Buy "Cold" Gasoline and Save Money

I tend to get a lot of emails forwarded to me. Most are just plain junk. There are some that tend to grab my attention. For example, I recently was forwarded the following from an anonymous source:

"I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline, but here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here is a trick to get more of your money's worth for every gallon.

"Where I work, we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

"Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps."

The stingy part of me immediately reacted and said "WOW"! Here was a chance to save some real money. That reaction only lasted for a moment or so before that rational, analytical, and somewhat cynical side of me took over and I asked myself if this actually made sense. It was time for a bit of quick research and some number crunching.