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mopar1 Veteran Author Florida Posts:453 Points:2,315,070 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 3, 2011 11:33:04 AM Ignore mopar1 Report Abuse Don't know if cover before, but we could use a checkable box that'll post "Out of gas" w/o a price showing. I see people posting something like "3.25 a gallon, but out of gas" Price posted is irrelevant if they don't have gas & can take up space on the State low price lift if the station has been out for a while.

mopar1

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Florida

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Message Posted: Apr 3, 2011 11:33:04 AM

Ignore mopar1 Report Abuse

Don't know if cover before, but we could use a checkable box that'll post "Out of gas" w/o a price showing. I see people posting something like "3.25 a gallon, but out of gas" Price posted is irrelevant if they don't have gas & can take up space on the State low price lift if the station has been out for a while.

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SamHobbs Rookie Author Los Angeles Posts:2 Points:290 Joined:May 2012	Message Posted: Oct 5, 2012 12:52:28 PM Ignore SamHobbs Report Abuse Update: I see that someone has already updated the Costco Northridge description to indicate it is closed due to no gas.
SamHobbs Rookie Author Los Angeles Posts:2 Points:290 Joined:May 2012	Message Posted: Oct 5, 2012 12:35:37 PM Ignore SamHobbs Report Abuse This is currently highly relevant in California. There are stations, such as the Northridge Costco, that are major sellers of gas that are currently closed due to gas shortages or due to unreasonably high gas prices. There will soon (in the next couple of days) be more stations closed. An independent gas station owner was interviewed in the local news saying he must pay $5 a gallon (wholesale) for gas which is more than what the branded stations are charging for gas, therefore many independent stations will be closing soon. People will be irritated when/if prices are posted for a station that is closed. I notice that there is one Costco station that says it does not sell diesel. Since no Costco station sells diesel, the comment does not have much value. Something that could be useful is if a comment could be added to a station indicating it is currently not selling any fuel. Of course the problemn with that is that the cost update would expire after 24 hours, correct?
RichWLIN Champion Author Indiana Posts:4,084 Points:636,915 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Aug 31, 2012 1:28:28 PM Ignore RichWLIN Report Abuse EBR, It looks like this topic has been reactivated after lengthy periods more than once. I’m with you and agree that there are topics important enough to keep active, but the forum “hall monitors” are sure to pick up on this and you’ll likely be reported to the moderators for bumping after too long a period.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Aug 27, 2012 8:14:18 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Reported for bumping an old topic and requesting this topic to be closed.
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Aug 26, 2012 8:39:39 AM Ignore EBR Report Abuse We should not let this die until a resolution is reached. The situation WILL arise again, in one form or another. As I said almost a year ago: In the event of the occasional natural disaster or other interruption of the distribution/delivery system, different stations (by brand, by distributor, whatever) may or may not be affected at any one time. Knowing which stations have gas at ANY price and which don't is every bit as useful as knowing what price each station has - and is much more useful than knowing what price an out-of-gas station had the last time it had anything to sell. We need a checkbox, or a radio button, or some such, to allow us to indicate when a station is not offering a given grade. It's not a problem when fuel is plentiful and the distribution network is flowing smoothly. But it's kinda urgent when the prooblem does arise - even if it's only for a limited time (days?) in a limited geographic area. And the time to think through, design, and implement an approach to indicating it is NOT to wait until it occurs again.
StillWillIV Sophomore Author South Bend Posts:185 Points:361,995 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Apr 25, 2012 12:24:37 PM Ignore StillWillIV Report Abuse Ye.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,639 Points:3,681,410 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Apr 25, 2012 2:31:05 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse I support the idea of having an out-of-gas indicator built into the system. For those who want to deal with the system as it exists now, I suggest creating a local forum thread titled "Station is out of gas". Do not use the top post for the first example of such a station.
CampKohler Champion Author Sacramento Posts:9,446 Points:1,562,015 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2012 3:06:48 PM Ignore CampKohler Report Abuse EBR: The way things are going, you WILL die before a resolution is reached. This suggestion is older than the hills (and I mean the OLD hills, not the new ones).
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2012 9:10:57 AM Ignore EBR Report Abuse Please re-read my post (2 down) from 7 months ago. We should not let this die until a resolution is reached. The situation WILL arise again, in one form or another. "And the time to think through, design, and implement an approach ... is NOT to wait until it occurs again."
Gas_Buddy Champion Author Maryland Posts:25,953 Points:3,032,015 Joined:Aug 2004	Message Posted: Sep 11, 2011 11:10:45 PM Ignore Gas_Buddy Report Abuse One of the things you cannot forget is that gas prices are routinely posted for the price seen on signs as a member drives by a gas station, not by personal knowledge of the gas station situation. Just because a posted sign indicates a fuel price doesn't mean that the gas station doesn't have a cover over the dispenser or the pump. That means, to me at least, that a member posting a price on Gas Buddy, may be, in all good faith, posting a price that was seen on the display sign and not trying to do something mischievousness. Regarding posting of wrong prices: Maybe I just have too much faith in the majority of Gas Buddy members and think that even if one or two members did deliberately post wrong prices (or posted a price for a gas station that was out of gas, that the price wouldn't be continuous (it would be removed in a relatively short time), that if the price was posted wrong prices deliberately, that if the price was significantly wrong that most people would recognize that (and accept it as a typing error), or at worse only a small number of people - a very small number - would go considerably out of their way to buy gas at that one particular gas station. Again: Maybe I just have too much faith in Gas Buddy members.
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Sep 11, 2011 9:31:08 AM Ignore EBR Report Abuse In the event of the occasional natural disaster or other interruption of the distribution/delivery system, different stations (by brand, by distributor, whatever) may or may not be affected at any one time. Knowing which stations have gas at ANY price and which don't is every bit as useful as knowing what price each station has - and is much more useful than knowing what price an out-of-gas station had the last time it had anything to sell. We need a checkbox, or a radio button, or some such, to allow us to indicate when a station is not offering a given grade. It's not a problem when fuel is plentiful and the distribution network is flowing smoothly. But it's kinda urgent when the prooblem does arise - even if it's only for a limited time (days?) in a limited geographic area. And the time to think through, design, and implement an approach to indicating it is NOT to wait until it occurs again.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 11, 2011 5:36:37 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse It seems this only occurs during a disaster like a hurricane or earthquake! I agree with rumbleseat! Posting a price for something you can't buy is just wrong!
rumbleseat Champion Author Winnipeg Posts:22,913 Points:3,528,500 Joined:Oct 2002	Message Posted: Sep 11, 2011 1:44:29 AM Ignore rumbleseat Report Abuse I still say, there is a limited amount of real estate on the page that displays prices, and an out-of-gas listing takes up a space. Do we eliminate the showing of a low price or a high price? And if we post out-of-gas for a station at 2 pm, do we go back and check every hour to make sure it is correct? If not, who takes responsibility for a station showing out-of-gas after a fresh delivery? If somebody is posting a price and saying out-of-gas, that is wrong, there is no such thing as a price on something that isn't there.
CrackedLCD Champion Author Alabama Posts:9,020 Points:1,752,125 Joined:May 2008	Message Posted: Sep 11, 2011 1:11:48 AM Ignore CrackedLCD Report Abuse I think it's less about alerting people to stations that are out of gas and more about preventing abuse of the system and "free points" from people making up prices. I've been burned SEVERAL times by going out of my way to save 10-15¢ a gallon only to find someone posted a price for a station that doesn't sell diesel at all, or sells it but is out and someone just made up a number. It's annoying and reduces the usefulness of this site. Since we aren't allowed to zero out incorrect prices from the mobile website OR the smartphone apps, we can't fix it right away, so the problem lingers. It's very annoying.
Gas_Buddy Champion Author Maryland Posts:25,953 Points:3,032,015 Joined:Aug 2004	Message Posted: Sep 11, 2011 12:11:49 AM Ignore Gas_Buddy Report Abuse Maybe I'm naive but is this really a problem, stations being out of gas? The few times I've known stations to be out of gas it's generally been because of a natural disaster and the news is readily available in the local press and local press websites (more timely and more widespread than it would be on this website). And when gas stations have been out of gas, forgetting when it's a real problem and not just one isolated gas station being out of gas, it's only been for a matter of hours or a day. So, I ask again, is this really a problem, one that affects a multitude of Gas Buddy members, at any given time? Side comment to the previous question: I don't notice that many members in my area that traverse the same routes that frequently that one isolated "out of gas" station would be a significant enough problem to warrant a significant change to the current website. Again, maybe I'm naive, or maybe I simply don't see this as being a significant issue.
CampKohler Champion Author Sacramento Posts:9,446 Points:1,562,015 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Aug 29, 2011 1:23:00 PM Ignore CampKohler Report Abuse kwzh: With respect to solutions depending on coded prices (like $.01), the system would know not to display them, include them in stats and so forth. The first thing the system would do is discard the price report and then it would mark the fuel grade as "out of gas" until the first non-code price is reported. On second thought, you might just go ahead and list the out of gas condition in the same place on the price list that it would be if it were not out of gas. That way users would know how that station fits into the competiion and keep an eye out for when they start selling gas again.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,639 Points:3,681,410 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Aug 29, 2011 2:36:12 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse An interim solution that does not require any changes to the site is to find or create a thread in your local forum to list any stations that are currently out of gas. Any interim solutions that do require changes to the site are probably not any harder than implementing the desired final solution directly.
CrackedLCD Champion Author Alabama Posts:9,020 Points:1,752,125 Joined:May 2008	Message Posted: Aug 27, 2011 12:48:06 AM Ignore CrackedLCD Report Abuse Maybe an interim solution would be to allow us to post comments to stations without posting gas prices that don't mean anything?
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,048 Points:505,360 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Aug 26, 2011 9:07:31 PM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse +1 for a useful feature. Others have mentioned hurricanes, tornados and just waiting for the next gas delivery however any kind of natural disaster, or a wide area power outage, a riot or whatever can cause some gas stations to run out or close. This condition should be reportable without having to change the status of the station in the MSL, or relying on posting in a forum. Also the MSL is not accesible from a mobile device.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Aug 26, 2011 1:56:22 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse If the station is out of gas it should be listed as temporarily closed and then the issue is nothing should be allowed to be posted to it. A quick fix is to put "Out of Gas" in the comments when posting the price.
mymren All-Star Author Texas Posts:631 Points:470,785 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Aug 26, 2011 12:48:32 PM Ignore mymren Report Abuse Stations in our area run out of gas frequently. Usually just a day or two waiting for the supply tanker. But not usually the whole station, just one or two types. They only put yellow sleeves over the pump handle, so you might not notice it until you actually pull up to a pump. So either select a different octane rating or go to a different station. Just reporting prices from the street, you might not notice they are out.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,539 Points:2,356,190 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Aug 26, 2011 12:31:10 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse With a hurricane upon us, it is time to bring this topic up once again.
hatfig2 Rookie Author Arkansas Posts:7 Points:640 Joined:Jul 2011	Message Posted: Jul 12, 2011 10:55:10 AM Ignore hatfig2 Report Abuse I like that idea. I live close to Joplin, MO and when the tornado went through it would have been nice to know where you could find a station that was able to pump.
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Jul 10, 2011 9:09:30 AM Ignore EBR Report Abuse *BUMP* still hoping this gets addressed/implemented BEFORE the need arises acutely again
mopar1 Veteran Author Florida Posts:453 Points:2,315,070 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 5, 2011 3:25:21 PM Ignore mopar1 Report Abuse Not to mention a lot of people don't look @ the Forums.
geoag02 All-Star Author Dallas Posts:843 Points:177,970 Joined:Feb 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2011 5:31:59 PM Ignore geoag02 Report Abuse Posting to the appropriate thread doesn't help the people like me that are searching for gas using the mobile app. The best way that I have found so far to help those people is to post a price of either $0.00 or $9.99 to clear the price. It sure would be nice if there was a check box to indicate that the station was out, and also change the icon on the map for stations that have the box checked.
mopar1 Veteran Author Florida Posts:453 Points:2,315,070 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2011 11:16:32 AM Ignore mopar1 Report Abuse There was shortages through out the S.E. after Katrina. Even the Mainstream Media cover the Mad Max/Road Warrior like quest of motorists looking for gas in the Atlanta area. Open gas stations in the Tuskaloosa area seem to be scarce according to the news guys after the tornado.
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 27, 2011 7:24:37 AM Ignore EBR Report Abuse Yes, but that IS just a workaround. I still strongly favor some kind of OOG status indicator.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,639 Points:3,681,410 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Apr 27, 2011 12:34:40 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse EBR wrote, > before the next outage stirkes and we are, once again, unprepared to handle reporting it. No reason to be unprepared. To repeat what I said earlier: > in the meantime, a reasonable workaround is to delete any existing price, and mention the situation in a dedicated "Station is out of gas" thread in the appropriate local forum. If you're in an affected area when there's some serious risk that stations will be out of gas, then check that thread -- which ought to be in your favorites list -- in addition to the checking the price board.
liquidfx Sophomore Author Georgia Posts:153 Points:338,215 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Apr 26, 2011 8:12:28 AM Ignore liquidfx Report Abuse I pass by two stores daily that are out often.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 26, 2011 7:27:29 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse So something that happens infrequently and only in certain parts of the nation should be added to GB because it might happen? Scrapheap reported again. [Edited by: scoutmaster at 4/26/2011 8:28:20 AM EST]
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 26, 2011 7:12:17 AM Ignore EBR Report Abuse Yes, it DOES happen. Not often. And not for very long at a time (a few days, couple weeks). But when it does, it's kinda urgent to users in the affected areas. Tt sure would be nice if GB had a ready mechanism to indicate it. Yes, there IS a BIG difference between a station not having had its prices posted recently and it not having any product to sell. And yes, that distinction IS important. And yes, it IS too bad that we aren't working on a way to indicate "out of gas" before the next outage stirkes and we are, once again, unprepared to handle reporting it.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 26, 2011 5:44:33 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Then the local user should have been reported to the moderators CrackedLCD.
CrackedLCD Champion Author Alabama Posts:9,020 Points:1,752,125 Joined:May 2008	Message Posted: Apr 26, 2011 1:29:54 AM Ignore CrackedLCD Report Abuse The problem with stations being out of gas is you have to report a price to comment that they're out of gas! The OP has a good suggestion. Maybe a 24 hr timeout on the "out of gas" would be appropriate. A good example is there was a Shell station not too far from me that was out of diesel for an extended period of time. But a local user kept reporting their "too good to be true" low price and not saying it was out. So one day I was in town I drove way out of my way to find the station and get in on the deal only to see it was out. And it was out all that remaining week. So I reported it as "out of gas" but it was being overwritten daily by the other user. All the help in the world is no good if people aren't doing their due diligence. And I've been guilty of it myself a time or two, not seeing the bagged handles until it was too late. But it's easy to change later. Some users are just lazy.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 25, 2011 8:56:40 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Consider yourself reported Scrapheap! Personal attack! The chance of all the stations near me not being posted because they are out of gas is slim to none. If this happens, there is a greater problem than needing gas for my vehicles. The Dense-Stubborn Troll has spoken! Deal with it!
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 24, 2011 6:06:30 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse In this rare case if a station isn't posted, don't go there! How's that for stubborn and dense?
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,639 Points:3,681,410 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Apr 24, 2011 1:12:39 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse scoutmaster, in the rare case where a disaster has caused a fuel shortage, people want to be able to distinguish between "station X is out of gas" and "station X has not had any recent reports of their price". I think GasBuddy should support the distinction, but in the meantime, a reasonable workaround is to delete any existing price, and mention the situation in a dedicated "Station is out of gas" thread in the appropriate local forum.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 23, 2011 7:48:27 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse What's the point Scrapheap? If the station has no gas, don't post it! If it has no gas and is posted, zero out the post! Adding OUT to the mix will only confuse things. Do you think we should add CLOSED so we can indicate a station is closed for the day?
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,539 Points:2,356,190 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2011 11:25:30 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse a5 wrote > I thought that you could over-ride the absurdity detector, when it asks you the question "are you sure?" Just tried it. Doesn't work.
a5 Champion Author Ottawa Posts:4,474 Points:2,122,580 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2011 7:50:16 PM Ignore a5 Report Abuse I thought that you could over-ride the absurdity detector, when it asks you the question "are you sure?"
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,539 Points:2,356,190 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2011 11:45:45 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse I don't understand why anyone would object to this suggestion. A few times in the last decade major hurricanes have stopped flow through a pipeline that supplies the south east. This affects areas far beyond the rather localized disaster region where the hurricane comes to shore. Last time it affected prices for all states east of the Mississippi and south of Fredericksburg VA. When this has happened, most stations do not have gas and the few that have gas usually sell it at both a high price and ration the quantity of gas you can buy. At these times it is critical to know who has gas and who does not. Simply not having a price reported for a station does not mean that it does not have gas, it only means that nobody has reported gas for that station in some amount of time. It is under these conditions that GasBuddy could be of most use. Unfortunately, GasBuddy not only is almost useless, its very design works to the detriment of those who try to use it. GasBuddy encourages you to report prices by awarding points. To get those points, people have reported prices for stations that do not have gas. The stations that have gas sell it at a high price. The absurdity detector in GasBuddy automatically deletes those prices from the system. Therefore, GasBuddy not only doesn't tell you where to go to get gas, it actually sends you to stations that do not have gas. Why not make the system actually useful in these circumstances?
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2011 4:28:28 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse a5, It has happened but it is rare! And if the price isn't posted, you won't drive there!
a5 Champion Author Ottawa Posts:4,474 Points:2,122,580 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Apr 21, 2011 10:19:11 PM Ignore a5 Report Abuse scout, I have never seen a station out of gas, but if there were a station out of gas, I would want to know so that I don't drive out that way. Likely the first stations to run out are the ones with historically the best prices. If the station doesn't show on the price board somehow, then I might assume that no one has posted it. Maybe you live in an area where lots of people are posting prices to the same stations but it's not that way around here. I agree that it is somewhat useless to have the leaderboard clogged up with redundant prices, but if they could somehow allow the stations to show even if they were at the bottom of the list, that would be better than not showing at all.
EBR Champion Author Greensboro Posts:21,824 Points:3,265,570 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 21, 2011 8:32:32 PM Ignore EBR Report Abuse This issue came up pretty seriously a while back when there were widespread shortages. Unfortunately, no soultion was ever consensed nor implemented. So we're still stuck. Hope we can get a solution implemented before the next (inevitable) round of widespread shortages/outages.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,207 Points:3,251,520 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Apr 20, 2011 9:55:17 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Again, if the station is out of gas, don't post it and if it is posted, delete it!
mopar1 Veteran Author Florida Posts:453 Points:2,315,070 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 20, 2011 6:24:51 PM Ignore mopar1 Report Abuse It wouldn't show an out of date low(or high) price, just be on the list with "OUT" where the price normaly is
lifeofchaosd Champion Author Tucson Posts:1,142 Points:30,150 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Apr 18, 2011 6:10:15 PM Ignore lifeofchaosd Report Abuse Agreed, especially when you look at a price and think oh thats low, but it needs to be obvious wouldn't want to miss that option.
claurenm Rookie Author Austin Posts:12 Points:171,920 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: Apr 18, 2011 9:43:33 AM Ignore claurenm Report Abuse "out" should be an entry option.
mopar1 Veteran Author Florida Posts:453 Points:2,315,070 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 16, 2011 6:46:16 PM Ignore mopar1 Report Abuse "OUT" would work for me!
TDI_LOVER Champion Author Spokane Posts:1,774 Points:770,920 Joined:Sep 2008	Message Posted: Apr 13, 2011 11:56:42 AM Ignore TDI_LOVER Report Abuse Zero'ing wouldn't be reliable because then one would just assume the price hasn't been updated recently. I think the best way would be to allow "OUT" as a price entry.