petrol pump paranoia?

[stuffedpike20]

My local supermarket petrol station has just installed new pumps. They are the type where you press "Pay at pump", or "Pay in kiosk", etc.
The old pumps had the habit of jumping a few pennies as you carefully tried to only spend £10. For example, they would go from £9.99 straight to £10.01; skipping £10 exactly. (You can go a long way in a Minor for £10).
I thought this might be a ploy, because some customers would think "Oh well, I have gone past £10, I might as well fill up to £20".
They did not skip all of the time, leading to a false sense of security. It reminded me of the 'grabbers' at the seaside, where it seemed that you were destined to lose every time, until, on the 30th time of trying, the 'grab' would be successful and you would win your prize. Surely these machines are designed that way, to only work on the 30th (or whatever it is) grab?
Are petrol pumps 'rigged' in the same way?

The first couple of times I used the new pumps, everything went well, and the display went from £9.99 to £10.00. Perfect.
But the last time I went....£9.98...£9.99...£10.01...!!!

At one time I used to stop at £9.98, and make them give me 2p change; but it seemed a bit petty.
I might start doing it again.

[SteveClem]

There was a funny ‘Not the 9 o’clock News’ sketch about that many years ago.
The cashier had a little button to push to make the pump tick over by a penny

[geoberni]

The answer is far simpler than you might think, ....if you think about it.
The price is displayed down to 10th of a penny per litre, something you can never actually achieve in payment terms, so usually it's impossible for the pump to display exactly what you want cash wise, because the pump measures the volume of fuel it has dispensed. It will then round that up to the nearest full penny they can charge you.

[stuffedpike20]

Thanks geoberni. I never thought of it like that. Makes perfect sense now!

Every day is a school day.

Still can't win on the grabbers at the seaside though.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Best way is to ignore the price and go by volume. Rounding up to the next litre gives me another point on the card I can exchange for fuel vouchers.

[morris van]

I think the not the nine o clock news sketch was with Mel Smith and he's thought he's put £5 in and jumps by 1/2 pence and he's driving a mk1 Escort. It was quite a few years ago.

[mike1864]

Here it is (hopefully)

https://imgur.com/qmYb6uY

[stuffedpike20]

Thanks Mike.

RIP Mel Smith

[mike1864]

There was also a sketch (early 1970's, so probably not NTNO'CN) which had the prices (per gallon) displayed outside the petrol station as being remotely selectable (upwards of course) from the pay desk, as on these (new-fangled) calculators.

For the benefit of younger members, I should explain that this was funny; because until then, fuel prices were so constant that the displayed forecourt price comprised a printed poster. This could only be changed (perhaps once a year) by a trained, travelling workman with a ladder.

So the concept of it being variable via a keyboard was really funny. Honest!

An even more extreme example of fixed pricing mentality was on the walls of the old cinema at Shepherds Bush. Here, I recall (1970's again?) seeing the prices of the various seats embossed into its original, ornate ceramic wall tiles. For example "1/3d" IIRC. (6p in decimal).

[Owlsman]

I'm certainly not a younger member - I passed my test at 18 in my dad's Mk1 Cortina in 1966...so you do the maths. However, I honestly can't remember the sort of fixed 'poster' pump prices to which you refer, Mike. I'm not disputing it in any way, it's just that I have no recollection of them where I lived in S. Yorks.

What I do remember, (not sure if late 60s or early 70s) was that I thought the world was going to come to an end when I could no longer spend £1(one) and get 4(four) gallons of petrol. When petrol went above 5 shillings (25p for younger members) my dad threatened to sell his car and we would have to walk or use the tram to go anywhere car. He didn't!

[geoberni]

Look what I've found, old silent Movietone clips of some sort of preset fuel pump trials.
Had to link it here as it's got an Moggie Convertible of 56-63 era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHeJaWglmY

[mike1864]

According to my fading paperwork for September 1971, petrol - in London - had reached 33p/gallon. It had been a pre-decimal 6/7d when I first started driving twelve months earlier (in the car I am still running)

[philthehill]

Petrol was 5/- per gallon when I started driving.

Have a look at the link below. I recognise many of the items featured and have used quite a few of them when I started in the garage trade in 1964.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HskAT5ziU30

When I used to visit relatives in west Wales in my Minor the garage at Freystrop (just south of Haverfordwest) used to have one hand operated petrol pump with two glass bowls, one which filled whilst the other emptied. A real piece of antiquity but it did the job.

[les]

The character of it all was all taken for granted then. It’s only now looking back, that you wished you’d taken more notice. Things might be more efficient now, I say might! but where’s the Quality? I wonder if the next wave of humanity will look back on today with similar sentiments. Of course they won’t !
Probably wondering what happened to the planet, as they’re floating around somewhere in outer space.

[Shropshiremoggie]

Memories flooding back. I’m sure many of you will remember the two stroke oil dispensers on the forecourt . The vintage Vindec bike in the YouTube clip ( Vindec was Brown Bros trade name ) would have been made by the Comrade Cycle works in Darlaston for Brown Bros . Comrade was founded and run by my wifes cousins until it closed .

[myoldjalopy]

Look what I've found, old silent Movietone clips of some sort of preset fuel pump trials.
Had to link it here as it's got an Moggie Convertible of 56-63 era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHeJaWglmY

Thanks for that clip - it was funnier than the Mel Smith one!

[simmitc]

The Minor has a starting handle for when the electricity (battery/solenoid/starter motor) fails. I can remember our Shell garage with fairly modern looking petrol pumps, but they had a mechanical display and a small flap on the body. When the electrical supply failed, one could move the flap and insert a small handle through the revealed hole, and then crank the pump by hand. The crank was not that large, so it was quite hard work, but better than having no petrol. Resilience is so important, but so often ignored these days.

[geoberni]

When I used to visit relatives in west Wales in my Minor the garage at Freystrop (just south of Haverfordwest) used to have one hand operated petrol pump with two glass bowls, one which filled whilst the other emptied. A real piece of antiquity but it did the job.

The only glass bowl type dispensers I've ever encountered were some 10 years ago in Kings Canyon National Park California, where the Giant Redwoods are.
5 or 6 (US) Gall minimum, the attendant fills the glass and then dispenses to the sight glass....
It was pretty expensive, as the next nearest Gas Station was about 50+ miles away as I recall.

2010_0729Yosemite_Sequoia0535.JPG (823.6 KiB) Viewed 2253 times

2010_0729Yosemite_Sequoia0534.JPG (805.45 KiB) Viewed 2253 times

[philthehill]

In Stockbridge Hampshire at what is now Woodfire Restaurant is a vintage glass bowl and hand operated petrol pump.
It was installed when John Stokes the proprietor of the then garage retired and the premises were converted to a restaurant called Stokes.
It was an interesting garage with the pump delivery pipes passing over the pavement and the shop was a bit like the garage shop in the link I posted above. When John Stokes retired it was all swept away. It was my local garage but now we have no local garage .

[Shropshiremoggie]

<t>Off topic , my grandfather was apprentice to Tom Cannon ! I have visited Stockbridge many times , such a shame the old racecourse has long gone . I have my grandfathers indentures signed by the great man !!!!</t>