Bottle gas Refill v Swap

russhenn · Veteran Member

Bottle gas Refill v Swap

petengail · Guru

Absolutely corrrect russhen, with you all the way $40 for a refill is a huge ripoff... - I think BCF in Mackay only charged me $22 while someone wanted to swap for $36

-- Edited by petengail on Thursday 28th of October 2010 01:56:44 PM

Ma · Guru

Refill in Mitre 10 in Port Augusta was $23.80 for the same size russhenn

JRH · Guru

russhenn wrote:

I'm only new on the forum, so be gentle with me. We have been on the road now since Dec 09. One of my main gripes is the cost of gas bottles. Here we are in Margaret River(or as the locals call it Markup River, sorry) and needed to refill one of our 9kg bottles. I am not a fan of the swap system, as I know the conditions that my gas bottles are in. I have payed to have them re-certified after 10 years. Now at the local Mitre 10, we could do a swap for $33(8.5kg) or they could have someone refill it at $35. They told me we could go to the Shell servo and have a refill at $40.
Not Happy Jan,,,
So we drove 40km up the road to Busselton BBQ Galour and got it refilled for $27. (we also spent $120 in the town on other bits too)
So localities can lose a lot of business just by being just a little too greedy, and the damage I've just done to Margaret River business on here is probably100 fold.
But, my main thing is , it pays to shop around and not accept the first thing thrown at you.

Markup River is quite correct, Yuppy heaven and prices to match.

jimbo · Guru

I have just informed Markup River that Next Year I will By/Pass them.....Due to rip off retailers...That should teach them!

JRH · Guru

welcome wrote:

I have just informed Markup River that Next Year I will By/Pass them.....Due to rip off retailers...That should teach them!

I live in the West and I reckon that a lot more people should start boycotting these rip off towns.

Hylda&Jon · Guru

We are in Margaret river now also & am about to have one of my 4.5kg bottles filled, I'm use to about $23 for a refill but in a year of continous travel I have yet to do a swap as each time I have asked I've found swapping is $5 to $10 dearer. I was going to try Mtre 10 but not too sure now.

BTW sing out if you want to share a happy hour while you're here, we're at Gracetown CP as it's the cheapest we found, & a bloody good park too.

Cheers
Jon& Hylda

VHW · Senior Member

About the cheapest for refill in the Perth Metro area (don't know about the other WA cities/towns) are Ranger Camping, Go Camping stores and Mitre 10.

A lot of towns down south seem to think all tourists are "cashed up" and can afford to pay exhorbitant prices.

jimricho · Guru

I think I paid $27 for a swap at Bunnings In Cairns about a year ago.

justcruisin01 · Guru

The best we have found is BCF. As for ther swap system they are dearer ,we have the 4.5k bottles & were under cover, swaping was a big mistake as there is about ten versions of a 4.5 bottle . Some a little taller , shorter, smaller in diameter, different heights in the collar, they do not fit in the holders properely, had to do a lot of looking around to find the original size again , now i,m keeping them.

russhenn · Veteran Member

Thank all for your comments. I thought I would be openning a can of worms with this thread. We are staying at The Big Valley Campground about 10kn out of MR township. We have enjoyed the farm atmosphere here, it great and well priced compared to the town prices.
But we are about to move on.
And the one lesson we have learned is always bleed info out of the locals or other travellers about gas prices. Look out for places like BBQ Galour, BCF, Outdoor Camping places and even some Van Parks are usually best priced.

-- Edited by russhenn on Friday 29th of October 2010 01:05:36 AM

tonyd · Guru

Markup River indeed. As a native-born West Australian, I have long rated MR as the most overrated town in Australia. It is not attractive and is known as a wine region. The wine is highly overrated and grosssly over-priced. And as for the prices in the cafes . . .
There's a shemozzle at present over plans for a coal mine in the area, which has seen outraged citizens throwing hissy fits on TV.
You'd think the government planned to make it a nuclear dump or something.
Give it a miss. Busselton is great. Augusta ditto. You don't need MR.
Cheers, Tony

Hylda&Jon · Guru

russhenn wrote:

Thank all for your comments. I thought I would be openning a can of worms with this thread. We are staying at The Big Valley Campground about 10kn out of MR township. We have enjoyed the farm atmosphere here, it great and well priced compared to the town prices.
But we are about to move on.

We stayed a few days at Big Valley campground before coming here & it was ok but for 50c more a day we get more privacy, it's quieter and has MUCH better facilities here at Gracetown C/P

Cheers

Jon

Zoomtopz · Guru

I suppose I will forever blacklisted - after this .
Having worked as a Road Train driver in The Territory , and delivering to Road Houses &
towns . They pay a lot for freight , so to stay in business , they pass it on to the customer.
Don't forget a lot of things to the West , have to be freighted in too .
In my working life - I did NOT work for nothing , Did you .

brickies · Guru

Good point Zoomtop some people drive 50klm. to save a $1 but forget what it cost to do so. you pay for connivence I can remember when it wasn't that easy to pick up thing along the way and had to carry so much with you , you don't have to pay the price in these area you could drive back to the city and pick it up

jimricho · Guru

If presenting an alternative viewpoint is cause for "blacklisting" I think I would have been blacklisted long ago.

I think the freight excuse is sometimes overworked. It is a valid reason in genuinely remote locations, especially remote roadhouses where all operating costs would be much higher than in the city. MR's proximity to Perth hardly puts it in the "remote" catagory.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that MR wines are often cheaper at a Dan Murphy's store in NSW than at the cellar door in MR. Economies of scale (or lack thereof) are also a factor in price determination, especially in smaller places.

The main factor that determines prices is supply and demand and what the market will stand. Whilst ever "yuppies" are prepared to pay over the top prices local businesses will cash in on it.

Several years ago I visited Margaret River (before I owned a camper trailer) and when I saw the prices for accommodation I drove on to Augusta and stayed there.

-- Edited by jimricho on Friday 29th of October 2010 07:37:14 AM

BobnBev · Senior Member

Yes it,s the old freight thing, it cost this and it cost that.. But it dont cost 100%ok. went to fill a gas bottle in Leoanora wa $40 change over , $45 to refill ?????????

countryroad · Senior Member

This is an interesting topic...the price variation is amazing.

I wasn't going to use gas but use the butane in the spray type can.

Would the gas be cheaper than the butane even at $40.

How often do you refill....how many meals on average can you get out of a 9kg cylinder.

VHW · Senior Member

Zoomtopz wrote:

I suppose I will forever blacklisted - after this .
Having worked as a Road Train driver in The Territory , and delivering to Road Houses &
towns . They pay a lot for freight , so to stay in business , they pass it on to the customer.
Don't forget a lot of things to the West , have to be freighted in too .
In my working life - I did NOT work for nothing , Did you .

Agree with what you say Zoomtopz, especially in the Northwest, however Margaret River is in the Southwest which has heavily populated towns along the way, so not the vast distances to and in between like up north, so many of the delivery costs are defrayed by multi deliveries.

While transport costs do have to be paid for, I agree with the others that some of the vendors down south are just pure greedy. Even locally made items not requiring anything outside a region are way overpriced. I think they bank on the overseas tourists coming through on busses buying them.

-- Edited by VHW on Friday 29th of October 2010 01:55:07 PM

BobnBev · Senior Member

Further to the subject, At home our gas chappie will give you the 4th one free if you fill with him and at $ 25 a fill it,s not bad.. Plus I have gauges fitted to my 9kg bott. and at $40 plus testing i dont want to just swap them.. I dont know if canned gas is cheaper or not as we dont use it ..Our fridge is 12 volt so we dont use that much gas.. Heat shower water when we can on the camp fire. .Smile I have Scotch Blood.. Grandad would turn over in his grave if I used gas when the fire was going..........!

PeterD · Guru

Zoomtopz wrote:
Don't forget a lot of things to the West , have to be freighted in too .

Yes but Margaret River is only about 240 km from the refinery.

We are about the same distance and I paid $14.50 for a 4.5 kg refill at Summerland Point a couple of days ago.

-- Edited by PeterD on Friday 29th of October 2010 06:48:16 PM

jimricho · Guru

BobnBev wrote:

Smile I have Scotch Blood.. Grandad would turn over in his grave if I used gas when the fire was going..........!

Also if you put water (or worse, soda) in your Scotch!

JRH · Guru

jimricho wrote:

BobnBev wrote:

Smile I have Scotch Blood.. Grandad would turn over in his grave if I used gas when the fire was going..........!

Also if you put water (or worse, soda) in your Scotch!

Only a Philistine would pollute good Scotch with water or anything else for that matter.

BobnBev · Senior Member

Aye Jim me lad ,we see the world the same way, only black label as well , Is there any other....

Firefly · Guru

I don't know if this is a silly question but....

When you fill your car with gas, its metered and you pay what you put in right?

Why are gas bottles not the same? Rarely do we wait until its totally empty to refill, its more like get it done while we are here.

Is it possible they do it by meter or would that make things more difficult?

Ma · Guru

It is my understanding, and I could well be wrong and I'm sure someone will let me know, that the gas you put in your car and the gas we fill our bottles with is one and the same but the powers that be won't let them fill the bottles from the same source as our cars.

I think from memory, someone told me, that the price of the gas for the cars is a fair bit cheaper than the gas for our bottles.

brickies · Guru

IT is Ma , the problem is the fittings on filler for the car is different to the filler fitting for our cylinders , also you must having a trained operator to fill cylinder has if they are filled above 85% they could be dangerous when they subjected to hot weather

Ma · Guru

Wouldn't you think someone would come up with some sort of apparatus that would fit the bill though.

brickies · Guru

Ma you must be a trained operator to fill gas cylinder Gas is not something for everybody to play with , it is very safe in the hands of a trained person most accident happen when people who are not trained start messing around with something they don't fully understand just pay the money I have seen plenty incidents where the victim wish they had

the crow25 · Veteran Member

Whilst in NZ last year I had a gas bottle filled at a service station.Operator weighs the bottle and when it is full weighed again.Simple you get a bill for the amount of gas that goes in the bottle.A bit different to a fill at the local hardware or servo where you are charged full price even if you still had gas left in your bottle.A long way to go to fill your botle though.......Lol.