aemeijers wrote:
Karla wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2009 10:52:40 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
I might take my propane tanks to the local fill place, where they
provide an honest fill.
Try to find one that charges you by the unit instead of a flat rate.
No reason they can't top up a 20 lb tank that has 5 lb in it and
charge you for 15 lb.
THAT is a ripoff.
You are paying for the labor, mainly, not the propane. Gotta pay for
the machine, the clerk, the inspections, the insurance, etc. Like the
price of beer in kegs vs. cans- the cost of the content is close to
trivial. If refill stations charged by the pound, you'd get people
coming n every week to top off, 'just so we don't run out during the
barbecue'. Lot of clerk time and machine wear for very little money.
A flat fee plus weight would maybe make sense.
By that reasoning, every full serve gas station should charge you for
a fixed amount full tank, not the actual number of gallons they pump
into your car. Yet somehow they stay in business by charging you just
for the amount you actually receive...
A lot more people have cars than propane tanks, and there are a lot more
gas stations that propane fill stations. You do notice that other than
in NJ and Oregon?, full-serve gas stations have basically vanished, and
the few that remain charge a price premium? They charge you for the
labor, all right- 'X' cents per gallon.
With propane filling, all service is "full service" so the premium
difference vs. self serve is not a valid analogy, since we aren't
comparing full service with self service propane. The full service
pumps at a gas station (and there are plenty of them near me) charge the
same per unit amount regardless of the amount of fuel purchased. In
other words a customer purchasing 5 gallons of fuel isn't charged for a
full tank. Likewise the number of stations is not relevant, we are
discussing the practices at the stations themselves, not how many others
there are.
There is no reason why propane sales should need to charge a full tank
for a 1/4 tank fill, if propane dealers weren't out to gouge and cheat
their customers. We aren't talking bulk sales here, and charging by the
unit sold certainly adequately includes labor costs for other fuel sales.
The article cited already establishes the propane industry's (lack of)
integrity and business ethics by providing less product without
informing their customers. It's not surprising they freely engage in
less than above-board practices.