Diesel & Gasoline: Now What?

XanaduRanch

*** Sin Bin ***
Sep 15, 2002
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Here we go again?

Alba was in Sosua today buying groceries and I had asked her and Cristian to bring back a 6 gallon container of diesel for the big generator. We haven't got the 1000 gallon storage tank completed yet so we've just been filling up the built in tank to keep running during outages that are now back up to 6-8 hours a day here. She ended up buying some from someone's jeepeta.

All of the service stations in Sosua refused her.

One of these mush heads running one of the stations said he had diesel, but he was saving it for the 'cars'. Say what? Someone please explain to me what difference it makes whether he pumps it into a car or into a red plastic container? Dominican 'businessmen'. I swear!

Anyway, anyone know what's up? The huelga? Government debt again? What? I sent a PM to my friend Greg at Coastal to find out.

Tom (aka XR)

P.S.
I swear if the outages continue, and they won't sell me RD$500 of diesel to keep the generators running here after spending US$7K on the project and being in the middle of my biggest programming project in five years, XR is going to go Postal! I'll leave a message explaining why and then take out as many of the idiot bastards as I can before they get me. :: smile :: I am kidding. Maybe.
 

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
3,562
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XR, I have run into exactly the same thing in the past in the East. It's them seeing those red plastic six gallon containers. They see red. We know they assume the containers will be in the forefront of us foreign red hordes intending to light-up every discarded tire in the country to show our support of the huelgas.

What we need to do is show up at the pumps in a Daihatsu with a 55 gallon drum in back that needs filling, then we get serviced. You figure it out.

Regards, PJT
 

XanaduRanch

*** Sin Bin ***
Sep 15, 2002
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What Dominican planning for a huelga ever shows up with a USDA approved red plastic container. Don't they usually just prefer old used 2-liter Coca-Cola bottles?

Cristian buys diesel at Coastal for me all the time. And they ought to know my wife. Well, I'll go down tomorrow and see if they will sell it to the white guy. Otherwise it'll have to be the 55 gallon drum.

Tom (aka XR)
 

Coastal

New member
Jul 14, 2003
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The reason we are not selling fuel in containers.

The situation is that currently there is a shortage of fuel in the country and we are being forced to adhere to the same quotas as the stations who receive from the refinery. Therefore, we have had numerous incidents of people filling drums with fuel to hoard or resell at higher prices and thus depriving the general public of normal vehicular sales of fuel. So I started with a ban on filling large drums or barrels, then people complained that if i filled a five gallon, why didn't I fill a 20 gallon, thirty gallon, etc. One fellow even went so far as to send a attorney to threaten me because I would not fill 6 55 gallon drums for him (he wanted to resell at higher prices in Rio San Juan). Anyway, so to put an end to this nonsense, I have banned all sales of any fuel in any container until the fuel supply stabilizes. This evaluated by me, Junior or my wife on a case by case basis. While other stations are limiting sales to RD 200.00 per sale or increasing the price (illegal by the way), we continue to sell all the fuel that any customer wants at the normal price in their vechicle until we run out of fuel. I apologize for this inconvenience but as usual a few nuts spoil it for everyone. I am trying to be fair to everyone during this difficult time and if anyone has a better idea in how to deal with this problem I am open to suggestions.


Gregory
Coastal Sos?a-Cabarete
571-2422
571-2421
coastal@codetel.net.do
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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Hi Greg down at coastal - I think you are dealing with this in an excellent manner. This is why all of us around there, support you and as I've said before, I've coasted down the hill on fumes but refuse to fill anywhere excepting at Coastal.

It would be great for all of us on the board if you can take a little time and keep us informed on any 'inside information' that you receive during this crazy time.

We live in a crazy place.
 

Adrian Bye

Bronze
Jul 7, 2002
2,077
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My new apartment has a 24hr generator which switches on automatically as soon as the power goes out. It is maintained by the building, they fill it, change the oil and everything else.

Additionally I have my inverter, AND the ability to connect my generator to run my apartment if their generator has problems.

This setup is very nice, and highly recommended. :)
 
Coastal

You know XR and Alba, and know that the 5 gallon container is for his planta, he doesnt drive a diesel car or truck, he fills with you all the time, as does Cristian.
He may be outspoken at times but will not be participating in the upcoming "Huelga", he is smarter than that.
Perhaps the Texaco might be the next solution.

Customer Service goes a long ways in any country, especially those who come to you all the time.:cool:
 

quaqualita

Member
Feb 4, 2002
312
13
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Thank you Greg for the info and I also would appreciate if you can keep us up to date with further info during the next days.

I also fill up my car only at Coastal, the service is outstanding, staff is extreamly friendly, and I never had anything to complain about the quality of the gasolin (not like e.g. at Texaco, where grumpy employees fill up you tank with 'dirty' gas, which my car notices right away.)

I'm sure everybody understands the difficult crazy times of gas shortages is not Greg's fault and he is dealing with it as good as he can.
Of course for those with diesel/gas generators it's a pain, and maybe there is a way that Coastal can make an exception and give or even deliver diesel to longtime clients?

I'm glad we invested into solar power instead gas generator as a power backup which runs most of my house even on rainy days, so at least at home we are ok.
And, if we really can't get gas to fill up the car in the next days, there are still horses and bicycles to get around - might be even funny!

I'm just trying to make the best out of it, freaking out, complaining and beeing negativ won't help anybody to get through this - if it's really getting that bad, which I still daubt, but who knows. Life in our paradise here has been allways an adventure.

quaqualita
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
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I have about 12 6 gallon containers that I fill with "Gasoil"

Then I fill my 55 gallon drum,then I fill all the Cans! This gives me over 100 gallons on hand.I have another 55 gallon drum for "Emergencies" which I have yet to fill!Over the years,I always go to the same Texaco station near my hous.I always have the samr guy fill my tanks,and then my car.I always give him 10 to 20 pesos,to make the bill come out "Even"! I can always get gas,and Gasoil!Just like in the "States" it pays to use the same gas station.ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
 

Coastal

New member
Jul 14, 2003
81
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Hlywud,

Hlywud, either you misunderstood my post or I explained my current operation poorly. There are no limits (if available) on fuel purchases for vehicles. The sale of fuel in containers must be approved by my wife, Junior or myself. We always approve sales in containers for normal use. Abnormal use, such as the fellow this morning who wanted two 30 gallon containers filled for his "lawnmower", are not approved. The decision on what is approved or not is certainly subjective, but is a much easier call than you may imagine. The "management approval" is in place to remove the decision of whether or not to sale from the gas pump attendants as they may make their decisions based upon personal reasons (ignore guidelines to sale to family, friends, etc) or intimidation by customers (yes, this has happened). If anyone is refused the sale in containers, ask for one of us and we will instruct them to fill it. This is a very difficult time for everyone, and especially for us, as we strive to satisfy our customers under these unfortunate circumstances.

On a personal note, customer service is a keystone to our business and we strenuously coach our employees on how to treat our customers as I always remind them that they are the people who pay the salaries. We, as the management ( myself, my wife and Junior) usually spend 12 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, running this business. This is evidenced by our level of customer service, cleanliness and efficiency. Many customers have commented that it is obvious that the owners run the business for this reason. I take great pride in this and I challenge anyone to find another gas station ( especially Texaco) or supermarket that even approaches our level of customer service.

Sales of fuel in containers during a heulga is a different situation. This is prohibited by the military and the police and is not a decision of ours. If you notice, during a huelga the gas station is manned 24 hours by soldiers from the military. They are not there by my request, they are sent there by the government to prevent violence against the gas station and to insure that no gasoline is sold in containers. If an attempt to sell fuel in a container is made, they will close the station at the very least. They are very serious about this; it is out of my control.

Finally, yes I do know Tom and I would have most certainly sold him the fuel had I known but I was unaware of the situation. Please ask the gas station attendant to get approval if they will not fill your container.

I want to thank all of our customers for your support and understanding and apologize again for any inconvenience. Lets hope that things will soon be back to normal.

Gregory
Coastal Sos?a-Cabarete
(809) 571-2422
(809) 571-2421
coastal@codetel.net.do
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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adrianb said:
My new apartment has a 24hr generator which switches on automatically as soon as the power goes out. It is maintained by the building, they fill it, change the oil and everything else.

Additionally I have my inverter, AND the ability to connect my generator to run my apartment if their generator has problems.

This setup is very nice, and highly recommended. :)

Nice setup Adrian! I can see you smirk! Between us and Xanadu, we have all of that too --- invertors, little gas planta (tiny), two little bigger gas plantas (pains in the butt) and BIG diesel planta (the brute), and invertors and so on so on, excepting the auto switch which is still in the process (read we're still putting money together for this necessary hardware upgrade). But you can stop smiling now, 'cause your diesel for your 24hr generator is also going to run out if this shortage business is not solved quite quickly.... just the same as ours.... Then you can come and plug into our little tiny - that runs three computers and one satellite dish at a time for a number of hours on gasoline.... ;)

Now, you've got to appreciate this - We will make a 'computer use roster' if the shortages continue and the electricity keeps going out - All unnecessary surfing on DR1 will be prohibited - All 5 of us making our living mainly through computers will line up for a desparately needed scheduled 3 hours of computer use. We won't bathe ('case that takes the waterpump to run and this energy can be better used for our computers). We'll smell bad, we'll draw water from the well, we'll save every ounce of energy to pump into the computers.... We will overcome!

I'm smiling at the moment however. I'm in the Turks and Caicos where there is lots of gas and diesel, 24 hour connectivity and no power outages. Maybe I'll stay here for a few days longer.
 

amy2761

Island Body
Mar 16, 2003
881
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www.dr1.com
Chris said:
I'm smiling at the moment however. I'm in the Turks and Caicos where there is lots of gas and diesel, 24 hour connectivity and no power outages. Maybe I'll stay here for a few days longer.

Grrrr - I'm on my way down to fill the car up now (at the Coastel Station).
Stay well,
Amy
 
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JanH

New member
Dec 26, 2002
497
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XR - sorry to hijack your thread - but I had to comment to Coastal, now that I know he's a DR1 member.

Coastal - As vacationers, who own a house in Casa Linda, we are extremely impressed by your store. The cleanliness is superb. Your staff is very helpful and when they see I have 2 items in my hand, they come up offering a basket. Your produce and meat have been very good too - unlike gas station/marts here in US. Many people we know in Casa Linda buy from you every day while down there and we have all commented on your impressive business.

XR - I wouldn't doubt in my mind that he would sell you the gas, based on his excellent customer service.
 

Adrian Bye

Bronze
Jul 7, 2002
2,077
138
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> Now, you've got to appreciate this - We will
> make a 'computer use roster' if the shortages
> continue and the electricity keeps going out - All
> unnecessary surfing on DR1 will be prohibited
>- All 5 of us making our living mainly through
> computers will line up for a desparately
> needed scheduled 3 hours of computer use.
> We won't bathe ('case that takes the waterpump
> to run and this energy can be better used for our
> computers). We'll smell bad, we'll draw water
> from the well, we'll save every ounce of energy
> to pump into the computers.... We will overcome!

I admire your energy and determination.. but is this a truly good thing to be spending time and energy on? There are places here in the DR where you can live without power interruption.. it might not be in the hills with an amazing view, but at least you'd be able to lift yourselves up to a solid base and then be able to pay a big staff to manage all this kind of stuff for you..

Thats my next steps after my current place. Managing electricity problems here is far too time consuming and distracting from business.
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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Adrian, for me, the problem is bigger than getting someone else to manage it. The issue for me is if the raw material to power the plantas which power the invertors and so on, go away, we will all be in quite serious trouble.

The paragraph that you quote, was mostly jokingly said, having lived through the previous set of outages at the end of last year. I think we all learnt a tremendous amount with those outages and we all made the changes to be able to live through similar circumstances in a much more elegant fashion. Here, where we are on the top of the hill with wonderful views, and in combination with XR, we have set together the back-up infrastructure to deal with prolonged power outages for weeks or months, without losing a beat. In fact, we have two sets of back-up. But we have to have something to power the back-up infrastructure if everything else disappears. In the absence of a large solar powered plant, we are dependent on generators, diesel or gas. If there is a threat to the supply of diesel or gasoline, my peace of mind disappears, whether someone else manages it or not. The 'treat' to our businesses become bigger than simply someone managing the problem. Like for instance price increases on transportation of goods in our distribution business, which could mean price increases to our customers - not only availability of energy from whatever source.

So, for me, this is a larger problem than simply living in a place where the problem could go away by using for instance building managers or condo associations. In fact, this thread came about with XR's staff (actually it was Alba I think) managing the infrastructure and running into a problem which turned out to be not a problem in the short term. Believe me, none of us business owners on the hill really ever lift a hand to deal with the infrastructure. We do the planning and the checking out and the supervision however. Most I ever do really physically, is flip the switch.

If I count, between XR and us, we employ 5 people on a permanent basis and lots on a temporary basis from time to time for specific jobs. We have even talked about what we jokingly refer to as the 'new bus service' to purchase another vehicle and possibly employ a full time runner to run for whatever for all of us. So, I guess we are making progress in building a self-supporting and self-sustaining community. The critical threat is that all our efforts will be for naught if we have a prolonged diesel and gasoline shortage. That is the critical for me at the moment.
 

XanaduRanch

*** Sin Bin ***
Sep 15, 2002
2,493
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I'm Back

Wow! Such a lot of posts while I was gone. I was at the doctor today being treated for a serious sinus infection casued by this stupid 'Relection Gripe' which just won't go away (Like Baldy hence the name) which has now spread to my eyes. I apologize in advance for the typos. I can hardly see the screen.

Greg is a wonderful guy, and he runs a wonderful store. I have not bought gasoline anywhere else since he open, except when in Santiago, and his store has been a Godsend to us here. Life would be much the worse without his store, and without Greg here on the North Coast. I must have chewed up 3 or 4 hours of his time while he was at work over the last few months asking every stupid question I could think of about big diesel generators and he very politely refused to point out how dumb some of them were in retrospect, gave me all I could ever need to know including a personal tour of his store's set up, and more.

Anyway, I just wanted to say to you all that I never had any doubt Greg would sell me the diesel if he had it. I just have been very sick and not venturing out. Alba and Cristian didn't know what to do. The first thing I asked her when she got back was if she talked to Greg, and she said that she hadn't. So I had planned on doing that today but Greg took care of me before I'd even left the house via e-mail. Nice guy!

I have just bought a 200 gallon diesel tank which will be arriving in a few minutes. When it does we'll be giving Greg a call to have his truck come on out and fill us up - if he has any left by then! I am going to add two more for diesel all tied together next month, for 600 gallons total, and add a fourth just for gasoline so we can maintain a 200 gallon reserve here as well.

Tom (aka XR)

P.S.
I never got to say 'Thank you' properly. But Greg you were a great help. If I can take you away from work on GroundHig's Day, Monday the 2nd, we're having a DR1 party a Xanadu. The steak and beer (probably bought from Ancla anyway!) is on me and Alba. By the way, PLEASE don't stop stocking that new Wycliffe (read, old Andre) champagne! It's disappearing because I am buying so much. If you get more, I'll buy it from you by the case!
 

XanaduRanch

*** Sin Bin ***
Sep 15, 2002
2,493
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Now to Hijack My Own Thread

If there is a Huelga on the 28th to the 29th I am thinking of burning a tire in the road here in solidarity. OK. Stop laughing. I know. Considering my road out front it'll be less a hazard to navigation than the road itself. But it's the thought that counts.

The shit thing here is taht some independent stations do not rely on the refinery here for their supplies. They have their own sources. But it would make the government look bad if they could sell al they wanted and the subsidized stations can't. It would quickly become apparent that the problems is that the ladrones and lambones in what Dominicans call their government are buying on credit, pocketing the money, defaulting on the bills when it comes time to pay, and then when they get refused credit they make veeryone do without just to hide their own thefts. THEFTS!

Worst part is I don't even really care if their lining their own pockets. The Dominican's voted for them! If they don't have the balls to say ENOUGH! Well, that's not my job! But how can I pay my taxes, pay for my family's food, clothing, housing,electricity, and on and on and on if I can't even buy resources that are readily available everywhere else, but denied to anyone living here just because they want to be able to blame everything else but themselves for it being so bad?

First electricity, then propane, now diesel and gasoline! I lived here under Fernandez and this shit just didn't happen. Ever! THIS SO-CALLED 'GOVERNMENT' HAS GOT TO GO! Hopefully that will be to straight to prison when the extent of the malfeasance is discovered. But I'll settle for just GONE.

Tom (akaXR)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
 
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

Wound up like a clock, that new Wycliffe (read, old Andre) champagne will do it every time.

Perhaps I will purchase some of that swill at the Coastal on my way to Xanaduranch, when I do find a ride, cab, moto concho or whatever.

I can't hardly wait to get down there -5 F now and wind chill 0f -24 F.

The gas is on, the hydro is working, the costs are rising here also like In Iowa as we prepare to journey to the south.
 

Timex

Bronze
May 9, 2002
726
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Geez Tom!!!!

Aka XR.

I know your upset, and I've been following your post's as to, what you've been working on for you back-up, when the lights go out, but your writing looks like your blood pressure is about to blow an artery.

Grab a bottle of Vino, leave some-one in charge of the kids, take your wife, with you, to a cabana with back-up power, AC, 52" TV, don't forget to grab some time in the jacuzzi!!!

I think about 2 hours might Calm you down.;)

I not making fun of you, honest, but I can see, your really starting to stress.

Tim H.:cool:
 
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