goducks10 wrote:
noteven wrote:
My fave part of gas buddy is showing up at the gas station and whaddya know the price is higher than what's posted on gas buddy.
Aren't prices reported buy GB users? When I looked this morning two local stations had 1 hr postings and one had a 17 hr posting. I've never paid any attention to small prices changes. I usually look for brand and price compared to other stations nearby.
Correct you are..
Granted the website article is from 2018, but I suspect not a lot has changed..
How Gasbuddy gets data"How the largest gas discovery platform in North America utilizes crowdsourced data to drive a sustainable platform business model
GasBuddy’s Model
GasBuddy gathers its gas price information almost exclusively from crowdsourced user submissions. Each day, GasBuddy users submit 2-3 million data points on gas prices across the US and Canada. To incentivize user data submissions, GasBuddy utilizes a points-based reward system – users earn points for completing various activities (e.g., reporting a price), and can convert those points into raffle tickets for daily drawings of $100 gas gift cards. GasBuddy also publicizes points leaderboards to incorporate a gamification / social competition element to the platform.
Advertising. Because GasBuddy’s users typically need to visit a gas station in the near term, GasBuddy can offer targeted in-app advertising solutions to a host of businesses including gas retailers, CPG companies (e.g., snacks), auto businesses (e.g., auto repair and maintenance), and financial institutions (e.g., gas cash-back credit cards).
Business Pages. Akin to what Yelp does for restaurants and local businesses, GasBuddy offers in-app business pages that allow gas retailers to manage their listings, obtain reviews, and gain market share intelligence on their position relative to competitors.
Upstream Data Licensing. As the largest source of gas prices at retail, GasBuddy works with companies like OPIS to bundle and sell real-time data to upstream and midstream energy participants who rely on prices at the pump as inputs to production and transportation decisions.
Payment Cards. In late 2017, GasBuddy debuted a consumer gas payment card that offers 5 cents off per gallon at over 95% of gas stations within the US. Because gas retailers don’t have to pay credit card fees when consumers use the GasBuddy card, GasBuddy can capture a spread per transaction based on what it saved the gas retailer.
Gasbuddy’s business model creates a tremendously sticky network, with both direct and indirect network effects. As more consumers participate, the experience becomes more valuable to other users because gas prices and retail station reviews are more up-to-date. Concurrently, businesses benefit from tapping into a large group of potential customers and accessing more reliable real-time pricing data. GasBuddy’s new payment products also create additional incentives to remain on the platform.
Challenges and Mitigants
The primary challenge with crowd-sourced data is maintaining data accuracy. To address these issues, GasBuddy requires users to be geolocated within range of the gas station that the user intends to input data for. In some cases, GasBuddy also works directly with the gas stations to ensure accurate price data. Another challenge with crowd-sourced data is a potential reduction in willingness to contribute once the network becomes too large. GasBuddy has appeared immune from this issue as user submissions have continued to grow, likely partly due to its incentive system and partly due to users feeling like their submissions have greater impact with a larger audience.
"The downside to platforms like this, is it requires constant flow of recent price updates for each station reported. That depends on someone participating in Gasbuddy to report that info.
If a station gets zero reports, it won't be listed and that non listed station could very well have a better price or even be in a better location..
When I look at GBs website, it only reports the "top 10" reported stations in the area I select.. In doing so, it is missing something like 90% or more of the other stations that I am aware of in my area..
If you want a consistently "best price" for gas, hands down, Sam's club seems to beat all of the other stations in my area for lowest pricing. Typically beating the other stations by 8-10 cents per gallon.. Doesn't help those who need Diesel though..
In reality, most times you are talking saving 1-5 cents per gallon in any given area, the costs to the station owners are preset by the local fuel distribution centers that they get the fuel from and varies very little between most stations.
I don't worry about the fuel prices while on a trip, it isn't worth the hassle for the small potential to save a nickle per gallon.
Example, my daily commute was 100 miles, 500 miles per week which is 26,000 miles per yr.. My truck averaged 16 MPG on that commute meaning I used 1625 gallons per yr..
1625 gallons x 1 cent "savings" = $16.25
1625 gallons x 5 cents "savings" = $81.25
1625 gallons x 10 cents "savings" = $162.50..
Now, if I scaled that down to a RV trip of say 1200 miles round trip and assuming roughly 10 MPG towing..
120 Gallons for the trip..
120 gallons x 1 cent "savings" = $1.20 savings for the entire trip
120 gallons x 5 cents "savings" = $6.00 savings for the entire trip
120 Gallons x 10 cents "savings = $12.00 savings for the entire trip
$1.20 won't buy you much and well $12.00 isn't much better..
