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Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

reuters.com

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Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#191

Post by lotsofpulp »

sgt101 wrote: post #174
tialaramex wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It's a waste of money. Britain is a small country, you're not going to run out of fuel (ordinarily) on a trip and so it makes sense to keep the money in your pocket instead of turning it into fuel that's sat there doing nothing useful. Also, it's very common to buy round amounts of value e.g. £30 of petrol, periodically, rather than just fill it up for however much that costs, for some people this makes it easier…

Also if you fill it up you have to tow it around with you; an extra 40kgs of weight in the car which costs a bit. The fill it up to the brim meme seems to come from emergency preparedness folks like the police and the army where no vehicle goes to the parking space overnight without being 100% as ready as it can be for tomorrow.

This blew my mind as an American kid visiting England a couple decades ago. I was only ever aware of putting in a credit card and filling up a gas tank all the way, and my uncle took out a 5 or 10 quid note to go pay before filing petrol and he said why should I pay to haul around extra fuel if I pass by the petrol station everyday and I only use half a tank every 2 weeks.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#192

Post by newaccount2021 »

bayesian_horse wrote: post #156
nicoburns wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's UK remainers pointing out the difficulties. Which is somewhat understandable considering: - Their political opponents have spent months dismissing their concerns as scaremongering. - Many would still like us to rejoin the EU at some point. So it makes sense to point out the advantages of doing so.

The UK will rejoin at some point, especially because the younger generation will demand it, but it will have to take a decade, more likely two, unless Brexit proves to be an uncontroversial disaster and GB falls behind extremely. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. There is just too much national pride around this move, and the British political system is so thoroughly messed up that it will take one or two leadership g…

in two decades, there will not be any "EU" to rejoin

the next downturn will see more EUxits

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#193

Post by timellis-smith »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #165
timellis-smith wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"After the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 the pillar structure ceased to exist. The European Community, together with its legal personality, was absorbed into the newly consolidated European Union which merged in the other two pillars (however Euratom remained distinct). This was originally proposed under the European Constitution but that treaty failed ratification in 2005." https://en.wikipedia.or…

> So no, the UK joined the EU in 2009. The "European Union" as an entity came into existence at the time of the Maastricht Treaty (aka Treaty on European Union), and the UK was a signatory to that treaty. That was in 1992. Could you explain why you think 2009 is the relevant date?

My apologies, I misread the quote and retract the earlier statement.

While we did have a referendum to join the EEC, I maintain that the EEC served a very different purpose (being a trade based agreement) to the EU.

The Treaty of Maastricht was passed by parliament, though was never put to the public vote.

The subsequent treaty of Lisbon and consolidation of the EU had no public vote either.

Brexit was a public vote.

It would be interesting to see what would have happened if the other two had been put to the vote

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#194

Post by nicktelford »

WJW wrote: post #183
plutonorm wrote: post #180

Seems strange that this has nothing at all to do with the rapidly rising prices of petrol in the UK. Russia has been reducing the flow of petrol into Europe due to conflict over a new pipeline. The UK has a had a terrible windy season, meaning more demand for fossil fuels. And economic recovery after the pandemic, all these things have pushed prices really high. This shortage of drivers thing is likely a convenient s…

How would a windy season lead to more demand for fossil fuels? You'd think all the wind turbines going full swing would mean less electricity has to be generated with non-renewable means, thereby reducing demand for fossil fuels.

By "terrible windy season", he means that a season that is usually expected to be very windy has instead been quite still.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#195

Post by timellis-smith »

bayesian_horse wrote: post #128
timellis-smith wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't comment on the child of the post for some reason. Here is another source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/24/dont-blame-b... Somehow it seems on these forums that any left leaning publication is immediately trusted but any right leaning one immediately distrusted.

It's just that the shelves in the UK are empty, and in the other countries they aren't. Both in the UK and in the rest of the EU there already was a shortage of professional drivers. And the companies in the UK do seem to blame the VISA situation as a major contributing factor.

Indeed so, but that may still be due to more complicated factors. At no point have I said it isn't a factor, just that it's one of many.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#196

Post by regularfry »

WJW wrote: post #183
plutonorm wrote: post #180

Seems strange that this has nothing at all to do with the rapidly rising prices of petrol in the UK. Russia has been reducing the flow of petrol into Europe due to conflict over a new pipeline. The UK has a had a terrible windy season, meaning more demand for fossil fuels. And economic recovery after the pandemic, all these things have pushed prices really high. This shortage of drivers thing is likely a convenient s…

How would a windy season lead to more demand for fossil fuels? You'd think all the wind turbines going full swing would mean less electricity has to be generated with non-renewable means, thereby reducing demand for fossil fuels.

A terrible windy season is one in which there is less wind. This would be different to a terribly windy season, in which there is too much.

We've just had a low-wind summer, increasing the demand for gas.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#197

Post by photochemsyn »

qzw wrote: post #5

> "The free movement of labour is part of the European Union, and we tried very hard to convince the British not to leave the Union," said Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor. "They decided differently. I hope they will manage the problems coming from that," Scholz said. Man, I can smell the schadenfreude from all the way over here.

The issue with free movement of labor is that it only works out well across a region with standardized pay rates. Otherwise corporations will import labor from the low-cost zones and fire their high-cost local workers. This causes a lot of anger, see Brexit.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#198

Post by jhugo »

oxfordmale wrote: post #115
josephcsible wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unlike the toilet paper panic buying there is limited capacity people can buy, so I would expect this to naturally end short term when people don’t have capacity to buy any more. Didn't the Colonial Pipeline attack have people filling up plastic bags with gas?

There is pictures in the Daily Mail of people emptying water bottles and filling them with petrol.

This is very common throughout Southeast Asia as short-to-medium-term fuel storage, I imagine elsewhere too.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#199

Post by csomar »

chrononaut wrote: post #133
TomGullen wrote: post #17

Unlike the toilet paper panic buying there is limited capacity people can buy, so I would expect this to naturally end short term when people don’t have capacity to buy any more. What concerns me is government planning to address this looks a lot more forward looking than a few days/a week, so I can see it getting worse. Interesting how the government say it’s not a shortage, if the refineries were running low you wo…

> ..as I think most people are just filling up to the top instead of half way.. Perhaps I am missing something here, but are you referring to vehicles in this context? Is it not common to always fill your tank to the top?

Most people fill in small increments usually relating to their pay point. This is especially so for the UK where weekly pay is popular. I suspect this is a worldwide thing.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#200

Post by csomar »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #191
sgt101 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also if you fill it up you have to tow it around with you; an extra 40kgs of weight in the car which costs a bit. The fill it up to the brim meme seems to come from emergency preparedness folks like the police and the army where no vehicle goes to the parking space overnight without being 100% as ready as it can be for tomorrow.

This blew my mind as an American kid visiting England a couple decades ago. I was only ever aware of putting in a credit card and filling up a gas tank all the way, and my uncle took out a 5 or 10 quid note to go pay before filing petrol and he said why should I pay to haul around extra fuel if I pass by the petrol station everyday and I only use half a tank every 2 weeks.

Somebody should do the math of pulling out to the gas station vs. driving with a full tank.
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