Comments on: Cash vs. Credit Card: Gas Stations Charging Different Prices

By: Alec

Alec — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:28:49 +0000

Yeah this is now happening in Michigan also, I’ve noticed it at Bp and Mobil. Now here is the kicker, Mobil was charging 10cents more per gallon if you used a credit card, Bp was charging 20CENTS A GALLON MORE if you used a credit card. Now how the $*&# is that legit, I’m sorry its not. Bp go to hell! Something needs to be done about this. Oh and a comment on the signs they put reg cash, reg credit, then premium listed out so it looks like reg-mid-premium, VERY unclear. Just one more way they make the consumer bend over, how will they change the economy if they just charge us more for everything, don’t they realize that in doing that we CAN’T buy stuff? Stop bailing out corporations and bail out the consumers, DUH….. am I the only person who sees this? lol? For example: The Big 3. I NEED a car but cant afford one, ironic?

By: Robert Obernauer

Robert Obernauer — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:21:51 +0000

Actually I am a natural born citizen (4th generation by the way). I don’t want tax breaks from the government-I want capitalism to flourish. I want welfare done away with as well as all of the other government social waste (and I dont want to hear about the 3% of people that get welfare who actually deserve it). And FYI, I’ve never seen any person at a speedway without a turban on. The beauty of being in a free democratic country is that you can go anywhere you want for gas. By the way, I am the highest volume gas station in the area, and the main reason is that I have a large sign that says “AMERICAN OWNED AND OPERATED”. If Americans stopped using credit cards, it would dump TRILLIONS of dollars each year back into our economy. If you look at China, you will see that people there seldom use credit cards, which is why individuals are not in nearly as much trouble in this recession as Americans are.

By: Archibald Gillespie

Archibald Gillespie — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:01:33 +0000

Since you’re probably not a natural born citizen, you don’t mind the government getting involved to provide you with tax breaks.

Don’t worry, you and others charging extra to use credit is not a problem for me as long as I can go to a Speedway, Meijer or other non-credit charging station.

By: Robert Obernauer

Robert Obernauer — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:25:03 +0000

In my case, my cash price is cheaper than anybody elses credit price, so i cannot speak for others. Visa and Mastercard haven’t backed me in a corner, I have backed them in a corner. I am keeping them from getting away with robbing from merchants like myself, by encouraging there customers to put away the cards and pay cash. It IS the customers problem. Consumers are constantly looking to everybody else for solutions, but themselves. With your philosophy, how is General Motots, Chrysler, Bank of America, Citigroup, AIG and others my problem? The answer is that it isn’t, but their problems have become our problems–so why shouldn’t the high credit card fees I pay not become everybody else’s problem? The last thing that I want is for the Government to get involved in my business. Can you imagine Nancy Pelosi and Barach Obama regulating gas stations and merchant fees??? By charging more for credit cards (which I don’t deny doing), I, along with many others, are solving a problem for ourselves, without asking the Government for help. How can we ask for a more fair system from the credit card companies if they have a monopoly? They are the ones in control, and the ones who can make a system more fair. As far as profit margin, mine is healthy. I am a millionaire, and I want to make and keep as much money as possible, which is why I live in a capitalist country and society.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:25:02 +0000

In my observations, it’s the cash price that is the price competitive with the other stations that do not discriminate. You can call it a “cash discount” if you want, if that keeps Visa and Mastercard from revoking your merchant agreement, but you’re not offering a break to those who pay cash, you’re charging a premium to those who use credit cards to make up for the high merchant fees. I do feel bad that Visa and Mastercard have backed merchants into a corner… but that’s not the customers’ problem. Group together and fight the merchants for a fee system you believe is more fair, lobby the government for more oversight, or find a different business with a better profit margin.

By: ROBERT OBERNAUER

ROBERT OBERNAUER — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:49:16 +0000

Nobody is charging more for credit cards, rather it is a discount for cash. Nothing the credit card companies can do about it. Not even something Obama could do about it. I started this 10 years ago, fought off the credit card companies and the state department of weights and measures and consumer afairs, and I won at every stop. If the credit card companies were fair to the retailers, we wouldnt even have this blog going.

By: GloryBee

GloryBee — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:47:17 +0000

I just got off the phone with Discover Card 1-888-DISCOVER (1-888-347-2683) and apparently they don’t care if there is a difference in cash vs. credit card prices. At least according to the lady I talked to.

By: GloryBee

GloryBee — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:35:13 +0000

I just turned in a gas station just south of New Braunfels, Texas for advertising two different prices. Here is where you complain to MasterCard:
http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/contactus/merchantviolations.html
(Thank you Matt!) Sadly, they want the full name and address of the offending (and offensive) retailer, so make notes. Check mark the “The merchant/retailer is adding a charge for using your MasterCard card.”

OK, guys and gals, where do I complain to Visa Card and Discover Card?

By: NoDeceptiveAdvertising

NoDeceptiveAdvertising — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:30:46 +0000

This is a deceptive practice at best, and one I ran into for the first time today. The price posted on the board was evidently the cash price, but noted only in very small print. I did not notice the price at the pump was 5 cents higher than was posted on the board until after I had filled up. Only then did I see the additional small wording on the pump that said a 5 cent discount applied to cash transactions only.

I plan to pump exactly 1 gallon of gas from this station a few times a week from now on. Let’s see how they like a taste of their own medicine. I can’t wait to see if they try to slap minimum charge requirements on to discourage me. I’ll take great pleasure in turning them over to Visa/MC at that point.

Be honest and upfront with your pricing merchants! If you are advertising a cash price for your product, make sure the customer can read it before they purchase!

By: TiteWad

TiteWad — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:29:52 +0000

The gas station gets robbed by the bank every swipe of a card by the bank fees banks charge. Believe me some chump with a gun will only get chicken feed compared to what the bank gets from these fees in a month at a gas station.

By: TiteWad

TiteWad — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:21:20 +0000

And it cost money to provide the extra service. Pay up for YOUR convenience and let little old cash payer me not pay for YOUR services!

By: PumpMan

PumpMan — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:08:40 +0000

Low pay, no benefits, bad working conditions, safety violations..If you don’t mind these things then come work at WaWa…It’s time to unionize the Gas Associates..Employees need to organize so that WaWa will be required to follow the Law..Help us Organize at WaWa..Have the Teamsters or other unions contact us..thank you

By: Archibald Gillespie

Archibald Gillespie — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:25:26 +0000

Check out this situation:

I leave a softball game and I’m thirsty and low on gas. I stop at a gas station, I pay at the pump with my credit card, no qualms. I go into the station to buy a drink with my credit card and they say I can’t pay for that with a credit card. I left the drink on the counter and walked out as the attendant asked me to put the drink back if I’m not going to buy it :)

So I can spend 30 bucks on gas, but then they don’t allow me to buy a drink, poor customer service. Here’s my question:

Does it hurt the gas station if I swipe my credit card and pump in $.50 worth or less of gas and then end the transaction. May even do that over a few times over???? If so, this may be a good way to fight back ;) Especially a good way to get back gas stations that charge extra for credit purchases.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:56:00 +0000

This makes me so angry because I have a specific credit card just for gas purchases (Discover Open Road) that earns 5% cash back. Now it is pointless! I hope the gas stations get their payback with a huge increase in robberies, since now we all know they’re packing major cash :)
How you like them apples???

By: crash

crash — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:12:51 +0000

I use a credit card to purchase gas, simply because 1) its faster to swipe at the pump ( and here in NY, unlike NJ, almost all stations are self serve , so no attendants to handle a cash transaction at the pump; you have to go inside and actually stand in line with the people buying beer and twinkies !!) 2) I have online record of all my gas purchases and 3) since i use the discover card 5% cash back, the cash discount would need to be greater than the 5% im getting back. So far, for the cash/credit prices ive seen, its been exactly 5 % or less.

By: Lazaro

Lazaro — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:26:36 +0000

Frankly, I am appauld at this new development. If they can legaly do that then they need to fully advertise both prices so that you are not surprised when you get to the pump. A local grocery store in MA does just that. They advertise a price for those who carry their shoppers card and a higher price for those who don’t. That is a more ethical way of doing business.

I never carry cash. Everything is about convenience.

By: lucky

lucky — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:51:09 +0000

most branded stations are forced to have reader pumps by the oil company. The cost to run a card is usualy 2.5 to 3%do the math.

By: KLS NJ

KLS NJ — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:07:50 +0000

Really, why should the person who pays in cash be charged the extra 7 to 10 cents per gallon that is tacked on to a credit purchase? Why should I the cash customer be paying your credit charges privellage!! This charge is not collected by the oil company. This charge is charged directly to each gas station by the credit card company’s. So with all of the gas taxes (Federal and State) you really think the Moma and Papa stations are making a killing. You ought to think twice about that.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:33:45 +0000

More discussion about this topic at this link.

By: jj

jj — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:44:20 +0000

Statistically, the working class has always done better with Democratic presidents. Some of the worst years for the northeast were under Reagan which McCain of course wants to return to.

By: jj

jj — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:38:35 +0000

There is no labor union in New Jersey that represents gas station attendants. State law requiring this is supposidly for safety reasons.

By: Remav

Remav — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:34:50 +0000

Eric,

You don’t know how bad it is. In NJ we actually got it on the ballot (after *lots* of hard work) …but the blue state sheeple are so used to having the government (and now apparently the gas station attendents) take care of them from cradle to grave that they voted it down! I often heard “I wouldn’t know how to operate the pump” as an excuse. …especially from the women. Like government programs, once they were used to having someone else do the work, the cost no longer mattered to them… never mind that they would still have the full service lanes available to them. They screwed the rest of us good and locked us into this unnecessary/unwanted service forever. NJ is a state where the people truly do have the government that they deserve. It’s so frusterating to me to pull into a station & have to wait for some slow @$$ed lame third world illegal attendent when I could be in, filled, and gone before they can get the cap loose. What a bunch of LIB losers we have in this state… and you know what? The’re going to ensure higher taxes by electing Obama(nation) in Nov. Meanwhile they’ll all lament the mass migration of businesses out of here & mass migration of illegal parasites into the state. Their problem is that they compare everything to Utopia instead of Reality. 11 Million people and apparently at least 5.6 Million don’t have the brains to:

1) Insert Nozzle in tank
2) Select Grade and payment method
3) Begin Pumping
4) Replace Nozzle
5) Vote Republican or lose the above options

By: eric

eric — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:38:38 +0000

I think it’s funny that a state doesn’t even trust its citizens to fill
their own gas tank without mayhem ensuing. Living in Texas and
California for years, I can’t even *remember* the last time I
saw a full service station. How can you be trusted to vote
intelligently if you can’t even fill up a gas tank?

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:14:28 +0000

What REALLY stinks is that my car only takes premium. Now they’ve changed the big signs to list only the prices for regular/cash and regular/credit. How am I supposed to comparison shop for premium when i don’t know what stations are charging for it????!!!!

By: J. Schmidt

J. Schmidt — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:27:51 +0000

I am surprised at how many fear mongers are out there rearing their ugly heads. I do not work for an oil company, a convenience gas station, or for a credit card company. However, I feel compelled to state the obviously absent facts here.
I do own a small automotive service business and we have been reeling from the increases in credit card processing fees in the past couple of years. We spend on average, between $500-$900 every month, in credit card fees.
Now, from our perspective, the 45% of our customers who pay with cash or check, or even low cost debit cards, are going to have to pay higher prices, just as those paying with credit cards will, because we need to raise our labor rates to cover the ever increasing costs of doing business, specifically the costs associated with increases in credit card usage. Is that fair?
If I were a customer who pays my bills with cash or check, should I have to pay more because other customers use a payment form that actually costs the business a significant amount of overhead? (Keep in mind that it takes many repair bills to cover that expense every month. Considering that every sale must also cover other costs too: cost of parts, labor, taxes, building mortgage & property maintenance, tools, training, large equipment (like hoists), etc., and finally, a small fraction for owner profit.)
I only came across this article/discussion as I was looking for information on the legalities of offering a discount to customers who pay with cash (that means actual cash or check), or a little less of discount if you pay with debit card.
It’s unfortunate that when ever we feel wronged on an issue, we rarely get to the see the flip side of the argument.
What’s really going on with the retail gas price situation is that people are paying with credit cards, buying less in the convenience store (where the only real profits are), and the only ones getting rich are the fuel companies providing the gasoline (certainly not the retail sellers – check it out) and the credit card companies.
PLEASE stop bashing your local merchants, they are only trying to make a living – just like you. Look around at how many businesses cannot survive in the current business climate we have. Our only options are soon going to be large retailers and service companies, where you might have to park a mile from the door, stand in the snow and slush to fill your tank and wipe your windows, eat out of styrofoam containers, etc.
Really. They are the only ones who will be left – once you take the profit out of the small local businesses, and give it to the conglomerates who can save pennies but cuting your wages and insurance.
Take a real hard look at the credit card industry. The are making great profits, and even though people are filing bankruptcy at an alarming rate (we just had an employee go through it), the credit card companies keep giving cards to young adults without financial sense or experience, especially to struggling college students, and to mature adults that are already too far in debt to be able to pay them off each month. Not to mention the rates Visa, MC, Discover, etc. are charging to retailers to cover the extra costs associated with all the perks and programs promoted to those end card users. Often times the card users never really even benefit from those programs, but the credit card companies sure do!
Our economy is faltering, credit card companies lobby for laws that only protect them and their profits, AND the government will bail them out when they get into trouble. (Like the insurance companies that got bailed out after Katrina – even though they had lots of real estate they could have sold, and were making great profits!) (Golf anyone?)
Oil companies are posting record profits too! (Profits are from pumping & refining gas to sell, and from gas credit card fees.) Yet, our government still subsidizes this industry. Why?
Who is going to bailout the little guy, your corner market, local barber, or your auto repair shop when the expenses to their bottom line put them out of business because they can no longer compete with the big retail bullies (like Wal-Mart)? Just look at what happened to many of the little family farms – gone.