RE: right octane

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

> When was the last time you tested the fuel that came out of the pump to
see
> if it is really what it is supposed to be?  Maybe it says 93 but it is
really
> 89.  Who would know - until there was a problem you would diagnose as
> something else.  They probably all water the stuff down.
>
> I ESPECIALLY would not trust the state government to closely monitor the
> actual octane of gasoline at retail in a state with a Bush in office.  But
> that's just me.

I did a short stint at one point writing some software to load tanker trucks
and predict delivery times to stations.  It's a complex problem, complicated
by the fact that the tankers have multiple compartments which can be filled
to only a few different levels at the distribution center and are not
metered.  When they arrive at the station, they must either dump an entire
compartment into a tank or not drop it at all, which means that the tanker
truck can't show up too late (station runs out of fuel) or too early (tanker
can't drop the load in a given compartment).

Given all the constraints, it turns out it's fairly typical for a tanker to
drop what it can, as appropriate, then drop whatever happens to be left into
whatever tank it will fit in.

So, while not common, it is not unheard of for a tanker to drop 89 octane
into a 93 tank, and vice versa.

bs
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