TA Petro, but I don't know which one.

 

When just looking at the prices in the map in the app, it seems that TA’s and Speedways have the biggest discounts around me. Here was one about an hour from me that was $1.50 off, although I didn’t go up to the station…

Also, I still see Speedways listed on the map, so maybe they are still good to go!

 

I don't get it? It might have been on another forum, but I'm seeing guys say that the big discounts are back. I gave up on this 2 years ago as it wasn't worth the hassle. I could save maybe 20-30 bucks if I went out of my way and got at least 100 gallons. So today I jump on my app deal and it's about the same as I remember. Can save maybe $20 on a $575 fuel run, big whoop. Do I just have poor timing or is the northwest kind of a dead zone for discounts?

I remember looking about a year ago and there was a discount of about .60 a gallon, but I would have had to travel like an extra 100 miles to get there and back to the highway...and I wasn't empty. Just never seems worth it for me.

 

I just checked the app, and the T/A west of Winnemucca Nv has a pump price of $4.89 and a discount price of $3.89. Biggest discount by far that I've seen for a while . The discounts seem to change daily.

 

Use the app when you are on the road and they are on your route.

 

Your right, sometimes it is not worth it to use the TSD card. Sometimes it is not worth it even to check the app if you have something better to do. I only use the TSD card when I am traveling with the 5th wheel attached as it allows me to use the commercial diesel lanes. I would pay a service fee on top of the regular price for fuel in order to do that if I am being honest. The potential discount is a bonus on top of the convenience factor of using the commercial diesel pumps provided by cards like the TSD card.

The prices and discounts do change daily as I understand it.

The best part about the TSD card is it is not a mandatory use payment program. You have the free will to use it or not based on your travel plans, budget and desire to. We have 75 gallons of fuel capacity and saving .25 - $1.00 per gallon on a 5,000+ trip saves us a lot of money. It also means I don't have to fight with the cars in the gasoline lanes. When the 5th wheel is not attached to the truck, I usually just go to the local grocery store.

I for one am grateful this company has allowed people like me and us into their EFS fuel program. This was never an option before to consumers and non-business owners like myself.

Safe travels!

 

Well said and pretty much sums up my thoughts on the program.

 

I find discounts depend on competition in the area as well. In the Rockford IL area, there are dozens of stations up through to Janesville. Across the border has the best discounts due to the different tax rates. For me it is a toss up between TA in Janesville and Speedway in Beloit. The latter is just a tiny bit out of my way coming home from work, the other is an extra hour to home, but between them I have saved a few hundred the past couple months. At times the Speedway pump price is lower than the surrounding discounts alone.

 

I like using the TSD card when traveling, whether with my camper or without it. I don't use it while at home because the 2 stations remotely close to me that offer TSD's discounts are both Love's and aren't enough of a discount for me to use it. Instead, when I'm at home I go to a local Shell station and use my Fuel Rewards programs that save me various amounts, but unfortunately are usually limited to 20 gallons.

I recently made a trip to Hot Springs, AR. It was about 700 miles round trip. I filled up at the local Shell station before I left and on the way back I used the map in the OR app to find the best deal at a station on my route. Turns out, it was a Road Ranger in Brinkley, AR. Diesel (B20) was advertised at $4.19/gallon, but the discount in the app showed $3.55/gallon. I pulled in and for whatever reason the pump would not accept the TSD card, so I went in and had them run it at the counter. I ended up pumping 22.2 gallons of diesel. The total cost was $93.20 before the discount, and my final cost was $81.04. This gave me a $12.16 discount, and came to $3.65/gallon. The actual savings was $14.23, however, TSD's fees is 10% of the savings and the fees for Road Ranger was $0.65. But sure, it was only $12, but that is significant IMO. That was after just one fill up on only 22 gallons. On a longer trip, it wouldn't take long to add up.

As I mentioned before, I find that the Love's stations are typically the least discounted options, and the TA's and Speedways are usually the most discounted. Despite this, when we are towing the camper we like stopping at Love's since they all have dog parks and are generally large and clean. But we plan well enough so that we still sometimes stop and check out the other fuel stations listed with larger discounts, but if they look run down or don't have a good place to let the dogs out then we just keep going.

 

Interesting, today Loves has the lowest price out of any of them. Where I usually go is a Speedway, $3.624, the Loves is $3.569. Downside the Loves is in the wrong direction for where I am heading today, so Speedway it is. Casey's 2 miles away is $4.15 with gas buddy, and they have a .43 off coupon, or should say my wife does, but its for 20 gallons tops. Even with that its $3.73 a gallon. The TA that usually has some really deep discounts is same price as Speedway too.

I haven't added it all up yet, but my savings so far since I got the F-450 has been in the hundreds with TSD.

 

So, the Loves 10 miles north of me is listed at $3.949/gallon but the TSD price is $3.669/gallon. The Loves 15 miles west of me is listed at $4.439/gallon but the TSD price is $4.159/gallon. About 35 miles south of me, the Loves listed price is $4.689/gallon, but the TSD price is $4.409/gallon. It's crazy at how they all differ so much in price, but the savings is always right at $0.30 before the fees are collected. Just beyond these Loves are TA's and Speedways that the TSD prices are $3.579 - $3.619/gallon. Quite a bit farther away near Meridian, MS I see a Loves with the TSD price listed at $3.299/gallon! I hope the prices keep coming down....

 

When I worked for Conoco I was part of a team that created an application that was used to price fuel at the wholesale level throughout the U.S. The price was based on a number of factors like cost, volume and competitive pricing. Retail pricing is no different, but you would think that it would be easier for a retail chain to support a $.30 discount across the board, but obviously that's not what they're doing. What's easy isn't what makes them a lot of money. Cost, volume and competitive pricing are likely factors that go into the discounts you're seeing.

 

You will also see larger discounts at stations along Interstate routes than those more off the beaten path, and that is due to the Interstate stations ripping off the big rigs, because, where else will they go?

Here's one that cracks me up. Loves just south of the WI border, last exit before the tollway south, pump price $4.449, across the road north of Loves is a Thorntons, pump price $3.999. TSD is $4.16 and $3.89. Thats a huge difference between them and has always been that way. The difference is about what the difference is in taxes between IL and WI which makes me wonder if across the road the Thorntons falls under WI taxation and not IL.

Go off the beaten path and diesel drops to $3.90 pump price or lower. I see about a .50 cent per gallon difference between Interstate exits, and off the beaten path stations.

 

I tried to use the Sinclair DinoPay app at the Sinclair truck stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming last week. It would not recognize the pump number for one of the islands on the big rig side of the truck stop. On my way back I went to the car island (taking up a bunch of room with the truck/trailer) and the app worked fine. I contacted DinoPay support and they basically said it's up to the owner of the station if they allow the app on all pumps or not. There was a $100 limit when paying with my credit card at the big rig pump. That sucked. I had to run my card again. The DinoPay app had a higher limit. The DinoPay app stopped pumping at $100 also. I reviewed my receipts that the app sends and it stopped at $100. I don't recall that being the case at a station in Casper, Wyoming, but it's been a while. That limit really sucks. A full tank at $4.25/gallon is at least $150 for me.

I could have gone to the Love's across the street and got the TSD discount. I would have saved money using TSD versus Sinclair with no DinoPay discount. Sinclair's posted price was lower than Flying J and Love's.

 

Just last week I bought a used Samsung S10 to replace my aged S7 and when I installed the Open Roads app I realized a station 15 miles from here that was an Exxon is now a TA. The TSD price for diesel was $3.45 a gallon.

That beats other places here by a good .80 cents a gallon and when I have a 75 gallon capacity, those coins add up quick.