Webivate - Blog: February 2008

Monday, February 25, 2008

Tips When Buying Gas

Today I came across an interesting article regarding the gas industry. Take a few minutes to read these following tips that could save you some extra money each week.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up --most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Phyllis Pierino
Independent Sales Representative

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Benefits Of A Professional Website

The web is one of the most effective and cheapest methods of advertising available. For about the same cost of a small one time newspaper ad, a company can have a 4 or 5 page web site, open 24 hours a day with the potential to reach millions of people. Potential customers can obtain product information when they want it, not when a business is open. Many people will turn to a business that supplied them with product information when they needed it, which in many cases is outside normal trading hours.

Having a professional website allows small businesses to compete with the larger corporations. It has a low cost of entry and allows any company to market at a global level. A website works around the clock with little effort to keep it running. A professional developer can analyze any existing promotional materials and integrate these elements into a coherent design for an authentic online web presence. This allows for a more custom marketing presence that can't be obtained by just using templates included with off-the-shelf software packages or online services.