I’ve never seen a cop fill up at the gas station.

  • ggleblanc@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    53
    ·
    1 year ago

    It depends on where you live, but a lot of large US cities have their own fueling stations. That way, the city can buy fuel by the tanker load and avoid gas taxes.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s both. Tax exempt paperwork is annoying, and one of the best ways to minimize it is to minimize the number of purchases that you make. Buy in bulk when you can, because one large purchase is less likely to have an error (or at least, more likely to be noticed) than a hundred small purchases.

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          More than market rate for a tanker load. They’ll pay more for gas than the local gas station will, but still less than the gas station charges.

          • Donebrach@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            “Like-for-like.” I work in state government. Time ago we needed to get some video equipment so had to contract with a vendor to acquire it. They literally just bought it from B&H and sold it back to us.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      Loads of pros

      Tax is not insignificant, but they could already write that off.

      No middle man for what little profit comes from a gas station

      They can buy cheaper in bulk

      They’re not impacted by shortages and outages they control their own supply

      They’re not impacted by quality issues if a gas station gets water in one of their tanks.

      They don’t have to track individual purchases for every tankful

      No lines

      Officers not vulnerable while fueling when they can do it in private

      In many places they keep fueling gear in the garage where they park the cars and just refuel that tank with a truck from their own supply.

    • DharmaCurious@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      In my rural county the cops, school busses and basically all the public service vehicles like ambulances and plows fill up at the farmer’s coop, where farmers get cheap gas for their tractors. I have heard that this is not technically legal, because that has is specifically for tractors and has some kind of special price because of that, but I don’t know if that’s true or not. I know you’re not allowed to fill up your regular car there, but some of the farmer’s and cops do.

      • yabai@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think this is usually specifically for diesel fuel. Certain places have diesel fuel with red dye in it that is tax exempt. Any fuel you buy from a standard gas station has a good amount of tax baked into the price and it’s earmarked to go towards road and infrastructure repair. The thought process is, if you’re not using said vehicle on the road, you shouldn’t have to pay this tax.

        So, they dye it red, sell it only at special places, and you get fined pretty heavily if you’re found using it in street vehicles. Typically it’s truckers that do it because most American cars (including cop cars) are not diesel. And I’ve never heard of this setup for regular gas.

    • Trapping5341@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Still pay taxes even by the tanker. Can still get a lower price but fuel taxes are fuel taxes doesn’t really matter how you buy it.

        • Trapping5341@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Maybe. But in that case they would be exempt at a normal pump as well. Gas station by my house accept tax exempt transactions for the cemetery my family maintains.