Gas prices near MCO - on tv

[PlutoPony]

This morning's "Rossen Reports" on Today Show was on sky high gas prices at a couple stations near MCO fyi. Made these stations look pretty bad. Rossen showed how hard it is to see their posted prices (obstructed by bushes) and attempted to get the owners/workers to comment on camera.

Don't know if this report will change anything but at least he's helping get the word out!

 

[OKW Lover]

This has been a long-standing (10+ years) practice for those two stations and the publicity still hasn't gotten them to change. The problem is that infrequent visitors needing to refill their rental cars before returning them at the airport just stop at the nearest station. Now that WaWa has opened a station near by, hopefully folks will stop there instead.

 

[kj2mom]

I was watching and just knew he was going to say Orlando (because we are going in a couple of weeks for the first time in 10 years). I am hoping to have enough time to find a different station than one of those two when we are returning the car. I figure I will use the gas option on Waze and hope for the best!

 

[OKW Lover]

Oh, and there is another station near WDW that does the same. If you go out Hotel Plaza Blvd and turn right, there is a station (Mobil?) a few hundred yards on the right.

 

[nacho113]

Almost got caught at one of these stations myself when we were in Florida in January.
We drove up from Miami after our cruise and arrived at our hotel (the Wingate on Hazeltine National Dr) at supper time. Went out had something to eat and headed back to our hotel to finish final packing for our 9:00am flight home. It was dark and now raining so I popped into the gas station near the hotel to fill up the tank. There were several other people gassing up at the time so I never really thought anything about the stories I had heard about price gouging at some of these gas stations close to the airport. I even started the pump and was about to start pumping when I noticed that the pump price was $5.99/gallon. I quickly cancelled the transaction and drove 2 blocks down the road to the Wawa station that had posted prices of $2.16/gallon.
I guess I should have known something was up because when I realized the actual price, I looked around the property and noticed no signs showing the pump price anywhere.
Someone in authority needs to step in and get this practice shut down. I imagine the locals and frequent visitors to Orlando would be watching for this but a tourist in a hurry (say on a dark rainy night) could easily fall into this trap. Their last memory of their wonderful Disney Trip being marred by the fact that they got screwed over by an unscrupulous gas station owner.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[OKW Lover]

Someone in authority needs to step in and get this practice shut down.

The "problem" is that there is no law that prevents them from charging whatever price they want for gas. Thus, nobody can shut them down.

 

[bumbershoot]

Someone in authority needs to step in and get this practice shut down.

Last I read they are fined every day for no having the sign with prices, or having it hidden. Last I read the owners pay it because they make more with the poor signage and paying the fine is better for them than putting the sign out there.

 

[MIChessGuy]

The Shell on Vineland, north of the Bahama Breeze, also does this. Five or six dollars per gallon...can't remember if there is a price sign posted. Either way, not sure how they get away with it there, since nobody "needs" to buy gas at any particular place in the heart of the tourist district.

 

[MillauFr]

Last I read they are fined every day for no having the sign with prices, or having it hidden. Last I read the owners pay it because they make more with the poor signage and paying the fine is better for them than putting the sign out there.

Is there any law they have to post prices anywhere other than on the gas pump itself? I don't see any problem with this practice at all. It is not like they are jacking the price up to $50 per gallon. 6 or 7 dollars per gallon is still pretty cheap.

 

[bumbershoot]

Is there any law they have to post prices anywhere other than on the gas pump itself? I don't see any problem with this practice at all. It is not like they are jacking the price up to $50 per gallon. 6 or 7 dollars per gallon is still pretty cheap.

Yep.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...10603_1_suncoast-energys-gas-stations-sun-gas

This is an article from 2011, FYI.

"Even though it's been a year since Orlando passed a law to force the two notoriously high gas stations closest to the airport to post their prices"....

"Orlando commissioners approved an ordinance last June requiring all stations in an area around the airport to post prices on signs visible from the street. City officials said they'd received repeated complaints from tourists and business travelers who'd stopped at one of the stations to top off rental cars before heading home.

Many said they'd only noticed the high prices after they'd already begun pumping gas."

(though that article is interesting because it says that the fines aren't ones that can just be paid...but there has been a lawsuit in between then and now so maybe that is different)


And from one of the recent articles...

"'In the state of Florida, there is no price gouging law unless there's a declared state of emergency,' said Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com." On another thread they mentioned "price gouging", but that's an actual legal thing with definitions, and in FL what they are doing isn't legally price gouging.

 

[MillauFr]

Thanks to Bumbershoot and others I stopped at the 7-11 on Tradeport and even skipped the last toll on 528.

 

[seashoreCM]

If you don't see the gas priced posted on a large sign then you may drive in and check the pump. Then drive right back out if you don't like the price you saw. Of course this works best if the gas station is in line with the direction you are traveling such as on the near right corner when you are turning right.

Many folks who get stuck paying super high gas prices had experienced some unforeseen bathroom break or other delay on the way back to the airport and were then in a hurry.

Also be sure to pick up the proper hose. Sometimes the leftmost hose (or grade selection button) is for the midgrade or premium gas.