Pipeline Card [Merged Threads]

Andy_Davies

fergee wrote:

I think everyone needs to calm down and take a deep breath. My concern is not over some poxy sat-nav system it is the length of time he is taking to secure the pipeline discount.

Can you imagine approaching any supplier (doesn't have to be for fuel) and saying " i have 420,000 people who want to buy your product, what discount will you give me "

Now in my book if this deal was going to happen it should have hapened by now, even a poor negotiator could have brokered a deal by now. The thought of guaranteeing a slice of the market should have had suppliers in a bidding war.

My only concern is that if a fuel supplier wanted to give cheaper fuel away, let's say 5p per litre, all they would have to do is drop the price and the forecourt would be nose to tail. Why do they need pipeline? surely just revising their current loyalty card would suffice.

So looking at it logically this scheme has a very slim chance of getting out of the starting block, but while there is a chance I'll stay registered.

I'm registered more in hope than anything else as I really don't see how this idea flies.

It's working on the public perception that the price of fuel is too high and petrol retailers are making huge profit from the motorist, whereas I'm not sure that's true. The original emails talked about 5p off a litre of fuel, but I doubt most petrol retailers are making much more than that of each litre anyway.

Even with 420,000 people signed up I don't agree it's an easy deal to pull off

Dalkirst

Andy_Davies wrote:

The original emails talked about 5p off a litre of fuel, but I doubt most petrol retailers are making much more than that of each litre anyway.

I thought it was originally 10p off

RufusA

Dalkirst wrote:

I thought it was originally 10p off

It used to be:

We have already secured agreement in principle from a major fuel retailer so we need lots more members to achieve enough big buyer status and clout to make this work on a national basis....
...
How much could I save?
We expect to be able to offer our members a discount of between 5p and 10p a litre.

It is now:

We expect to be able to offer our members a discount of between 5p and 7p a litre.

But on the recommend a friend email, it still suggests 5 to 10p.

As to whether this is realistic, here's some figures from the BBC:

"Of the 90p a litre that the motorist pays, therefore, the Treasury receives 60.5p or 67%, and it costs the garage 23.2p to buy the petrol. That leaves a margin of just 6.3p, or 7% of the litre price, for the forecourt, which also has to meet the cost of running the petrol station.
According to the AA, if a garage makes as much as a 2p profit out of a litre of petrol, "that is a lot".

So you have to ask the question where that 10p is going to come from. Even if a large forecourt was willing to accept a 1p *LOSS* on every litre sold, and the suppliers reduced their cost by 20% you are still a few p short. If you factor in the cost of producing and distributing the discount card - it's impossible (IMHO).

Bear in mind that with nearly fixed levels of taxation a 10p/litre saving is actually 30% off when you take the taxation element away!

At present a large number of petrol retailers only break even through sidelines (like selling food, newspapers, car washes etc.) Why is BP pushing their "wild bean cafe's" so much?

Petrol companies BP, Shell etc. make huge profits, but next to none of that profit comes from UK petrol sales. Last time I looked I think one of them was actually making a loss.

The only way to find 10p savings on a litre of petrol is if the Government give back some of their tax. Even 5p isn't very likely.

The *best* readily available schemes I've seen provide around 3p saving off a "national average" price for a litre using a fuel card, with a minimum purchase level needed each year! Plus require you to pay for the card, run a company, and pass the various credit checks etc.

YMMV - Rufus.

Dalkirst

Ah thanks i thought it was 10p at the beginning.

exmodel

ben SCAMmell is making lots of people really mad. So what is up with this idiot anyway?
So far 420,000 people signed on and STIL NO BLEEDIN card to date!

cello57

Yet another message from Pipeline today (2nd August 06) telling me nothing has happened. This is turning out to be a very empty promise.

fordy86

and no set launch date - so much for may 2006!

pennymakespounds

i've never believed this is a runner.
knowing the big supermarkets will always ensure they are the lowest retail ....and the make-up of petrol price with tax etc ... just cannot see where these magical few pence a litre are going to come from.

Don't believe it can happen.

But ... they have of course had loads of publicity .. not cost them a penny.... .... have a massive email data base ..not cost them a penny.. .. just happen this week to have a satnav special offer..so lets mention it in the midst of a " we have nothing to report..again.. " message.. ... and i'm sure loads more amazing special offers that it'll feel obliged to let its' members know.

A simple, cheap and easy way to develop themselves an online business .

tim_n

ever tried to setup a scheme like this?

No?

Well isn't it suprising that you find it difficult to accept these things take time! It's not as if you're paying him to do this and I guess he probably has a job of his own to be doing so he can pay bills and eat. Stop crying over unspilt milk and wait. Have you any idea how much bandwidth costs for the MSE site, let alone pipeline which lets face it, doesn't exactly have billions of ads on either! So far pipeline is actually costing him money to try and provide a free service to you! It's no wonder he's trying to claw a few pennies back to cover the bandwidth bills!

pennymakespounds

that's me told.