I'm too honest but mostly because I wouldn't want someone taking advantage of a mistake I made.

I'm always suspicious now of such a pricing error, no matter how much it would benefit me.

If there's one thing I learned from consumerist, it's that cashing in a check that you don't deserve is stupid, and I'm willing to apply to anything else.

@SomeoneGNU: Me, too. I also tell cashiers when they have given me too much change. /dumbass

sigh, yet another gawker poll that doesn't seem to submit in FF

I probably would have already started to fill up before looking at the price so I would have finish filling the tank then went and said something and paid whatever I owed.

I know it's wrong, but I would have went for the cheap fillup. Happened once here in Wisconsin, I think the price was like 36 cents instead of 3.60

Well, Considering their ripping us off already I'd feel pretty good about ripping them off, though I'd hope it wouldn't get the attendant fired.

Honestly, I may not have even noticed until it was too late. I'm notoriously bad at noticing things like that.

Had I noticed, I probably would have told them after I finished filling up.

I pick and choose the businesses that I want to lose money on me. Most gas stations I visit are locally owned with visible owners and I don't want them losing $2/gallon.

On the other hand, I enjoy only purchasing loss leaders at big box stores and would jump at the chance to cost the oil companies as much dough as possible.

A few months ago I probably would have told the gas station before filling up. Now, after signing up for a mortgage and a wife, if I find your wallet on the street, you might get it back, empty.

The way I see it, if the gas stations are owned and operated by oil companies themselves, I would have spread it around and told everyone I know and never tell the clerk. However, gas stations are own by individual owners and they make very little on gasoline sales (we're talking pennies per gallon). They're certainly not the ones to blame for the high cost of gas.

But I would screw oil companies any way I can.

@AbstractConcept: The problem with this idea is that the station owner will almost certainly end up eating the cost of the mix-up, and the station owners are *not* the causes of the ridiculously high gas prices. If I'm not mistaken, most of them have some sort of contract that specifies they will charge whatever prices their gasoline distributor specifies.

I voted for 'pay and drive off', but I'm not 100% sure that I'd do that, because my wife and I's cars get really good mileage, and even with high prices, I'm not feeling the pinch that badly. I'm sure if we drove less efficient cars, though, I'd fill up and call my wife to come do the same.

@failurate: can I sign up on the latter list?

I always pay at the pump so I would just pay and drive off. I hate going into gas stations.

I can top that...I will submit the receipt when I get home and copy/scan and figure out who to send it to here.

Last October filled my car for .28 cents a gallon. When they changed price it should have been $2.89, somebody didn't check placement of the decimal point!

Filled my car for $4.30!

And it was one those "faceless" gas stations owned by Shell Oil.

@AbstractConcept:
The gas station is not ripping is us off. It's the big companies...

I would fill up and just drive off, without paying... shows them right.

But really, I would pay, then tell them. Might as well get in on a good deal, then tell them so it doesn't happen again.

America is all about jumping on benficial situations before they are gone.

If it was the station I worked at (with the bosses I worked for), or my local station in town, I'd tell them. Anyone else, fuck 'em. They are just about all owned by Big Oil anyways.

I live in Oregon, so we aren't allowed to pump our own gas. It's too dangerous.

So I don't even look at the price anymore, which is probably the whole point. Sneaky Oregon...

Screw em. Sign and drive baby.

I would like to hope I'd do the right thing, but after putting $50 in my tank for the second time this week, I'd take the cheap gas a run.

But I do tell folks when I have too much change and I return found wallets/valuables. It's two-faced-ed, I know, but I don't care.

To be quite honest, I wouldn't have noticed the pump price until I filled, paid by CC at the pump, gotten the receipt, and gone home. Not that I'm dishonest, just lazy and don't really care.

It's not the gas station owners that are screwing us...just sayin'

Gas stations around where I live always seem to be full of sketchy customers and attendants. I would fill up and pay, then, if the inside of the store didn't look like a crack den, step in and alert them. Otherwise, I'd drive off. Not worth getting involved with the usual hooligan crowd.

A couple months ago I filled up my car with 87 octane for ~ $3.40 / gallon only to realize when I was fiinished that the 89 octane next to it was $1.59.

So...you can imagine how pissed I was. Now I always check before I pump.

I would have filled up and then told all of my friends. It is the business's responsibility not ours.

After the first 20 people came in to pay for $20 worth of gas instead of $80, how did they not notice themselves?

If its an evil capitalist chain company, don't tell them. Ever. Take as much as they stole from you. If its a small town owned by one guy business tell them before pumping.

I ended up picking the majority choice (pump and then tell). When something is mislabeled, I like the department store policy of "You let me have it for this which makes me like you more and I tell you about it so you can fix it."

I suppose the best choice would be to tell the gas attendant before pumping... but I hate going in the store. I would probably press the button while I was pumping and tell them through the speaker.

I'd go in and tell someone before filling up, or pay the difference when I went inside. As nice as a cheap, full tank would be, acquiring it like this would make me a dick. Somebody's going to suffer because of it, and I'd hate to think I played a part in say, a struggling parent or student losing their job (especially in this economy), or added to the thousands than an independent owner would have to cover by themselves. Even at the stores operated by the oil/gas companies, someone's bound to be penalized :|

@nsv: Given the number of people paying at the pump with credit/debit, I imagine it'd take a good, long time before twenty people actually went inside to pay, in most places. My husband always pays at the pump, even if he's going in for coffee or cigs.

I don't understand how it goes on for so long in some places, either though. It seems like people swarming to your pumps would set some serious "Oh noooes!"es off.

the clerks can't change the gas prices, only the managers can

It kind of depends for me. Small, Mom & Pop-ish station? Tell them. BP or Exxon or something? Enjoy the windfall, w00t! "This is for the penguins!!!!"

Considering the price of gas is artificially inflated to obscene prices I would happily pay the discounted rate, then i would come back with 20 gas cans and fill those as well.

Not entirely sure, you all make good points. I couldn't come up with an answer because I wouldn't be able to call my friends since I don't technically have any. And I don't even have a car.

1. Gas is expensive already, why not stick it to them?
2. Clerks aren't responsible.
3. Gas stations can't charge much lower, so they would be at a loss. However, a lot of gas stations suck and the people are so rude.
4. You would think that all the crowds of people coming in, paying 1/3rd of the normal total would set off something in their head.
5. Driving off without paying is another option, obviously it's stealing. I've never done it, but I don't feel bad if I hear someone else does it. The usual reason is that it's too expensive.

I don't have an answer though.

I just filled the tanks in my vehicles the other day, so this wouldn't have done me any good.

I amazed how almost everyone considers themselves an honest person, yet only 14% of people in the poll would do the right thing.

It's an obvious error and the store will lose money for every gallon of gas it pumps at that price. If you KNOW that you are not paying an honest price for what you're getting, then it is dishonest. At least in my book.

And for those who will say "well, it's their fault for the error" just try to apply the golden rule. Would you want to lose $2 a gallon at a gas station you owned? The losses could be in the thousands for a single day!

Honesty seems to be subjective.

"Every way of man is right in his own eyes."

sigh...

LunarLoki: Taking advantage of people, ftw!

This is a tough one.

I mean, the price of gas at a station goes up overnight if something happens in the gulf, (how the gas in their storage tanks magically increases in price due to crude prices rising the next day).

The oil companies seem to have no problem taking my money...

@sam1am:

Its not the right thing when the oil is being sold to the company by someone for a profit, which is stealing from that company because it is selling it for more than they had to pay for it, then the middlemen sell it on to you the consumer who feel the pain most because you at the bottom have to pay the most for the stuff you need because thanks to supply-and-demand and capitalism means that they will screw you for every single penny or dime they can. Welcome to Capitalism.

You've been well and truly sucked in.

In all honesty, I think I'd fill up my car and never notice. Even now, I can't really comprehend the fact that gasoline costs more than $2 per gallon, let alone nearly (or exceeding) $4. In fact, when I read this post, I thought: "What's the fuss? It was just $X.74 at Arco this morning." The X is becoming so arbitrarily large that I'm filtering it out to protect my psyche. :-)

As to the ethical question of what I'd do if I realized the disparity... like many others here, I think it depends on the situation, but I'd probably tell before filling. Most gas stations are individually owned and have very tight margins. I wouldn't feel right taking advantage of them.

On the other hand, if I knew I was dealing with a store owned by a petroleum company, I would take the windfall without hesitation. In the last few years, petroleum companies have made incredible profits off the backs of ordinary people's dependence on gasoline. I'd relish the opportunity to cut into their profits just a bit.

If there was a way to make the oil oligarchs pay, I'd wear a sandwich board and fire flares up and down Sunset Blvd to hook in new customers to take advantage of the mistake. Unfortunately, most of the stations are owned by indie operators, and they're as screwed by Big Oil as we are.

@Communist_Gamer: You don't have to buy your gas at the pump, you know. You can buy from distributors. Just be prepared to buy it by the truckload.

Gas stations get to mark up the gas they sell. Aside from the fact that making a profit is how businesses get to stay around and continue to provide services, you're paying a higher price per gallon for the convenience of buying your gas one tank at a time instead of having to get a reservoir installed in your backyard.

I'm amazed at the people who are willing to take advantage of the store's error and basically rip them off. I bet every one would scream bloody murder if the gas station accidentally charged them $5/gallon.

And what's with all the big oil hating? Crude is over $115/barrel and oil companies make only an average pre-tax profit on sales. I'd love to hear how you think you can produce gasoline at a lower cost.

I dont even think its possible to drive off without paying anymore. The pumps dont even dispense gas without payment first.

It depends on the gas station doing it. If it was the one by our house that has been jacking up the price of gas by 10-40 cents during morning rush hour and then putting it back down to the city average price after everyone has gone to work, hell yes. This is the same place that had the sign 25 cents less than the pump. When I went in and told them they just grunted at me. When I mentioned that was illegal the bothered to have the manager change it with lots of dirty looks.

The same company owns that also owns like 100 stations in the area so it isn't some mom & pop operation.

If it was another station I would probably tell someone. Unless is was a corporate owned Shell or Exxon or something. Then I would be calling everyone I know.

Honestly, I wouldn't tell anyone. Just keep it to myself. Anyway, with the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if riots started breaking out soon. Seriously, I wouldn't. People can only take so much before they snap, as a whole.

I would tell the station owner. your basically stealing from the station. The people saying it's not their job to point out the stations mistake I consider thieves. I truly hope people who take advantage of stuff like this get charged with a crime.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I don't want to get screwed over by my mistakes and I won't take advantage of others either.

This happened recently in Wilmington NC. The clerk accidently set the price at $.35 per gallon instead of $3.35. They were CRAZY busy all day with long lines and a bunch of people acting like they're insane.

After a few hours of this chaos, the clerk became suspicious and checked the pump to find the error. I wouldn't have wanted to be her! Everyone had called their aunt, uncle and cousin to fill up, of course.

@ wvhillbilly: Great post way to add to the discussion. Why would you even waste a moment typing that. Knucklehead.

I'd fill up my trunk with gas. Then drive to Peru. With lots of stops and starts.

Honesty is honesty, regardless of your circumstances.

I'm in school for a law enforcement degree. Dishonesty is unacceptable. (Degree or not.)

I'd chalk it up to gas station promotion, and do nothing. I mean, how would the clerks not notice something was horribly wrong?

@Bill Brasky: I know people in law school degree programs. Dishonesty is required by the curriculum.

There isn't a hope in hell they'd get told by me. Sure, it's the right thing to do, but when have gas stations ever done the right thing themselves? As soon as the price of oil goes up, the price of gas goes up, including the gas that has already been made from the cheaper oil and is already in the pumps.

That's not doing the right thing now is it.

I'd fill up, pay and leave. They already charge up the ass for gas, and we're being gipped by them enough. It's there duty to notice the mistake.

I would have assumed that some of the LCD/LED numbers were busted so that a 3 or a 4 just happened to look like a 1.

@Onouris: Can you say "sophistry?"