What is Digg?77 Comments
- dickbain, on 07/01/2008, -0/+48Their slogan is "Tomorrow's Gas. Today's Prices".
I'd prefer "Yesterday's Prices. Today's gas" - HuskyPuzzle, on 07/01/2008, -1/+23Pretty cool idea. A gas hedging service for the average Joe. I think I'd still rather get that new Tesla roadster.
- peestandingup, on 07/01/2008, -2/+19"fortunately, i live in jersey"
Behold. The only person in history to ever utter those words. - EricAnderton, on 07/01/2008, -0/+11Nice idea. Sell gas short by buying gas now, at a membership discount.
Is it just me, or is it impossible to find out what they're charging for a gallon just by looking at the site? They have an example up there for "WHEN your myGallons price is $3.50", but there's no official word anywhere on there. Their savings calculator also looks pegged at an "estimated" savings of $0.71 a gallon, but of course it doesn't ask for a zipcode or anything.
I'm not handing them $30 for a membership, only to find out that they can't offer me any savings over the local pump price. - HeatherH88, on 07/01/2008, -1/+12Isn't ALL gas being sold in stations pre-purchased? The huge inflation rate that we pay at the pump is mostly spec. about how much the company will have to pay for the NEXT gasoline that it purchases... or its outright gouging.
- bshep, on 07/01/2008, -0/+10From the FAQ:
"Q What if I go over my balance?
A You should do your best to prevent going over your pre-purchased balance to avoid an overdraft fee of $15"
AND
"Q Is there a fee for reloading the MyGallons Card?
A There is a small $1.95 fee for processing the reload of your MyGallons Card when using a credit card to pre-purchase the fuel."
So basically they just nickel and dime you. - inactive, on 07/01/2008, -1/+11Gas won't be "irrelevant" for quite a while. Your example stating that one car manufacturer is claiming to have gas-free cars in 7 years from now is what's irrelevant.
- inactive, on 07/01/2008, -3/+13Site does not use HTTPS encryption for sign up.
No Lock = No Password - toetagger, on 07/01/2008, -1/+10Of course they'll start this now - prices will drop to half over the next few months.
- shadowblade989, on 07/01/2008, -0/+9I long for the day when the "gallons" number went up faster than the "dollars" number.
- DeathJux, on 07/01/2008, -0/+9First Fuel Bank in St. Cloud, Minnesota, has been doing this for a while now. It's a pretty novel idea.
http://www.firstfuelbank.com/ - Barackalypse, on 07/01/2008, -0/+7A 5% cash back gas rewards credit card saves you 20 cents a gallon at $4 a gallon price, a far better deal than paying $30 or $40 a year for prebuying and hoping the company is still around when you need to get the gas. In fact, the only time is will benefit you is if gas rises more than 5% over what you paid for it, and guess how long the company will be around if its taking that kind of hedging losses?
- AmyVernon, on 07/01/2008, -2/+9fortunately, i live in jersey; gas is upwards of 50 cents a gallon cheaper than ny state.
- tyboulder, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5There will be cars on the road sucking gas for at least another 35 years. Semi's for example, are designed to run for decades, and they'll be producing those diesel-powered rigs long after little batteries are powering our runabouts.
- yaddayaddayoda, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5Tomorrow is yesterday. You just have to wait long enough.
- AntiMe, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4I came up with this idea a few years ago when it first went over $2 (i was only considering truckers at the time). The problem is that there isn't any consistent way to make money, unless they're just gambling, or counting on ad revenue. Maybe it's just the debit fees.
- beesaretasty, on 07/01/2008, -4/+8Wouldn't this speed up the rate of price increases if it were adopted on a large scale? Essentially it's doing the same thing that people trading oil futures are doing, but by allowing for smaller opt-ins, you are adding fuel to the speculation fire. It's the Obama method of gas futures trading.
- EricSchC1, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4I'd almost prefer using the last proverbial fumes in the public's collective gas tank to show up @ Big Oil's front door in large groups w/torches and pitchforks, but thats just me.
- VicHislop, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4Anyone remember when Priceline had a gas service? Ah, I miss the days when VC money flooded into projects with highly questionable business models.
- ThE0eNiGmA, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4As a New Jerseyian myself, I would take lower car insurance over lower gas any day. While I am at it, I might as well throw in lower property tax (its ***** insane), lower healthcare costs (also ***** insane), lower amounts of douchebags (did i mention ***** insane?). Better drivers would be a plus, too.
- litkaj, on 07/01/2008, -1/+4Read the fine print. They reserve the right to adjust the number gallons deducted from your account if the price at the pump is higher than the "norm" for your area (set by them, of course). There's nothing stopping them from setting that "normal" value at the lowest price available for 100 miles and then dinging you extra because you paid 10 cents more at the local pump.
They also adjust the amount deducted if you use premium fuel but don't say anywhere what the adjustment will be. Most of the local stations in my area are sticking with the old $0.10 per grade but for all I know they might charge you an extra $0.20 (or even more).
I'm not going anywhere near this unless they come upfront with their "normal" pricing for various areas and publish the modifier for premium fuel. - ReplicantSeven, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3This is the same sort of "fuel hedging" that Southwest Airlines did to remain more profitable than their competition for a number of years.
- TheWeez, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3Minneapolis use to have a gas bank. Buy however many gallons at the current price and then use them as you needed them. There was a small fee added to cover the costs of them storing the gas. Sure would be nice now.
- jerrysizzler, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2nice spam.
- pennvneff, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2Not at all, the gas is already pre-purchased so what they're hoping for is the eventual reduction in the price for gas. That way, they've got a bunch of people who have bought gasoline at higher prices because they've already purchased the fuel at a locked in price.
But they've most definitely covered themselves if prices do go up, that's why they mentioned using a "hedging strategy" in the article. Mostly likely, they're turning around and using the money from their customers to buy gas/oil futures.
You can eat the loss and buy cheaper gas with your inflated price, which is profit for them. Or do nothing and hope that the prices eventually go up, which allows them to keep using your money buying futures.
Either way they've covered their bases and will turn a profit regardless of the price. - Pixelpaws, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2If they expanded this service to truckers, I imagine they'd have a slew of signups once word got around the industry. Diesel prices gone up even faster than unleaded gasoline. Last summer both unleaded and diesel were about $2.90; now unleaded is at $4.09 and diesel is $4.76.
- nigel25, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2gas gambling?
- Konwashere, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2Why can't we have nuclear power cars :[
- ChildeRoland420, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3It's PPS, not PSS.
- AntiMe, on 07/01/2008, -2/+4I haven't checked, but it might still be using it even without the lock, if the page is submitted to a https url. Sites use this to cut down the load on the https server.
- tyboulder, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3Interesting idea. Of course if the price of oil swings heavily they will go bankrupt if not hedged to some sort futures option themselves. They say they are but it sounds a little fishy. Mygallons.com? Sounds legit. 2,000 members? Wow. A "sophisticated hedging strategy." There shouldn't be anything sophisticated about it...
- haikuFU, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2This is a bunch of crap, and it should be illegal. It's only going to drive the price of gas up higher than it already is.
80% of what we're seeing now is due to an unregulated market and speculation. These guys are just going to contribute to the problem by lining their pockets and stealing from your's. - acceleriter, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Thanks for the pointers! There are BP and Shell around these parts, and I'll check their offerings out.
- BalooUrsidae, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1KATU ran a story in depth last night about this. So far, it's only on paper, the company hasn't started issuing jack *****, and the banks don't like the idea thinking it's going to be an all around loss. Buyer beware.
- AmandaEmily, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1I've been digging up info on this Steven Verona guy, and he seems to be quite the huckster - moving from state to state. First Ohio to Pennsylvania, to New Jersey and now Florida.
Among the domains he owns that I've discovered so far (and has yanked offline as of this morning) include securasurf.com, pursuepeaceclothing.com, zenacon.com, advicefromalawyer.com and jewishjeans.com. If anyone has a hundred bucks to spare, you can find out what domains he owns exactly by searching for his email address at domaintools.com
He also is a patent troll, he has the following patents issued to him that I've found so far.
BEHAVIOR CARD GAME METHOD AND APPARATUS - 20080026349
MEDIA POPULARITY CONTEST METHOD - 20080021774
THIRD PARTY DATABASE SECURITY - 20070294403
Portable multiple bar and other code display - 20070205286
Receptacle illuminating device - 7246915
Rollers for aerodynamic impact - 20070046067
Personal data storage and retrieval device - 20060294270
Self-leveling spoon - 20060288589
Nail clipper retainer - 20060288580
Data sharing among multiple web sites - 20060179111
Countdown pricing process - 20060167767
Receptacle illuminating device - 20050281019
Removable billiard cue tip - 6890264
Removable billiard cue tip - 20040082397
Pool stick tip - D489104 - bella2k, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Interesting. Years ago I commented to my Mother that I wished it was possible to buy gas by the liter (or gallon, depending on where you lived) on a type of "debit" card system. To make it profitable, you'd have to buy a minimum number of liters/gallons, but it would make sense if you could for example purchase 50 gallons on a card, at a set price, knowing that it was going to go up (like before Memorial day) and not have to worry about price increases affecting you.
- cliffzdude, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1I hear you!
Tonight I filled up. $60. Damn. It certainly *feels* like somebody is gouging me. But we consumers have to hold true to buying the cheapest gas (vote with your wallet). Beyond that, its my firm belief that there is a speculation bubble that has built up as fund managers put assets into commodities. The stock market has no buzz, the real estate market went pop, now its commodities. And once again its us, the working schmoes who pay the price without reaping the bounty. - BalooUrsidae, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Oregon's cheaper than it's neighbors, too. It's funny how people think doing the gas station's job for them is cheaper than the Minimum Service prices paid in Oregon and New Jersey.
For those who don't know, in order from cheapest to most expensive:
Minimum service (attendant pumps your gas), Self service (you do the gas station's job yourself), Full service (attendant pumps your gas, checks your tires, cleans your windows and lights, and tops off the oil as needed). - pennvneff, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Did you actually read the article? The gas is already pre-purchased all the consumer is doing is agreeing to pay locked in price that is an average of gas prices in your zip code. These are forward contracts not futures.
Why is this important? Because if you hadn't figured it out yet, they stand to make a lot of money by having gas prices decrease. I'll say that again, they can make a lot of money by having gas prices decrease because the customer is still locked-in with at that higher price. - acceleriter, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Aren't those far and few between? I know about Pentagon Federal but heard their underwriting is pretty strict, and don't want to burn two inquiries right now (one for the deposit account and another for the credit card app). Discover emasculated theirs--the gas/auto service cashback bonus is capped at $100 in purchases per month, netting only $5/month in bonus + the tiered pittance starting at 1/4% they give back on other purchases. (Better than nothing, surely, but not a straight 5%.)
- Barackalypse, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Most of the 5% cards that are still around that I am aware of are all branded affiliate type cards that give the full 5% only at those branded stations. A few of the big ones:
BP Visa Card
ExxonMobil MasterCard
Shell MasterCard
Marathon Platinum MasterCard
Hess Visa Credit Card
Some of the other chains have 4% back cards, and some of the major credit card companies seem to have 3% on gas these days. - MorganMghee, on 07/01/2008, -1/+2So, we're all FOR gas price speculation now? Whaa?
- beesaretasty, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1I did read the article thank you. I also understand the difference between the scenarios, but I'm just thinking that they sound somewhat similar. By pre-purchasing the gas, you have essentially agreed to take shipment of the gas at that price, which is what you do with futures unless you sell them off beforehand. Airlines also do this.
Do gas stations not lock up prices in advance similar to the ways that airlines do? Sorry I don't know about that side of the industry if that's the case. I'd debate things with you but I don't feel like it in case YOU haven't figured it out yet. - inactive, on 12/07/2008, -0/+1Can I have your crystal ball?
- brad3378, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Unless I'm missing something, I see one major flaw with this system.
If I purchase $4.00 gasoline in advance and the price everywhere else drops to $3.00 (hypothetical), then I'll just save the card for later and pay cash at a competitor's station. If gas jumps up to $5.00, then I'll use the prepaid card and the gas station will lose $1.00 per gallon.
Is there an expiration date on these cards to prevent me from beating the system as described? - brad3378, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Are you willing to bet money on it?
If so, I suggest buying stocks in the Airline industry and the Automotive sector. - inactive, on 12/07/2008, -0/+1toetagger is the winner!
- dannyapplesauce, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1smellier than nyc my ass
- cliffzdude, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Given most gas stations lose money or break even on the pumps, its troublesome one would point to retail pricing and refer to it as "gouging".
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