View Full Version : Want to save money on fuel? - Pipeline Card!
LSainsbury
25-01-2006, 18:41
One of my friends mailed me some details about Pipeline Card (http://www.pipelinecard.org).
Sounds like a good idea! I'm in!
Edit - Could an admin make this a sticky please? :tu:
Looks like a good idea in principle, I couldn't see / find a link as to what supplier / forcourt retailer you have to use before signing up, could be a bit of a red herring if it's a small, not readily available source :shrug:
LSainsbury
25-01-2006, 18:58
I couldn't see / find a link as to what supplier / forcourt retailer...
I think it's under wraps at the moment...hopefully the guy can pull it off...
I couldn't see / find a link as to what supplier / forcourt retailer...
I think it's under wraps at the moment...hopefully the guy can pull it off...
Under wraps, the link page says that 'they' have an agreement 'in principle'..... before I give any details to this scheme I think I'll wait until it's up and running :tu:
Hope it gets off the ground, but lets not forget the main route of the high fuel costs... government taxes, sorry to go OT a bit.
LSainsbury
25-01-2006, 19:06
Under wraps, the link page says that 'they' have an agreement 'in principle'..... before I give any details to this scheme I think I'll wait until it's up and running :tu:
Hope it gets off the ground, but lets not forget the main route of the high fuel costs... government taxes, sorry to go OT a bit.
They probably need subscribers to show the retailer that they have willing members to purchase their fuel from the one source...
All they are asking for is a email address and your postcode! :Yikes:
andygrif
25-01-2006, 19:13
Looks like a good idea in principle, I couldn't see / find a link as to what supplier / forcourt retailer you have to use before signing up, could be a bit of a red herring if it's a small, not readily available source :shrug:
I signed up for this after reading about the papers late last year. Yes, it could easily be a scam to harvest tens of thousands of names, addresses and emails - but I would like to think that there are easier ways to do it, and quicker too.
It's working on the principle of corporate fuel cards like All Star. All Star is owned by a massive car leasing company, so when a company leases a fleet of cars they are also offered a discounted fuel card for all the drivers of that fleet.
Employees benefit as they don't have to spend their own money and claim it back. Companies are happy as they don't have process the expenses from each driver and they also get the discount per litre and the leasing company is happy as they don't pass anywhere near the whole saving on to the company - so they make money on every litre each of their cards pays for.
I know the latter bit was a source of irritation for one company I was working for, and they got a better deal on their 200 fuel cards by going direct to Shell.
Now, it's unclear whether Pipeline Card will be a discount card or charge card - but either way he's going to need to be able to present a sum of, as was listed today, 90,000 registered names to a fuel company, such as Shell in order to get the discount.
If he went to them three months ago and said he didn't have any registered names, they'd have laughed him out of town.
But with 90,000 drivers all offering to place ALL of their petrol consumption into ONE SINGLE fuel company - that's compelling to even the big companies like BP or Shell. So I would expect it to be a good deal when and if it does launch and I would expect it to be with a large named brand.
Saying that, oil companies are somewhat greedy, so it wouldn't surprise me if one of them came along, offered the guy running Pipeline Card a rather significant sum of money to vanish, leaving them the list of names and addresses. We'll see.
handyman
25-01-2006, 20:13
I thought of a better idea than this to save money. ?I'll keep it under wraps as i'm not even sure its legal but it could half you fuel bill and allow you to use the same garage...
Seen that before Christmas on one of the football forums I frequent, look at the name of Ben Scammell.
A Ben Scammell is a racer with Caterham, that much is true at least. (See here (http://www.caterham.co.uk/news/prcontent.php?id=166))
The rest of it? Undecided. If a fuel company dropped their prices down 10p (biggest anticipated drop), they'd probably get more than the anticipated 10,000 membership dedicated users. Having said that, supermarkets are often 5p/litre under the majors and its not like they are solely used. Some of it seems on the level, some of it doesn't.
A Ben Scammell is a racer with Caterham, that much is true at least. (See here (http://www.caterham.co.uk/news/prcontent.php?id=166))
The rest of it? Undecided. If a fuel company dropped their prices down 10p (biggest anticipated drop), they'd probably get more than the anticipated 10,000 membership dedicated users. Having said that, supermarkets are often 5p/litre under the majors and its not like they are solely used. Some of it seems on the level, some of it doesn't.
shell in Bearsden outside glasgow does this regularly, and advertises the fact, they make a tidy profit, granted they may only do this 1 or 2 times a week for 1 hour only, but the garage is choca block with Cheap Bearsden punters who are tight fisted B*******.
ik
andygrif
26-01-2006, 09:53
Seen that before Christmas on one of the football forums I frequent, look at the name of Ben Scammell.
Yes, I have to say that I had to smile when I read the FAQ's on his site and saw his name. If this is legit...it's a rather unfortunate, if not, then it's a rather large clue!
I weighed up the pros and cons of signing up. All I had to do was provide my name and address a list of which people can buy from the Council anyway and my Hotmail email address which I only use for spam lists anyway - so I'm not really likely to be losing out in anyway...and as I said, this guy seems to have ploughed in a lot of work and major media interviews - which seems rather excessive if it is a scam. You can be sure that the media will hound the guy if he's a scammer.
The rest of it? Undecided. If a fuel company dropped their prices down 10p (biggest anticipated drop), they'd probably get more than the anticipated 10,000 membership dedicated users. Having said that, supermarkets are often 5p/litre under the majors and its not like they are solely used. Some of it seems on the level, some of it doesn't.
I think that's a good point, but do remember that companies like All Star already have these discounts in place with all the major fuel companies. What this guy is suggesting is basically a rival fuel card that everyone can have access to - which sounds like a good plan
I can't see how they will be able to offer the price reductions claimed.
Unless, of course, they are comparing against motorway prices. ;)
ULS Unleaded currently costs 25.6p ex-refinery, then add on the duty of 47.1p then the VAT and the price is already 85.4p.
Now I ain't seen too many garages charging 5-10p more than that.:erm:
This kinda reminds me of that site letsbuyit.com.... which kinda went belly up. Would be nice if it works, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.
andygrif
26-01-2006, 12:37
I can't see how they will be able to offer the price reductions claimed.
Unless, of course, they are comparing against motorway prices. ;)
ULS Unleaded currently costs 25.6p ex-refinery, then add on the duty of 47.1p then the VAT and the price is already 85.4p.
Now I ain't seen too many garages charging 5-10p more than that.:erm:
I feel like I'm talking to myself here...the fuel companies ARE ALREADY doing it...it's just that us mere mortals don't have access to it yet.
And I'm not sure where your sums come from, because there is a Shell not far from me selling at 84.9 today.
I feel like I'm talking to myself here...the fuel companies ARE ALREADY doing it...it's just that us mere mortals don't have access to it yet.
Filling stations pay a commission when accepting cards such as Allstar much the same as they do for credit/debit cards. The commission payable is typically around 2%. That doesn't equate to the fantasy figures of 5p - 10p quoted. :)
And I'm not sure where your sums come from, because there is a Shell not far from me selling at 84.9 today.
The PRA, their latest price survey document dated the 20th Jan. :)
andygrif
26-01-2006, 13:01
Filling stations pay a commission when accepting cards such as Allstar much the same as they do for credit/debit cards. The commission payable is typically around 2%. That doesn't equate to the fantasy figures of 5p - 10p quoted. :)
I guess you've never seen the figures that companies like All Star charge their customers then. Same again with a Shell Fleet Card I presume? Far from being a "fantasy", there are companies already getting between 5-10p per litre reductions in their fleet petrol prices.
Also the fees you're talking about only relate to credit cards, not cash or DEBIT card transactions, which have a different fee structure. Although many do, I would think that most people don't pay with credit cards. Whilst that 2% might play a small part in the reductions, it is not the basis on which the card is suggested to be based. It's still not clear if the card will be a charge card (in which case the 2% might play a part, but you still need a merchant to process it) or if it will be a discount card (which means that you still have to pay on the spot for the fuel, so those 25's make no difference at all).
The sums being spoken are already coming off the advertised price for large fleets...and 90,000 cars is a VERY large fleet. You also haven't taken into account that particularly in the case of Shell, they are the refinery, distribution network and the retailer - they can shave a lot of money of the whole barrel to pump cost structure.
The PRA, their latest price survey document dated the 20th Jan. :)
Links?
The PRA is a body that represents independent retailers, not big multiples that can offer lower prices though more efficient systems, logistics and bulk buying. In fact not only does my local Shell sell at 84.9 right now (a few weeks ago it was 82.9) but also BP, Texaco and Tesco are all selling at that price too. But my little local bloke in the styx (who is the one represented by the PRA) is selling at 90.9p.
I dare say that there is not much headroom on the 84.9 for a big discount, but in areas where Shell is charging 89.9 (not far from here too) there is.
I just saw this advertised on the news
http://www.pipelinecard.org/default.html
Has anybody signed up for this?
I'm thinking about this and it FREE
As has been metioned the idea is that large companies with loads of cars get a discount, so if you join you become a part of a fleet.
I'm setting up a special NTL additional e-mail just for this and if thinks don't happen I can get ridof the address
andygrif
07-02-2006, 17:20
Er...that's what we've been discussing on this thread :LOL:
I'm setting up a special NTL additional e-mail just for this and if thinks don't happen I can get ridof the address
Slightly OT but www.spamgourmet.com (http://www.spamgourmet.com) is excellent for this - I haven't given a non-spamgourmet address to anyone other than friends for years.
Back on topic - I figure that I'll sign up on the site and see what happens - I can always kill off the address if it starts getting spammed.
They've reached 100,000 signups now and are hoping to start issuing cards come April. They're mid negotiations at the moment.
Lets hope the super markets allow these cards to be used at their petrol stations.
Lets hope the super markets allow these cards to be used at their petrol stations.
If the cards do appear they'l be directed towards whatever supplier the guys manage to negotiate a deal with. Kind of a 'do us a deal and we'l guarantee you customers..'
However, is 100,000 guaranteed customers a whole lot for a petrol company such as BP.. Shell ?
andygrif
09-02-2006, 01:36
My betting is on Shell and Esso combined. Just a hunch, not based on anything I can put my finger on.
Although I am still a little sceptical as to whether it will happen....I mean it wouldn't be the first time that a rather large oil company that might have just posted record profits in the last few days has 'employed' someone with a good idea to reduce their profiitability....
...hey, just becuase I'm not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me!!
I see no harm in registering - I can block the e-mail address in the future if I need to.
Nice find..I just hope they can pull it off :)
Reddevil63
24-05-2006, 17:27
380,000 members now!
380,000 members now!
What discount have they negotiated? How much per gallon, sorry, litres?
Graham M
24-05-2006, 18:30
It says the discount in the site, read it. 7-8p a litre or there abouts, it hasnt been confirmed yet, go read the site, all the info is there. I've signed up for one myself.
We joined it a few weeks ago so fingers crossed :)
Looks like the latest governmental public blood squeezing exercise has come into force today. :mad: In view of this (yet) another rally for those (who aren't already members) to join the Pipeline initiative. :erm:
It cost's nowt to join and can only add impetus to the cause for those seeking "sensibly priced" fuel. :erm: As this is an old thread, I'll put the link in again.
http://www.pipelinecard.org/default.html
Go for it..! ;)
Si thee
Graham M
01-10-2007, 17:07
It doesnt look like the website has been updated in a year? :(
monkey2468
01-10-2007, 18:07
Indeed, I was getting regular updates until about 6 months ago and now nothing.:shrug:
I really don't see how this works- petrol stations make little or no money on fuel.
Our last delivery of fuel cost 82.8p/ litre, and is sold at 97.9p/litre- profit of 0.7p per litre. We sell around 400,000 litres per week- £2800 profit. Which doesn't even pay our wage costs (around £3500 a week) let alone anything else. It's the oil companies that make the money- you are tied into a supplier by the forecourt operation agreement, so if they put the prices up then these are passed onto the customer straight away and the petrol station don't have the option to buy in the fuel from somewhere else.
As a motorist the high price of fuel frustrates me, but i can see from the inside that it is a clear oligopolistic market, with no real competition. When a "price war" breaks out it is nothing to do with petrol stations trying to get joe public to buy more fuel, it is so he will come in and buy from the shop because this is what makes them money. A friend of mine ran a petrol station successfully for 5 years even though he actually made a loss on fuel- he was selling at a lower price than he was buy in for, because it drew people in, and this drove his shop sales up- with a tasty ~40% profit conversion on shop sales he covered the loss on fuel and made himself enough to retire at 35.
With all of this in mind, i can't see any amount of pressure convincing petrol stations to cut their prices, and the state of the oil market means i can't see oil companies being co-operative in negotiations for a discount scheme. At the end of the day, everyone needs fuel, and why would one fuel company take the lead and cut their profits just so all the others would have to follow suit? They would never make higher profits than the competition so for them it would be a pointless exercise.
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