Dark clouds gathering for petrol attendants in South Africa – BusinessTech

[Gabri Rigotti]

https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/784095/dark-clouds-gathering-for-petrol-attendants-in-south-africa/ 

... Classical interference in the market by the threat of state violence, in this case the EU.

SA has half a million jobs at risk ...

[Mike Hull]

We shouldn’t be forced to pay someone to fill our vehicles in the first place, when most of the world is self help.

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[Petrus Potgieter]

Mike is right. The very existence of petrol attendants is due to interference in the market through the minimum [sic] price mechanism in place in South Africa. Given a choice, most would choose to pay less and fill up themselves. That choice does not exist because filling stations are effectively prevented from competing on price.

[Erik Peers]

Raymond Ackerman tried self service petrol back in the eighties. He encountered much opposition.

One way to get past the price limitation is for different suppliers to offer better incentives on their loyalty cards. They could do this for self service.

On Fri, 26 Jul 2024, 10:13 Petrus Potgieter, <pet...@potgieter.org> wrote:

Mike is right. The very existence of petrol attendants is due to interference in the market through the minimum [sic] price mechanism in place in South Africa. Given a choice, most would choose to pay less and fill up themselves. That choice does not exist because filling stations are effectively prevented from competing on price.

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[Andrew Kenny]

In my case I’d choose to pay more if I could fill up myself. It’s quicker and easier. It’s such a luxury in England where you just fill up yourself and then punch in your credit card, instead of having to wait for ages for some attendant to deign to serve you.

 

Best wishes,

 

Andrew Kenny

 

0027-63-785-6843

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[Trevor Watkins]

Is this a case of heartless capitalists threatening the livelihoods of thousands of poor and unskilled workers for their own minor convenience? There is no obvious cost to the driver of an attendant as it is buried deep within an admittedly unfair pricing structure. Would these workers thrown out of employment not cost the driver much more in UIF payments and poverty grants.  Would many ex-workers not be forced to turn to a life of crime?
(Asking for a friend).

Trevor Watkins
bas...@gmail.com - 083 44 11 721 - www.individualist.one

Virus-free.www.avg.com

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[Erik Peers]

They are not actually employed. Motorists are taxed (as part of the petrol price) and this is given to the petrol jockeys. In order for it not to look like pure income redistribution, the recipients of the tax put in petrol and clean the windscreen.

Fuel proce has a multiplier effect on the economy. Transport costs add to the cost process of all products. The end cost is born by all.

It's the broken window fallacy. Why not have people dig ditches and then fill them up again to "create jobs."

Forced inefficiency does no one any good, except short term recipients of the tax.

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[Stephen vJ]

I work for a company which runs about 30 petrol stations, in addition to several food stores, pharmacies, cannabis stores, liquor stores and commercial properties / leased retail spaces.

Our petrol stations typically have 4 lanes of which 2 are self-serve and 2 are full serve. We pay attendants well, comparatively speaking, and discourage tipping - the service is a perk of filling up with us, but you can serve yourself if you prefer.

This is interesting because most of our competition is self-serve only. Our prices are some of the lowest with only Costco beating us on price sometimes. Members get 2c/l discount which usually makes the Costco price higher for members.

A lot of people choose self-service, but what is a market without options ? Old people and people with mobility issues love our self-serve option and will drive past lower prices to get it. When it's -35'C outside, people lean toward staying in their warm car and letting the petrol attendant work the pump.

Price fixing is an ugly thing, but please don't think that unregulated markets would eliminate full serve or that it leads to higher prices or that it's an all or nothing choice. The market is better than that.

Stephen.

On Jul 26, 2024, at 05:04, Erik Peers <erik...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Stephen vJ]

I meant ...love our full-serve option and will drive past lower prices to get it...

Stephen.

[Gabri Rigotti]

A super description of your service Stephen ... " A lot of people choose self-service, but what is a market without options ? "

Here too in Italy, there are options offered ... you pay the extra couple of cents per litre for the service of filling if you want.

I also like your "... unregulated markets would [not] eliminate full serve or that it leads to higher prices or that it's an all or nothing choice. The market is better than that."

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