The small questions thread

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Smpl Mnmlst
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#3295311 10-Oct-2024 08:42

According to Gaspy, our nearest Pak'nSave has 95 octane petrol at $2.49 today. Many other, closer, local stations are around $2.60 - others up to $2.80+. My closest station 500m away is $2.90.

I haven't used PnS before and I would like to know: do I need a voucher from having shopped in their supermarket to get that price? Or can I just drive in and fill up?

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huckster

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#3295312 10-Oct-2024 08:47

eracode:

According to Gaspy, our nearest Pak'nSave has 95 octane petrol at $2.49 today. Many other, a bit closer, local stations are around $2.60 - others up to $2.80.

I haven't used PnS before and I would like to know: do I need a voucher from having shopped in their supermarket to get that price? Or can I just drive in and fill up?

Anyone can use it but yes, shopping there will give you a voucher to decrease the price. Make sure Gaspy is showing you the non-voucher price.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
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#3295315 10-Oct-2024 08:56

huckster:

eracode:

According to Gaspy, our nearest Pak'nSave has 95 octane petrol at $2.49 today. Many other, a bit closer, local stations are around $2.60 - others up to $2.80.

I haven't used PnS before and I would like to know: do I need a voucher from having shopped in their supermarket to get that price? Or can I just drive in and fill up?

Anyone can use it but yes, shopping there will give you a voucher to decrease the price. Make sure Gaspy is showing you the non-voucher price.

Thanks. Not sure there is a way to check this for PnS.

That makes me think it is the non-voucher price. OTOH it's hard to imagine that a voucher would make it even cheaper than $2.49.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

huckster

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#3295324 10-Oct-2024 09:05

You're right, Gaspy doesn't automatically handle PnS discounts.

PnS is usually 6c if you buy anything. TBH not too sure as we have a Gull round the corner, drive a tiny car and are lazy.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
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#3295325 10-Oct-2024 09:08

huckster:

You're right, Gaspy doesn't automatically handle PnS discounts.

PnS is usually 6c if you buy anything. TBH not too sure as we have a Gull round the corner, drive a tiny car and are lazy.

Thanks again - I'll give it a shot.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

richms

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#3295347 10-Oct-2024 10:12

eracode:

Thanks. Not sure there is a way to check this for PnS.

That makes me think it is the non-voucher price. OTOH it's hard to imagine that a voucher would make it even cheaper than $2.49.

There isn't. Many knuckledraggers enter the post discount price into gaspy. Vouchers will make it cheaper if that is the pre-discount price.

Richard rich.ms

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Smpl Mnmlst
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#3295351 10-Oct-2024 10:20

Why is it, when you see people making sandbags when preparing for a flood (eg Hurricane Milton approaching Florida), each bag seems to be made manually by two people? One holding the bag open, the other shoveling sand from a pile on the ground, into the small top opening of the bag. Incredibly slow, backbreaking, inefficient work - particularly when you need hundreds or thousands of bags.

There must be simple machines that can largely automate this - a hopper to hold the sand, a screw to move the sand and a go/stop lever to control the sand moving to a chute above the waiting bags.

I know you can't always have machines exactly where they're needed - and the machines might spend the largest part of their time doing nothing. However if there was a supply of machines held in vulnerable places by Civil Defence authorities - and if the machines were towable to where they're needed, surely that would be worth having. Or just truck the bags to where they are needed.

Maybe these actually exist.

EDIT: And yes - of course they do.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

eracode

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#3295356 10-Oct-2024 10:27

richms:

eracode:

Thanks. Not sure there is a way to check this for PnS.

That makes me think it is the non-voucher price. OTOH it's hard to imagine that a voucher would make it even cheaper than $2.49.

There isn't. Many knuckledraggers enter the post discount price into gaspy. Vouchers will make it cheaper if that is the pre-discount price.

Just now went to PnS and bought a bottle of milk we needed - but primarily to get a 6c petrol discount voucher.

The listed price was $2.49 for 95 (Gaspy was correct) and with the voucher I paid $2.43. This is the cheapest 95 I have seen for a very long time, certainly in Auckland - and way cheaper than anywhere else nearby today. As mentioned above, $2.90 at Z just down the road from here. A month ago I paid $2.57 in Putaruru (some places in Waikato are very cheap) and thought that was really good. But $2.43 on the North Shore? Brilliant.

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Geektastic

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#3295688 10-Oct-2024 19:49

Is it compulsory for YT people to own a guitar and have it visible in the background?

neb

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#3295692 10-Oct-2024 19:51

Geektastic: Is it compulsory for YT people to own a guitar and have it visible in the background?

That's only 1/3 of YT'ers. For the second third it's guns, for the remaining third it's clamps and wood planes.

neb

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#3295702 10-Oct-2024 20:07

eracode: Why is it, when you see people making sandbags when preparing for a flood (eg Hurricane Milton approaching Florida), each bag seems to be made manually by two people?

Because it's a lot more photogenic and newsworthy than simply watching them being inflated, or reconstituted from their freeze-dried form.

Ge0rge

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#3295718 10-Oct-2024 20:41

eracode:
Why is it, when you see people making sandbags when preparing for a flood (eg Hurricane Milton approaching Florida), each bag seems to be made manually by two people? One holding the bag open, the other shoveling sand from a pile on the ground, into the small top opening of the bag. Incredibly slow, backbreaking, inefficient work - particularly when you need hundreds or thousands of bags.

There must be simple machines that can largely automate this - a hopper to hold the sand, a screw to move the sand and a go/stop lever to control the sand moving to a chute above the waiting bags.

I know you can't always have machines exactly where they're needed - and the machines might spend the largest part of their time doing nothing. However if there was a supply of machines held in vulnerable places by Civil Defence authorities - and if the machines were towable to where they're needed, surely that would be worth having. Or just truck the bags to where they are needed.

Maybe these actually exist.

EDIT: And yes - of course they do.

Not going to argue, a machine definitely makes filling bags easier. Some food for thought though perhaps.

It's not as inefficient or backbreaking as you may think. Two people of average fitness can be expected to fill 60 sandbags an hour - a rate that can be maintained for multiple hours.

(I know that significantly larger machines are available, but for the sake of argument and apples=apples, let's use the linked one)

Two people make a quarter of the linked machine output. Give me eight people and we've matched the machine, for the cost of four shovels. They don't need power, hard standing to operate on, a loader and driver to feed it, training, and are portable in two light vehicles.

Double the people and we've twice the machine output in one location, or two machines in separate locations - just by finding some able-bodied people with one shovel between two.

While a machine certainly takes the labour away, it's inability to be flexible, scalable or potable I would argue has it beaten by people power in almost any disaster or emergency situation.

I think I have seen one of these machines at Field Days once? But I don't know anyone without a shovel.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
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#3295720 10-Oct-2024 20:42

neb:

eracode: Why is it, when you see people making sandbags when preparing for a flood (eg Hurricane Milton approaching Florida), each bag seems to be made manually by two people?

Because it's a lot more photogenic and newsworthy than simply watching them being inflated, or reconstituted from their freeze-dried form.

I agree - this was partly my point. Good, heart-rending footage.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Handle9

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#3295721 10-Oct-2024 20:48

Ge0rge:
While a machine certainly takes the labour away, it's inability to be flexible, scalable or potable I would argue has it beaten by people power in almost any disaster or emergency situation.

4 shovels are significantly easier to store, are essentially maintenance free and you can visually see if they will work or not. Any mechanical machine of any sophistication - not so much.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
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#3295725 10-Oct-2024 20:57

Geektastic: Is it compulsory for YT people to own a guitar and have it visible in the background?

It promotes an image of being cultured and artistic - like having an eclectic collection of unread books on shelves behind them.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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