there was few where we were,had a fuel pump outside that took cash.
A mate and I were going out one night and we argued who had to lay off the drink and drive, and i lost.
I had a series 2a Land Rover then, we pulled up outside the local pump and slid a 100Kroner note in which was about 10 quid, the pump ran until the 10 Kroner was used up and carried on.
To my shame I was dissapointed I did not have my Jerry cans on board, mind you it cheesed the mate off that it did not happen to his car.
Glen
|
|
|
|
|
