Fuel thieves target gas stations with large tanks inside their vehicles.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-diesel-theft-20140517,0,5359880.story
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-diesel-theft-20140517,0,5359880.story
Fuel thieves target gas stations
- Thread starter Mr Nice
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yeah there was story on NPR last week with an exec from FL fuel company, its been happening for long time, but mainly with diesel. i would come across black market fuel when i had my CDL-A license.
my take from report is that their stealing much more than ever before and doing in big cities and during middle of day. company was focusing heavily on the dangers to other drivers and wanting people to report if witness to suspicious behavior.
I got the impression that average people have no love of petroleum companies and there was not very much information being provided by the public.
my take from report is that their stealing much more than ever before and doing in big cities and during middle of day. company was focusing heavily on the dangers to other drivers and wanting people to report if witness to suspicious behavior.
I got the impression that average people have no love of petroleum companies and there was not very much information being provided by the public.
According to the story, they were afraid the thieves were all gang members and urged the employees not to get involved, just call the police. they should just put up gates to the refilling areas.
That was going on in the 1970s fuel crisis. Those BITOGers from the dialup BBS era might also remember this method from various anarchy text files of the day.
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Just park an old car on top of the tank openings...
Put a note on it stating why it's there, move it when the fuel truck arrives...
Put a note on it stating why it's there, move it when the fuel truck arrives...
I wonder what they're using as an excuse to park over the access plate ....
Sweet! I'm not for theft, but this is a victimless crime
Back in the '60's a mate of mine used to do it - he had an old Dodge with wooden floorboards, they'd park over the fillers, lift the floorboards in the rear and drop a hand pump down into the tank.
Originally Posted By: jrustles
Sweet! I'm not for theft, but this is a victimless crime
:facepalm:
Considering that the cost of the losses will be passed on to the rest of us, I'd say we're all victims.
Sweet! I'm not for theft, but this is a victimless crime
:facepalm:
Considering that the cost of the losses will be passed on to the rest of us, I'd say we're all victims.
Obligatory:
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
The EPA has a lot of concerns about motor fuels. Theft isn't one of them.
The new style receptacles don't lock very well. They can be locked, but it's not all that secure.
The old screw on lids could be locked very securely.
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
The EPA has a lot of concerns about motor fuels. Theft isn't one of them.
The new style receptacles don't lock very well. They can be locked, but it's not all that secure.
The old screw on lids could be locked very securely.
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
according to the story they cut the locks. did you read it?
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
according to the story they cut the locks. did you read it?
Originally Posted By: FXjohn
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
according to the story they cut the locks. did you read it?
Of course I did. Design lids that can be properly secured if this becomes a big enough problem.
Insurance companies will fight it out with the EPA and fix it.
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Gas stations need to install locking lids.
according to the story they cut the locks. did you read it?
Of course I did. Design lids that can be properly secured if this becomes a big enough problem.
Insurance companies will fight it out with the EPA and fix it.
The sad thing is the appalling level of education of Florida's thieves, because I can't see how anyone could think that this is a good idea.
First, in the photo posted earlier the container appears to be a 500 gallon container plus a 50 gallon drum, so for simplicity sake let's say that we stole 600 gallons of gasoline at $4.00 per gallon, now we have $2400 in "white market" value, but to transform that into money we need to sell it to someone, suppose that we sell it for $3 per gallon to sell it fast enough and to recover most of the original value, but no one is going to buy 600 gallons of gasoline, if we assume that people would buy 10 gallons at a time, then we need 60 individual transactions or "customers" to obtain $1800 minus distribution and storage costs.
But the whole point of stealing is to minimize the amount of work one has to do, isn't? And all this seems to me like a lot of work for too little money. Just walk into any Starbucks and you will see more than $5000 of computer equipment in just 3 or 4 laptops. Watches, jewelry, game consoles, auto parts, phones, TV sets, all those things are more valuable, easier to get and easier to sell than gasoline. And obviously the best thing to steal is cash itself; a pickpocket crew à la Oliver Twist could make $1800 in no time.
At first impression, stealing gasoline seems like a good idea, but if you think about it for a minute only a drunk person would do it, like the one time I went to a liquor store with a friend and he stole a Hot Wheels and a bar of soap.
First, in the photo posted earlier the container appears to be a 500 gallon container plus a 50 gallon drum, so for simplicity sake let's say that we stole 600 gallons of gasoline at $4.00 per gallon, now we have $2400 in "white market" value, but to transform that into money we need to sell it to someone, suppose that we sell it for $3 per gallon to sell it fast enough and to recover most of the original value, but no one is going to buy 600 gallons of gasoline, if we assume that people would buy 10 gallons at a time, then we need 60 individual transactions or "customers" to obtain $1800 minus distribution and storage costs.
But the whole point of stealing is to minimize the amount of work one has to do, isn't? And all this seems to me like a lot of work for too little money. Just walk into any Starbucks and you will see more than $5000 of computer equipment in just 3 or 4 laptops. Watches, jewelry, game consoles, auto parts, phones, TV sets, all those things are more valuable, easier to get and easier to sell than gasoline. And obviously the best thing to steal is cash itself; a pickpocket crew à la Oliver Twist could make $1800 in no time.
At first impression, stealing gasoline seems like a good idea, but if you think about it for a minute only a drunk person would do it, like the one time I went to a liquor store with a friend and he stole a Hot Wheels and a bar of soap.
About half of the people that steal fuel are people who run small trucking/mowing operations. There's an underground market and you can easily spot the diesel trucks with the extra tank and pump on the truck bed. However, there is a legitimate reason for having those things and that's to refuel field equipment in the middle of no where.
These guys they talked about were either in it for their own personal use or dumping it into private fuel stations for pure profit. Many mcMansions in south Florida, especially those with big garages have their own fueling pump and fuel tanks - it's common place. With the setup they had, there were clearly reselling this stuff.
These guys they talked about were either in it for their own personal use or dumping it into private fuel stations for pure profit. Many mcMansions in south Florida, especially those with big garages have their own fueling pump and fuel tanks - it's common place. With the setup they had, there were clearly reselling this stuff.
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