One thing that is good around here is pretty much all the BPs are owned & leased (or at least supplied) by one jobber-Lykins Oil (now Energy)-I think they would be sure to have TT levels of detergent in all their tanker loads. I was honestly surprised to see Marathon was TT, I've had weird issues with their Speedway stores, with both gas & diesel. Not sure how much I would trust them.
Top Tier - How do We Know Privately Owned Stations Comply??
- Thread starter Boomer
- Start date
- Status
They check. The supplier knows exactly how much they buy and how much they sell. When those two numbers are out of whack, look out.
The incentive is dumping Regular gas in the premium storage tank. On the interstate most buyers would never know they paid 80 cents extra for regular gas...surely the folks that always pump premium into their Camary or pickup.
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
One thing that is good around here is pretty much all the BPs are owned & leased (or at least supplied) by one jobber-Lykins Oil (now Energy)-I think they would be sure to have TT levels of detergent in all their tanker loads. I was honestly surprised to see Marathon was TT, I've had weird issues with their Speedway stores, with both gas & diesel. Not sure how much I would trust them.
While Marathon is Top Tier, Speedway is not.
All branding entities have audit tools to check if their volumes are being pulled or not regardless of Top Tier status. They catch someone doing that, they lose their brand status. Not sure if that info is then shared with other branding entities.
The computer age has automated additive injection at truck loading to pretty much require someone to be an Instrument Technician to get into a system and change programming for the additive injection, at least since the late 1980's, and then terminal records won't reconcile with the volume of additive that should have been loaded, so this is a really, really far-fetched scenario.
The other subject is missed drops, which the human element is still the weakest link for. If regular is dumped into a retail premium tank, that station will simply have to change the price on the premium pumps and sell the tank contents as regular until the tank is drawn down and a fresh load of premium is delivered. This product downgrade is less than hauling it off for reprocessing. If gasoline is dumped in a distillate tank (kerosene or diesel) or vice-versa, then sales from that commingled tank are stopped until the tank contents can be hauled away for reprocessing and refilled with the correct product.
One thing that is good around here is pretty much all the BPs are owned & leased (or at least supplied) by one jobber-Lykins Oil (now Energy)-I think they would be sure to have TT levels of detergent in all their tanker loads. I was honestly surprised to see Marathon was TT, I've had weird issues with their Speedway stores, with both gas & diesel. Not sure how much I would trust them.
While Marathon is Top Tier, Speedway is not.
All branding entities have audit tools to check if their volumes are being pulled or not regardless of Top Tier status. They catch someone doing that, they lose their brand status. Not sure if that info is then shared with other branding entities.
The computer age has automated additive injection at truck loading to pretty much require someone to be an Instrument Technician to get into a system and change programming for the additive injection, at least since the late 1980's, and then terminal records won't reconcile with the volume of additive that should have been loaded, so this is a really, really far-fetched scenario.
The other subject is missed drops, which the human element is still the weakest link for. If regular is dumped into a retail premium tank, that station will simply have to change the price on the premium pumps and sell the tank contents as regular until the tank is drawn down and a fresh load of premium is delivered. This product downgrade is less than hauling it off for reprocessing. If gasoline is dumped in a distillate tank (kerosene or diesel) or vice-versa, then sales from that commingled tank are stopped until the tank contents can be hauled away for reprocessing and refilled with the correct product.
The Speedway game is a very profitable game for Speedway, and as written above, privately owned stations follow their lead.
An example of what routinely happens: Speedway was 1.999 per gallon, Costco was 1.959 per gallon.
Next day Speedway raises the prices by 40 cents per gallon, to 2.399 per gallon. Two days later Costco raises their price by 8 cents per gallon.
I like to believe that Costco keeps their promise to only mark up the product X %. So that tells me that Speedway routinely raises their retail prices by outlandish amounts to make large profit margins for some time. They let the prices drift down for a week or two then another price explosion. Costco and Sam's club prove that the Speedway price explosions are only for Speedway profit, not due to their purchase cost rising so much.
An example of what routinely happens: Speedway was 1.999 per gallon, Costco was 1.959 per gallon.
Next day Speedway raises the prices by 40 cents per gallon, to 2.399 per gallon. Two days later Costco raises their price by 8 cents per gallon.
I like to believe that Costco keeps their promise to only mark up the product X %. So that tells me that Speedway routinely raises their retail prices by outlandish amounts to make large profit margins for some time. They let the prices drift down for a week or two then another price explosion. Costco and Sam's club prove that the Speedway price explosions are only for Speedway profit, not due to their purchase cost rising so much.
To the OP's question, everything is set by the fuel terminal and station contract. It has been a while since I tanked fuel, but it was a simple procedure for me. When I went into the fuel terminal to get fuel, I swiped the card for the station I was delivering to. The fuel terminal computers would blend the fuel for that particular station as it was loaded into the bulkheads. Whatever the station requires for fuel additives was injected into the stream.
As far as octane rating goes, State departments of weights and measures randomly test station's fuel to see that it is meeting the requirements that it is labeled for. The fines can be pretty steep. So the idea of a station dumping 87 fuel into the premium storage tank just to make profits larger is pretty remote. Just one event like that would take several tank loads of actual premium fuel to get the octane rating back up to what the pump is advertised for. The likelihood of getting caught playing games like that is just not worth the hassle. Now, it could happen accidentally that the tanker driver dropped 87 into the premium tank, but even that is uncommon and still the station is on the hook if caught by state inspectors.
Basically, one really doesn't need to waste a lot of their time worrying about such things, especially if they are getting their fuel from reputable outlets. Some folks just live with an enlarged paranoia gland I guess.
As far as octane rating goes, State departments of weights and measures randomly test station's fuel to see that it is meeting the requirements that it is labeled for. The fines can be pretty steep. So the idea of a station dumping 87 fuel into the premium storage tank just to make profits larger is pretty remote. Just one event like that would take several tank loads of actual premium fuel to get the octane rating back up to what the pump is advertised for. The likelihood of getting caught playing games like that is just not worth the hassle. Now, it could happen accidentally that the tanker driver dropped 87 into the premium tank, but even that is uncommon and still the station is on the hook if caught by state inspectors.
Basically, one really doesn't need to waste a lot of their time worrying about such things, especially if they are getting their fuel from reputable outlets. Some folks just live with an enlarged paranoia gland I guess.
It's happened around here that the truck driver dumped 93 into the 87 tank. Speedway then sells the 93 for 87 prices until they can fill it back up with 87. All the pumps will have a note on them saying what happened and what they're doing.
Last edited:
So this is how this works at the terminal. A driver pulls in and knows he is getting product for a certain station/chain/company. At the terminal I use a driver would enter the customer number when logging into the delivery system. Each station/chain/company has a specific customer number and the TABS that said customer can buy. If that customer is a Shell branded station then the terminal will only allow Shell additive product to be loaded on the truck. He then drives to that station and delivers the product they ordered.
I work for a fuel delivery company filling tanks at construction sites, car rental shops, farms, golf courses... not gas stations. While the customer may ask for 10% ethanol or pure gas, they are getting a basic additive package that the terminal sells.
I work for a fuel delivery company filling tanks at construction sites, car rental shops, farms, golf courses... not gas stations. While the customer may ask for 10% ethanol or pure gas, they are getting a basic additive package that the terminal sells.
- Status
Similar threads
