Free Gas in South Dakota

I found this link on another totally unrelated site that I look at from time to time. The guy said this is legit. I looked into it and sure enough it is. The tourism people in South Dakota are giving away free gas. I know its only $20.00 worth but what the heck. ....its only good til the end of august. No this isnt spam, I am a legit person and a member of the forum and am not associated with the tourism folks of south dakota in any way. If the moderators feel this belongs elsewhere feel free to move the post.

Thanks for the link!

There is a little bit of fine print - you have to be from Kansas, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Missouri, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, or Nebraska - but otherwise, it looks good. I was a little concerned that it would only be good for E-85 fuel, which only a handful of cars can use, but it just says ethanol related products, so I assume the voucher can be used for the 10% Ethanol blend found in almost all gasoline in the midwest.

If you are heading to South Dakota this summer, its certainly worth checking out!

I'll add an update, according to an Associated Press story, more than 10 thousand people have already requested the Free Gas Voucher.

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

I'll add an update, according to an Associated Press story, more than 10 thousand people have already requested the Free Gas Voucher.

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I wonder if they were ready for this kind of response? I hope someone posts who has received one of these things!

Mark

I applyed yesterday, since I'm hoping to make a trip out there later this summer. I'll post an update when I actually get it.

Sorry about not posting too many details in my original post. I found the free gas offer on my lunch break at work. I had just a few minutes to post it here as I felt it should be shared with all. I am aware of the overwhelming demand for the free gas vouchers as noted by the 10,000+ requests for them already. I read even farther into the fine print on this and found that there is only going to be 3,000 vouchers issued (if I am reading that correctly). I agree that maybe they weren't thinking the response was going to be so huge. Maybe they will give more out if the demand is high enough. After all $20 doesnt buy a whole lot of gas and one has to fill up at least once in SD, so they would get their money back pretty easily. I have applied for mine and several of my road trip friends, I will post again, if and when the vouchers arrive.

I hadn't caught that 3,000 limit until you posted it.

However, I'd be willing to bet that a large number of those who have requested the vouchers didn't read the fine print that says you have to be from one of the 10 states listed to be eligable.

At least, you'd think if they'd already maxed out the offer they would take down the form on website.

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

At least, you'd think if they'd already maxed out the offer they would take down the form on website.

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I don' think that was the intention -- the promotion just made a good "hook" -- I think the intent all along was to promote the use of ethanol and therefore they will continue to promote their primary message point long after the 3000 vouchers have been used up. It is possible that the 3000 were gone long before the site placement went live.

Mark

A "hook" it very well could be, but sometimes those types of advertising schemes wind up backfiring and causing more harm than good. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this really pans out.

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Originally Posted by galaxie50059

A "hook" it very well could be, but sometimes those types of advertising schemes wind up backfiring and causing more harm than good.

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Agreed, much of the marketing of the ethanol additives seem more like renditions of the "lil' engine that could" than for-real marketing efforts. One of our analysts, Alice Zyetz, wrote an overview about the related Bio-Diesel industry in this report.

Mark

Just passing along an update, my $20 dollar gas voucher arrived in the mail today. Everything looks nice and legitamate.

Now I just need to get out to South Dakota and use the thing!

I got my free gas certificate in the mail on Saturday. Hopefully, I can get out there is summer to use. My recent trip plans feel through due to an unforseen family emergency.

Thanks to Midwest Michael and galaxie50059 for proving me wrong -- it was not a marketing thing afterall. I wonder how many actually got them though?

Mark

I'm rather political although I don't ever want to bring that here, but my knowledge of politics might give you some insight into this promotion for South Dakota.

When South Dakota passed a new abortion law (I really don't want to get into specifics on this forum so don't ask me about the law itself), it really upset a lot of people. A campaign was mounted to encourage people to contact South Dakota and let them know that they would be boycotting vacationing in South Dakota because of this law. So, this promotion, was created as a way to combat that.

Actually, I thought it was a pretty clever move by South Dakota tourism. Kudos to them on a great idea.

I recently lost a good friend and road trip companion of nine years to a political debate. I am leaving this one alone.

It is totally legit. I got my free gas voucher a few days ago. Also as one person pointed out...you don't have to buy the E-85 gas. Go for the 10% ethanol unless you have a newer flexible fuel vehicle. E-85 is quite common here in Minnesota and I tried it once by putting a 50/50 mix in my car and it seemed to work okay but it isn't recommended. I have relatives in southern Minnesota so I'll probably bomb over through Ortonville and head into Millbank to redeem the coupon. South Dakota is a great place....and years ago I travelled through there much more frequently....it is a long stretch over to Mt. Rushmore you know, through the badlands....so don't try it on a little motorbike....

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Originally Posted by searchengineer

It is totally legit. I got my free gas voucher a few days ago.

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Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Thanks for the updated info.

Mark

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Originally Posted by searchengineer

Go for the 10% ethanol unless you have a newer flexible fuel vehicle. E-85 is quite common here in Minnesota and I tried it once by putting a 50/50 mix in my car and it seemed to work okay but it isn't recommended.

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As you probably know, E-85 is actually far more common in Minnesota than anywhere else. I believe there are about twice as many E-85 stations in MN than in the state with the second most (IL). Of course, this isn't a surprise coming from a state that mandated 10% ethanol in all gas back in the early 90s and now wants to make all gas at least E-20.

I too have done some experimenting with E-85. I've tryed various levels of it in the 1990 Toyota. I figure the car's still got a carborator, what's the worst that could happen? If I go more than a 50/50 mix the car becomes very hard to start and even more sluggish than the 1.5L engine usually is. Even at a 30-40% blend I notice a distinct lack of horsepower, but it otherwise drives fine in general use.

Needless to say, I'm I have no plans to start using with it in my more modern non-flexfuel vehicles.