The lengths some people would go to, in order to find the last bit of cheap petrol.
Human nature is fascinating. The things people do and the reasons behind those actions are incredibly interesting to me. Perhaps even more so with regards to the why behind the action. Observing strange behaviours is fun, but not nearly as much fun as understanding why a person might be doing it in the first place.
In my never-ending quest for better understanding, I have identified certain behaviours that I still cannot explain. Such as, people who would buy a Toyota Prius. By choice! What about people who would deliberately modify their cars, to make them worse? Yes, Stance Nation, I’m looking at you. Or why on earth anyone would listen to hip-hop music… if you can even call it music.
Now granted, my studies do not allow much room for personal tastes. I fully accept that there will always be different strokes for different folks. However, there are certain human behaviours that have only objective variables. Behaviours that could not possibly be explained by tastes, yet I can’t find any other logical explanation for them.
People will jump in their cars and make a special trip
Chief amongst these unexplainables, is the phenomenon that seems to grip our country almost every month. Specifically on the first Tuesday of every month. People will jump in their cars and make a special trip to the petrol station to fill up their cars with cheap petrol. Every month when the petrol price goes up, you can be assured of one thing. There will be a mini-traffic jam at every forecourt in the country.
Whilst I am all for the idea of saving a buck or two, I must admit, this one, makes very little sense to me. At the end of the day, the ‘cheap’ petrol you are buying now, is the same price as it was all month. So why didn’t you just fill up on Monday and avoid the jams? You might argue that by Monday afternoon you will have already used some petrol, leaving space for more ‘cheap’ petrol. To which I have to ask – is your time really worth that little to you?
How little? Well, let’s punch some numbers in here. Let us take an extreme worst-case scenario, and measure that up to something a little more realistic. Then at least we can see if the jams are worth it. Let us assume a reasonably large jump in the petrol price of a full Rand per litre. For the purposes of our worst case, we will also assume that you drive a tank. Something with a 120L fuel tank, and you happen to pull into the petrol station, just as it completely runs out. Pushing it the last few meters, you wait your turn at the pumps. Given the rush hour traffic, it maybe takes you an hour to fill up.
not everyone loves their family equally
At BEST then, it will pay you R120 per hour of abject misery to sit in the queue and fill up your car. For me, personally, I would rather pay that R120 for an extra hour with my family in the evening. But then I guess not everyone loves their family equally. Or perhaps your family is less than amorous towards you?
Realistically however, you don’t drive a tank. You will not be able to time your fuel consumption to be absolutely zero by the time you arrive at the pumps. The petrol price is going up by 51 cents, not one Rand. So Tuesday evening you take your average 4-door saloon to the pumps. It has an average tank size of around 60 litres. We’ll assume that you’ve stretched it a little and you maybe have 15 litres left in the tank. Bearing in mind, that in most cars this would still register as pretty much empty on the gauge.
you will save R(x) by filling up with the ‘cheap’ Petrol
In this more realistic scenario, you will save R22.95 by filling up with the ‘cheap’ Petrol. Regardless of how long you sit in the queue, if there is one person ahead of me at the pump, that’s one too many for that saving.
This is usually the point in my argument where people crucify me for being elitist, or insensitive. Not everyone can afford to walk away from saving 20 bucks. You are lucky that you don’t HAVE to do everything you can to save that 22.95. And yes, I agree, I am extremely fortunate. Thing is, I also know enough about cars to take one look at the forecourt and realise, these are not people struggling to make ends meet. BMW’s, Mercs, Audi’s and all shapes and sizes of SUV and bakkie will be among the bargain hunters. People who are genuinely struggling, NEVER fill their tanks. They would fill up in small amounts on a more regular basis. R50 here, maybe R100 there. On such small amounts, they know that a 51 cent saving is hardly going to make a difference.
But I suppose, a saving is a saving. Whenever I save an amount of money, or come into some unexpected funds, I like to spoil myself. I encourage anyone I meet to do the same. Celebrate the savings and good fortune. When my 1982 Ford Granada was rented to be used on a film set, I spoiled myself and the wife to a lovely lunch and a day of shopping, for example. So, if you were sitting in the queue for an hour on Tuesday evening and find yourself a little more flush than usual. Please have all the celebration you can for your R22.95 and let me know how it was in the comments.