Mornin'!
Several things: Franc, guilty? no simply because EVERYONE else is doing it too. In fact, I'm just happy we've decided not to mix anything with our premium & have enough integrity as a company not to buy below grade octane gas, pump it full of steroids & call it normal.
Top Tier - since all the gas you buy is darn near the same I know for a fact that the gas we purchase from our distributor in Chicago already meets those standards though what it is missing is the 'squirt'. That's what I meant by the "only difference". Got to admit, though, the standards do look impressive! Thanks 70GT6
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This may not be true in other parts of the country, guys, but at least up here in N.E. & Cent. WI ALL of our gas comes up to the tanks via one pipeline out of Chicago. Companies buy volume on the line through some bizarre allocation method I don't claim to understand. The mixing of the additives, depending on what they may be, is done "locally" as is the Ethanol injection since, once again, the supply is local. Needless to say, the below grade buyers aren't Top Tier sellers so the whole Top Tier idea isn't a bad one.
The only issue I'd would see with Top Tier marketing is: who tests the gas for the standards it has to meet? I'm assuming some nefarious company could market their gas that way, not meet the standards & who's to know? Hmmmm, another question to ask the bosses!
By the way, Danimal, the bosses are good guys. I could certainly sit down with any of them & talk gas all I wanted to. We were in a meeting, with a schedule, so I didn't want the whole thing to drag out endlessly just 'cause I wanted to talk Top Tier or Ethanol. The meetings can be droll enough, heck, you guys have been there, you know what I mean! They've been in the oil/gas biz for 3 generations so they know their stuff. I just thought it would be interesting to learn what Top Tier is & isn't plus let you guys know what's happening with this below grade octane crap.
The latter truly pisses me off simply because there's no way of knowing this when you gas up.