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Gas hoarders

Thomas Veil

Thomas Veil

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 14, 2004
2,636
8,862
Much greener pastures
Oh. My. God.

Just came back from the gas station, where apparently it's Black Friday.

Last week the price was somewhere around $3.89. This week it's dropped to $3.17, so what happens? The gas hoarders come out.

The lines at my particular place looked a little like those you saw back in the early '70s. Almost without exception, every car there filled up, then popped open the trunk to reveal four 5 gallon gas cans, which the drivers also filled.

There was even one guy with an open-backed truck (of the type which you normally see mercenaries with assault weapons piling out of on Burn Notice), and he apparently had the whole thing filled with gas cans. He must've been camped out at that pump for twenty minutes or more.

I'm sure glad I don't live next door to anybody like this. I hope these yokels are happy keeping twenty gallons of flammable explosive in their garages. I also hope they're careful with their barbecue grills and their firearms.
 
TyPod

TyPod

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2006
1,745
18
Minneapolis, MN
It's crazy what people will do to save a few bucks. Personally I don't have a huge problem with it, but it's definitely crazy.
 
GoCubsGo

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
I just see no point. Similarly, I see no point in driving further out of my way to save .5¢ to .10¢. My tank size that is no more than saving a couple of bucks. I value money, but maybe not enough to care about that savings. I guess if I am saving .50¢ then that is about $9.00 for me on my tank size. In that case, I guess it wouldn't be a terrible idea, but not so much that I want gallons of gas sitting in my garage. I feel too much can go wrong.
 
Tomorrow

Tomorrow

macrumors 604
Mar 2, 2008
7,160
1,364
Always a day away
A full tank - 28 gallons if I start from bone-dry - lasts me no more than about 4 work days. I'm gonna be buying gas later in the week anyway. No reason to hoard it.
 
benthewraith

benthewraith

macrumors 68040
May 27, 2006
3,140
143
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Thomas Veil said:
I'm sure glad I don't live next door to anybody like this. I hope these yokels are happy keeping twenty gallons of flammable explosive in their garages. I also hope they're careful with their barbecue grills and their firearms.
Click to expand...

I wonder if any of your neighbors have any 80-gallon propane tanks for their gas-powered stoves. Do you feel the same way living next to them?
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
I can't wait until the day EVs are commonplace and everyone can take off the shackles of the gas pump.


Full disclosure, I am holding a long position in TSLA.
 
A

Aspasia

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2011
1,345
101
Halfway between the Equator and North Pole
Thomas Veil said:
Oh. My. God.

Just came back from the gas station, where apparently it's Black Friday.

Last week the price was somewhere around $3.89. This week it's dropped to $3.17, so what happens? The gas hoarders come out.

The lines at my particular place looked a little like those you saw back in the early '70s. Almost without exception, every car there filled up, then popped open the trunk to reveal four 5 gallon gas cans, which the drivers also filled.

There was even one guy with an open-backed truck (of the type which you normally see mercenaries with assault weapons piling out of on Burn Notice), and he apparently had the whole thing filled with gas cans. He must've been camped out at that pump for twenty minutes or more.

I'm sure glad I don't live next door to anybody like this. I hope these yokels are happy keeping twenty gallons of flammable explosive in their garages. I also hope they're careful with their barbecue grills and their firearms.
Click to expand...

Maybe they have boats and are buying the extra gas for recreational use.
 
wordoflife

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
I personally couldn't be bothered (let alone have the resources, time, or energy) to do that but if other people want to do that, then I don't care. Don't understand why you're getting so upset about it.
 
quagmire

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,903
2,324
iMikeT said:
I can't wait until the day EVs are commonplace and everyone can take off the shackles of the gas pump.


Full disclosure, I am holding a long position in TSLA.
Click to expand...

Then you're shackled to your electric company..... ;)

Electric is short term. I'm still in the belief that hydrogen fuel cells is the future. Just need a cleaner and efficient way in producing hydrogen. Batteries are filthy business.

But, Tesla's are beautiful cars.
 
Last edited:
M

MegamanX

macrumors regular
May 13, 2013
221
0
Tomorrow said:
A full tank - 28 gallons if I start from bone-dry - lasts me no more than about 4 work days. I'm gonna be buying gas later in the week anyway. No reason to hoard it.
Click to expand...

Yep. I have a 20 gallon tank from bone dry. That 20 gallons last me around a week at the rate I am going.

Worse thing I have ever done when gas priced dropped a long time ago when I lived with my parents is we went out and filled up all of the car and filled up both 5 gallon gas cans. To be fair all 5 of the cars at the house where at 3/8 of a tank at most and one of the gas cans where empty and the other almost was. The gas cans are used for the lawn equipment and the other my brother uses for dirt biking so is not like it will not get used.

The gas is also stored in the garage. If the unthinkable happens and it catches fire it will only burn down the garage as that is not attached to the house.
 
Thomas Veil

Thomas Veil

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 14, 2004
2,636
8,862
Much greener pastures
benthewraith said:
I wonder if any of your neighbors have any 80-gallon propane tanks for their gas-powered stoves. Do you feel the same way living next to them?
Click to expand...
I've never seen that around here...probably because our homeowners' association would never have it.

Aspasia said:
Maybe they have boats and are buying the extra gas for recreational use.
Click to expand...
From what I saw last night, we'd have to be living on a marina. :D

MegamanX said:
The gas is also stored in the garage. If the unthinkable happens and it catches fire it will only burn down the garage as that is not attached to the house.
Click to expand...
Interesting you mention that because just two weeks ago some guy was working on his car and somehow set the garage on fire. I'd hate to think what would've happened if there'd been so much gasoline in there...although I'm sure the explosion would've been magnificent.
 
prostuff1

prostuff1

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2005
1,482
18
Don't step into the kawoosh...
I usually have 10 gallon, give or take.

5 for the lawn mower, 5 for the generator, 2.5 for the mixed gas some of my yard equipment takes (40:1) and another 2.5 for the mix the rest of the yard equipment takes (50:1).

And before anyone points out the fact that it adds up to 15 gallon, I do realize that. All the cans are not usually full at the same time. I switch using the mower and generator cans and always keep one full so that the generator always has gas available should I need it. If the mixed cans run out I fill them from the 5 gallon ones and refill the 5 gallon ones later.
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
quagmire said:
Then you're shackled to your electric company..... ;)

Electric is short term. I'm still in the belief that hydrogen fuel cells is the future. Just need a cleaner and efficient way in producing hydrogen. Batteries are filthy business.

But, Tesla's are beautiful cars.
Click to expand...


Electricity is a lifetime commitment as it is as just about every electronic device we all own runs on electricity and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. The real quandary that we find ourselves in is how to produce and store electricity in a cleaner manner than we're currently do so.

I would say that hydrogen fuel cell is vaporware. The issue with hydrogen is that it runs into the laws of thermodynamics. That is, you cannot generate more energy than you initially spend. Since the most abundant source of hydrogen on the planet is water, we have to spend energy to separate the hydrogen from oxygen. And if it takes for example electricity to perform the separation, why not just funnel the electricity directly to the device and skip the middle step?
 
quagmire

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,903
2,324
iMikeT said:
Electricity is a lifetime commitment as it is as just about every electronic device we all own runs on electricity and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. The real quandary that we find ourselves in is how to produce and store electricity in a cleaner manner than we're currently do so.

I would say that hydrogen fuel cell is vaporware. The issue with hydrogen is that it runs into the laws of thermodynamics. That is, you cannot generate more energy than you initially spend. Since the most abundant source of hydrogen on the planet is water, we have to spend energy to separate the hydrogen from oxygen. And if it takes for example electricity to perform the separation, why not just funnel the electricity directly to the device and skip the middle step?
Click to expand...

Got to make a cleaner way to store the electricity. Mining for nickel and lithium is extremely dirty and disposing of worn out batteries are another issue. Not to mention the ability to recharge the batteries in 5 minutes without murdering the batteries health.
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
quagmire said:
Got to make a cleaner way to store the electricity. Mining for nickel and lithium is extremely dirty and disposing of worn out batteries are another issue. Not to mention the ability to recharge the batteries in 5 minutes without murdering the batteries health.
Click to expand...


We'll just have to create one of these then:


Vibranium_reactor.png



Have any idea where the closest vibranium mine is?
 
A

Aeolius

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2002
932
70
benthewraith said:
I wonder if any of your neighbors have any 80-gallon propane tanks for their gas-powered stoves. Do you feel the same way living next to them?
Click to expand...

I have a 1,000 gallon propane tank buried on one side of the house and a 500 gallon buried on the other. I also have 30 gallons of gas in the barn, as others have said for lawn mowers, leaf blowers, ATVs, and the like.

Yeah, no HOA here. I moved away from that lunacy and will not be going back.
 
b3av3r

b3av3r

macrumors regular
Dec 9, 2012
185
0
Louisiana
Not sure where you live, but I'm in Louisiana, and when hurricane season rolls around we usually have 20 - 25 gallons of gas on hand for the generator. That keeps our generator running for about 2.5 days. It's definitely worth it to keep my grandparents' house at a decent temperature when it could be 95+ degrees outside and to keep the freezers running. Apparently, it is a Louisiana or southern thing to have so much frozen food on hand but we lost around 500 - 600 dollars after Katrina because of all the food we threw away.

If we don't need the gas for the generator then we throw some fuel stabilizer in it and use it for lawnmower, weed eater, etc.
 
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