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What gets me is that Asda (Walmart) is an American company, yet their pumps are card only - no option to pay cash - and all "self service" - and this from a company whose parent organisation looks after big fat americans who won't do anything for themselves, least of all get out their cars to fill up unless, of course, they aim to go to the gas station shop for coffee, donuts, pizzas, ice cream,.....................
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Most cars, as mentioned above, seem to have their filler caps on the offside. Certainly both our VW and Volvo do. This means that in queues for petrol stations, there will often be empty "left hand side" pumps with huge long queues for the right hand ones. I simply drive up, pull the hose across (never had one not reach yet), and fill up while people sit there and wait. It's their choice at the end of the day.
I've always done this, and can honestly say I've never noticed a single scratch or mark from fuel hoses on any car I've owned, ever. But if people want to sit and wait (completely unnecessarily IMHO), it's a free country. My life is hardly the epitome of epic excitement and clogged diaries, but I certainly have better things to do with it than queue for fuel when I don't have to ;-)
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here in the midlands we have a Tesco station in Cradley Heath this small, has narrow lanes & it is almost impossible to get out of the main road exit.
On a slightly different tack, I think a lot of queing is due to there being significantly less stations around than there was a few years back, around here all the small ones have closed.
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In our small town, we have two petrol stations within 300 yds of each other. One Esso, one Texaco. Texaco consistently more expensive by 1 or 2p per litre, but the Esso has a Tesco Express franchise (with no Pay @ Pump), meaning the queues can be epic. It's taken me 20 minutes to buy fuel there before. I will often swallow the cost and go to the Texaco garage where I can be in and out in 2 mins.
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Easy solution, don't leave it until the last minute to fill up then if it's busy you can drive past knowing you won't run out and fill up when you see a quiet station.
Most people in urban areas still have fuel stations which are open for very long hours (24 hours at pay at pump stations) so why is it necessary to go when it is busy?
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I take the point about the two alternative queuing systems - ie individual queues at each checkout (eg Tesco) or single snaking queue (eg banks or big PO).
But the snaking method isn't appropriate at a filling station because there are usually two pumps per aisle, and often it isn't possible to get to the further pump until the first car has moved. Or if already served and paid at the first, you can't get out until the irritating driver in front has chosen his crisp variety or done the lotto card.
So the individual queues don't move evenly and smoothly, but go in jerks, often both pumps suddenly becoming free simultaneously. As in supermarkets, you need psychology to spot the slow moving queues, the about-to-clear checkouts, the dumb and fumbling operator, the machine that's running slow.
Everyone enjoys the game of trying to spot the quickest moving lane, and you are spoiling their fun by trying to impose the "snake" principle.
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What gets me is that Asda (Walmart) is an American company yet their pumps are card only - no option to pay cash - and all "self service"
All the gas stations we used in the US were like that. Much quicker as no having to queue to pay.
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Tescos at Ballymena is perhaps worse,
I was pulling away from the pump when a dork attempted to get past me to access the pump in front of me??? I had just got into the vehicle too, could he not work it out?
I fuel to whichever side....... is free the joys of driving a 12 year old car
and the Steyr Puch fuels at the rear.
But the main problem is everyone leaves their cars at the pumps and pays at the kiosk
payment at the pump is an option but no one uses it
I have queried why does Tescos NOT reduce the pump paid tranasactions by a couple of pence a litre.
that should work.
Cheers
M
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I always use an unmanned station and very rarely have to queue. It's a few pence cheaper, nobody buying fags, mars bars and newspapers and the VAT receipt comes in the post. Very occasionally though, there will be a simple-minded moron stopped right at the entrance waiting for a particular pump so everyone behind is backed onto the road. And of course you get the dribbling, brain-dead monkeys who can't follow the simple, idiot-proof steps to operate the payment part. No love, you can't put coins in the credit card slot.
It's slightly out of my way though and on the wrong side of a dual carriageway so to make it worthwhile I'll tie it in with a trip to a nearby store that I probably wouldn't visit otherwise - Lidl. It's also the site of a huge road-building programme with multi flyovers being constructed and they've temporarily banned left-turns so it's another 3 km before I can do a U-y and head for home.
I get my air at a different station. Has to be in the daytime though, the numbers on the gauge are pale orange and when you look at it under the sodium lamps all you see is a blank white panel. Well thought out. Not.
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What gets me is that Asda
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Don't buy your fuel there, then!
Edited by drbe on 09/12/2009 at 17:42
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I think there are fuelling "mimsers" as well as driving ones?
:-D
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I think there are fuelling "mimsers" as well as driving ones?
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There probably are, maybe I'm even one of them..... however what of those who only put £10 in ? Surely they will eventually use the full tank, the price will almost always have gone up by the time they put the next £10 in so this is a false economy The ratio of fueling time to queuing time must make this inefficient and therefore delays other motorists......
Of course this will get the 'what if you can only afford to put £10 in' response but with a little fiscal planning this is a spurious argument, I guess there are some circumstances (hire cars, courtesy cars etc) when it might apply but not many I'd contend.
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I detest those that fill up & leave the car at the pump whilst they buy 2-3 carrier bags of shopping !!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAaHhhhhhhhh that really winds me up! if i am getting anything other than fuel or if there is a queue behind me I usually move the car & park. I have never experinecd any one panicking thinking I doing a drive off!
I recently whilst towing the caravan in france pulled up in a motorway filling station behind a british car ( should of known better ) & 5 women in a BMW touring & they all queued for the loo's & then bought lunch & then got coffees! still parked on the pump! When i asked politley if they wouldn't mind moving I just got loads of verbal abuse! Typical english abroad! due to how busy the forcourt was on the auto route I couldn't reverse to a suitable pump & ended up unhitching the van & squeezing in front & reversed up to the BMW to fill up. I was so tempted to ram my tow bar into the front of their BM but then i would of been no better than them.I had the pleaseure of leaving it there whilst i went to pay & then the kids did the loo stop & bought lunch! by this time the women in the BMW were getting really abusive but with a tow bar 3mm from their bumper they were well & truly stuck. What goes round comes round & the whole escapade took over 35 minuets & a very long queue behind
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they all queued for the loo's & then bought lunch & then got coffees!
Plenty of time to let their tyres down, then.
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When I fill up, I do think of moving the car forward (freeing up the pump for someone else) but I don't want to be done for a drive off.
Needless to say I don't move the car after filling up.
Some pump station computer systems can not allow the next person to fill up until the previous person has paid from the pump.
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When I fill up I do think of moving the car forward (freeing up the pump for someone else) but I don't want to be done for a drive off.
You can't be under those circumstances. Even if you *do* accidentally drive away without paying, you can't necessarily be "done".
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Re: the problem of filling up on "the wrong side" and scratching paintwork.........
If there is enough space in the petrol station area, I do a quick 3-point turn and reverse alongside the pumps so that I can park at the side of the pump which would normally be on my "wrong" side".
It just means that my car is pointing in the opposite direction to everyone else in the place
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You can't be under those circumstances. Even if you *do* accidentally drive away without paying you can't necessarily be "done".
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A few years ago a friend forgot to pay for fuel, a few hours later the police arrived at his house and invited him to return to the petrol station to pay, and then departed.
Would this happen these days, or would action be taken to help achieve a "target"?
Edited by Old Navy on 09/12/2009 at 12:11
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I think in some areas it would happen yes. In London he'd probably be shot... : )
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I remember now why I moved out of London. :-)
Edited by Old Navy on 09/12/2009 at 12:21
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a friend forgot to pay for fuel ..the police arrived at his house and invited him to pay Would this happen these days or would action be taken to help achieve a "target"?
Difficult to meet "targets" with no chance of conviction (unless the target's just X arrests).
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Don't do queues. I slide out after 9.00 pm for a swim and fill up on the way home while she's watching yet another drama involving dead bodies. Roads are quieter except for the ubiquitous Saxos and Corsas with unfeasable exhausts.
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If you say to the driver of one of these chav chariots at a petrol station "hey mate, there seems to be something wrong with your car... the revs are going up and down by about 2000rpm as you are slowly moving forwards in that queue, and did you know your exhaust is blowing?" then you very quickly learn the latest late teen/early twenties insults. I found this out on Saturday evening on my way home from the pub, emboldened after a couple of Hobgoblins. Very amusing.
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Ah, so can we take it that you've been at the Shell garage next to Tesco Express on Nantwich Road on a Saturday night too ?
;-)
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Er... you're scarily close... I am awestruck! I have been there, yes... but I meant the garage at Nantwich Morrisons! Humph... have you got me on webcam?!!
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No don't worry of course not ! Just from reading some of your posts I had guessed that you must live quite near me. I use the car wash at that Morrisons when I'm feeling lazy. Big guilt trip afterwards though.
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 09/12/2009 at 13:23
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You're very good! I actually live more or less in Morrisons: in the houses opposite. Are you a Wistonian then?
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No, just off Welsh Row, not too far away.
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Homesick now! : ) This working away in the week is getting to me.
Speaking of garages, as I had best get back to the topic before a Dabbers post gets set up, the Morrisons pay at the pump is good except for one thing: if you have even the smallest mark or scratch on your miles card, it won't work at the pump. So you have to go and queue in with the weekly shoppers.... grrr.
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Steve - you have mail at the address in your profile.
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Excellent! Will have a look shortly.
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I'll bet the chav puts just £10 worth in too....
Edited by idle_chatterer on 09/12/2009 at 12:52
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I had occasion recently to put only £10 of fuel in to a car. It was a rented car and I needed 10 pounds worth in order to return the car with the same amount of fuel as it started with.
So there are times when putting a silly amount of fuel in is not related to cash flow issues.
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Some friends of ours only ever used to put about £20 in.
Fine when you are only doing a few miles, but when we went on holiday with them to Scotland and covered about 800 miles in a week their constant stops for fuel didn't half wind us up - I never understrood why they didn't just fill up every time.
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I never understrood why they didn't just fill up every time.
Maybe they had a hole in their tank that only leaked fuel if it was over ½ or ¾ full?
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Thanks for reminding me of my old Citroen GSA, which could never be more than half filled for that very reason.
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You'll have to excuse me as I stumbled onto this thread purely by accident ... Queue 4 Fuel? I thought that only happened during The Budget or a fuel delivery strike.
I think I can put up with the wind & rain in Corwall after all.
Anyway FWIW - I wouldn't dream of holding others up at the garage entrance, I pull up at the pump with the least cars, like most normal people would.
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I never understrood why they didn't just fill up every time.
If you're stopping and starting, having a full tank means you use more fuel. If you're going along at fairly constant speed having a full tank makes little difference.
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So there are times when putting a silly amount of fuel in is not related to cash flow issues.
The other obvious reason is the one my wife and daughter use, put in enough to keep going till I get back, then ask me to fill the tank please :-)
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The company i work for has its own pump so i use that, no queues just the odd pallet that
needs shifting.
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This has been one of the best threads for a while. Amazing branches off and then suddenly back on track. My normal fill is Tesco, Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham. Little or no queing space and its on the way into the store, so on occassions the queue snakes back onto the main road and non-fuel shoppers can't get into the store - very poor design. I use Pay at Pump, except when I have the 5p off voucher - and queues are more frequent during such promotions. I too tend to fill up at quieter times, like Sunday evening after dropping a youngster off at friends before heading south for a working week 300 miles away.
Asda in Luton is staff-less, but when its windy they don't dispense receipts, but staff will write one for you inside the store!!
The queing schemes in post offices and at longer self-service tills in supermarkets work well, and car queing would work in the same way IF there was space. But generally x8 cars takes up a long length, so good practice is to form a series of small queues where some will be quicker and some slower. (and yes as a sad-o I have studied such things in "Lean Thinking" see Nissan and Toyta manufacturing, but at least it did help to bring down long waits for the NHS - long story, dont ask)
I also use petrol price checker, but 1-2p difference and an extra 20miles isn't worth it..
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