Supermarket Fuel

Honest John Back Room » General discussion ( non motoring )
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Tue 16 May 2023 22:25
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1

It may be cheap and inferior but whatever it seems that since 2019 the consumer has been paying well over the odds according to the consumer watchdog. Bit late but the truth is there The fact that the stuff is sold in litres and not gallons is the biggest con

Supermarkets and fuel retailers pushing diesel and petrol prices higher than needed, competition watchdog finds (msn.com)

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Tue 16 May 2023 22:44
Supermarket Fuel - FP

"The fact that the stuff is sold in litres and not gallons is the biggest con"

Why on earth does that matter? It makes no difference to the cost of filling a tank.

Edited by FP on 16/05/2023 at 22:44

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Tue 16 May 2023 22:56
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

"The fact that the stuff is sold in litres and not gallons is the biggest con"

Why on earth does that matter? It makes no difference to the cost of filling a tank.

Yes, I would like to know the reason for the suggestion ? Anything to do with Brexit ? :-(

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Wed 17 May 2023 10:04
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1

"The fact that the stuff is sold in litres and not gallons is the biggest con"

Why on earth does that matter? It makes no difference to the cost of filling a tank.

Yes, I would like to know the reason for the suggestion ? Anything to do with Brexit ? :-(

Well all the gobble de goop about decimal points per litre for a start. When the price of fuel goes up 5p a litre it does not seem much but the reality is some 22p a gallon and on a tank quite an increase for some.. Only a trivial remark but the reality finding of the watchdog is just typical of what is happening to the UK consumer in all areas of commerce. Rishi has just had the farmers and supermarkets in to try to justify the price increases and he wonders why inflation is stuck at 10%. The truth is the so called watchdogs in the UK are a total waste of space and too far behind what is happening and us typical Brits just lap it up. The domestic energy market is a prime example from what I read they cannot give gas away at the moment but we are still stuck paying way over the odds

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Wed 17 May 2023 10:26
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr

"The fact that the stuff is sold in litres and not gallons is the biggest con"

Why on earth does that matter? It makes no difference to the cost of filling a tank.

Yes, I would like to know the reason for the suggestion ? Anything to do with Brexit ? :-(

Well all the gobble de goop about decimal points per litre for a start.

What 'gobble de goop' do you have in mind? My memories are hazy, but I'm pretty sure there was a decimal point or fraction in the price when it was gallons.

Maybe it's my age, but why anyone would want to go back to a system of weights and measures increasing by completely inconsistent factors is beyond me.

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Thu 18 May 2023 09:42
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

<< ... why anyone would want to go back to a system of weights and measures increasing by completely inconsistent factors is beyond me. >>

Why do we persist with MPG when no-one has bought a gallon of fuel for 30 years or more ? It just complicates any calculation !

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Wed 17 May 2023 10:45
Supermarket Fuel - Xileno

"How does food inflation in the UK compare to other countries?

Food price inflation in the UK sat at 19.2 per cent in the year to March on average, with cucumbers up 52 per cent, olive oil 49 per cent and hard cheeses 44 per cent.

Across Europe as a whole, food inflation is similar to the UK. The EU average is 19.2 per cent, though in some countries it is far higher – such as in Hungary where rates are approaching 40 per cent – or much lower – such as Switzerland where rates are 5.4 per cent. Turkey has the highest rate of food inflation at 53.9 per cent."

Source:

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/bills/uk-food-prices-why-so-high-inflation-countries-when-slow-2341602

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Wed 17 May 2023 12:49
Supermarket Fuel - Engineer Andy

"How does food inflation in the UK compare to other countries?

Food price inflation in the UK sat at 19.2 per cent in the year to March on average, with cucumbers up 52 per cent, olive oil 49 per cent and hard cheeses 44 per cent.

Across Europe as a whole, food inflation is similar to the UK. The EU average is 19.2 per cent, though in some countries it is far higher – such as in Hungary where rates are approaching 40 per cent – or much lower – such as Switzerland where rates are 5.4 per cent. Turkey has the highest rate of food inflation at 53.9 per cent."

Source:

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/bills/uk-food-prices-why-so-high-inflation-countries-when-slow-2341602

I wonder what food inflation was in the previous two years, given most prices I now see in the shops (including today) are between 50% and 150% higher than they were in December 2019.

Some price rises have been staggering, and some have been very strange, given the items in question are essentially made of the same stuff as others that have risen by significantly less.

At least with fuel, you can compare products far more easily, and see where there should be far less of a difference between outlets, especially supermarkets.

Edited by Engineer Andy on 17/05/2023 at 12:49

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Thu 18 May 2023 09:40
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

<< When the price of fuel goes up 5p a litre it does not seem much but the reality is some 22p a gallon and on a tank quite an increase for some.. >>

However you measure the input to your tank, its size remains the same, and so does the cost of filling it. So any difference between litres and gallons is purely psychological.

Some companies always price in xxx.9 per litre, others as xxx.8. I can't recall seeing any other fraction, just as many shop items come at xx.99 - tho some supermarkets are now in round pounds. At one time it was said that the 99p made it necessary to open the till for the change, thus deterring fraud. Maybe with most payments being by card that is no longer a consideration ? So the xxx.9 must be simply to make the price seem slightly less.

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Thu 18 May 2023 11:43
Supermarket Fuel - _

Some companies always price in xxx.9 per litre, others as xxx.8. I can't recall seeing any other fraction,

Asda Colchester today £143.7, generally 1.2p less than tesco.

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Thu 18 May 2023 11:58
Supermarket Fuel - Engineer Andy

Some companies always price in xxx.9 per litre, others as xxx.8. I can't recall seeing any other fraction,

Asda Colchester today £143.7, generally 1.2p less than tesco.

I too often see Asdas - especially their 'unattended' filling stations - doing this (xxx.7p / Litre), and occasionally some Morrisions.

Whilst most still seem to employ the xxx.9p /Litre method, my local Esso franchisee was just rounding off to the nearest whole penny for about six months last year when they were undercutting the next door Tesco filling station in order to drum up business / get good PR (to hopefully bring in trade to the next door second hand car dealership they also run).

Actually seemed to do the trick, but now back to (mostly just) matching Tesco and their xxx.9p / Litre pricing, or a penny or two more.

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Wed 17 May 2023 08:21
Supermarket Fuel - Metropolis.
I hope we go back to gallons as well, it would match how we measure fuel economy, end this metric mayhem.
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Wed 17 May 2023 08:41
Supermarket Fuel - _

At £1.43.7 a litre how much is that in pounds shillings and pence and farthings for those of us who have lived outside of the uk.... tyre pressures only in lbs per square inch or whatever.... And I assume you will want the return of 5 star not Ron? US gallon or imperial? How many years have we been decimal?

Edited by _ORB_ on 17/05/2023 at 16:04

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Wed 17 May 2023 11:03
Supermarket Fuel - Terry W

The transition to decimal measurements to align the UK to most of the rest of the world (US aside) is a continuing shambles.

Not just fuel consumption measured in MPG. We also have pubs serving pints, speed in MPH, weight in pounds, stones and tons (not tonnes), food priced by the gramme but packed in pounds and ounces, tape measures with feet and inches, etc etc.

It allows anyone over ~60 to insist that it would be better to go back to how it was. Anyone under 30 is thoroughly confused by the stupidity. We should have banned the use of all old imperial measures back in 1971 with decimalisation.

Out of interest - 1p in 1971 would now be ~16p due to inflation - in truth a trivial sum which would buy the dregs of a Starbucks coffee. The legal requirement to sell fuel in litres not gallons happened in 1995 - after 28 years we should be used to it

Edited by Terry W on 17/05/2023 at 11:04

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Wed 17 May 2023 11:53
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr

The legal requirement to sell fuel in litres not gallons happened in 1995 - after 28 years we should be used to it

Back when I would keep a pound coin in the car so I always had enough for the minimum fuel delivery of 2 litres at 49.9p/l

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Wed 17 May 2023 12:42
Supermarket Fuel - Engineer Andy

The legal requirement to sell fuel in litres not gallons happened in 1995 - after 28 years we should be used to it

Back when I would keep a pound coin in the car so I always had enough for the minimum fuel delivery of 2 litres at 49.9p/l

Those were the days... I recall paying 60p/L when I bought my old Micra, 3 years later. Filling up normally cost me (42L tank) around £20 or so. My Mazda3's (admitedly larger) 55L tank now costs me around £70 to fill up, and both cars giving roughly the same range.

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Thu 18 May 2023 09:52
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

We should have banned the use of all old imperial measures back in 1971 with decimalisation.

I may be out-of-date, but I believe the French may be more conservative about buying food from a market than Brits, and if so, they may well buy many goods by the 'livre' (about half a kilo) which is their word for a pound. Maybe Focussed can confirm ?

Some will say the French always were anti-bureaucrat ....

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Fri 19 May 2023 01:14
Supermarket Fuel - focussed

We should have banned the use of all old imperial measures back in 1971 with decimalisation.

I may be out-of-date, but I believe the French may be more conservative about buying food from a market than Brits, and if so, they may well buy many goods by the 'livre' (about half a kilo) which is their word for a pound. Maybe Focussed can confirm ?

Some will say the French always were anti-bureaucrat ....

Buying food at say the cheese counter in a French supermarket, (we don't use the farmers markets as their prices are sky high), you can ask for un demi kilo - half a kilo - which is about 1.1 pounds. And yes - the french are anti - everything, including bureaucrats! As for the whingeing about MPG and litres you should worry! Our recently purchased LHD Dacia displays fuel consumption in litres per 100 kilometres. The catchy little conversion factor is:- Divide 282.48 by the litre per 100 kilometre figure which equals UK MPG. Once you've worked that out a few times you know roughly were you are with fuel consumption.
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Thu 18 May 2023 09:45
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

How many years have we been decimal?

Coinage-wise, 52 years, since 1971.

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Wed 17 May 2023 12:38
Supermarket Fuel - Engineer Andy

It may be cheap and inferior but whatever it seems that since 2019 the consumer has been paying well over the odds according to the consumer watchdog. Bit late but the truth is there The fact that the stuff is sold in litres and not gallons is the biggest con

Supermarkets and fuel retailers pushing diesel and petrol prices higher than needed, competition watchdog finds (msn.com)

Sammy, as much as I disagree with FP and Andrew-T on other (political) issues, I'm with them on the gal vs lts issue - in the grand scheme, what measure of units we use makes a minimal difference as it the level of price rises.

I can remember back in the 1980s (I think) in my youth been driven by my dad through North London on a Sunday afternoon to pick up my grandparents up, passing 'petrol' stations that were selling fuel at £1.49.9 per gal. We now pay the same for a litre. Back then, prices went up 1p per unit as they mostly do today.

Do I think we are being ripped off to some degree by the supermarket filling stations at the moment, who drive pricing, yes, to a reasonable degree. I think they are trying to make up some of their early Pandemic costs / losses by holding shop prices and fuel prices up with larger margins than they historically have done for both.

The 'independent' filling stations are IMHO more than happy to go along with this, as they benefit both ways from higher margins (and thus profits) whilst being able to bring a bit more custom their way via slightly lower price differentials (as in they are more expensive) to the supermarkets because punters are willing to pay a bit extra for the 'better quality fuels' from the well-known 'branded' outlets.

As a Brexit supporter, I just don't think this has anything to do with it either way. More to do with the CMA, which rarely appears to actually do anything to stop cartel-like behaviour generally.

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Wed 17 May 2023 13:19
Supermarket Fuel - Terry W

We all want some one to blame for inflationary increases which hit our pockets.

Supermarkets do not make excessive profits - the majors make approx 3-4% on sales. They are blamed for gouging customers for food and fuel prices - both can't be true!

Perhaps they are being hugely inefficient, paying staff and management far too much, and passing on the extra costs to us - customers. Aldi and Lidl carrying far fewer lines manage lower prices but that is a function of customer choice (range, price, "extras" etc)

Supermarkets claim suppliers are putting up costs. Suppliers blame high energy, labour and raw material costs. They claim supermarket chains have the negotiating strength in the relationship.

Farmers at the bottom of the chain blame their customers (supermarkets and food manufacturers) for screwing down their prices. They are struggling to stay afloat with high energy costs, animal feed, fertilisers etc.

So who do you believe - or want irrationally to blame. My take is that:

  • war in Ukraine has reduced agricultural product supply (grain, oil, etc). Demand has remained at historic levels. Normal economics apply - where demand exceeds supply prices go up
  • embargoes on Russian oil and gas certainly reduced supply and increased prices - although these have now moderated somewhat
  • Brexit initially created major logistical barriers to food importers. I suspect some of this has now been resolved, but not all. UK will only get supplied if suppliers and hauliers get paid for the aggravation to which they are subject.

In short - get used to it. Only those right at the bottom of the economic chain need serious help as they have nowhere to cut. For the rest of us it is a case of down grade from fillet to rump steak (for the prosperous) or Heinz to own brand baked beans for the challenged but not destitute.

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Wed 17 May 2023 13:48
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1

I can never recall prices quoted for gallons being in decimals. Why.? I think the crux of the watchdogs finding is the doubling of the markets profit margins since 2019 Independents in my area of consistently undercutting supermarkets with obvious less buying volumes.

In Narberth Wales an independent retailer is selling petrol and diesel at £1.29

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Wed 17 May 2023 16:01
Supermarket Fuel - gordonbennet
They'll never go back to imperial measures for fuel, the reality of the colst of a gallon at some of the greedier MSA's would cause too many to realise just how much they are being conned.
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Wed 17 May 2023 16:50
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr
They'll never go back to imperial measures for fuel, the reality of the colst of a gallon at some of the greedier MSA's would cause too many to realise just how much they are being conned.

And because measuring fuel based on a volume equal to the weight of 80 pounds of distilled water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit is barking.

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Wed 17 May 2023 18:35
Supermarket Fuel - Metropolis.
Time is not metric, do you find that barking too?
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Wed 17 May 2023 18:55
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr
Time is not metric, do you find that barking too?

A little bit, yes, but time is different. A day is always a day and a year is always a year, so it's not like we could change either of those units to anything sensible. We could change minutes, seconds, hours, weeks and months but I presume nobody has bothered because there will always be a 365.25 days in a year and that's a really bad starting point for coming up with a rational system. I seem to recall Swatch tried (perhaps also trying to get rid of time zones too) about 20 years ago and it went as expected.

The beauty of the metric system (beyond being able to count on your fingers) is how all the measures relate to each other in a logical way. How much does a litre of water weigh? 1kg. How big is it? 10cm X 10cm X 10cm. At what temperature does it boil? 100. At what temperature does it freeze? 0. And it goes on. Wonderfully simple and sensible.

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Wed 17 May 2023 19:18
Supermarket Fuel - galileo
Time is not metric, do you find that barking too?

A little bit, yes, but time is different. A day is always a day and a year is always a year, so it's not like we could change either of those units to anything sensible. We could change minutes, seconds, hours, weeks and months but I presume nobody has bothered because there will always be a 365.25 days in a year and that's a really bad starting point for coming up with a rational system. I seem to recall Swatch tried (perhaps also trying to get rid of time zones too) about 20 years ago and it went as expected.

The beauty of the metric system (beyond being able to count on your fingers) is how all the measures relate to each other in a logical way. How much does a litre of water weigh? 1kg. How big is it? 10cm X 10cm X 10cm. At what temperature does it boil? 100. At what temperature does it freeze? 0. And it goes on. Wonderfully simple and sensible.

The greatest weakness of the metric system (as evidenced by frequent examples in the media) is that misplaced decimal point or extra zeroes lead to factor of 10 errors, which would not occur so often in the Imperial system or would be immediately obvious.

NASA lost a space probe years ago to this type of error.

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Wed 17 May 2023 19:11
Supermarket Fuel - galileo
They'll never go back to imperial measures for fuel, the reality of the colst of a gallon at some of the greedier MSA's would cause too many to realise just how much they are being conned.

And because measuring fuel based on a volume equal to the weight of 80 pounds of distilled water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit is barking.

I think you mean the weight of 10 pounds of distilled water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

That is 8 pints of 20 ounces.

(80 pounds would be 8 gallons, not a common measure, smallest beer barrel is a firkin of 9 gallons)

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Wed 17 May 2023 19:40
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr
They'll never go back to imperial measures for fuel, the reality of the colst of a gallon at some of the greedier MSA's would cause too many to realise just how much they are being conned.

And because measuring fuel based on a volume equal to the weight of 80 pounds of distilled water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit is barking.

I think you mean the weight of 10 pounds of distilled water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

That is 8 pints of 20 ounces.

(80 pounds would be 8 gallons, not a common measure, smallest beer barrel is a firkin of 9 gallons)

Maybe. Kind of proves my point though :)

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Thu 18 May 2023 10:01
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

<< Maybe. Kind of proves my point though >>

That's a bit grudging. It could be argued that you are confused by your own system ? :-)

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Wed 17 May 2023 16:56
Supermarket Fuel - Bromptonaut
They'll never go back to imperial measures for fuel, the reality of the colst of a gallon at some of the greedier MSA's would cause too many to realise just how much they are being conned.

It's been sold in litres for more than half my lifetime and I'm quite old now. The difference between £1.50 for a litre at at Tesco and £1.90 an MSA is pretty clear.

When it goes up by a few pennies here and there we're in boiling frogs territory whatever the unit of measure.

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Wed 17 May 2023 20:38
Supermarket Fuel - Crickleymal

What we need is a rational system like the firkin, furlong, fortnight.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFF_system

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Wed 17 May 2023 22:32
Supermarket Fuel - alan1302
They'll never go back to imperial measures for fuel, the reality of the colst of a gallon at some of the greedier MSA's would cause too many to realise just how much they are being conned.

Based on that logic they must have changed to litres to make the prices of fuel seem less.

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Wed 17 May 2023 18:43
Supermarket Fuel - mcb100
It doesn’t take long on a Google image search to find photos of yesteryear petrol stations displaying gallon prices with decimal points.

www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/347692033717890811/
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Thu 18 May 2023 11:42
Supermarket Fuel - Engineer Andy
It doesn’t take long on a Google image search to find photos of yesteryear petrol stations displaying gallon prices with decimal points. www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/347692033717890811/

That tallies with my own experiences (see earlier comments).

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Thu 18 May 2023 14:07
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1
It doesn’t take long on a Google image search to find photos of yesteryear petrol stations displaying gallon prices with decimal points. www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/347692033717890811/

That tallies with my own experiences (see earlier comments).

Yes My memory is failing on this so presumably the pump would not dispense a gallon as you could not pay the decimal. Hard to believe what nonsense we humans put up with sometimes

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Thu 18 May 2023 16:45
Supermarket Fuel - Bromptonaut

Yes My memory is failing on this so presumably the pump would not dispense a gallon as you could not pay the decimal. Hard to believe what nonsense we humans put up with sometimes

I'm no expert on weights measures but I guess where you buy by weight or volume usually so as to fill a vessel like a fuel tank, there will always be fractions of a penny. There'd be some sort of rounding, presumably upwards as it's .5 or more and law will allow it.

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Thu 18 May 2023 19:27
Supermarket Fuel - Engineer Andy

Yes My memory is failing on this so presumably the pump would not dispense a gallon as you could not pay the decimal. Hard to believe what nonsense we humans put up with sometimes

I'm no expert on weights measures but I guess where you buy by weight or volume usually so as to fill a vessel like a fuel tank, there will always be fractions of a penny. There'd be some sort of rounding, presumably upwards as it's .5 or more and law will allow it.

On more than one occasion, I've worked out that a filling station rounded down, not that 1p makes a great deal of difference. I'd wager that more filling stations make more than enough profit on the items they sell in the shop to make up any penny here or there on the fuel price.

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Thu 18 May 2023 20:52
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

<< ... presumably the pump would not dispense a gallon as you could not pay the decimal. Hard to believe what nonsense we humans put up with sometimes. >>

Can't see what you are getting.at. Whether you buy a gallon or 5 litres (or fractions thereof) the payment due will almost certainly have a fraction over. Pump doesn't show it anyway !

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Fri 19 May 2023 09:33
Supermarket Fuel - FP

"... presumably the pump would not dispense a gallon as you could not pay the decimal."

What does this even mean?

Then, as now, you pumped however much fuel you wanted and paid whatever is indicated, rounded to the nearest penny if necessary.

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Fri 19 May 2023 14:50
Supermarket Fuel - Terry W

It is a matter of convention or law that fuel is priced in litres or gallons. Both are reasonably sensible measures - (a) most can intuitively understand the volume, and (b) they are broadly appropriate to be used as measures of consumption.

We could price fuel by the egg-cup, wine glass or teacup etc if we chose. None of these has a legal definition (except possible weights and measures for large/small wine glasses).

The real question - given the smallest unit of currency is 1p, and it is unlikely that the fuel dispensed maps precisely to a whole p, how is the total cost rounded for payment.

Not a totally trivial point - if all amounts were rounded up to the nearest whole p the additional cost per fill would be just under 0.5p. With (say) 30m cars in the UK adding fuel (say) twice a month, total fills in the UK would be 720m pa. 0.5p per fill would aggregate to £3.6m!

All this is dwarfed by potential fuel pump errors which are tested and passed by Trading Standards if the fuel delivered is between -0.5% and +1.0%.

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Fri 19 May 2023 17:40
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1

Not a totally trivial point - if all amounts were rounded up to the nearest whole p the additional cost per fill would be just under 0.5p. With (say) 30m cars in the UK adding fuel (say) twice a month, total fills in the UK would be 720m pa. 0.5p per fill would aggregate to £3.6m! ""

A bit like Richard Pryor in Superman !!! he programmes the wages computer to pay his account all the ""unwanted "" decimal places on his companies payroll.

I still think decimal pence is an insult to the publics' intelligence. I would love to see Tesco try to retail milk in a similar way!

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Fri 19 May 2023 18:06
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr

Not a totally trivial point - if all amounts were rounded up to the nearest whole p the additional cost per fill would be just under 0.5p. With (say) 30m cars in the UK adding fuel (say) twice a month, total fills in the UK would be 720m pa. 0.5p per fill would aggregate to £3.6m! ""

A bit like Richard Pryor in Superman !!! he programmes the wages computer to pay his account all the ""unwanted "" decimal places on his companies payroll.

I still think decimal pence is an insult to the publics' intelligence. I would love to see Tesco try to retail milk in a similar way!

What's the insult? What possible problem is there with it? I'm sure Tescos would be happy to sell you petrol by the litre (or even pint) in a plastic bottle if you insist. £2 sound OK?

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Fri 19 May 2023 21:30
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1

Not a totally trivial point - if all amounts were rounded up to the nearest whole p the additional cost per fill would be just under 0.5p. With (say) 30m cars in the UK adding fuel (say) twice a month, total fills in the UK would be 720m pa. 0.5p per fill would aggregate to £3.6m! ""

A bit like Richard Pryor in Superman !!! he programmes the wages computer to pay his account all the ""unwanted "" decimal places on his companies payroll.

I still think decimal pence is an insult to the publics' intelligence. I would love to see Tesco try to retail milk in a similar way!

What's the insult? What possible problem is there with it? I'm sure Tescos would be happy to sell you petrol by the litre (or even pint) in a plastic bottle if you insist. £2 sound OK?

I believe it is illegal to dispense petrol in a plastic container. I already mentioned miles upthread that I consider the matter to be trivial

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Fri 19 May 2023 21:39
Supermarket Fuel - Bromptonaut

I believe it is illegal to dispense petrol in a plastic container. I already mentioned miles upthread that I consider the matter to be trivial

There are certainly regulations as to the type and labelling of containers into which petrol can be dispensed.

Not plastic rings a bell from years ago but it's been years since the five litre (green) cannister has been the norm.

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Fri 19 May 2023 23:00
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

I believe it is illegal to dispense petrol in a plastic container. I already mentioned miles upthread that I consider the matter to be trivial

There are certainly regulations as to the type and labelling of containers into which petrol can be dispensed. Not plastic rings a bell from years ago but it's been years since the five litre (green) cannister has been the norm.

I still use a 5-litre plastic 'jerrycan' for mower petrol. Don't know whether it is currently legal, but it was originally sold for that very purpose.

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Fri 19 May 2023 22:26
Supermarket Fuel - bathtub tom

I believe it is illegal to dispense petrol in a plastic container.

Have you looked at your cars fuel tank?

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Fri 19 May 2023 19:49
Supermarket Fuel - FP

"... decimal pence is an insult to the publics' intelligence."

What does this mean? - Does it refer to the use of 0.1, 0.9p etc? Or the use of a decimal money system?

Even if either of these things is undesirable, in what way are they an insult to anyone's intelligence? We all know how to do the calculations, don't we?

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Fri 19 May 2023 21:45
Supermarket Fuel - sammy1

"... decimal pence is an insult to the publics' intelligence."

What does this mean? - Does it refer to the use of 0.1, 0.9p etc? Or the use of a decimal money system?

Even if either of these things is undesirable, in what way are they an insult to anyone's intelligence? We all know how to do the calculations, don't we?

If you are following the thread it refers to pricing petrol/diesel in decimal places of a penny or are you trying to be awkward. As I said above I have already said the matter is trivial, I pay the final sum on the pump same as everyone else. Morrisons has a discount offer on petrol at the moment, 5p of per litre not 5.7p or4.7p I wonder why?

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Fri 19 May 2023 22:05
Supermarket Fuel - alan1302

Morrisons has a discount offer on petrol at the moment, 5p of per litre not 5.7p or4.7p I wonder why?

Simpler to market.

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Fri 19 May 2023 22:23
Supermarket Fuel - Adampr

Sorry, I'm still not getting it. Is the whole objection to petrol prices being advertised with decimal places that you can't pay in fractions of pence so it's rounded?

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Fri 19 May 2023 22:57
Supermarket Fuel - Andrew-T

I still think decimal pence is an insult to the public's intelligence. I would love to see Tesco try to retail milk in a similar way!

Nonsense - public intelligence ? The public uses its intelligence to decide whether one station is charging more than another (most of them can manage that) and don't stop to consider whether they have 0.7p in their wallet to pay with.

For Tesco to retail milk in a 'similar way' would mean dispensing it from a tap, in which case they might well price it in fractions of 1p.

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Sat 20 May 2023 00:08
Supermarket Fuel - Terry W

I suspect the use of decimal point pricing is that folk simplistically react to the major numbers in the price. 145.9p will always be seen as lower than 146.1p despite that the difference is utterly trivial.

A 0.2p price difference on (say) 30 litres of fuel is 6p. Enough fuel to get 500 yards down the road to the next fuel station??

However it is sadly the case that many are functionally largely innumerate - don't understand percentages, decimals, and unable to undertake simple maths.

Many folk will be influenced by packaging and promotion. Few other explanations for a decision to go for the "3 for the price of 2" offer when the cost may be more per kg than two larger packets.

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