Do petrol pumps pinch my pennies?
18 October, 2007 | Tagged with journal | 13 Comments
There’s been a niggling suspicion in the back of my mind several times recently, when refuelling my car. At the petrol pump I fill up to, say, £15.00. But by the time I reach the cashier, it mysteriously costs me £15.01.
The first few times I let this go without a second thought. Fair enough, it’s easy to misjudge and not spot the pump ticking over that extra penny. But tonight my suspicions were raised. I caught a glimpse of the cashier’s screen, and every person who had refuelled had a total price of £XX.01.
Could petrol stations really be stealing 1 penny from every customer? Some may notice, but 1 penny isn’t worth complaining about.
But in the course of a day, if this speculation were to contain any truth, the petrolium companies would be stealing thousands of pounds straight from our wallets.
Has anybody had similar experiences? Please click here and leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
October 20th, 2007 at 6:07 pm (#)
AT LAST I brought this to the attention of the cashier at my local ASDA and told her that I was not going to pay the extra 1p just on the thought of 1p x 1000 customers per day equals £10 per day x 365days equals £3650 per year which is a fair amount of undeclaired revenue for an already high charging commodity,which is a modern form of highway robbery
October 31st, 2007 at 1:31 pm (#)
Some pumps seem to drip or recalculate or *something* as you put them back on the hook. I’ve had this happen visibly before - as I’ve put the pump back I’ve watched the display click over - but never without my knowledge. And it’s only happened perhaps two or three times that I can remember.
It could be that a whole forecourt, fitted with the same batch of pumps, has the same problem throughout. Never ascribe to malice etc. etc. but raise a hoo-hah over it, definitely.
(The debate as to why we all aim for round-number amounts of petrol, regardless of payment method, is to be had another day, I think!
)
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm (#)
the petrol pumps are wrongly caliberated and should be retested by customs & excise as it is wrong to operate with faulty pumps.even military pumps have to be checked on a regular basis if the books show a discrepancy there should and is an enquery so the argument that the pumps drip or leak or even distribute excess amounts don’t even enter the argument
November 29th, 2007 at 10:33 am (#)
Interesting theory, my local garage (ESSO) actually has a dish of coppers on the counter that you are free to use if you run over by a few pence.
I’m not sure if the garage owner puts them there or if other customers leave their spare penny change(I do) but it’s a nice gesture anyway.
December 10th, 2007 at 5:36 pm (#)
[…] Paul Annett ponders on whether petrol stations are involved in some penny pinching by adding a penny onto every transaction, in the hope it goes unnoticed and raises plenty of extra […]
December 11th, 2007 at 8:54 am (#)
I agree, it’s a problem.
It’s irritating, however I’m more concerned about feeling like a nerd at the counter… not knowing to question a penny or walk away feeling cheated.
Bugger!
A cool website that I used to use a lot is www.petrolprices.com they’re starting to pick up on areas of interest to do with petrol scams too.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:40 pm (#)
petrol at over £1.09 a ltr what a rip off we were promised years ago when oil was discovered in Scotland that we would be one of the cheapest in europe I’ve never benefitted from it has any body out there? maybe just maybe it could have given the government a few extra bob as well as the filling stations .can you imagine running a business at a loss?if the owners of said forcourts are to be believed.no its too much coinsidence that the amount of pumps trickle the odd pence out of its captive customers.tackle the staff after all they would let you know if you paid short for your liquid gold.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:43 am (#)
I always fill to a value that ends in zero’s but my last three fills included those extra pennies… I even shook the nozzle to prove it was clear of drips, then when I returned it to the holder the penny added on! - At current prices 1p is equal to 10ml of fuel… you would definately notice two teaspoons of fuel dripping out? There’s something fishy going on!
January 5th, 2008 at 12:07 pm (#)
Hear in the U.S. seems the pump will almost never land on the exact amount you want, aways seems to end up a penny or two over the amount I have offended wonder about this.They are so hard to regulate, the pump I mean. Looks like they are getting all they can from a person. Jerks.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:54 pm (#)
If large petrol co’s are doing this it explains why the small retailers go out of business. This is why I did TWENTY-FOUR FORMER FILLING STATIONS as well as my own nostalgia. See my site www.frankeye.co.uk and check your impressions against the reality of my archive.
February 15th, 2008 at 9:08 pm (#)
same experience happened twice did not take notice
but noted on second occasion
will be informing trading standards
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:08 pm (#)
I am so happy someone has brought it up it really annoys me. this happens everytime i fill up now!!! the screen b4 i pay says £30.00 then when i get to the cashier £30.01!!!
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:45 am (#)
I’ve noticed a few times that if you jiggle the pump nozzle to get that extra bit out it pushes it up by a penny even though you’ve taken your hand off the handle bit.
Given the extortionate rise of fuel prices its probably gone up a penny in the time it takes you to cross the forecourt!!!