Comments on: Coles Express leads petrol prices up in four capitals

By: Bingo

Bingo — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:38:52 +0000

sad part is that both major parties are so deep in pockets of big Oil and Big Banks they will never even attempt to do anything :). Like, give ACCC some real power.

By: Davo

Davo — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:42:06 +0000

Back to basics?
We used to go to the butcher to buy meat,the green grocer to buy fruit & veg(it is always fresher),the supermarket was for non perishables only,it was never a fuel source.
We have gone wrong somewhere in our demands for convenience & “choice”.
Still shop the old fashioned way.
I rarely buy an apple from a supermarket.
Too expensive $2 a kilo more from a supermarket
Convenience always costs we have played into the hands of a duopoly.
The Walmart scenario is dangerous from any perpective.
Have never used a “discount” petrol voucher.

By: slugger

slugger — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:32:03 +0000

Hi Liam,

I used to be a button jockey at Shell years ago.

The cycle used to go like this and I have no way of knowing if it still goes this way:

Tanker comes in, price is set.

On your way to work, you go past three or four other stations in the area and fax their prices to head office.

Towards the end of the day, you get a call telling you that they’ll ’support’ knocking 1,2 or 3c off the price – they’d set the unleaded price and everything else went off that (diesel never changed during the week, just on tanker day). LPG was a separate issue.

The price heads downward over the week till the tanker arrives and the price goes back up.

It seems to me that’s the way it still goes. We were the last to go down, the first to go up.

As I say, I have no idea if that’s still how it works, but it certainly seems that way.

By: Bret

Bret — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:55:00 +0000

Trackdaze, maybe but my car gets better fuel consumption running ethanol blend (E10) than using Coles/Shell ULP.

By: trackdaze

trackdaze — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:57:59 +0000

On another note.

Dont get fooled into buying the 3cents per litre cheaper ethanol blend. because of the lower energy content you will use more than the discount gives you.

By: trackdaze

trackdaze — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:54:00 +0000

Back to the topic.

Good going by the ACCC on the naming and shaming.

Now it is up to the lemmings to put their brains into gear and shop elsewhere for both food & petrol.

By: Naughtyius Maximus

Naughtyius Maximus — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:20:38 +0000

Jerome Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Its called diversfying a larger model range with VW declaring they are after number 1 spot. I really think you got to think “if possible” and see this! Or are you another Toyota Tosser and bleat silly for having AWD! For some reason you have your bolts loose on your neck like Frankenstein………its not my hero car. Its a addition to the VW range which will compete in wider market place. Gee you are odd!

By: Grumps

Grumps — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:59:53 +0000

I think a big part of the problem is that the cost of everything, not just petrol, is going up but wages aren’t following.

We have all noticed an increase in the price of the basics such as food, milk etc but my pay packet hasn’t gone up to match it.

I don’t think people would actually mind too much paying $1.55 a litre for petrol if the price of other things had remained stable.

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:52:22 +0000

always buy at independents, I do.

they are with out a doubt the cheapest, and maintain prices that are a little more stable.

infact i say always support small business, whether it be fuel or your local IGA.

if anyone ever travels the Warrego Hwy in QLD, on the way to Toowoomba there is an independent that is always 5cpl cheaper. that kills both myths.
fuel in country areas can be cheaper, and the “big mobs” arent cheaper

also with the tax on fuel, isnt it a cents per litre tax, not a percentage tax?

By: Daniel Dacey

Daniel Dacey — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:47:51 +0000

Reckless1

Here is a reason. Some people think spending the money over and over again at the supermarket they are forced to now use, is worth it if they save 4c at the petrol station. The brain doesnt go into gear, so thinking if these supermarkets are dearer to shop at and the savings elsewhere would be worth more than the docket, or if the petrol docket represents a real saving when you actually compare the price of the petrol at these service stations, doesn’t come into it.

So they buy more than they might otherwise to meet the minimum quote needed to get a fuel discount and rush off to pay top dollar for the petrol anyway.

What is not to like about this for Coles and Woolworths?

Dan

By: Bret

Bret — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:43:31 +0000

The biggest hurdle is yet to come when Rudd introduces the carbon tax, watch the prices skyrocket then.
Even now the Greens think that we should pay double the tax to discourage use of fuel.
Fuel prices will continue to rise as the taxes are ramped up – and you can thank Labor and the Greens ’cause it will happen.

By: James F

James F — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:45:31 +0000

Rising fuel is here to stay and we all hate and we all whinge (rightly so) – but I cant see anything which will change the facts.. We will always be ripped off… thats the way it is. Coles and Woolies have just found a way to get even more percentage of our wallets each week (between groceries and fuel)… At the end of the day its a business trying to reap as much profit as possible…

I feel sorry for country people who dont get cheap Tuesdays (as Grumps said).. And they are talking about this new road usage tax (aka Netherlands)… If only public transport was worth the hassle – as they really are making drivers’ life damn frustrating at best – and I reckon the Govt coffers are the ones getting away with all our anger… We keep having a go at the oil companies, but 38% (as people have mentioned)is quite a hit to our back pockets…

With the cost of oil at all time highs (US $120 barrel) we are screwed…

Oh well….

By: Golfschwein

Golfschwein — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:43:38 +0000

Millatime, we just have!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:33:45 +0000

Frugal-One Says: “For those with DIEsel, SUFFER-IN-YA-JOCKS!”
Everyone should have an interest in the diesel price. Your food doesn’t get delivered to the supermarket in the back of a LPG Falcon. Everyone pays for the high price of diesel.

By: Millatime

Millatime — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:17:01 +0000

More and more reasons to overthrow the sloths in Parliament. Can anyone tell me how this Claymore works…?

By: Fenno

Fenno — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:11:29 +0000

So 38% of 75c a litre gave them a surplus…I wonder what it would be like with todays prices?
The government is using sleight-of-hand tactics by commissioning the ACCC watchdog to come down on corporations while they have money fights in the counting parlour.

By: davidt

davidt — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:29:48 +0000

The tax, it’s about 38% of the pump price if i recall correctly, is a Road Tax but it goes into consolidated revenue, that great gold pile the government has where mountains of cash go in and some comes out for whatever seems like a good vote winner at the time. It’s supposed to pay for roads, road safety and the like but not a lot of it gets spent on that, least wise not anywhere that you’d notice if you take a look at some of our third world roads.

By: Fenno

Fenno — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:09:09 +0000

In all fairness, we all have our eyes on the money-hungry oil companies (mostly to blame), but what about our federal AND state governments and the fact that they tax us on a percentage of the overall cost. If they were making huge revenue when the fuel cost 75c per litre then what gives them the right to continue setting the watchdogs on the companies and not themselves when fuel is $1+. I guess tax relief only comes to those who are not the majority.
To add to this, the government must be making more and more money as the price of fuel goes up yet one still cannot drive between Syd-Mel or Syd-Bris on a decent road. Where is this money going?
Somebody please enlighten me.

By: Grumps

Grumps — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:06:18 +0000

I find it interesting that the city people get certain days where the petrol is cheaper yet here in country NSW the petrol stays the same price all week.

I wish we had ‘Cheap Tuesday’ !

By: Jerome

Jerome — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:47:43 +0000

Naughtyius Maximus pretty sure your on crack coz ur posts make little to no sense.

Yes people want more power and that = more fuel.
But ur praising VW for making a awd polo, which is the most useless POS of a car ever.

AWD adds considerable weight, weight is much more an enemy of fuel economy then power is. So you get more weight in a car that will never need awd capabilities, hell no car needs awd unless ur driving in the snow.

So the polo will be slower then its normal version and use more petrol, but to you its a hero car?