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UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

gov.uk

71–80 of 153 posts

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#71
post #12

When see things like this, I always think of the Chinese proverb "An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, but it is hard to buy one inch of time with one inch of gold" Which always says to me that its not worth it just use the quickest option Take the example drcongo posted: "Yesterday I had to drive to a nearby town, just 20 minutes away, and noticed that every single petrol station there was a good 5p per litre c…

The typical use case is probably much more like deciding which station within half a mile of home is cheapest, and that could easily be a variance of 5p or more.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#72
post #12

When see things like this, I always think of the Chinese proverb "An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, but it is hard to buy one inch of time with one inch of gold" Which always says to me that its not worth it just use the quickest option Take the example drcongo posted: "Yesterday I had to drive to a nearby town, just 20 minutes away, and noticed that every single petrol station there was a good 5p per litre c…

It can be more complex than that, sure for one person your comment makes sense

but if enough people use their time to go to the cheaper station further away, then they may force the closer garage to to reduce their price

either that or the close garage goes out of business and the one further away puts up the price because they can.

but still, it can be more complex

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#73

There is an app called 'PetrolPrices' which seems to have a pretty complete price database. It's much better than this government API so far.

I’ve used that app for some time but unfortunately it relies on user reporting, and the prices can be days or weeks out of date.

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#74
post #12

When see things like this, I always think of the Chinese proverb "An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, but it is hard to buy one inch of time with one inch of gold" Which always says to me that its not worth it just use the quickest option Take the example drcongo posted: "Yesterday I had to drive to a nearby town, just 20 minutes away, and noticed that every single petrol station there was a good 5p per litre c…

It can be more complex than that, sure for one person your comment makes sense but if enough people use their time to go to the cheaper station further away, then they may force the closer garage to to reduce their price either that or the close garage goes out of business and the one further away puts up the price because they can. but still, it can be more complex

This is like saying that selling enough volume might make up for losing money on every unit. It's only complex until you do the math

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#76
Why is the government doing this, this seems like a ridiculous waste.

Here in Germany private corporations provide APIs for this. Google maps straight up tells you the price at nearby stations.

Maybe the UK government should focus on things such as their crumbling infrastructure, their almost non existent GDP growth or getting rid of their knife murderer and rapist population?

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#77

Last year there was a study done in Germany. The gas station prices change an average of 14 times a day. This really shocked me. I wonder if this is normal practice most other places.

It's 22 times a day, according to the Federal Cartel Office.

https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/DE/Aufgaben/Markttransparenz...

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#78

Why is the government doing this, this seems like a ridiculous waste. Here in Germany private corporations provide APIs for this. Google maps straight up tells you the price at nearby stations. Maybe the UK government should focus on things such as their crumbling infrastructure, their almost non existent GDP growth or getting rid of their knife murderer and rapist population?

The source for the "private APIs" is the government run MTS-K.

https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/EN/Tasks/markettransparencyu...

Re: UK government launches fuel forecourt price API

#80

Why is the government doing this, this seems like a ridiculous waste. Here in Germany private corporations provide APIs for this. Google maps straight up tells you the price at nearby stations. Maybe the UK government should focus on things such as their crumbling infrastructure, their almost non existent GDP growth or getting rid of their knife murderer and rapist population?

Remarkable how you can spit out such an ignorant comment and then be wrong about it
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