Why go to a gas station at all?

[matchewed]

When you can have the gas delivered right to your car.


http://purpledelivery.com/
http://www.fuelmeapp.com/
http://www.myfueldrop.com/

Pretty much my reaction when I saw this article pointing these services out.

[JLee]

LOL, "You'll never have to worry about what happens to you at the gas station!"

[Paul der Krake]

I could see something like this maybe working in a very high end neighborhood filled with celebrities and butler-hiring folks. Gasoline truck comes in every other day at 8am to fill up every car on the block and maybe then you could turn a profit.

No way in hell they can be profitable if they have to drive more than a couple hundred yards between every $5 fill-up, even if they get the fuel at a discount.

But yeah, what a waste.

[Engineer_Erik]

When I was a kid my neighbors had an underground tank and a gas pump in their driveway.  I thought it was the coolest thing.   They tore it out at some point since regulations got much tighter on that sort of thing.  I look forward to the day I have an electric car and can fill up at home the same way.

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk

[nobodyspecial]

No way in hell they can be profitable if they have to drive more than a couple hundred yards between every $5 fill-up, even if they get the fuel at a discount.

Gas stations barely break even on gas, the profit comes from the tobacco/candy/junk they also sell.
Imagine what the real estate costs are for a filling station in downtown SF/NY/Vancouver.

But yes - it is insane....

[vhalros]

I'm sort of tempted to start a business where I deliver gasoline by bicycle, just for the irony.

[slugline]

Imagine a future when electric cars rise to dominance. With demand for liquid fuel dropping, gas stations begin closing and the remaining gasoline-burners no longer can take it for granted that there's a station "on the way." A round trip to a gas station to refill in itself consumes a non-negligible amount of time and fuel. In this scenario, I could see fuel-delivery services like these filling a niche in the economy. Of course, that time is still a long way off. . . .

[Jack]

I've seriously considered having biodiesel delivered to my house in 55-gallon barrels (one at a time, of course) and getting a relatively-cheap gravity-feed hose and nozzle. The calculus is a little different because getting biodiesel isn't as convenient as going to the corner gas station, and the delivery fee was not significant (actually, it might have been $0 -- I don't quite remember). The only reason I didn't do it is that I don't have a garage yet.

[nobodyspecial]

One issue with biodiesel is that it doesn't age well.
A few companies we work with discovered that with their new green PR switch of backup generators to biodiesel.
Biodiesel from the pump is great, biodeisel that has been sitting in the tanks of the never-used backup generator for a year becomes a little more bio....

[JLee]

No way in hell they can be profitable if they have to drive more than a couple hundred yards between every $5 fill-up, even if they get the fuel at a discount.

Gas stations barely break even on gas, the profit comes from the tobacco/candy/junk they also sell.
Imagine what the real estate costs are for a filling station in downtown SF/NY/Vancouver.

But yes - it is insane....

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

[I'm a red panda]

I can't believe this exists. Just the other day I was saying someone should do this, but I couldn't imagine how they could because it would never be profitable.

However, as much as I want this service, I would never pay for it.  But man that would be awesome.

[slugline]

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone was spending student loan money for this service?

http://www.uh.edu/af/news/press-releases/pr-fuel-me.htm

[I'm a red panda]

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone was spending student loan money for this service?

And then we'll hear about how student loans should all be forgiven because education costs so much money...
I know that people need student loans to cover living expenses as well; but it pisses me off to no end when I know that the massive loans people took out weren't because of tuition and related fees, or even rent; but because of crap like this.


I wonder if there is any government regulation of the measuring of the fuel dispensed?

[LennStar]

I could see something like this maybe working in a very high end neighborhood filled with celebrities and butler-hiring folks. Gasoline truck comes in every other day at 8am to fill up every car on the block and maybe then you could turn a profit.

No way in hell they can be profitable if they have to drive more than a couple hundred yards between every $5 fill-up, even if they get the fuel at a discount.

But yeah, what a waste.

A waste? really?
I dont know, someone should do the math.
It is not a waste for the fuel truck driver, since the gas station needs personal, too. Lets say its the same for both.
Also ignore the land costs.

What we have is the cost of driving to the gas station or the druck driving to a neighborhood.
What is more expensive? 100 cars driving 2 miles to a gas station or a single truck driving maybe 20 miles?
In $?
In time?
In costs to build, maintain and repair the streets if that happens not with 100 cars and one truck, but 100,000 cars and 100 trucks?
Why not have a car gas pipeline to every house like you have a heating gas and water pipeline btw.?

[Paul der Krake]

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

Are you sure they are still operational and not just abandonned stations with prices from 15 years ago? A 70¢ spread is crazy.

[matchewed]

I could see something like this maybe working in a very high end neighborhood filled with celebrities and butler-hiring folks. Gasoline truck comes in every other day at 8am to fill up every car on the block and maybe then you could turn a profit.

No way in hell they can be profitable if they have to drive more than a couple hundred yards between every $5 fill-up, even if they get the fuel at a discount.

But yeah, what a waste.

A waste? really?
I dont know, someone should do the math.
It is not a waste for the fuel truck driver, since the gas station needs personal, too. Lets say its the same for both.
Also ignore the land costs.

What we have is the cost of driving to the gas station or the druck driving to a neighborhood.
What is more expensive? 100 cars driving 2 miles to a gas station or a single truck driving maybe 20 miles?
In $?
In time?
In costs to build, maintain and repair the streets if that happens not with 100 cars and one truck, but 100,000 cars and 100 trucks?
Why not have a car gas pipeline to every house like you have a heating gas and water pipeline btw.?

The question isn't about piping gas to your home but to have tankers driving around filling people's cars up for them rather than going to a specific location. So which vehicle consumes more gas? Which vehicle is worse for the environment? Added to that you aren't going to reduce the amount driven by regular drivers by much.

The answer is somewhat obvious to me. It's more expensive to have gasoline tankers driving around from house to house on a weekly basis.

[sol]

Everybody here keeps saying that this service can't be profitable.  Doesn't that wholly depend on what they charge?  Seems easy to be profitable if they're charging people $5/gal or more, and I'm sure some people will pay that fee to avoid the scariness of actually physically going to a gas station.

[Paul der Krake]

Everybody here keeps saying that this service can't be profitable.  Doesn't that wholly depend on what they charge?  Seems easy to be profitable if they're charging people $5/gal or more, and I'm sure some people will pay that fee to avoid the scariness of actually physically going to a gas station.

Well, I based this opinion on one of the FAQ pages that states that they charge "the average price in the zipcode" and $5 for delivery fee. If their pricing somehow allowed them to make a $20+ profit on each fill-up, that'd be a different story.

[slugline]

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

Are you sure they are still operational and not just abandonned stations with prices from 15 years ago? A 70¢ spread is crazy.

I know of two Shell stations near me that are 66 cents/gal apart and within half a mile of each other on the same busy roadway. And yet I still see cars stopping in at the pumps at both places.

[nobodyspecial]

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

Are you sure they are still operational and not just abandonned stations with prices from 15 years ago? A 70¢ spread is crazy.

I know of two Shell stations near me that are 66 cents/gal apart and within half a mile of each other on the same busy roadway. And yet I still see cars stopping in at the pumps at both places.

Here the stations are all exactly the same price to within 1c, and all increase their prices by 2c during morning/afternoon rush hour.
However they all do this completely independently resulting from global dynamics of the oil supply and without any cooperation/conspiracy - the investigation said so.

We also pay $1.25/litre = $US 3.50/gal

[geopter]

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

Are you sure they are still operational and not just abandonned stations with prices from 15 years ago? A 70¢ spread is crazy.

I know of two Shell stations near me that are 66 cents/gal apart and within half a mile of each other on the same busy roadway. And yet I still see cars stopping in at the pumps at both places.

Yeah, last weekend I got gas at a station that turned out to be a whole $1 per gallon higher than the one down the street. This was also a fancy new Shell station.

I did think it was high, but chalked it up to the mountain location. Turns out I should have been more skeptical.

[JLee]

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

Are you sure they are still operational and not just abandonned stations with prices from 15 years ago? A 70¢ spread is crazy.

Having filled up at one without checking the price first (mandatory full service in NJ), I can tell you I am absolutely sure.

[KodeBlue]

Gas stations barely break even on gas, the profit comes from the tobacco/candy/junk they also sell.

And lottery tickets. The place I stop at sometimes has 75 different scratch off games. And today they had an extra person on duty to handle the insane number of folks buying Powerball tickets.

[Prairie Stash]

As a kid we would get gasoline delivered regularly (30 years ago). They would stop by to fill the gasoline barrels that we would then fill the tractor, truck, cars etc. We could get 400 L dropped off and save the expense of driving to pick it up.

Now you can get shoes, books and groceries delivered to your door courtesy of Amazon, why not something you use every week like gas?

[nobodyspecial]

Now you can get shoes, books and groceries delivered to your door courtesy of Amazon, why not something you use every week like gas?

Especially since so many urbanites no longer have cars - home delivery will be a big market

[BDWW]

Interesting, when I was younger, we used to have gas and diesel tanks at the ranch. At some point in the late nineties, gas delivery became more expensive, and it was cheaper to drive into town(~15 miles) and fill up. Still get diesel delivered, but it's red dye for the tractors (and a bit harder to drive them into town :) ).

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

When I was a kid in Virginia, people were getting shot dead at gas stations.

I pump gas every week without thinking about it these days, of course.  But it leaped right back to mind when I heard about the service.

[GetItRight]

Why not have a car gas pipeline to every house like you have a heating gas and water pipeline btw.?

1: A typical house doesn't move around several times a week, and is unlikely to travel past a natural gas dispensary.
2: There are, generally, 4 fuels that vehicles and equipment may burn and any one household may require several or all of those. These 4 typical fuels require 3 pipes or storage units, making hard plumbed distribution complex and expensive.
3: A typical vehicle will drive past or in the vicinity of a gas station at some point before it needs refueling.

For those reasons there is demand for a pipeline for fuel to heat an immobile structure, but not so much to fuel a mobile vehicle.

Also many houses use fuel oil for heat, many are in urban or suburban rather than rural areas... Yet I have never heard of any large scale plumbed to each house fuel oil distribution. I'd wager the potential for major leakage as the system ages/breaks/wears or is worked on is a prime reason for not having a large scale below ground liquid fuel distribution system. Natural gas or water/sewer leaks are not quite the environmental nightmare a large scale gasoline or fuel oil leak can be.

[browneyedgirl]

Lotto tickets... duh

[gaja]

Imagine a future when electric cars rise to dominance. With demand for liquid fuel dropping, gas stations begin closing and the remaining gasoline-burners no longer can take it for granted that there's a station "on the way." A round trip to a gas station to refill in itself consumes a non-negligible amount of time and fuel. In this scenario, I could see fuel-delivery services like these filling a niche in the economy. Of course, that time is still a long way off. . . .

I talked to a Volkswagen dealer in a rural area further north. They had seen an upsurge in sales of the electric Golf and Up because people couldn't be bothered to drive all the was to the gas station (~45 min round trip). It was much easier to just charge the car at home. Finally, a few gas stations have seen the light, and are installing speed chargers. That should keep them going for a few more years. 30 % of new cars sold in Norway are now electric, and the number rises every year. 

[gliderpilot567]

I'm not so sure about that anymore - there are stations within ~5 miles from me that have a 70 cent spread on pricing. Somebody's making something.

Are you sure they are still operational and not just abandonned stations with prices from 15 years ago? A 70¢ spread is crazy.

I know of two Shell stations near me that are 66 cents/gal apart and within half a mile of each other on the same busy roadway. And yet I still see cars stopping in at the pumps at both places.

In my town there is a huge disparity between stations next to the freeway (expensive) and stations deep in town (very cheap). However I bet the freeway stations don't turn that much more of a profit, because I would bet the real estate leases/taxes to operate right by the freeway are much more expensive for them.