The Blue Rhino Scam

Like many of you I try to be a good steward of the resources my Creator has provided me.  One way is by selecting where you purchase your propane.  The tare weight (T.W.) of a 20 lb cylinder is right around 17 lbs; this you will see stamped near the top of the cylinder.  So a fully loaded tank with 20 lb. propane will weigh 37 pounds.  At my local hardware store you pay for what you get; a fully empty cylinder costs me $ 16.50 to fill to get 20 lbs. of propane which is 4.2 gallons.  If I only want to top off my tank, say it's half full, I only pay $ 8.25.  By going down the road to the gas station I can get a Blue Rhino exchange for 22.95 and for that I get 15 lbs. of propane which is 3.6 gallons.

So here is the breakdown.    Hardware store   $ 3.93/gallon      4.2 gal. or 20 lbs = $ 16.50
                                              Blue Rhino           $ 6.375/gallon    3.6 gal. or 15 lbs = $ 22.95

One small way to save money.

Good tips!!

Just yesterday I took an old bbq tank to Riteaid to exchange, Had the old style connector on it and they took it. I have never bought or exchanged a tank before, I've always filled my tank at gas station. The cost for exchange was $17.95. I was wondering why their tank said 15 lbs on it and thought it was maybe a smaller tank, nope same size. I put it on the pod on the new dual tank mount and it matched.  Now it find out that ( thanks to this post) that blue rhino tanks are filled less and cost more! You learn something new every day! I would say scam except i got a real nice tank in exchange for a useless one i found, with propane for $17.95. I think I scammed them.

Only possible issue with exchanging to get a newer tank, is some of the exchange companies have anti-refill valves on their tanks.  Impossible for the local hardware store to fill it.  I recently had one of my tanks re-certified since they noticed it was expired.  Gave me a few more years for not much $ and it can be certified again later.

It isn't just Blue Rhino. AmeriGas does the same thing. If you do a quick search for "Class Action Blue Rhino," you will see a number of web pages dealing with this. It was in 2008 that Blue Rhino and AmeriGas reduced the fill from 17 lbs to 15 lbs. The settlement for the class action that allowed for $7.50 per tank (if one had receipts) or $7.50 total if one did not have receipts closed in 2012. There is one filed in 2014 alleging price fixing between Blue Rhino and AmeriGas. I think that one is still active.

The thing that gets me is that we are "purchasing" a tank of gas. It isn't like a deposit that can be refunded. If we get an old tank that is going to need inspection and testing before it can be filled, then it pretty much has to go back to them. The last one I got was at least made relatively recently, so it will have several years before it will need to be tested and requalified. One of the tanks I saw the last time I did an exchange was dated 1999 and I did not see anything indicating that it had been requalified. I left that one alone.

The DOT web site has an interesting article on the topic of inspection and requalifiation.
Requalification Guidance for Propane Cylinders

I don't plan to go back for exchange anymore. Costco fills propane tanks for a very reasonable price. Camping World also has a discount for Good Sam members. There are alternatives that are much less expensive.

As for the "useless tank" with the old style connector, Blue Rhino will take that connector off and replace it with a new one with the overfill prevention device. Then they will fill it and "sell" it to Walmart or Lowe's who will in turn "sell" it to you if it passes inspection.