(S)hell’s well at Christmas

Shell Oil Company

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Popped into a Shell garage this morning – big sign tells me that I get 2 p off a litre if I buy a fourpack of Red Bull. I fancy giving a fourpack to my colleague and chum Peter Shellswell (real name) who survives on Morrisons own label energy drinks.

Bish basp splosh – 50 litres in the motor and into the shop I go.

Strike me down;- a fourpack is £6.80…  that’s £1.70 a tin.

With the £1.00 discount I’ve earned from £70 petrol spend, I can reduce the fourpack cost to £5.80 – only £2 more than the supermarket down the road.

The woman at the counter spots me doing my sums

 “Do they think we’re stupid?”

she asks me. Clearly she’s as bemused as I am by the maths . The bond ‘s there…its “us”  -(staff and customer) against “them” -(corporate behemoth).

The guy who was filling up at the pump adjacent to me walks up to the counter with a fourpack of Red Bull . He’s bought 10 litres of petrol , is driving a clapped out Datsun and he pays £6.60 for the fourpack.

“Petrol’s dear but at least the Red Bull’s cheap”

– he quips.

The lady at the counter and my eyes meet.

“We’ve sold a lot of Red Bull this week”

she quips

This kind of promotion might net the garages a few quid but it doesn’t say much for Shell as a corporate brand. The next time Shell’s name comes up  in some  corporate governance debate, I’ll reflect on the guy in the Datsun and the hole in his pocket.

About henry tapper

Founder of the Pension PlayPen,, partner of Stella, father of Olly . I am the Pension Plowman
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