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Money Saving Gasoline Hack....

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    t00nces2 started this thread.
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    Money Saving Gasoline Hack....

    Hi jack.

    Hope you all are well. Here is a hack I have used to save a lot of money as well as help me rotate my emergency gas supply.

    1. I keep 50 gallons of gas for emergency generating for hurricanes



    2. I need to rotate so I dump 20 gallons a month into my tank so I have 20 gallons of available space at the end of every month

    3. I buy a lot of supplies at Home Depot that will put points on my Fuel Rewards https://www.fuelrewards.com/ account that gives me $'s off a gallon price at a Shell gas station when I buy gas. 20 gallon max.

    4. So basically I get to drive 20 gallons of gas through my car for 0.52 cents/gallon and cycle my gas to keep it fresh quickly. This month was a banner month, but hell, even 0.35 cents off a gallons is helpful.


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    I do a similar thing at Kroger. That's pretty much the only grocery store I use just because of their fuel points program. Back before the 'rona when we were driving a lot more, I'd also wait for the 4x fuel points events on gift cards to places like the aforementioned Home Depot, or Amazon, which I also buy a lot of stuff from. There's a 35 gallon limit, and since the missus works from home and I drive a company truck every day, we usually don't even use 35 gallons. When things get back to normal I'll probably up my game again.

    Notice that I'm barely over the $500 level on spending last month. Every last day of the month, I check my points and if I'm over halfway to the next $100 level, I go buy a staple item or two (TP, paper towels, aluminum foil, etc) that we'll use anyway & get just over the increment.

    Out of clutter, find simplicity. --Albert Einstein

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    Last edited by ryanw; 07-26-2022 at 03:56 PM.

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    It still amazes me how people will overpay for groceries just so they can get some minuscule discount on fuel.

    By buying groceries at Walmart, Aldi, Sharp Shopper, and a local grocery chain for meat, I'm saving far more than any of your fuel discounts will ever net.

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    Quote Originally Posted by EDC76 View Post
    It still amazes me how people will overpay for groceries just so they can get some minuscule discount on fuel.

    By buying groceries at Walmart, Aldi, Sharp Shopper, and a local grocery chain for meat, I'm saving far more than any of your fuel discounts will ever net.
    HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE SMART PEOPLE OF THIS FORUM!!!

    This of course is sarcasm. Ask them how they figure out return on investments, the answers will shock you.

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    t00nces2 started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by EDC76 View Post
    It still amazes me how people will overpay for groceries just so they can get some minuscule discount on fuel.

    By buying groceries at Walmart, Aldi, Sharp Shopper, and a local grocery chain for meat, I'm saving far more than any of your fuel discounts will ever net.
    1. I would rather pay a little more for groceries than give my money to a store that imports poison from China.
    2. Winn Dixie and the the local farm market are not substantially more expensive than Wally World and actually beats their prices if shopped strategically.
    3. As I said in the OP, I shop a lot at Home Depot because of my business purchasing and I get Fuel Rewards off gallons of gas on thing I had to buy with my customers money.

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    Quote Originally Posted by EDC76 View Post
    It still amazes me how people will overpay for groceries just so they can get some minuscule discount on fuel.

    By buying groceries at Walmart, Aldi, Sharp Shopper, and a local grocery chain for meat, I'm saving far more than any of your fuel discounts will ever net.
    It amazes me that you don't think I've comparison shopped.

    I will grant you Aldi when we're stocking up on canned vegetables. Occasionally Kroger runs a sale that does beat them, though.
    Last edited by auminer; 12-05-2020 at 08:43 PM.

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    Up here in Canada, we have something similar with Loblaws grocery stores. One buys fuel, get points and can trade them for grocery cash value. Also, I know that Flying J got a fidelity card, but they're no more located near me.

    Last weekend, I saw on Gas Buddy that they got a discount card, but it looks like it needs to be linked to your checking account and I am not sure if it is a scam or not. Not very fond of giving open access to my bank account.

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    It's neither here nor there really .... but nationally .... the gross profit on a gallon of gas is about 15 - 20 cents at the retail level. Net profit, after expense, averages about 3 - 5 cents. It's a volume business. One of the stations that i worked at years ago used to sell an 18 wheeler tanker load per day. A tanker can haul 10,000 gallons but they usually don't haul more than 9,000 gallons due to weight restrictions going over the road. You tend to get your best prices at the stations located nearest to the tank yards.

    There's not a whole lot of profit in retail sales of gasoline. There's also a difference in quality. Gasoline produced at the refinery is all the same. The difference is in the additive package that is added to the tank of the 18 wheeler when it loads up at the tank yard. Cheap gas has the additive package that just meets U.S. Federal standards. Name brand gas has an additive package that is distinctive to that brand of gasoline. The trusted names that we all know take their additive packages very seriously.

    Because there really isn't a lot of money to be made at selling gasoline at retail level .... gas sales are usually used to lure you into an establishment where the profit margins are much higher.

    Service stations make a hefty profit on their mechanic work. Convenience stores are self explanatory. Aldi & Lidl are among the largest GLOBAL grocery chains in the world. There's a reason these guys are the biggest fish in the pond. There's a lot more profit in selling lower cost no-name brands than there is in selling nationally recognized name brand products.

    Anyhow .... did quite a bit of market research while i was working for a certain company up until last June.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CopperMiner View Post
    Up here in Canada, we have something similar with Loblaws grocery stores. One buys fuel, get points and can trade them for grocery cash value. Also, I know that Flying J got a fidelity card, but they're no more located near me.

    Last weekend, I saw on Gas Buddy that they got a discount card, but it looks like it needs to be linked to your checking account and I am not sure if it is a scam or not. Not very fond of giving open access to my bank account.

    If not mistaken .... Irving Oil of Canada is one of the big fish in your part of the world ? Their Irving Rewards program seems fairly decent. I wouldn't have any problem doing business with them.

    https://www.irvingoil.com/en-CA/on-t...irving-rewards

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    It's neither here nor there really .... but nationally .... the gross profit on a gallon of gas is about 15 - 20 cents at the retail level. Net profit, after expense, averages about 3 - 5 cents. It's a volume business. One of the stations that i worked at years ago used to sell an 18 wheeler tanker load per day. A tanker can haul 10,000 gallons but they usually don't haul more than 9,000 gallons due to weight restrictions going over the road. You tend to get your best prices at the stations located nearest to the tank yards.

    There's not a whole lot of profit in retail sales of gasoline. There's also a difference in quality. Gasoline produced at the refinery is all the same. The difference is in the additive package that is added to the tank of the 18 wheeler when it loads up at the tank yard. Cheap gas has the additive package that just meets U.S. Federal standards. Name brand gas has an additive package that is distinctive to that brand of gasoline. The trusted names that we all know take their additive packages very seriously.

    Because there really isn't a lot of money to be made at selling gasoline at retail level .... gas sales are usually used to lure you into an establishment where the profit margins are much higher.

    Service stations make a hefty profit on their mechanic work. Convenience stores are self explanatory. Aldi & Lidl are among the largest GLOBAL grocery chains in the world. There's a reason these guys are the biggest fish in the pond. There's a lot more profit in selling lower cost no-name brands than there is in selling nationally recognized name brand products.

    Anyhow .... did quite a bit of market research while i was working for a certain company up until last June.
    Interesting. I have used BP for the most part since I figured out Citgo gas was supporting a communist regime in Venezuela. I now fill up 20 gallons a month with Shell, and I am considering doing Shell exclusively because they seem to give the same 5 cent discount on price if you use their credit card.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hills View Post
    If not mistaken .... Irving Oil of Canada is one of the big fish in your part of the world ? Their Irving Rewards program seems fairly decent. I wouldn't have any problem doing business with them.

    https://www.irvingoil.com/en-CA/on-t...irving-rewards
    Not as big as they're in the Maritimes or New England, but they actually operate around here. I have only one Irving gas bar in a 30 mile radius, but they have the two large truck stops along the highway 20 where they generally sell at the lowest prices in a 100 mile radius. No need to say that they're very busy all the time. Costco is not bad neither, but they require a paid membership to buy fuel.

    About the prices around the tank yards, the main refinery in our area (Valero / Ultramar) is located in St. Romuald (South of Quebec City) and the prices there are not better than anywhere else. That's something I never understood. Same with Montreal-Est (Suncor / Petro-Canada is the last one to actually refine oil there, but it used to have 5 or 6 refineries in its heyday.). Up here, I guess that the tax rates are what make the biggest impact on the retail prices, but it also depend how dynamic the market is. Around here, the prices changes often in some towns, but in some others, the prices change only once in a while. They won't go down when the oil barrel is cheaper, but they won't hike up before the weekends. If you're located in the metro areas, they need to collect extra transit taxes, but if you're going close to the U.S. or Ontario border, taxation is lower to discourage customers to go fueling on the other side of the line. On the other hand, I agree that the remote areas (far from the tank yards and/or far from competitors) generally have a higher price.

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    I think its just pick your poison.....they all have done horrible things to bring us our precious gasoline

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    Quote Originally Posted by EDC76 View Post
    It still amazes me how people will overpay for groceries just so they can get some minuscule discount on fuel.

    By buying groceries at Walmart, Aldi, Sharp Shopper, and a local grocery chain for meat, I'm saving far more than any of your fuel discounts will ever net.
    I live 30 miles south of Fred Meyer (Kroger) but it is in Oregon and I am in Cali. The only big store in my town (even my county) is walmart. We get tired of that store and when my tank is around 25% we make that drive. That is around every 3 or 4 weeks. Sure most of the time it is only their minimum .03¢ discount but at times it is a dime. Yes, I know that is no big deal but Oregon gas is always at least $1.00 cheaper than Cali gas. The other day I think I say $4.67 here in town and Freddie's was around $3.39

    I go many places in town but everything is a 3 to 5 minute drive.
    Here I am cyberdan, at yardsales I am dollardan


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