It's funny how (fuel shortages)

Eddie · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:29

What's the price of fuel like during all this, are we seeing an increase?

robj20 · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:35

jonneymendoza said:
Or, trying to get rid of fuel that is about to expire as during the pandemic, less people were driving. So there is a lot of petrol that is about to be thrown away

Pretty sure with stabilisers in fuel the shelf life is about 2 years. So try again.

V F · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:43

Ceryndrion said:
I wonder what is next, the price of broadband goes up due to a shortage of packets?

200sols said:
Oh dear..

adolf hamster said:
followed by a shortage of hard drives as everyone stocks up so they can panic-download all their games......

I laughed. Seriously though, the state of things these days it could be believable.

dlockers · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:45

ChroniC said:
So call me a crackpot if you will but this theory that I have sounds like it could be on point..

Bare with me. So your a haulage company who had lost a lot drivers from abroad that went home or can't get visas, so you can't pay minimum/lower wages to your drivers you see this as Brexit effecting your profits, not that your actually paying a living wage for a driver.. You still have plenty of drivers from the UK that are driving and learning. You obviously don't have as many as before so you can't send out as many as you'd like to make more money to cover your increase in wages.

Your currently making a profit more inline with what you should be paying anyway but your not happy about this and want to solve it, what do you do?

Create a panic over a non existent shortage of petrol at pumps, which in turn makes people buy more and thus put up demand, which in turn puts up the need for petrol trucks beyond what is the common average, and thus the need for drivers.

Now blame the government and propose that you need overseas drivers because we lack the staff, but actually it's because you want a cheaper workforce to increase your profit margins.

Crackpot.

inogen · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:46

ChroniC said:
So call me a crackpot if you will but this theory that I have sounds like it could be on point..

Bare with me. So your a haulage company who had lost a lot drivers from abroad that went home or can't get visas, so you can't pay minimum/lower wages to your drivers you see this as Brexit effecting your profits, not that your actually paying a living wage for a driver.. You still have plenty of drivers from the UK that are driving and learning. You obviously don't have as many as before so you can't send out as many as you'd like to make more money to cover your increase in wages.

Your currently making a profit more inline with what you should be paying anyway but your not happy about this and want to solve it, what do you do?

Create a panic over a non existent shortage of petrol at pumps, which in turn makes people buy more and thus put up demand, which in turn puts up the need for petrol trucks beyond what is the common average, and thus the need for drivers.

Now blame the government and propose that you need overseas drivers because we lack the staff, but actually it's because you want a cheaper workforce to increase your profit margins.

Before Brexit, only about a quarter of UK based lorry drivers were EU citizens. There's no stats on how many have left or how many have stayed, but even say, losing 20% of lorry drivers shouldn't be causing the problems were having. Other countries are also down on drivers but are getting along just fine.

Yes, haulage firms are having to raise wages in order to attract dormant workers back into the industry, but these costs will be mostly passed onto their customers and ultimately consumers.

One of the major problems that we've now got is that European drivers and haulage companies do not want to deliver to the UK from the EU. Not only are their customs issues, but hauliers can no longer offset costs by cabotage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabotage, so stuff that was was getting transported around the UK by otherwise empty EU lorries is no longer being transported because there are less EU trucks on the road and once they've delivered, they're driving around empty, and it's falling on UK hauliers to get this stuff moved. That's one of the things ****ing things up. That's what can never be really replaced as it is such a useful and elastic resource.

Tefal · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:46

adolf hamster said:
followed by a shortage of hard drives as everyone stocks up so they can panic-download all their games......

We've already got that after some twonk I vented a crypto that runs of storage instead of processing power

Minusorange · 27 Sep 2021 at 19:52

Tefal said:
We've already got that after some twonk I vented a crypto that runs of storage instead of processing power

I was wondering why a twonk made you vented a crypto and wondering what it all meant but then realised you meant invented

Tefal · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:06

Minusorange said:
I was wondering why a twonk made you vented a crypto and wondering what it all meant but then realised you meant invented

My phone screen is starting to miss presses quite a bit :/

Chris Wilson · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:21

ChroniC said:
So call me a crackpot if you will but this theory that I have sounds like it could be on point..

Bare with me. So your a haulage company who had lost a lot drivers from abroad that went home or can't get visas, so you can't pay minimum/lower wages to your drivers you see this as Brexit effecting your profits, not that your actually paying a living wage for a driver.. You still have plenty of drivers from the UK that are driving and learning. You obviously don't have as many as before so you can't send out as many as you'd like to make more money to cover your increase in wages.

Your currently making a profit more inline with what you should be paying anyway but your not happy about this and want to solve it, what do you do?

Create a panic over a non existent shortage of petrol at pumps, which in turn makes people buy more and thus put up demand, which in turn puts up the need for petrol trucks beyond what is the common average, and thus the need for drivers.

Now blame the government and propose that you need overseas drivers because we lack the staff, but actually it's because you want a cheaper workforce to increase your profit margins.

Probably accurate and thanks for putting your head above the parapet, as with the Chinese Virus, many things are being politicised for short term gain.

Johno please? · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:29

inogen said:
"Some" is enough though. Especially at the moment. People are very aware and have first hand experience, or have at least read of real shortages caused by Brexited HGV drivers. Any essential that has a whiff of being shorted is going to get panic bought. That's what people do. It's not because they've gone "full retard" it's because they've lost trust in the market to deliver stuff and have stuff available when they want and need it.

I rest my case.

lookitsjonno · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:41

I wonder how many queueing genuinely have empty tanks

My local filling station was an embarrassment tonight, queues from all angles, blocking main roads, pushing in, horns etc etc.

ElliorR · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:53

Johno please? said:
I rest my case.

That’s good. PET does not like petrol. Many years ago I worked for Coke and one of the customer complaints I received was a pack of 4 2ltr bottles smelling like petrol when opened. They were sold at a petrol station, left outside stacked up, and a spill had gone over the bottom layer and the PET bottles had absorbed the fuel in. Can’t imagine any PET bottles used for that will last long, she’d better use it fast.

GR63 · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:56

lookitsjonno said:
I wonder how many queueing genuinely have empty tanks

My local filling station was an embarrassment tonight, queues from all angles, blocking main roads, pushing in, horns etc etc.

90% is "top up twits"

builder22 · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:57

Johno please? said:
I rest my case.

the media needs to be reporting on all the petrol stations that aren't having any problems, plenty mentions on here of no queues etc....forecourt was empty when i went to fill up at 6pm tonight...folk are mental, as said above those bottles will probably 'melt'

GR63 · 27 Sep 2021 at 20:58

I hope its sorted soon. I have a hire car I need to return in fueled-up state at the end of the week

ElliorR · 27 Sep 2021 at 21:00

GR63 said:
90% is "top up twits"

I’m hoping things settle down this week. I have enough fuel to last me till the weekend so in an ideal world, ha, I’ll be able to pop out Sunday morning, as usual, to fill up.

Chuk_Chuk · 27 Sep 2021 at 21:03

ElliorR said:
That’s good. PET does not like petrol. Many years ago I worked for Coke and one of the customer complaints I received was a pack of 4 2ltr bottles smelling like petrol when opened. They were sold at a petrol station, left outside stacked up, and a spill had gone over the bottom layer and the PET bottles had absorbed the fuel in. Can’t imagine any PET bottles used for that will last long, she’d better use it fast.

Based on something i had heard once, it will probably last a couple of days before falling apart.
Get ready to hear news of house fires due to petrol spilling everywhere by the weekend.

Johno please? · 27 Sep 2021 at 21:07

Chuk_Chuk said:
Get ready to hear news of house fires due to petrol spilling everywhere by the weekend.

One can hope.

Dyson · 27 Sep 2021 at 21:10

builder22 said:
the media needs to be reporting on all the petrol stations that aren't having any problems, plenty mentions on here of no queues etc....forecourt was empty when i went to fill up at 6pm tonight...folk are mental, as said above those bottles will probably 'melt'

I always fill up on my way to work on a Monday. Was nervous about how bad it would be, but was pleasantly surprised to just pull straight up to a pump! No diesel, not a problem

mikeo · 27 Sep 2021 at 21:12

Chuk_Chuk said:
Based on something i had heard once, it will probably last a couple of days before falling apart.
Get ready to hear news of house fires due to petrol spilling everywhere by the weekend.

I rather hope that she doesn't smoke!

Also illegal to store petrol in anything other than a certified container!

PS. https://www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/portabable-petrol-storage-containers.pdf