Any information on Cumberland Farms gasoline?

[PantherFan88]

Up here in New England, Cumberland Farms is a large gas station/convenience store with about 550 stations. I'm wondering if anyone has information regarding the quality or sourcing of the gas.

Would go to them more if I hadn't heard a few complaints about watery gas. A lot of people online say they use Gulf, but no evidence to suggest that.

 

[andyd]

I used certain ones when I was down on rt 44 or down on the Cape. You can make a 99 cent extra large your way coffee just as good as anything you'd get at Dunkins at 1/3 price. Work vans never had had any trouble running their reg'lar. I put several hundred K on old BMWs running Cumbies or Hess. now Speedway. Next to no fuel related troubles,

 

[Wolf359]

Never had any issue with any gas anywhere so I don't think it matters. I get it once in a while when it's cheap. They seem to cycle through on their pricing, sometimes they're the best price around, sometimes not. When they're not, I just stop in once in a while for their free drinks they give out once or twice a month. Lately places like Costco or BJs seem to be having the best prices around and at least Costco is top tier.

 

[wog]

Aren t they selling gulf? For years they were loaded by gulf, now i see jp noonan loading. Of noonan carries for lots of retailers ,shell,stop n shop,and bj wholesale.

 

[eljefino]

They're okay but pushing to be the first in the territory with E15.

They and Irving are pushing hard for you to connect your checking account for debit pay, which is the only reasonable pricing, but it prevents you from getting credit card rewards.

 

[Zaedock]

I've been using Cumby's for decades. Born in RI and moved to W Mass. Never had an issue with fuel quality at any store.

Like andyd said too, the coffee at $.99 is really good.

 

[daves87rs]

Aunt has been using their gas for years...

 

[JohnG]

It depends on where the terminal is located and what their source of supply is. In PA, it used to be Buckeye Pipeline, which in fact did come through an old Gulf oil terminal.
Even though the Gulf Building is still in downtown Pittsburgh, they pulled most all of their retail branding from that area.

Don't forget, these terminals may sell 5 to 10 different brands of gas out of the same storage tanks (YES, Including Top Tier (ha!)).

 

[Kira]

C.F. has "about 550 stations".

Are they individually run? Do owners get to specify the fuel's attributes (Top Tier or not, for example)? Do they vary?

Around here, it seems off brand fuel stations are owned in multiples of 10.

So if someone owns 10 or 30 stations, do they have the juice to designate the quality of the fuel they sell?

I think learning who calls those shots is step one and ask them.

 

[NO2]

Generic gas is the same gas from the same refineries with EPA mandated additive packs. That's less detergent than top tier stations, but perfectly adequate for most vehicles. We usually buy gas at Costco which is cheap and Top Tier.

 

[y_p_w]

Most convenience store gas is unbranded commodity gas. It may be up to the convenience chain management or the individual franchises to obtain fuel on the spot market. But the base commodity fuel is pretty much equivalent to whatever the branded gas stations are getting. Around here there may not be a way of knowing since there are 5 different refineries and 5 different local fuel terminals. But it simply doesn't matter since it's all tightly regulated commodity fuel.

Commodity fuel is sent to fuel terminals via pipeline, rail, or ship. Unless it's something extremely specific, it really just a blended fungible commodity. RBOB from who knows how many different sources can be mixed in the same tanks. There may be the possibility that it's from a single refinery, but you really have no way of knowing if that's the case or whether that changes depending on how fuel is routed or when refineries go down for accidents or maintenance.

When it's time to receive the delivery, a contracted fuel hauler shows up at the fuel terminal, swipes a card that identifies the driver, and the driver's particular customer is identified. For most independents, they'll just dispense whatever generic additive meeting EPA requirements is available, then the fuel which will agitate and properly mix. By the time it gets to the gas station for delivery, it should be well mixed.

For the most part it's going to be similar to fuel at any off-brand or independent gas station.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by eljefino
They're okay but pushing to be the first in the territory with E15.

They and Irving are pushing hard for you to connect your checking account for debit pay, which is the only reasonable pricing, but it prevents you from getting credit card rewards.


I kinda do the math to figure out if the 10 cent discount to use a debit card is worth the loss on the credit card rebate. I get 2% on mine so that works out to about 6-7 cents. They do give you a free drink after 80 gallons so if that's worth $1, then that's another 1.25 cents per gallon off. Used to be more like 20 gallons which was better. Although you do get the free drink here and there but that's harder to calculate.

 

[JG44]

I'll use if I'm really on empty, they're not top tier but are usually the cheapest in town. The station is also wicked busy I see the tanker truck there at least twice a week, so I know the gas is fresh

 

[sullen]

I work in sales and drive about 700 miles a week or more (5 day work week) I've been using Cumberland 99% of the time for years now.
Some thoughts.....

Last vehicle was a 3rd gen explorer known for their v6 engines blowing up. Took that truck to 210k with no issues on cumbys regular 87 octane (and valvoline high mile synth done almost monthly) Sold it just a couple months ago and ran beautifully when sold, just needed to purchase something with better mpg.


They're not individually owned. Never were.
They've recently sold to a British company, from the New England company that owned them.
Being told from (store level) management whom I rep to, that their ‘new' corporate likes the way the stores are being run so they don't foresee a lot changing.

The coffee is very decent for a dollar. The limited blends are hot or miss, the current Sumatra is very good. Great selection of flavored creamers and one of the few shops that still offers light cream in this health crazed insanity. Espresso shots too, so I am a fan.

Though they like the way the company is run, however they had a coffee subscription (the first version of the coffee cupscription) which was ‘almost unlimited coffee' limited to Simply one cup per hour. I forget if it was 20$ or 25$ but was under 30 for sure....
As soon as EG purchased the company this mysteriously disappeared... then came back in a much more limited form (it's either 5 or 7 cups a week for 25 or 29)
Also the smart pay "free beverage" from fuel used to be one every 20 gallons, now it's one ever 80gal. This also changed right around the time of the sale.

So that said, I just hope the dollar coffee survives the new ownership.
For the gas, I'm a fan, never any issues and great mileage.
If I had a turbo car or something fast I'd go with premium from someone a bit more transparent, but for a commuter vehicle, from driving a ridiculous amount every 5 days, good stuff imho.