BajaNomad - Pemex stations investigated

Pemex stations investigated

Stickers - 6-13-2006 at 04:17 PM

There is a big article in the LA Times today about Pemex dealers being investigated. The article states they have found 9 out of 10 stations cheat customers on quantity and are in the process of cracking down on them.

Bob and Susan - 6-13-2006 at 05:07 PM

Not Quite Measuring Up at Mexico's Gas Pumps
Most stations have rigged their equipment to cheat motorists, a consumer agency says.
By Marla Dickerson and Carlos Martinez, Times Staff Writers
June 13, 2006

MEXICO CITY ? If you think paying $3.50 for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. is a hardship, consider Mexico, where motorists are really getting stiffed.

Nine in 10 gasoline stations in Mexico have rigged their pumps to dispense less than what their meters promise, according to federal authorities, who calculated that purloined petrol cost consumers at least $1 billion last year.

Random checks have revealed that the average retailer, known here as a gasolinero, skims a little more than a liter of gasoline for every 20 sold.

But the most audacious stations would make Al Capone blush.

One in the tourist haven of Acapulco was recently caught shorting its customers by nearly half the volume displayed on the pump.

The station was busted by Profeco, the nation's chief consumer watchdog, which has launched a nationwide crackdown on dishonest owners.

The agency has mounted surprise inspections, gathering evidence with the help of undercover agents armed with video cameras and vehicles outfitted with special gas tanks that can be removed for lab analysis.

About 1,100 stations, nearly 15% of the country's total, have been caught in the dragnet this year.

Profeco, or the Procuraduria Federal del Consumidor, is closing stations and fining owners to force them to clean up their acts.

It plans to post inspection results on the Internet to expose swindlers. And it has launched a public relations campaign to urge motorists to report gasoline cheats.

It's no easy task in Mexico, which is dominated by powerful business interests and which has never been friendly to consumers.

Decades of corruption at the government petroleum monopoly have conditioned Mexicans to expect a soaking at the pumps.

"To be a gasolinero is synonymous with being corrupt," said Roberto Karam Ahuad, head of fuel verification for Profeco.

"It's like Chicago in the 1930s."

The big difference is that even Windy City mobsters had competition.

Mexico's 7,400 retail stations are all franchises of state-owned company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, which has a lock on production and sales.

Because the Mexican government sets the price of gasoline ? currently the equivalent of $2.18 a gallon for regular unleaded in most of Mexico ? consumers can't shop for the best deal.

Most station owners don't even bother posting prices.

They just switch on the pumps and wait for customers to arrive, a process that critics liken to inviting sheep to the shearing.

Many of the attendants bustling around the pumps in jumpsuits emblazoned with the official Pemex logo are actually unpaid freelancers angling for tips ? and a chance to shortchange distracted customers.

Cab driver Guillermo Tinoco had his game face on as he pulled his green-and-white Volkswagen Beetle into a gas station here recently.

He handed a 100-peso note to the attendant and trained an eye on the spinning fuel meter to make sure there was no funny business.

"I don't know this place, so I'm only buying a little out of necessity," he said of his $8.82 purchase.

"I try to go where they rob me the least."

Station owners have been known to dilute their fuel with additives to stretch their profits, causing engine damage to clients down the road.

"It's hard to know" what you're getting, said Carlos Ivan, 20, a student and part-time taxi driver who said he dreaded his twice-weekly trips to the filling station.

Mexico's tax collectors aren't too happy either.

Gasoline is a popular deduction for taxpayers here.

Slip some Pemex pump jockeys a few pesos and they will whip up an official sales receipt for any amount you like.

It's a practice that officials say is costing the nation millions in lost tax revenue.

Authorities tried last year to close that loophole with legislation requiring taxpayers who want to claim a fuel deduction to pay for their gasoline with a credit card or check, because those sales are harder to falsify than cash purchases.

The measure was defeated after stiff lobbying from the nation's gasolineros.

"Many of these cash transactions are susceptible to fraud," Jose Maria Zubiria, head of Mexico's version of the Internal Revenue Service, said in a statement.

"The documentation ? is very weak."

Jose Angel Garcia Hernandez, president of a trade group that represents 80% of the Mexico's service stations, said he supported a crackdown on scofflaws.

But he denied Profeco's assertions that cheating was rampant or that his members were getting rich on ill-gotten gains.

surfer jim - 6-13-2006 at 05:29 PM

This in nothing....(think about GEORGE BUSH cheating seniors on their social security benefits)....

Watch out for ....banditos....potholes.....police..... "touristas".....driving at night....drunks....speedbumps.....taxicabs with no door handles....gas pumps...... :no:

I need to go to BAJA and relax so I won't think of all these problems....

....and will be watching those pumps......(bring back the "glass containers" at the pumps !)

And the guys testing the pumps are needing a little "mordida" for summer vacation themselves.....

thebajarunner - 6-13-2006 at 06:16 PM

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=17745

this has been around Nomad all day...

Bob H - 6-13-2006 at 06:47 PM

But, NOT at Baja Catus station in El Rosario! That's for SURE.
Bob H :bounce:

David K - 6-13-2006 at 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by surfer jim
This in nothing....(think about GEORGE BUSH cheating seniors on their social security benefits)....

Watch out for ....banditos....potholes.....police..... "touristas".....driving at night....drunks....speedbumps.....taxicabs with no door handles....gas pumps...... :no:

I need to go to BAJA and relax so I won't think of all these problems....

....and will be watching those pumps......(bring back the "glass containers" at the pumps !)

And the guys testing the pumps are needing a little "mordida" for summer vacation themselves.....

Jim, it was Bill Clinton and Al Gore who ok'ed taxing seniors' SSI income... shame shame. Let's keep politics off this forum please.

Anyway, this topic was already in discussion yesterday, in another thread: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=17745

[Edited on 6-14-2006 by David K]

Roberto - 6-13-2006 at 08:00 PM

David, something I can agree with you on - "keep politics off this forum".

You should give an example and not slip in a political comment when you make statements like that. It doesn't help.

Bajaboy - 6-13-2006 at 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

I need to go to BAJA and relax so I won't think of all these problems....

....and will be watching those pumps......(bring back the "glass containers" at the pumps !)

And the guys testing the pumps are needing a little "mordida" for summer vacation themselves.....

Jim, let's keep politics off this forum please.

Anyway, this topic was already in discussion yesterday, in another thread: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=17745

[Edited on 6-14-2006 by David K]

DK- I edited your reply for you.
Hope you don't mind.
Zac

David K - 6-14-2006 at 08:42 AM

How about editing Jim's political remark first, since that is the ONLY reason I said what I did (for balance)?

Funny how the Libs feel anything they say must remain, unchecked, but opposition or balance must be eliminated... Like in the old Soviet Union... :light:

Joke of the month

Dave - 6-14-2006 at 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stickers
There is a big article in the LA Times today about Pemex dealers being investigated. The article states they have found 9 out of 10 stations cheat customers on quantity and are in the process of cracking down on them.

Pemex is moving ????

beercan - 6-14-2006 at 09:49 AM

They are doing "sumting" ----The Pemex in Puertecitos cannot open because it has the wrong style "cheater" pumps installed !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruce R Leech - 6-14-2006 at 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Roberto
David, something I can agree with you on - "keep politics off this forum".

You should give an example and not slip in a political comment when you make statements like that. It doesn't help.

How can you talk about Pemex and not talk about politics? :?:

David K - 6-14-2006 at 06:18 PM

Unless you want to also blame Bush for the Pemex corruption, then let's leave him out of this discussion...

American politics should remain in off topic so we don't fight with each other about it on the BAJA forums.

Because I offered some balance, don't think I want to start a debate or arguement.

I do not think only the left side should remain, and I find it strange that the members of the party of 'openess and free speech' gets so upset when members of the other party says anything to counter them....

So Bruce, politics and Pemex do go together, but Mexican politics only por favor!

Roberto - 6-14-2006 at 06:30 PM

There you go injecting politics into the discussion again. How do you expect to end a discussion you keep participating in?

comitan - 6-14-2006 at 06:48 PM

:biggrin:

rpleger - 6-14-2006 at 09:52 PM

:lol: