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AP
Warehouse stores and grocers like Costco lag behind Big Oil, but they are gaining with consumers.
In these lean times, nothing says thrifty better than idling your SUV in a 15-minute line to save a few cents on gas. For proof, we now have a survey that shows Costco is consumers’ favorite place to fill up.
That is true even though relatively few motorists actually have access to Costco gas.
Shell was the top place motorists actually reported filling up at, and the national oil chains still dominate the market. But warehouse chains and grocers like Kroger and Sam’s Club are closing the gap.
Oh, and service station bathrooms that are out of paper towels is a big problem.
Among the 4,500 drivers surveyed, 56 percent said they visit gas stations aligned with national brands such as Shell and Exxon. Thirty-two percent said they frequent grocers and warehouse chains.
Consumer research firm Market Force established the Costco result by taking responses to “what’s your favorite brand” and comparing that with the number of locations each brand had nationwide. So Costco, which doesn’t even sell gas at all its warehouses (368 of its 515 American and Canadian warehouses have pumps), indexed out ahead of Shell (which has more than 15,000 stations), which dropped to fifth.
The top 10 from that index:
1. Costco
2. Kroger
3. Sam’s Club
4. Hess
5. Shell
6. Wal-Mart
7. Sunoco
8. Valero
9. 7-Eleven
10. Exxon Mobil
The major oil retailers all did a lousy job at keeping the restrooms clean, with the exception of BP, according to the survey. That company and Exxon, Shell and 7-Eleven did get good marks for keeping the restrooms stocked -- Chevron was worst on the list. The biggest issue with out-of-stock restrooms was no way to dry hands (54 percent), followed by no toilet paper (29 percent) and no soap (17 percent).
Market Force randomly selected 20,000 members of its 300,000 member “Force,” who participate in surveys, to take part. The results are from the 4,500 in the U.S. and Canada who responded. In that group, 76 percent were women. More than two-thirds were married, 75 percent worked full- or part-time, half had children at home and seven in 10 lived in a household where the annual income was $50,000 or more a year. Read more survey results from Market Force here.
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Ohhhhhhhhhh!!! The big buzz last week was how we were so fortunate that gas prices were down. Well one should know better these arseholes raised the price 20 cents in one day in our area for no reason whatsoever except maybe one of the oil exec's wives needed a new fur coat or diamond ring. What a bunch of frickin' crooks and government is right beside them in bed. All of them crooks and thieves.
What do you mean, "idle for 15 minutes"?
If the line is long, we turn off our engine (or in our Prius, it shuts down by itself). Does the writer not have that capability?
No one's going to go far out of their way for gas -- but if Costco is along our route, that's where we stop. Unlike other brands, we've never had problems with the gas.
The longest line we've ever seen, was four cars (in Carson City, Nevada). It took less than 5 minutes to get to a pump.
The author was saying theytypical customer that waites in lines an idiot & some might leave their cars running to save a few pennies when they can go right down the street for a few cents more. Not to mention most of the time youre buying off brand gas with almost NO detergent in it at all. So when the costco, sams, & BJs customers fuel injectors plug up & foul their converters dont ask why!
A local grocery chain (not Kroger) has installed its own gas station and gives 10 cents off per gallon of gas for every $50 worth of grocery purchases. I usually fill my tank with 40 cents off per gallon. Kroger is next, I think they have 10 cents off per gallon of gas with every $100 in groceries purchased. Costco is too far out of the way, and we don't need to buy in bulk with kids in college. Last time I tried to renew my Costco membership, they were going to make me pay a full year's membership for only a few months use. Apparently, once you sign up, your membership sign-up month never changes. No thanks to that.
If you wait more than a few months to renew, then the renewal date does change. Or you can just pretend you don't have an existing membership and start a new one. By the way, Sams and BJs are the same on this and so is AAA Auto Club. In our area, most Krogers do not have gas and Costco is about 20 cents less than everybody else, so most of our fuel is from Costco.
I buy almost always at Costco because it is a bit cheaper and I shut it off in line.
The wife weaned off BJs fuel because even their "premium" fuel wasnt adequate for our vehicle that REQUIRES premium & the one where premium is "RECOMENDED" ran alot better too with Shell & Hess gas. So for us we rather pay regular price since I have to do ALL the repairs on the vehicles. Peace of mind.
Interesting. BP can't even keep their bathrooms clean. WTF do we expect from a company that raped the Gulf Coast?
So glad I only have to fill my 2007 Prius once every 5 weeks.
>50mpg and loving it!
If you pay closer attention to what you're reading you'd notice that BP was the exception. They have the cleanest bathrooms according to the article.
and costco does not even have bathroom in its gas station.... still beat them all hands down.... if that is not a hallmark of customer satisfaction i dont know what is.
I usually get gas between the nearby Kroger fuel, the cheap BP station on the way to work, or the Speedway also located near my residence. I usually buy gift cards and such from Kroger to make use of the 4x fuel points.
I was an original Member of Price Club, so consequently became a Costco Member when they bought out Price. I can't say I'm a happy Member I usually shop at the Folsom,Ca store. Folsom is a somewhat affluent community, so I'm guessing that's why Costco's gas prices are always more then other Costco stores ten miles away.Another major complaint I have is Costco's discontinuance of items. I spend hundreds of dollars having menus printed and two weeks later Costco no longer carries the item. Too bad for Costco, I go down the street and buy It at Sam's.