HeartBurnKid

PGC ftl.

civicmon

=)

xr1ddl3rx

Meanwhile, I'd be dialing my phone to call all my friends. Then if they were at work or something, I would just go back with yet more gasoline canisters to buy it for them and sell it to them at a small profit!!!!

I usually do the right thing in situations like this but look at the facts. The Owner of the gas station (at least the ones I go to, QT, Mobil, etc) probably has more than a single store. He probably makes a good chunk of change every year.

If you're too stupid to get your decimal in the right price then check it on the board, don't be shocked when you're fired for being remarkably dumb. Meanwhile, people like me, that are smarter than YOU will be making out like bandits with all of your boss's gasoline.

part of me wonders if this wasn't some kind of stunt to increase traffic to a certain store.

elephantattack

Grocery stores and retail stores have policies that favor the consumer in case of price discrepancies. Some states even have laws requiring such policy. SO, it may be perfectly within your right to pump and go and feel good about a deal.

unklegwar

They should honor the price at the pump, but as a good neighbor, we should inform them that there is likely an error. If there's no error, pump away! But constantly trying to take advantage of other people leads to a very cynical, angry existence.

notallcompaniesareevil

notallcompaniesareevil

notallcompaniesareevil

Why is it when a store has a pricing error, say Staples keeping up a sale price after the sale on the floor, we work and believe we have the right to have the price it is tagged at? Yet here it is somehow wrong to expect the station to honor the price on the pump? Most any retail store will honor the price on the floor, even when there is an error. Then they correct it. But the same logic doesn't seem to apply to big oil?

A lot of folks want to stick it to big oil by grabbing what they can when these things happen. Of course, big oil feels not a thing, only the local operator. But the resentment most feel at big oil has nowhere to go, so folks are looking for some way to put it out there, even if it's this.

Big oil sits down in front of Congress and justifies the costs of gas and their massive profits by saying market forces ebb and flow. In essence, they are making a killing now, but later, they might not be. Well, we all know that is a pant load. But of course, the more we feel gouged by things like, not enough refinement capacity, gas prices that don't jibe with demand, the more likely we are to seek alternatives. It is just a matter of time and motivation. So for once, perhaps big oil is right. They know they are going to take a big hit, so they are screwing us for every penny while they can.

Yeah, I'd fill up first because that's the price on the pump, so the one they should honor. But then I'd tell the attendant and put the onus on them. It is their mistake -- if it is such. We've had gas 'wars' and promos before so there should be no assumption that this is 'error' on first blush. I follow the logic that if they price it and make an error, they like most all other retailers, need to stand by it. There are websites dedicated to this ideal. Hey, isn't this one of them?

Yogambo

theblackdog

bonzombiekitty

[www.fightidentitytheft.com]

Pabst-Before there were gold medals there were Blue Ribbons

guspaz

ViperBorg

screw the damn gas stations and the farking oil companies!

rjascott121

He charged me $4.95 for the bottle of no existent coolant addition. In his tizzy of scam, he must've forgotten what he was doing because he also charged me $4.95 for my full tank of gas.

Karma.

But, hey. Dealing with a shithead gas station attendant and an open gas cap is better than getting a tank full of water.

mattbrown

How it is wrong? You pump the gas at the price on the machine?

How is this any different when you walk into a supermarket, and someone forgot to update the price on some of your groceries? By law, in most states you get the item for the price on the product not on the sign- which ever cheaper.

Sure, if I was the owner of the gas station I would be severely pissed about the money loss. But I'd also be even more pissed at the attendant who put the right price on the sign right but then did not check the price on the pump itself.

I would think an average attendant would notice such things. But maybe this was planned to screw someone over.

radio1

Keat

Is that really being a good consumer?

I would have told the attendant. They'd probably lose their job for putting the wrong amount up in the system.

Here's my prediction: If this gas-price craziness continues, the road-side sign boards will all go digital, and will be connected (along with the pumps) to a system in which the gas distributor can automatically update prices at all of their member stations without relying upon the attendant to do so.

farker

Two wrongs don't make a right

Do you know what a hypocrite is, Zeke?

noquarter

Two wrongs don't make a right. Stealing from a gas station - especially when you would complain if the situation was reversed - is still wrong, no matter how much you hate the oil companies.

ZekeSulastin

M3wThr33

Bill Brasky

HOP

How is this any different?

shiznannigan

Onouris

Gokuhouse

TexasBelle

humphrmi

Pro-Pain

stanfrombrooklyn

BuzzDar

Alternatively, you may approach the management of the station and explain your dissatisfaction. You are not likely to receive a price break, but a good station manager might be able to provide some perspective.

However, passive-aggressive methods of "payback", such as exploiting gas station worker mistakes (or as LUV2CattleCall facetiously suggested, defecating in the windshield wiper squeegee container) represents a breach of contract between the consumer and the business. It is an unwillingness to trade value for value that has given capitalism such an undeserved bad name.

If you are at the pump, and you notice that the price per gallon is $2 less than you know it should be, you have a moral obligation not to pump that gas until you have confirmed that the price is correct. To otherwise take the gas at a lower rate than the station is willing to accept is theft.

I could see a station manager thanking you for alerting him of the mistake by allowing you to fill your tank at the erroneous price. That would be nice. But it's not an entitlement.

pbmods

theysaidwhat

Honesty is what made this country great. The lack of honesty in this country is why it deserves what is coming to it and what we are receiving now. God has damned America.

Phildawg

Infinity_8

i.e. Say the profit per gallon remains the same, and the price of crude goes up, yes the price of gas goes up, but the profit remains the same.

Is this more Reaganomics?
Wake up sheeple!

doctor_cos

whatevernever

Feba

JollyJumjuck

P_Smith

celerium

I'd like to say I'd do the right thing. Knowing myself, I'd fuel up and then keep the information to myself.

cuiusquemodi

Hawk07

bigmil87

I'd have no regrets for "ripping" off the gas station....that's payback for the 9/10ths of a cent bullshit.

LUV2CattleCall

"Fill-up, pay, leave, rent flatbed truck, buy a dozen empty oil barrels, return, and pump like my life depended on it."

kelptocratic

Just like you want companies to "do the right thing," you as a consumer have the same responsibility. Whether you like it or not, companies offer a service to society. We need GOOD companies, just like companies need GOOD consumers.

Next time any poster is scumbagged, remember that you're admitting that you'd do the same thing, so it's just life being fair. Next time someone finds your wallet and returns it to you intact, you deserve that sick feeling that you'll get because you know you're not capable of doing the same kind gesture.

WingZero987

FrankReality

kylo4

I know some people who've been penalized because some whiny asshat with an inflated sense of entitlement felt he/she was due for a game of gas 'n go, leaving those working at the time on the hook for that tank of gas. Same thing at restauraunts, and the jerks who dine 'n dash.

unravel

karmaghost

Luckily it was the "Gold" grade gas was showing up for $1.599. NO ONE noticed it till I was almost off the shift and someone tells me about it. I call my boss and tell her, she says to bag the pump and hope to god no one caught on to it.

Luckily, it turned out that the LCD screen was broken and instead of showing $3.599, showed $1.599

Namrepus

ceejeemcbeegee

Infinity_8

TheSpatulaOfLove

Back in the day, if you looked hard enough at Fry's Electronics, you find a rack of $350 hard drives with price stickers for a $150 CD Drive on them and get a great deal (this won't work anymore with the system they now use).

wildness

NereusRen

I knew you could!

Charred

Nakko

kylo4

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

Onouris

humphrmi

Islandkiwi

Bill Brasky

Charred

humphrmi

thirdbase

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.

Allison4

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

StevieD

I caught a break last year.
I filled up, then noticed the price.
I took a picture of it and the total and went in to pay.
I asked the clerk about it but he didn't care.

Blackneto

hypochondriac

VashTS544

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.

bohemian

NigerianScammer

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.

Pooterfish

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.

pbmods

Trai_Dep

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.

modenastradale

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.

Communist_Gamer

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...

RookOmega

sam1am

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...

sam1am

WV.Hillbilly

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.

riverstyxxx

parad0x360

rachaeljean

myotheralt

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.

unravel

unravel

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.

studio3d

Communist_Gamer

hamsangwich

nsv

LunarLoki

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

xl22k

ludwigk

MissTic

humphrmi

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.

ceejeemcbeegee

thirdbase

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

TacoDave

Fry

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.

Verdigris

Coder4Life

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.

wideawake

Manok

Buran

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.

NightSteel

But I would screw oil companies any way I can.

BMRFILE

failurate

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.

KyleOrton

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

m4ximusprim3

AbstractConcept

squablow

KD17

hypnotik_jello

ideagirl

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.

EWGF

SomeoneGNU