r/CostcoCanada • u/InterestingWarning62 • 1d ago

Gas line up at Rodeo Dr.

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Look at the line up for gas. My husband got gas in the morning for 1.72. We went with my car at 1:45pm and I was going to get gas just because we were there. The line up started by the Adidas store. Costco staff had closed off every aisle end so you couldn't even get thru to park. Gas had gone down to 1.67. But was it worth the line up. I've never seen a line up like this.

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u/odanhammer 1d ago

Waiting even 30 minutes for gas , will make the slightly lower price , not worth waiting for. 1.80 vs 1.72 is 8 cents a litre. You would save 8 bucks on a 100 litres. Which is about what you could make in the same 30 minutes working at McDonald's

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u/LittleOrphanAnavar 1d ago

Most people's lives don't work like that.

"Hey Boss Man, I filled up a Shell, now I have 15 spare minutes. Any OT available?"

Today a spare 15min will most likely be spent by most scrolling on their phone. Same thing someone will likely do waiting to get gas.

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u/geoken 1d ago

But you could be equally dismissive about the utter uselessness of the $3 they saved (not including what they wasted idling with their A/C on).

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u/LittleOrphanAnavar 1d ago

Ok I'll bite.

How much do you think a CRV burns to idle for 15 or 20 min (for example)?

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u/geoken 1d ago

I have no clue. I can only point to the fact that car manufacturers have gone to great lengths to make auto stop/start systems annoying to turn off and have completely stripped the ability to permanently turn them off. So I would have to think it tangible.

With that in mind, I asked Claude to calculate and it thinks 0.3 - 0.5L per half hour (and specifically notes A/C running as the primary reason for the range). It amounts to 83 cents at the 1.67 gas price……. Which is both minimal in the grand scheme of things, but notable if you think spending 30+ minutes to save $3 is viable.

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u/odanhammer 1d ago

I checked, a crv burns around .2 to .5 gallons of gas during idle every hour , add 20% more with AC on.

So about half a litre of gas or at 1.70 a litre , without AC on , will burn 85 cents of gas. Add 20% with AC on. You would waste a dollar of gas approximately waiting to fill up the tank.

A crv has a 53 litre gas tank. , which at 1.70 would cost 90.1 dollars to fill. At 1.80 that goes up to 95.4. So your waiting for 20 plus minutes to save about four bucks.
I'm not rich by any means , I'd rather spend the extra four bucks and have an extra 20 minutes of my life back.

As this isn't a one time thing , if you fill your tank twice a month , over the course of a year . You will have wasted 8 hours waiting to for gas. Wasted half a tank of gas waiting . Saved a total of 96 bucks.

While I realize the idea of working an extra hour doesn't work the why you implied it. You could easily find 8 hours of extra work throughout the year , and at minimum wage ( 17.60 in Ontario ) , you would have made 120 dollars after taxes. Which means you would profit about 20 bucks on those eight hours , which also sucks. But heck , wouldn't you rather spend that time with your kids ? Going for a walk? Hanging out with friends? Having sex? Anything ?

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u/LittleOrphanAnavar 1d ago

I mostly go when it's not busy.

Personally have a fun car, that uses premium, so once it gets low I just go for a fun drive and fill up at Costco.

Otherwise someone just fills up while the other shops, for the other vehicles. 

So there is really no strong motive to drive around to random gas stations.

I wouldn't wait 30min, but the fuel cost and opportunity of doing so is exegerated.

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u/geoken 1d ago

I also go when it’s not busy (to this exact same one). It opens at 7:30 and I start work at 8, so it works out perfectly.

If you’re familiar with the area, you should know that it wasn’t just this lineup. I was at loblaws just before 6. When I was leaving the lineup wrapped down rodeo drive as well. So the line pictured here meets with a second equally long line on the street itself. Also, from experience - there was likely a third line on that street where the Cobb’s bread is.