Live to ride....ride to live.....ride free with free gas....

[PeteSC]

Gasoline thefts on the increase
By Eric Bolin, Associated Press Writer

For some South Dakota gas station owners, higher prices mean more customers are driving off without paying for fuel.

Nationally, convenience stores reported $262.6 billion in fuel sales last year, but gas thieves got away with $237 million, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores Web site. That means one of nearly every 1,100 fill-ups was a theft.

In Rapid City, Dustin Nelson, a cashier at Common Cents, 2660 Mount Rushmore Road, said he hasn't noticed more gas skips since gas prices increased.

"I wouldn't say I've noticed more; it's kind of the same thing. It's very common, every day. At the very least, it happens once a day," Nelson said. "I don't think the price of gas has anything to do with it — but the way it's going up, you don't know."

But Daniel Briggs, cashier at the Flying J Travel Plaza on Interstate 90, says he definitely sees a correlation between high gas prices and people driving off without paying. He said he also sees an increase in skips before and during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

"More than likely, people don't want to pay that much for fuel. They'll get as much as they can, when they can, and just drive off," he said. "I've had people drive up to a pump behind motor homes and RVs, fill up and drive off because it's hard to watch the pumps when those motor homes are there."

Briggs estimated it happens anywhere from two to 10 times a day right now as the rally approaches and things get busier.

Ted Johnson, who manages a Gas Stop station in Sioux Falls, believes the most troublesome time came with the large jump in prices earlier this year.

Many customers believe the people who operate the stations are the only ones who dictate the prices, Johnson said. But that is not the case, he said.

"People think it's our fault. I just raise the price when the phone rings," Johnson said.

Retailers feel the sting of high fuel prices in other ways, too.

When gas prices are high, consumers have less money to spend on other items at the store, retailers said. Although customers may still spend $20 at the station, that money will now go toward gasoline, where profit margins are lower.

The most common kind of gas thieves Johnson deals with are people who pay outside. Sometimes, their credit cards won't work, and people will steal the gasoline by mistake, he said.

"Some people use their credit card at the pump, and they drive off because their card might abort. They think they pay for it, but they don't," Johnson said.

Like most stations, Johnson's busiest times are during morning and afternoon rush hours and lunch. But he said he doesn't have as much of a problem with theft as bigger stations.

"We have pretty regular accounts. It's mostly construction companies, people who don't have to pay for themselves."

Ginny Duggan, manager at Munchie's in Sioux Falls, said she occasionally gets people who deliberately steal fuel. But most of her thefts, she said, come from people who simply forget to pay.

Some customers forget they even pumped gas, she said. Occasionally, customers who come into the store to get snacks or go to the restroom forget to pay for the gas by the time they reach the door.

Duggan said she has been "blessed" when it comes to theft. About half the people who forget to pay come back a few minutes later or on the next trip and pay for it.

Duggan said she confronts customers if she catches them stealing fuel. If the thieves drive away before she can reach them, she can confront the person at their home and ask them to pay the money.

That is part of a new law, enacted in July, that lets station owners request vehicle ownership information from the police. Retailers then can track down the people who own the car and send them a bill.

Store owners can take the car owner to court for the cost of the gas and a service fee of as much as $30 if payment isn't made within 33 days.

Rapid City Journal reporter Scott Aust contributed to this story.

He said he also sees an increase in skips before and during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

   Duh!  Use the trail of oil drips to track the crooks!

[Red01]

He said he also sees an increase in skips before and during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Duh! Use the trail of oil drips to track the crooks!

But with all those bikes heading to the same place, you do you pick out the right trail to follow? Won't they all just blend together?  

[scooter trash]

GO ahead and make fun of the Harley guys again. But there happen to be a lot of other brands out there these days.
 

[Landry]

What's all this about paying for gas?  

[PeteSC]

Straying somewhat off topic....
  I listen to the G. Gordon Liddy radio program sometimes.
   He left saturday for Sturgis on some sort of Harley.  (From the DC area....)
  Today he checked in from somewhere in Indiana..........

   He may make it to Sturgis, someday....

  I'm also guessing most of the stolen gas is going into pickups hauling bikes to sturgis, not directly into the bikes.

[lmao_37]

i cant belive how much yall complain about the price of petrol we pay nearly £5 per gallon 80pish per litre

dougie

[stormi]

i cant belive how much yall complain about the price of petrol we pay nearly £5 per gallon 80pish per litre

dougie

Got ya beat,.. we just hit a buck a litre today....    

Looks like the rest of the summer is gonna be spent in the back yard... I better learn to drink/like beer.

[lmao_37]

yeah but you get half a million candian dollars to one pound lol

well the petrol prices are gona rise again soon i think which really sucks cos its 75% tax which sucks cos then they put vat on it as well which is more tax which really sucks lol

dougie

[Desolation Angel]

i cant belive how much yall complain about the price of petrol we pay nearly £5 per gallon 80pish per litre

dougie

It's a financial shock; we do a lot of driving.  Besides, we don't have the excellent public transportation like you and the other European countries do.  My family is from Austria and higher gas prices aren't as big of a deal, because I can walk from my house there down to the train station and go literally anywhere in the country.  Public transportation really simplifies the issue.

Now, why we don't have an equally efficient public transportation system here, of all places, well, that's another story entirely.

I've scoped out what public transport there is, and it is relatively cheap, but it nearly doubles the time it would take for me to get to work and home.  That would be 4 hours total travel time and I just can't do that, so it's the car and lots of gas instead.

[Landry]

Gas hurts us for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, we're set up as a "cheap gas" society.  I live about 25-30 miles from my workplace.  That's about 3 gallons, or $6 (@ $2 per gallon), of gas a day.  $30/week, $1500 per year.  Just to drive to work.

If I lived in another country, odds are I wouldn't have been so careless when I chose where to live, and I'd have less of a drive.

But I don't, so I didn't.  Now it's starting to hurt.

As far as pubic transportation* goes, it's unthinkable in a country of this size to be able to walk out your door and board a train that goes everywhere!  

That said, if we were set up in a fashion to where we HAD to be close to our work, our cities wouldn't be gigantic ghettos.  The honest, hard-working folks would still be living in the population centers, rather than on their outskirts, and our only option would be to stand our ground and fight, instead of bailing to a micer neighborhood and leaving the brko-folk behind to fend for themselves.  

. . . but that another thread entirely!  


*how many noticed I intentionally dropped the "l" in public?  

[Desolation Angel]

...*how many noticed I intentionally dropped the "l" in public?  

No one.  It's a brain quirk.

[PeteSC]

Public Transportation in the US for most part, is a joke.
  With few exceptions,  we've given up.
  You're not gonna get us out of our cars.
   Strangely enough, I actually used to ride a city bus, 25 years ago, ina different city.  It was cheap, it went where I needed to go, and somewhat time efficient.   Yes, I did have a car then.....


  HAve you ever noticed most of the Malls or built up shopping areas in the US?  (new ones.)   If you wanted to WALK from the mall, to a store on the perimeter, there usually is no provision for pedestrians, particularily if you have to cross a public street, and the  cagers will actually try to run you over.

[Snubnose]

i cant belive how much yall complain about the price of petrol we pay nearly £5 per gallon 80pish per litre

dougie

so its 80 pence p/ litre there in my homeland of U.K, ok, but for comparison purposes, let say, ...an assistant manager @ Macdonalds makes 22000 pounds per/annum over there in Jolly ol' england. I know this cos when I was there visiting relatives, IN 1999 NO DOUBT the job was posted in a food court in Reading. We pay $1.03 p/litre here and the same job at Mckidees earns about $22000 dollars (if hes lucky IN 2005). So, I'd say that about more than evens the score, were actually less better off due to longer distances to travel, plus 80p  multiplied by , say 2.2(approx conversion) equals $1.76 CDN , thats less than double what we we pay, but we earn on average 1/2 as much as you.. so for a supposed OIL rich province like we are in (Alberta) you certainly wouldnt think it.

The only plus side is I paid Just under $8600 CDN for my Brand New Bandit in 2003, I cant remember what your prices are, but probably more, but thenagain, I almost forgot, YOU earn more!  

[stormi]

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are earning in Canadian dollars, or English pounds, etc, that the cost of living in that place is what affects you.    

Therefore,.. the way I see it ,.. a buck is a buck,.. is a,.. er,.. pound.

Where the conversion factor comes in to play is in getting something from another country, or earning in one currency and living elsewhere.

[Snubnose]

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are earning in Canadian dollars, or English pounds, etc, that the cost of living in that place is what affects you.  

Sort of, wish it were that simple. If  Person "A" makes $20,000/yr and pays a buck a litre, and Person "B" makes $20,000 POUNDS = $45,000 and pays the equivalent of $1.75/litre, who do you think can afford more gas? or spend more on "biking?"... what you earn here in Canada in dollars, you'll earn there in Pounds Sterling , so $20,000 here, you'll get 20,000 pounds there for the same job approximately.

If youve ever spent any time in the U.K like I have, you'll know its certainly expensive, and your DOLLAR doesnt go very far at all. Crikey!, a Big Mac Combo is 5 pounds and change there!. Therefore you can expect an somewhat "indexed linked" paycheque.

No, Unless the Price there was Indeed at LEAST double what we were paying ( if not 2 and a half times! ) as the exchange rate is about 2.3, AND the distances to travel over there get SIGNIFIGANTLY longer, (as in 3 to 5 times the distance), we over here still shell out more than over there!. Wouldnt be so bad , but this is ALBERTA!.. Thanks Ralph!

One thing thats interesting though, it never used to be this way, why we came to Canada in the first place, for a better standard of living.