Verizon service maps out cheap fuel

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Verizon service maps out cheap fuel
BY ROLF BOONE
Verizon Wireless is offering a new service to its customers who have day-to-day concerns about where to find the cheapest gasoline prices.

Verizon, along with California-based MobileGates, have teamed to give customers the ability to search for the cheapest fuel nationwide using an Internet-equipped Verizon wireless phone.

The service, known as FuelFinder, can search by city, state or zip code for the cheapest fuel in areas across the country. It also provides maps and driving directions.

About 50 percent of Verizon’s customers have tried the service, according to Charlene Harris, manager of the Verizon Wireless store at Westfield Capital mall.

Harris demonstrated the service Friday afternoon. After searching for gasoline stations using the Olympia zip code of 98501, she came up with eight gasoline stations that were selling regular unleaded from $3.15 a gallon to $3.22 a gallon.

FuelFinder also can search 110,000 gasoline stations nationwide, drawing on information that is updated every two hours, Harris said.

Shoppers at the mall Friday afternoon were mostly supportive of the service.

“I think it’s really neat,” said Danielle Brechwald of Olympia, who said she spends about $30 to fill the gasoline tank in her car.

Greg Flores and Arianna Moran of Lacey said they spend about $40 to fill their vehicle.

Moran added that she would use the FuelFinder service if it identified gasoline stations that weren’t too far from where she lives.

Don McClune of Olympia said he didn’t think he would use the service, though he recently spent $100 on fuel to travel from here to La Grande, Ore.

“I think I know where the good prices are,” McClune said about the Olympia area. “I fly by the seat of my pants.”

McClune felt the FuelFinder service might be better for a bigger city, where a user could search a much larger area for the best fuel deals.

Store manager Harris, who commutes to Olympia from Tacoma, said she uses the service daily. Each time it leads her to a different gasoline station, she said.

To get the service, Verizon Wireless charges $5 a month for an Internet service it calls Mobile Web 2.0, plus per minute use charges. FuelFinder costs $1.99 a month.