gas price

[micky]

Yesterday after dropping someone off at the airport, I needed gas.

The first gas station had a sign 30 or 40 feet high and 10 feet wide, tha said Regular 3.59(9).

I pulled up to a pump and, unusually for me, I think, noticed a sign on the pump that said "10 cent per gallon discount for cash".

I thought, "Well I was going to go inside anyhow to get a newspaper. Great."

So I did. They had no papers but I gave the cashier 40 dollars.

Outside, he had zeroed the pump, but it still showed 3.59.9. I thought the price would be 3.49.9 since I was paying cash.

Went back inside. He said no. It would be 3.69.9 if I used a credit card.

What do you all think? What would you do?

[trader_4]

Complain to consumer affairs or similar, depending on what you have in your area. Here in NJ they have all kinds of bureaucrats sitting, waiting for those kinds of things. I remember when a local gas station did a promo with a radio station, where they were either giving away gas or offering it at like half-price, don't remember the details.

What I do remember is that state officials were there within hours, shutting it down, because it was illegal. Apparently there is some state law on the books going back God knows how many decades, that says you can't sell gas at less than cost. What's even more interesting is that there were bureaucrats sitting around, knowledgable about such obscure laws, and ready to come shutdown and cite it. Interesting, no?

[Art Todesco]

Here in NC and even in GA, the signs for a lower cash price say something like 3.59_9 "Cash" and if you run a credit card at the pump, the price will jump to the cc price. Most of the one that have a cash price, also include debit cards as 'cash'.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Back when Amoco stations were in my area, that's how they used to price their gas. You'd pull in assuming it'd be ten cents off the posted price, and then find a tiny sign on the pump indicating that it'd be a dime more if you used a credit card.

[Moe DeLoughan]

It's not the officials who jump on those, it's the competition. They're the people who lobbied for the law in the first place, and as soon as one of their competitors is seen to be breaking it, they report it. We had quite a circus going on here several years ago with a cult that bought a few gas stations, used their followers as unpaid help, and sold their gas below the legal minimums. The surrounding gas stations immediately reported it, since the point of the law was to prevent competition from moving into an area and driving the other stations out of business by artifically low prices (only to raise them once the competition was gone). And with their slave labor and tax exempt status, the cult could sell gas below cost and still make a profit.

[dpb]

On 4/9/2014 11:22 AM, micky wrote: ...

Pretty much the way all that use the cash difference discount do it that I've seen.

What I'd do would all depend on many factors...how badly I need the fuel at the moment, how the price compared to where I normally did business and whether had any cash as I don't have/use a debit card.

As a general rule I don't frequent those places as generally one can find stations that don't surcharge at equivalent or near-so prices so there's no point in it. Excepting for travel, all our fuel is bought at the bulk distributorship on account excepting for what Lynda puts in her car using the Dillons grocery discount. That 10-cent off pump price ends up generally at about 2 or 3 less than the billed price from the distributor.

[micky]

There was a place 5 blocks from my home, an Exxon, that charged more for credit, but I'm 99% sure their signs made that clear, and how much each cost, before one pulled in.

Other than these two, I don't remember any discouts for cash.

Was worried I'd run out of gas while taking a person to the airport, but the low-gas-light hadn't even come on yet.

I can't keep track.

I had both.

I told them I wanted my money back and even though I'd turned down the receipt 4 minutes earlier, because I was sure I wouldn't need it, he gave me the 40 dollars with no trouble. After all, he just works there.

On the way out, I looked at another customer's pump and he was paying the 10cents more.

[Frank]

Simple. Shell station near me pulls similar crap. I just don't go there. I've driven out of stations where my credit card costs more than the price on the sign.

[nestork]

Micky:

That's called "misleading advertising", and you might want to call your state or provincial government and talk to someone in the Consumer Affairs department.

If the advertised price is $3.59 and a sign says "10 cents off for cash", then the price you pay should be $3.49 per gallon.

What they should do is set the price on the pump to $3.69 and put up a sign saying "10 cents off for cash". Then, you'd know what you're getting into.

By the way, it's real risky to pay for your gasoline at the pump with a credit card. There are only a few keys which open every gasoline pump in Canada and the USA, and all someone has to do is get their hands on a set of pump keys and put their own card reader into that pump. That card reader will gather all the information on every credit card that's put into it, and save that info for whomever installed the card reader. As often as not, it's the guy working at an all night gas station that's putting his card reader into the gas pumps to gather credit card information. Here in Canada, our CBC program "Marketplace" did a study on people who had lost money because someone had obtained their credit card information and pin numbers, and they found that the highest percentage of those occurances were when people used their credit cards to pay for gas at the pump. And, it was because the security of a gas pump is minimal compared to all the security against credit card information theft there is on other purchases, like in-store purchases.

[Ernestine]

Got Photoshop or a page layout program?

Whip up some flyers for $2.99/gal gasoline at this crooks service station and distribute them all around. Maybe even toss in a free car wash. Hehehhhheeeeeheheeeeeee!

[clare]

Where I generally buy my gas (Canadian tire) I get a minimum 2 cent per liter discount automatically at the pump when I use their special gas card. If I spend enough I can save 8 cents per liter

[Bubba]

The Shell stations in my area all have those loud obnoxious pumps that blast advertising at you while you fill your tank.

So I always go to the BP station where the pumps are nice and quiet.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You can be sure they do. Gas Station TV is a big deal. They do give some news and weather too.

[hrhofmann]

Here in the Chicago area, places that have car washes post prices 10 -15 ce nts lower than competing gas stations. Then, they post in tiny letters (wi th car wash) underneath the posted price, and also lower down on the sign t hey post the 10 -15 cent higher price with no notations. But it is always the 10-15 cents cheaper price that goes on the top of the sign and the larg est size numbers.

[gopher stew]

blast advertising at you while you fill your tank.

check with the state or your insurance agent. if these video terminals don't meet nec class i division 2 requirements they can't be used near the pumps.

[micky]

Even that would be better than not posting it at all.

I made a point to look at the sign again before I left, but now that I found the Ann Arundel County Department of Consumer Affairs, I feel the need to look again, and take pictures. My friend comes back in about 2 weeks and I'll probably pick him up, so I'll look then. It's right next to the air freight offices.

I've also looked at other stations and found one with the letters C A S H, in 3" letters, vertically on the street side of the 30 foot pillar that, with the other pillar, holds the prices. That's probably big enough to satisfy me. But there are many stations to check out.

[micky]

Seriously? I thought it was just a stunt on some late-night tv program.

My gosh.

[Bill]

Ours are mostly some asshole hawking 99 cent gas station coffee. Yuk!

[bob haller]

I dont like gas station TV but am not there long enough to really irritate me....

SAMS club and costco are generally 15 to 20 cents per gallon for gas. PA go venor corbett stuck it to everyone ramroding thru a gas tax and fees increa se, much of it to go mass transit. In pittsburgh thats PAT Transit, they ha ve built 2 bus ways and one light rail to the airport none of which ever go t anywhere near the airport:( however they did build a tunnel under the riv er, while a mostly abandoned rail road bridge could of been used for a frac tion of the cost, and included service to the convention center....

corbett gutted the $ for education I sincerly hope he DOES NOT GET RE ELECT ED!

If he has a campaign rally around here I will go to heckle him. he is the w orst govenor pa has ever had

[bob haller]