Things that used to be free...

[CardsFan]

But, but, but there will be people who come by every week to get their "weekly" free pressure gauge.

Costco guys would have to log into their computer to note who has been given a pressure gauge, and who has not. Lots more work!

You cannot win.

PS. No. People will ask how they are going to fill their tires if the pressure is low. You've got to give them a free compressor too, to go with the pressure gauge. Costco definitely cannot win!

Yeah. You got me. No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[MC Rider]

Gas station near me said, just punch in the code written on the side of the machine.
Had to wait 5 minutes in line to learn that. Oh well, pay more attention and fill at home before the light comes on is easier.

 

[NW-Bound]

And speaking of air/water at gas stations, one gas station/convenience store a few miles from me has a nice row of vacuuming stations.

Yes, you read that right. In a section of their large parking lot, there are about 10 bays, where you pull in, and use a large overhead vacuum hose to clean the interior of your car. Free. I drove by several times, and always thought it was coin operated. My SIL who lives in the area said it was free. And indeed it was. Son of a gun!

Now, that's something really against the trend. And servicing these vacuums and cleaning out their filters is a lot more work than maintaining the air/water dispenser hoses.


PS. I have used that vacuum station only once. I still find doing at home on my driveway, using my own vacuum is better. I do it at my leisure and without having other cars crowding around me.

 

[aja8888]

3 articles a month or something?

Edited to add: they have sharply cut down the free content but it looks the site is no longer linked to my account.

Actually, I get a email from them daily after market closes that contains four articles. I also look at a few I find during the look at the four. I have no idea why I have this access but I have been a non-paid member for a very long time.

 

[Sunset]

We got an Uber Eats coupon for $20, so I'm about to place a very rare (for us) delivery order to a local restaurant. In addition to tax, and requesting a tip in advance for the driver (since I have no cash to hang on the door for him/her, I'm adding one, but not the 20% suggested), they have added $4.50 in "fees." No explanation, just "fees."

I've gotten those discount coupons from various food delivery places but don't use them.

Uber Eats and others charge the restaurant 30% of the food cost, so basically the restaurant cannot make money. This is in addition to what they charge the customer.

 

[Badger]

Very odd. When I had new tires installed @ Costco, they were filled with nitrogen. While I am not convinced this is necessary, they did tell me that I can "swing by" anytime to have them checked...and as far as I know, there isn't a nitrogen filling station there (for customers to use) and adding ambient air defeats the purpose of nitrogen-only. Perhaps they have modified the policy to those that purchase tires @ Costco?

I fill my tires for free at home and get at least 78% Nitrogen in the process. If i use the bicycle pump I also get some exercise to keep my beefcake figure for my wife or I could use the little electric pump.


Cheers!

 

[mystang52]

I'm told this has to do with averting damage to the site, caused by stupid, careless visitors. You wouldn't think people could damage gigantic stone slabs, but given enough of us, we can mess up just about anything

I think you're correct:

 

[Dtail]

About the only free thing I miss is the content of WSJ and Bloomberg Web sites.

Now, I would not mind paying for a subscription (I used to subscribe to several monthly and weekly printed periodicals), but their fee is way too high.

Same here.

 

[RobbieB]

I've always (3 decades) had an air compressor in the garage. The latest is copper piped T split to a drop on either side of the door. One drop is plugged to a 50 foot hose reel and air at home is no problem.

If I have to pay on the road, it will be very easy compared to changing the tire (slow vs fast leak) not to mention if I buy gas (in California) the air is free.

 

[mountainsoft]

Been a while but we found out battery dead in a hotel parking garage. Few people around. I had cables.

These days I carry a charged up jump start battery in my trunk. If my main battery ever goes dead I can jump start myself. No need to rely on anyone else who thinks I owe them for doing the right thing.

 

[mountainsoft]

-shopping bags at grocery store

Our stores are supposed to start charging for plastic bags Oct 1st. The funny thing is we were already using our own bags before COVID and they refused to take them once COVID hit. Now they want us to use them again.

 

[travelover]

Our stores are supposed to start charging for plastic bags Oct 1st. The funny thing is we were already using our own bags before COVID and they refused to take them once COVID hit. Now they want us to use them again.

I know. Given that we have a pandemic every hundred years, I can't believe they don't have the rules straight by now.

 

[Marti]

Chinese restaurants didn't use to charge for hot tea; now it's usually $2 or $3.

 

[Sunset]

I fill my tires for free at home and get at least 78% Nitrogen in the process. If i use the bicycle pump I also get some exercise to keep my beefcake figure for my wife or I could use the little electric pump.
.........

You made me think.

Since the entire selling point of Nitrogen is that it leaks out less due to larger molecule, and you refill a tire with air, then the Oxygen and CO2 leak out faster again. Shouldn't the tire naturally end up 99.99% Nitrogen

 

[Gumby]

You made me think.

Since the entire selling point of Nitrogen is that it leaks out less due to larger molecule, and you refill a tire with air, then the Oxygen and CO2 leak out faster again. Shouldn't the tire naturally end up 99.99% Nitrogen

Wouldn't Carbon Dioxide be the largest of the 3 molecules (CO2, N2 and O2) and therefore the slowest to leak?

 

[Amethyst]

The Uber Eats offer I received, contained a link to participating restaurants in our area; plus a promotional code (letters and numbers) that I plugged into the completed order. The code is what gets the $20.

The $20 is a promotion from Uber Eats itself. The restaurant I chose, does not charge a delivery fee (some do). The $4.50 "fee" is not explained. I assume it's to pay for the plastic and styro containers, plus the labor of packing them. I wasn't very happy this time, as one of the containers had leaked all over the paper bag - probably got on the driver's car, too.

I got an offer from Uber Eats too, but did not use it, so do not know how it works.

Is the $4.5 the fee paid to the restaurant? Perhaps the $20 only covers the delivery cost, and the restaurant charges extra for packing?

 

[Aerides]

The fee is the cost for uber to pick up and delivery the order, and pay the driver. Otherwise the driver is working for only tips? It's the cost of convenience.

The cool thing about Ubereats and these other services is they cover a lot of places that didn't do delivery to begin with, and you can mark the order "leave at front door" and never interact with the delivery person.

I save time by not driving to the place to get the thing. That's usually worth the $4 because the main reason I'm doing delivery is either I don't have anything I want to cook, don't feel like schlepping to the store, and don't feel like driving to do pickup.

 

[Gumby]

We've never had cooked food delivered to our house. The young neighbors across the street do it all the time. I've seen the same Uber driver several times now. He leaves the food on the bench next to their front door and sends them a text as he's walking back to his car. They've never come face to face as far as I can tell.

 

[euro]

You made me think.

Since the entire selling point of Nitrogen is that it leaks out less due to larger molecule, and you refill a tire with air, then the Oxygen and CO2 leak out faster again. Shouldn't the tire naturally end up 99.99% Nitrogen

I have not read up on what the justification is for nitrogen use, but I can assure you that oxygen is a larger molecule than nitrogen (molecular mass 32 grams per mol. Vs. 28 grams per mol for nitrogen).
My guess is that it’s use has to do with the fact that oxygen can slowly degrade rubber over time, while nitrogen is chemically very inert?

 

[ERD50]

You made me think.

Since the entire selling point of Nitrogen is that it leaks out less due to larger molecule, and you refill a tire with air, then the Oxygen and CO2 leak out faster again. Shouldn't the tire naturally end up 99.99% Nitrogen

Yep, only a few cycles of topping off gets you very near 100% Nitrogen.

Wouldn't Carbon Dioxide be the largest of the 3 molecules (CO2, N2 and O2) and therefore the slowest to leak?

Brilliant! We can solve Global Warming by filling our tires with CO2 instead of air or Nitrogen! CO2 sequestration, and we get our tires filled at the same time. What's not to like?

Though we'd need to recapture it when we change tires, and you might be fined if you get a flat and release all that CO2. Details.

-ERD50

 

[mpeirce]

I have not read up on what the justification is for nitrogen use, but I can assure you that oxygen is a larger molecule than nitrogen (molecular mass 32 grams per mol. Vs. 28 grams per mol for nitrogen).
My guess is that it’s use has to do with the fact that oxygen can slowly degrade rubber over time, while nitrogen is chemically very inert?

Here’s a pretty detailed explanation

https://www.getnitrogen.org/pdf/graham.pdf

Are Nitrogen Molecules Really Larger Than Oxygen Molecules? The correct answer, with respect to “permeation”, is yes. Graham’s Law Explained: The Difference between Effusion and Permeation

An excerpt

The reason that O2, despite a larger MW 32, has a smaller diameter than N2 MW 28, lies in the electronic structure of the molecules. As indicated by quantum mechanical theory of molecules, the electrons of a molecule form a diffuse "cloud" surrounding the nuclei of the atoms in the molecule. The electron cloud around the oxygen nuclei in the O2 molecule is smaller, more compact in size, due to attractive electrostatic interactions between the electrons in the cloud and the greater positive charge of the nuclei of the O atoms in the O2 molecule. Each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its nucleus, while each nitrogen atom has only 7 protons in its nucleus. Thus, the overall size of the electron cloud of the O2 molecule is smaller than for N2, in part because its electron cloud is drawn in closer to the O nuclei by the greater positive charge on the O nuclei.

And concludes

I hope this helps clarify why O2 permeates faster through rubber than does N2 and a major aspect of why it is a good idea to significantly reduce the amount of O2 used to fill tires by replacing most of the O2 in air with enriched N2. Since N2 permeates through the tire rubber more slowly than would O2, using enriched nitrogen instead of air for tire filling contributes to better maintenance of the proper inflation pressure for the tire. Better pressure maintenance contributes to reduced tire wear, so that tires last longer and tire replacement costs are reduced.

 

[38Chevy454]

Another fact is that the nitrogen is typically very low moisture, whereas regular compressed air has higher moisture content. This moisture does expand and contract more with temperature. So in theory the nitrogen is better for temp pressure variations.


That said, I think the whole nitrogen in tires is just a gimmick to make extra money. On a normal passenger car or truck application it doesn't make enough difference to justify the use and cost. I use regular old compressed air in my tires of all my 10 vehicles. I have my own compressor and can check my air pressure at home instead of trying to find air when in town.

 

[RunningBum]

These days I carry a charged up jump start battery in my trunk. If my main battery ever goes dead I can jump start myself. No need to rely on anyone else who thinks I owe them for doing the right thing.

I love those, and I've used it once. Many of them also have USB outputs so you can recharge your phone when camping or wherever.

 

[Which Roger]

Most of what's described above was never really free, it was built in to other payments. Nowadays it seems more palatable to charge fees for every possible product or service than to increase broader base costs.

Bingo. Anything that's "free" is essentially a tax on a broader population. A good example is paying to check a bag on a plane. Why should someone who has no checked baggage subsidize those who do?

 

[mountainsoft]

I know. Given that we have a pandemic every hundred years, I can't believe they don't have the rules straight by now.

Yeah, I'm whining about something that isn't a big deal, but I never understood the restriction on reusable bags. First of all, I've never heard of anyone getting COVID from a reusable bag (or from any object for that matter). But more important, what about the 40 other items I touched when I put them in the cart, and touched again putting them on the belt at the register? Surely they could be exposed to COVID from those items just as easily as my reusable bags. The whole thing seemed to be based on fear more than science and common sense.

In any case, I follow the rules and whine about it on this forum...