Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fillin' Up the Tank

Sounds like the gas prices have been going down in the U.S. We've seen falling prices as well, but not anywhere near the fall of other places. It sounds like BC has the most expensive gas in all of southern Canada at the moment. And no - that's not $100.8 per gallon or $1.008 per gallon. It's $1.008 per liter. Canadian gas stations have their permanent decimal point there, because until the last few years, a liter's price has always been in the cents and not over a dollar.

Anyways, that's not what I meant to write about. Filling up the tank here is very similar to the States (none of the pumps have automatic shut-off devices, so you have to hold the handle while filling up - I know, we're really roughing it out here), but what is different is the posted price. When you drive by a gas station, you have to ask yourself, "Is that the real price or is the real price the
posted price minus 3.5 cents?"

That's right. The Chevron gas stations are always 3.5 cents cheaper than the posted price, and I've started noticing some Esso "On the Run" gas stations that have the same deal. These stations have signs like the one to the right posted 10-15 feet in from the road. Other gas stations have signs out by the road that say, "Street price is the same as the pump price."

So I hope this helps all of you British Columbia visitors when searching for the cheapest gas.

2 comments:

Our family... said...

Weird... that whole price thing. I have decided that I will REFUSE to by gas in BC for most of my life if not all of it! So take that, BC.

When we lived in Australia they didn't have the shut off devices either... it had something to do with someone blowing up or something.

Sarah said...

Interesting! Fun post!