The Great Gas Rip-Off

Have to get the boat winterized this weekend, so I headed to Shell after work for some ethanol-free gas to run through it.

i filled a 20L jerry can (the tall Jeep style) and the pump said 20.10 litres....but when the gas settled inside it was below the 20L mark by at least 1-1/4”, maybe 1-1/2”....that’s about 10% short !

just picture how many litres are sold over a day or week and how much additional revenue it is ! Not picking on Shell, I had a similar problem with PetroCanada last winter. Most people filling cars and trucks have no way to check what they’re actually getting.

not a huge deal for a jerry can to be a bit short, but for most of us that fill up trucks at $80 or $100 a tank....that’s an awful lot of gas to be paying for and not receiving

i dragged the owner out and showed him, but he had a million excuses and I didn’t bother really getting into it with him

Without using a proper verified liquid measure, not much one can say.

Poly cans are not built to a reliable spec, not to mention poly cans stretch significantly. I have a 25 liter can that will easily hold 30 liters due to the years of sitting in the sun with the vent shut.

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There should be a calibration sticker on the front of the pump with a date on it and it usually states its corrected to 10*C so really, you should be getting more than you paid for at lower temps.

The other funny thing with premium, when I fill my motorcycle it only takes between 5 and 10 litres most of the time, how much regular gas is contained in the hose that I'm paying premium price for before its purged by the premium fuel?

Just another thing to chip away at your bank account!

i use to work at a gas station,

MY THEORY
is the pumps do not actually measure how many Liters are dished out rather than how long your hand is holding the pump open letting gas flow.
its more of a estimate of how many liters are filled.

trust me i worked there for 4 years and ive heard everything under the sun and seen some crazy shet too

little tip, if you pre pay or pay at the pump for a designated amount and fill it all, hold the nozzle open and grab the hose to angle the rest of the gas down, theres still gas in the hose thats yours.

1 more apparently not alot of people know, when the nozzle clicks telling you your tank is full its actually not, its a safety feature, once theres enough gas with the nozzle all the way in your car itll stop because theres no air left, if you take the nozzle out of the car half way and pump again you will be able to fit more. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION ive seen so many things that almost lead to people blowing everything up


a little story, my manager was training a new guy int he morning, 8am, theyre going through the cash register normal stuff, all of a sudden, a car drives inbetween the gas pumps and crashes through the store. LITERALLY. through the windows destroyed tghe whole inside of the store. luckily no pumps or people were hit and no one was in the store. (i was working that night and got the night off so that's a plus)

another time a drunk dude rolled into the parking lot at 10pm, does a full doughnut backwards into the pumps destroyed his whole back end. he came into the store went to the backroom (i already called the cops)
cops were waiting for him outside the washroom and dragged him out on his .

i can go on and on ahha sorry brought up some memories

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Originally Posted by Bowjob

little tip, if you pre pay or pay at the pump for a designated amount and fill it all, hold the nozzle open and grab the hose to angle the rest of the gas down, theres still gas in the hose thats yours.

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Had a guy rant at me once about not getting his $0.5 worth of gas that was still in the hose...it was a big deal for him. I was just starting to fill up my truck so I said to him.."it's nice when the 1st $0.5 is free so I leave $0.5 for the next guy." He just stood there, I think I blew his mind. HaHa..

Okay I thought this was going to be about how every gas station has the exact same factors that cause it to set the exact same price.


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Originally Posted by Saskfly

Okay I thought this was going to be about how every gas station has the exact same factors that cause it to set the exact same price.


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that all comes from the head office of whatever company owns the station usually they have to be competitive to all stations around them, around 2-5 cent difference MAX and they only go by the 4 or 5 closest gas stations.

i cant remember the exact law for it i believe its called fair competition or something like that.

1 other thing that came to mind, dont buy gas in the middle of the night if you dont have to, they usually raise the prices middle of the night for all the truckers that come in and dont have a choice but to fill their tanks the price will chnage again at about 5am to the regular day time price

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Originally Posted by Bowjob

that all comes from the head office of whatever company owns the station usually they have to be competitive to all stations around them, around 2-5 cent difference MAX and they only go by the 4 or 5 closest gas stations.

i cant remember the exact law for it i believe its called fair competition or something like that.

1 other thing that came to mind, dont buy gas in the middle of the night if you dont have to, they usually raise the prices middle of the night for all the truckers that come in and dont have a choice but to fill their tanks the price will chnage again at about 5am to the regular day time price

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Trucker don't buy gas.....not if they want the engine to keep working..

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Originally Posted by 73hunter

....
not a huge deal for a jerry can to be a bit short, but for most of us that fill up trucks at $80 or $100 a tank....that’s an awful lot of gas to be paying for and not receiving

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Whole poop! I only spend $40 to 80 for gas in a month for my Tacoma. Mud tires, plate bumper, winch, lifted with beefed up suspension for extra weight capacity, headache rack, storage draws the bed and a pile of recovery gear.

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

Whole poop! I only spend $40 to 80 for gas in a month for my Tacoma. Mud tires, plate bumper, winch, lifted with beefed up suspension for extra weight capacity, headache rack, storage draws the bed and a pile of recovery gear.

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Rub it in, why don't you!

I average 250km a day to work and back so that kind of spending isn't realistic for a week, let alone a month. My wallet is much happier now though. I scrapped my '15 2500hd Chevy and got me a new F-150, the gas savings make over half my monthly payment. At 110 on the highway I can average just under 12L/100, thats pushing 285 series BF's

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

Whole poop! I only spend $40 to 80 for gas in a month for my Tacoma. Mud tires, plate bumper, winch, lifted with beefed up suspension for extra weight capacity, headache rack, storage draws the bed and a pile of recovery gear.

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Good one Snowwalker:thumbup:reminds me of my former electrician who,when i asked how he was dealing with gas prices doubled over few years(this was early 2000 -or so) ,he gave me a smile and said-I am still putting 40 dollar gas in the tank a week..............never dwelling into how many km less he may travel:ashamed::D:D

I think its more likely the pump is correct and your can is not, to be honest. Have you checked capacity of the can?

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Originally Posted by gbk

Good one Snowwalker:thumbup:reminds me of my former electrician who,when i asked how he was dealing with gas prices doubled over few years(this was early 2000 -or so) ,he gave me a smile and said-I am still putting 40 dollar gas in the tank a week..............never dwelling into how many km less he may travel:ashamed::D:D

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Well to be honest I do drive 4,000 to 5,000+ Kilometres a week. So 16.000 to 20,000 or more a month..:goodstuff:

Like the guy who brags about getting 400km on a tank of gas but fails to consider the size of his tank.

Pretty sure gas pumps are regularly calibrated to Measurement Canada standards. I'd be more likely to trust that than a low bidder jerry can.

Calibrated... I would say correct. Ripping us off.... let's see we've added more carbon taxes etc. So there is one rip off.

When you listen to the flow and it seems like usually a liter or so shows up on the guage but there seems to be no sound of liquid going in the tank, last couple times I filled the SUV than filled the can so it was accurate in the can. When someone is filling up their next can, start it and listen when the fuel shows up and note what the guage says if you fill the can first.

This one mentions cheating at Gas stations and talks about Chatham and Ridgetown... it suggest stopping at 10L to check the prices match
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ch...-the-gas-pump/
It doesn’t matter where you pump gas, please check the 10 liter price. If you do find a station that is cheating, contact the MTO, and direct your comments to the Commissioner, the info is on the gas pumps.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/inacc...ians-1.1000792


We are being ripped off by the new taxes far more than some small discrepancies in measurement since it is across ALL pumps, accurate or not.

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Originally Posted by oaknut

Without using a proper verified liquid measure, not much one can say.

Poly cans are not built to a reliable spec, not to mention poly cans stretch significantly. I have a 25 liter can that will easily hold 30 liters due to the years of sitting in the sun with the vent shut.

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Yes, I have a couple of those 'bulgy', tanks as well.

Volume is corrected to 15'C ... that shouldn't have made that much of a difference, but it may explain some of the difference, if you filled on a cold day. The volume for instance at 5'C will always be a little smaller than at the pump, after they make that correction.

The pumps are meant to be calibrated to 15'C ... and yeah, I'm sure some gas stations take advantage.