pull down to refresh

The first: Dollarized gasoline. A liter costs 0.5 cents. You can fill up your car any day you want, as long as the gas and electricity are available at the station. Sometimes, in a municipality, only one of the gas stations has electricity, causing long lines to form to fill up your car. For example in this case:
Second way: Subsidized or "free" gasoline. Obtaining this gasoline is somewhat complicated. I will explain the procedure in the municipality where I live, but I assume that similar procedures apply in other municipalities.
To begin with, filling up with subsidized gasoline is organized by the terminal of the last digit of the car's license plate, that is: Mondays for license plates ending in 1 and 2. Tuesdays 3 and 4. Wednesdays 5 and 6... and so on. But, (there is always a but) not all cars will be able to fill up with gas since they only give out 200 tickets.
For each gas station, there's a coordinator whose job is to organize and distribute the 200 tickets. These tickets aren't distributed on the same day, but rather a week or four days in advance. For example, today is Saturday. The coordinator texts people through a WhatsApp group and lets them know that on Monday at 6 a.m., they'll be distributing tickets for those scheduled to fill up on Thursday, i.e., those with license plates 7-8. This results in people lining up at the designated location from 2 a.m. to avoid missing out on gas, as approximately 400 people arrive to get a ticket, but only 200 are distributed.
These procedures lend themselves to various "traps." Some coordinators often sell tickets for $5. Others take advantage of the privilege and give tickets to family and friends, who in turn sell the free gas they purchased. Others (non-coordinators) arrive much earlier and then sell their space in line.
You mean a liter costs 0.5 dollars, not 0.5 cents, right?
reply
91 sats \ 1 reply \ @bief57 OP 17h
Isn't it the same? I mean half a dollar.
reply
0.5 cents is half a cent
reply
21 sats \ 1 reply \ @BlokchainB 16h
How much does it cost to fill up your car?
reply
157 sats \ 0 replies \ @bief57 OP 15h
I don't have a car, but my family's cars need 40 liters.
reply
21 sats \ 1 reply \ @villawolf 17h
Very well explained. I have an acquaintance who owns two vehicles and takes advantage of the fuel ticket system to fill up with heavily subsidized gasoline. Then he sells it by the liter at market price. I once told him, "You complain about the government, but from what I see, you’ve got a business going with subsidized gas." Unfortunately, that’s how the cycle keeps feeding itself.
reply
That's right, just like many people do. Some do it because they don't have a job, and they take advantage of that to at least make some money.
reply
Thanks for sharing.
These systems operate in parallel and are both legal? As in, the same gas station will accept cash and tickets or you go to different places for each?
It's a great example of how perverse and distorted non-price rationing mechanisms are.
reply
248 sats \ 5 replies \ @bief57 OP 19h
Yes, both methods are legal and work in parallel. Payment methods include cash in bolivars, transfers, or credit cards. Cash in dollars is also available. What's not legal is the ticketing of coordinators. It shouldn't be illegal for people selling free gasoline if it's their own and obtained legally. They're just trying to take advantage of a broken system. They're also trying to profit from long lines to generate some income by selling their spot in line to someone who didn't want to and couldn't get up early.
Another thing I've heard a lot is that gasoline is not as good these days and is very dirty, which causes car fuel filters to deteriorate quickly.
reply
It’s pretty normal for states to introduce a distortions and then punish people for trying to benefit from them.
reply
Yes, that happens a lot, for example there was a time when they were giving away cars and appliances, well in reality they were selling them at a very low cost, insignificant prices and they imprisoned the people who sold those products to others for higher prices.
reply
I also recall reading about crackdowns on bitcoin miners, who were taking advantage of the heavily subsidized electricity prices.
reply
39 sats \ 1 reply \ @bief57 OP 18h
Which is illogical, outrageous, and funny at the same time because they have mining equipment on military bases. I don't know if you saw a news story from a few years ago where a problem occurred in a prison and it came to light that the prisoners (the pranes) had mining equipment. I want to write a post about that.
Living in Venezuela is chaotic. I know because I'm from there. From buying flour to filling up your gas tank, as you explain @bief57 It's crazy.
reply
21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Malos10_ 13h
en mi ciudad solo tenemos la gasolina a precio completo (0.50$) y igualmente tenemos que esperar que nos salga el numero de la placa y con cola por horas...
reply
A ustedes les toca peor entonces, supongo por el hecho de que es una ciudad fronteriza y antes (no sé ahora) vendían gasolina en la frontera
reply
21 sats \ 1 reply \ @LibertasBR 14h
Even though it is difficult to get gasoline, it is still cheaper than in Brazil. Here it is around $1.05 per liter or $4 per gallon.
It is incredible and at the same time disgusting what socialism does to people. Just because fuel has tickets in its "free" form, the price of gasoline in dollars should be 4x what it is today. Is the price set?
reply
I see, it is much more expensive.
reply
21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bitcoiner1 18h
Is it the same in all the cities or the two options are only available in Caracas?
reply
both options are for the entire territory
reply
try using sats to pay for it, would they be willing?
reply
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @flat24 8h
Thank you for sharing this, these types of details are the clearest show of corruption in Venezuela and the deteriorated mentality of the population, on the one hand we see what happens with gasoline a and that is the same as those that happens with the dollars, there is a price sudcidiated by the government (cheaper) and then you have the price that the free market places In high amounts. They make a manual arbitration, they buy it cheaper per side, they sell the quotas in the ranks, there is no way to describe what is not with the next phrase "Chávez children"
reply
And one way not to buy it... 😉
reply
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @leo 16h
great insights, thank you.
reply
It is undoubtedly a continuous and hopeless suffering for all the people trapped in that beautiful country!!!
My secret wish is that the gas tank carrying the dictator who rules Venezuela explodes, leading him to a horrible and painful death!!!
Amen.
reply