Martin Keene Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Some thoughts on the scheme (not mine) Pipelinecard is a new consumer bulk buying petrol consortium which promises to save drivers 5p/10p a litre. Set up by an enterprising former fuel price campaigner, it’s based on the corporate fuel card concept, where big companies negotiate discounts with petrol station chains for their fleets. With this scheme all you can currently do is sign up to display your interest. Once up and running it should deliver a free fuel discount card. It claims to already have a deal in place with one oil company, providing 100,000 consumers signed up. Currently at least 25,000 have signed up. (I know as they came via the note I previously put in my weekly email tip). Of course, scepticism is important. Yet it’s free to join the list, only your name and email address is required (it has a strict privacy policy) and the card will be free too. Will it work? Possibly. Is it worth trying? Definitely. There’s no cost, no contract and no lock in – nothing to lose. If enough sign up so the scheme gets off the ground, then it's time to re-evaluate and see if it’s worth it, if not we can all just chuck the cards in the bin. Is 5p/10p a litre realistic? 10p seems over-optimistic, but 5p is believable, especially if, as I guess, it’s off the ‘national average’ price of fuel rather than an automatic discount off every pump price. Fuel companies typically get 23p per 90p litre, reducing the cost by 5p reduces their take by about 4.3p (as some of the cost goes on reduced VAT). Yet the petrol market is mature, so the only way to build market share is take it off your competitors and this scheme’s perfect for that. The additional cost of servicing new customers is negligible, they don’t need to build new petrol stations, so even with lower margins, the increase in volume coupled with a higher foot-fall in profitable forecourt shops maybe worth it. More information here... Pipline Fuel Card Quote
*Emma* Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 familiar? Sorry, I obviously have too much time on my hands..... Quote
Guest Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 yeh been registered with them since day 1 . nothing but updates so i expect nothing to come of it . to be honest all the stuff they are talking about is available now , and has been for years , its just that you have had to be a company to take advantage of it . I mean fuel cards are not new are they ....... i don't think the adminastration of such a scheme would see any benefit to anyone in real terms , although those setting it up will earn well no doubt ................. surely if you really think about it a cashback credit card paid off monthly will return as much if not more in the terms of benefit ,and would reduce fuel cost for those high milage drivers . Quote
Martin Keene Posted January 11, 2006 Author Posted January 11, 2006 familiar? Sorry, I obviously have too much time on my hands..... Quote
Bananaman Posted January 25, 2006 Posted January 25, 2006 Just recived this email...You never know...nothing ventured and all that......... Dear Members Welcome to all our new sign-ups and 'Hello Again' to those of you who joined way back in November. So much for everything going quiet over Christmas - our Pipeline servers have been red-hot with new registrations. We now have over 90,000 registered members and we should definitely be in a position to start issuing cards by April or May. Petrol prices are slowly heading North again - as we predicted - and are set to increase further, so we need to get Pipeline off the ground as soon as we can. Press interest has continued and we have now been featured in The Guardian as well as some more car magazines. I have also done two more BBC Radio interviews - see the updated media page - although I still haven't got around to talking to my local paper in Reading! Once again, thank you to everybody who has done their bit to help us grow, Whether it's simple things like telling your mates, or more techie things like posting advertisements on websites and forums, it all helps to boost our bargaining power - which means cheaper fuel for everybody. If you haven't done anything yet, it's not too late. We still need a lot more members. Just tell two people about www.PipelineCard.org today and we could triple our membership! Use the recommend page on the website if you like. (www.PipelineCard.org/recommend.html) Please continue to write in with your queries, suggestions, and offers of help. There are only two of us to answer you - and both of us have other jobs - so please continue to bear with us if it takes a little while for us to respond. We always read every email and we regularly add new material to our FAQ as a direct result of your feedback. You can cancel your Pipeline Card membership at any time by sending an email to unsubscribe@PipelineCard.org Best Regards Ben Scammell - Pipeline Card Founder PS Just a thought. You have all registered your partners separately - haven't you? Quote
Mark B Posted January 25, 2006 Posted January 25, 2006 Just registered me & the missus, why not you have nothing to lose? And if it means more blatting miles per pound then that's got to be good.... Quote
pistonbroke Posted January 25, 2006 Posted January 25, 2006 OK in for a penny in for a quid ,as they say Why do these places always ask for yer email addy twice Why do these places always ask for yer email addy twice Quote
Mark B Posted January 25, 2006 Posted January 25, 2006 Why do these places always ask for yer email addy twice Why do these places always ask for yer email addy twice Dunno Dunno Presume it's incase you input it wrong the first time..... Quote
Martin Keene Posted January 30, 2006 Author Posted January 30, 2006 Update: Dear Members Just to let you know... http://www.PipelineCard.org signed up it's 100,000th member over the weekend. Well done everybody! It will still be April or May before we can send cards out, but these figures will help to give us the negotiating power that we need to get a good discount for everyone. Best wishes Ben Scammell - Pipeline Card Founder Quote
pistonbroke Posted January 30, 2006 Posted January 30, 2006 Why do these places always ask for yer email addy twice Why do these places always ask for yer email addy twice Dunno Dunno Presume it's incase you input it wrong the first time..... thanks thanks but whats to stop you inputting it wrong twice but whats to stop you inputting it wrong twice Quote
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