Sam's Club just opened a gas station here in town and their price is 12 cents below everyone else ($2.47 vs. $2.59). I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this....for example, will this price differential stay for good or is it a temporary marketing sales trick to get everyone to join and then in 3 weeks their price will be the same or within cents of everyone else. Plus, I've gotta wonder if their gas is half water since it is so much cheaper or is that just the 'economies of scale?'

It is 30-$35 to join the Club, so at $.12 it would take a little while but the savings would eventually pay for the membership, which can be used for other stuff too.

Just seeing what everyone's thoughts on this are......

black'n'chrome

 

Well the Sam's here the gas is usually 2 cents cheaper than the cheapest place.. I doubt it will stay that low..

 

my parents use it all the time and u have got to be kidding to think it might be half water. Just like everything else they sell, buy in massive quantities and then sell it for little if any profit, but it sure brings the people in the doors.

 

cheap quality gas is cheap... i buy BP atleast most of the funds go to develope and research new fuel sources also they seem to be cheaper then sams and walmart gas and it runs alot better in my truck

 

That's BRITISH Petroleum for you !!!

 

Faster,

That's what I was thinking. I figured all gas was not created equal, and after hearing that most of their stations are regularly $.02 less or the same as others, it doesn't pay to join just for the gas.........

black'n'chrome

 

5 cents per gallon price difference equals $1.00 savings on a typical 20 gallon fillup. 10 cents is $2.00 savings, etc. So at 10-12 cents lower, you'd need 18 fillups to make back your $35+ joining fee. And the ones around here are within 2-3 cents of everyone else.

It might be a tiny perk if you already have a card, but I don't believe it's a good enough reason to buy the membership all by itself.

 

My experiance has shown me sams sells
Regular and Sub-regular gas!!!jk

If you get it cheaper and you burn allot of gas go for it.

 

haha, sounds typical for Wallymart/Sams.

After hearing it's pretty much the same price after a little while as everyone else, I think I'll stick with BP/Amoco. I can almost always get 3-5 cents off there anyway so its not that big of difference.

Thanks

black'n'chrome

 

Sam's back at home in New Port Richey is always at least 5 cents cheaper than everywhere else.
Up here in Tallahassee it's the cheapest at the Flying J. Sam's can't touch it. The only thing that can is a drive to GA.

 

its 50 bucks to join here... so not worth it

 

These places usually start out the first couple weeks with cheaper gas to get you to start coming. Then they come close to equaling out, maybe a couple cents cheaper.

If any of you can get onto a military base, the gas their is usually a few cents cheaper.

 

cheap gas is generally junk, full of crap that clogs your filters and low on energy content. i have found that i actually save more money by buying the expensive gas b/c i get such better mileage.

 

MOST gas comes from the same pipeline up from the Gulf. The refineries create their gas, pump it into the pipelines, and then remove gas at their end terminal. The gas that they put into the pipeline at the gulf is usually not the gas that they remove at the destination.

As an example, Chevron can pump 10,000 gallons into the pipeline at a refinery in Texas, and immediately afterwards remove 10,000 gallons at a terminal near Chicago, or perhaps New York. Basically, all gas is the same, the only difference is the additatives that are mixed in at the final terminal.

Personally, my truck runs just as good on "Cheap" Walmart or Sam's gas as it does on "expensive" BP gas. YMMV.

 

Ditto. The main difference is to fill up at a place where you know the tanks are fairly new or are checked regularly and less likely to have water in them.