BP and Texaco stations, at least here in Seattle, generally sell their gasoline for up to $.20 more per gallon than cheaper stations.
Is there really a difference in gasoline quality between cheaper stations and the premium brands? If there is a difference, is it really worth that much more per gallon?
I’m not talking about differences in octane level, by the way. The same octane gasoline is $.20 more at BP than Arco. I’m specifically curious about whether it’s just brand name, or if there’s more to it than that.
He thought he was the King of America, where they pour Coca-Cola just like vintage wine.
Same gas, same suppliers most of the time.
BP and others though offer CREDIT through them, to purchase THEIR gas, thus they make a killing on the charge card interest and higher gas rates. Arco is YOUR money only. Thus cheaper, and same gas.
That’s interesting, here in San Diego, Arco has the cheapest gas of all the name brands, hence I usually go their. We do have a few no-name brand independent gas stations, and up until recently I had no reason to doubt them, or the quality of their gas.
Then an aquaintance of mine went to one and got premium gas for his Mustang. Next thing he knew, he was having all kinds of engine problems, and when he took it in, they told told him it looked like someone poured some water into his gas tank. He claims they ‘watered down’ the gas. This guy isn’t the most trustworthy person in the world however. I suspect he tried to water it down himself to save a few buck and fucked it up, then tried to see if he could weasal his way out of it.
Personally, I’ve never had a problem, and the only thing that prevents me from buying from the independents regularly is that they are generally not conveniently located nearby relative to the big name ones, and it’s not worth driving miles out of my way to save $0.20 a fill up.
Generally, the gas is of the same quality, though there is more likelihood of an incident with a no-name as it’s usually a store run by a sole proprietor who might be tempted to cut costs and by the low quality stuff. A franchise of a Major will usually have an agreement to only buy its stock from the Major. When Marvin says its all the same gas, I think he means it all comes from the same initial refinery point, which is true. But it doesn’t all come from the same supplier and that’s where problems might occur. So to some degree the extra $$ you pay is in return for the gurarantee of quality product.
Generally though, as I try and teach my 12th graders on Fridays, gasoline is one of the most perfectly competitive markets there is. Yarster inadvertently gave you the correct answer in the last sentence the previous post - the only reason that they charge more is because someone’s willing to pay it and values his/her convenience more than the gas itself. To Yarster, and most other people, driving out of the way and spending the extra time (i.e. the opportunity cost) to do it is worth more than $0.20 per gallon.
There are some differences in the refining process: Chevron and Texaco add cleaning agents, for example. Otherwise, if you choose one of the “major” brands that cost more, you’re mostly paying for advertising.
If your vehicle runs fine on lower-priced gas, use that.
Look around. Is there only one refiner in your area?
Chances are that refiner services most of the gas venders.
It helps to have a lot of friends–particularly ones that happen to be around when the gasoline truck drops by.
Watch the truck fill up the tanks of the Texaco station…then drive across the street and fill up the little independant.
In the UK, where petrol (gas) is very expensive, the cheapest place to buy is usually at supermarkets (or at least used to be). Whether the price is actually making them a profit or not, i’m unsure. Obviously it’s just a device to tempt people into shopping there, and buying petrol at the same time.
My experience with gasoline tells me that yes, some is better than others. I will never buy gas from Hess, for example – I’ve seen too many cars sputtering along right after tanking up from those shiny green and white stations. Of course, sometimes you can get a bad load of gas from anyplace. The best advice is: feel free to experiment, and if the cheaper stuff doesn’t give you problems, then use it.
Markxxx, generic drugs are another story. The laws of quality control governing generic equivalents are different from those covering original products. Any “new” drug must jump through all those FDA hoops we hear about all the time; generics only have to show that they use the same basic chemical structure (ingredients) as the already-proven drug. This means you can get very broad variations in strength, as well as some side-effects from slight differences in the product. Granted, this isn’t always the case with over-the-counter generics, which are often just overstock from the name brands. Sometimes, though, they’re rejects or generic equivalents. Just as with gasoline, you should find out what works and then use it.
–Da Cap’n
“Playin’ solitaire 'til dawn
With a deck of fifty-one.”
For the most part, generic drugs are exactly the same as brand names. Not only do they have to show that they have same chemical structure, they also have to have exactly the same proportion of ingredients, both active and inactive.
Just like John Rush said for gasoline, usually the premium you pay for the name brand is just for advertising. Ths big pharmaceutical companies claim to have big marketing and R&D expenses and explain their prices accordingly. This is usually more true for prescription drugs, but is just as applicableto Advil, etc.