OT - Gas Prices. Now I have to carry cash.

[bob haller]

the cost to take cash is likely more than the cc fee

securing handling counting taking to bank likely by armored car all cost money

[DerbyDad03]

I can state with full certainty that both BJ's and Home Depot take cash at their self checkout lanes.

I think Lowes does too but I'm not 100% sure.

[George]

Thats just the FUD that has been used by the credit card companies for many years. A family member has a very responsible job at a large organization (over $14 billion last year) that has good analytic systems in place and they know it costs considerably less for them to handle cash than credit cards.

But the cut the CC companies gets is a lot more.

[gpsman]

I never cease to be amazed at what people will do to save 60 cents on a tank of gas when they'll often pay $8g for water, $16+ for coffee (guilty).

They sit and wait and block traffic to save 40 cents at a local Swifty when the Marathon station a half mile away is usually 3-5 cents less than that, and you can pull right up to an empty pump and pay no more for credit.

I got $!/ea. off 17g last night via the Kroger fuel program, paid nothing for credit, pulled right up to a pump, got out onto clean cement, cleaned the winders, lights and mirrors with the provided solution and squeegee (in good condition) and ample supply of paper towels, then took the legible receipt from the unit and did not have to "SEE ATTENDANT" and wait behind 40 nitwits buying lottery tickets or contemplating the pro/cons of a lighter in the shape of a skull. -----

- gpsman

[krw]

their self checkout lanes.

Usually. I don't often use cash at such places but I did at HD today. The damned thing ate my Jackson and sat there thinking. They had to call a manager to the front (a 10min wait) to override the system. The stupid thing then gave me my change plus two $10 bills. There is a reason I don't like giving cash to a machine.

Yes.

[krw]

I do but it's not the 60 cents. I reward businesses that keep costs down, with my business. It encourages more of the same.

[Rodney King]

I replaced the typical quoting character (>) with O's, in case DoorknobDad doesn't see them.

It's bad enough when you full-quote your responses.

But it's retarded when you double-space them.

Why do you double-space your full-quoted material?

DerbyDad03 wrote: O O On Monday, September 17, 2012 4:15:55 PM UTC-4, Rodney King wrote: O O harry wrote: O O O O O O O O O O It's just PITA, that's all. O O O O O O O O O O We have petrol/gas pumps in the UK with a slot to put your credit O O O O O card in. O O O O O O O O Yes harry, we've had "pay at the pump" for years here in US/Canada. O O O O Maybe 10+ years. O O O O O O O O That's not the point. O O O O O O

(...)

[DerbyDad03]

Sorry Mom.

I'll try to be more

careful

next

time.

[DerbyDad03]

Then why do they offer a discount for cash? Seems kind of silly to offer a discount for the method that costs them the most. Wouldn't they offer the discount on the cheapest method to entice customers to use it...or offer no discount at all?

[DerbyDad03]

What do you mean usually? The machine at HD certainly took your money. ;-)

[clare]

They CAN raise an unholy stink about it, but they can't enforce it, like they can for a "premium" on credit card sales.

[clare]

Correct. MANY businesses find the cost of cash transactions is significantly higher than credit card charges when everything is taken into account.

[clare]

Because some people, and some businesses, just see the IMMEDIATE cost and get their back up about paying to use the credit card - not thinking about the time and money involved in handling the cash.

If a company does a lot of other cash business the incremental cost is low - but switching from an all credit card model to an all cash model does NOT make sense.

[George]

Or they know their costs and know that the sale involving a tribute to the banks/credit card companies will yield them less than the same sale with a cash discount applied.

[George]

You bought 17 grams of gas. How far were you able to go? What country sells gas using metric mass units?

[Malcom "Mal" Reynolds]

I don't believe this. I've seen gas prices in California vary by as much as $1.50/gallon, and while the more expensive has been in out of the way places, I doubt that the wholesale plus delivery costs vary that much

In fact when it comes to Arco, I see the price vary by as much as 5 cents/gallon and these are all within a couple of miles of each other and in no particular geographical pattern

[krw]

They're often broken. Wallyworld is really bad for broken self-serve lines.

[bob haller]

In the case of gas stations the cash discount may be more about getting you into the stations store where while your paying for gas you buy other stuff........

profit on gas is low, a couple cents a gallon, 3 cents tops.

made up for profit on pop, candy, food etc etc.....

if you ppay by card at the pump your less likely to buy other stuff

[DerbyDad03]

So hundreds (thousands?) of gas stations across the country all "have their backs up" and are willing to lose money by giving cash discounts?

Are they all really that bad at running a business or are they all forced to lose money because one or two have chosen to and the rest have to in order to get the business?

[Johnny Cash]

Lots of owner-operated businesses (gas stations, corner stores, etc) will show two prices for the stuff they sell - one for cash and one for credit.

When it costs you 3 to 5 cents to process every $1 worth of credit-card sales, you do come out ahead when you offer 2 or 3 cents per dollar cheaper price for a cash sale.

That, and without a paper trail for a cash sale, you can cook the books for income tax purposes.

Something you're not hearing much about in the MSM is that the underground economy is huge and getting bigger. When the "official" unemployment number goes from 8.3% to 8.1% because a few hundred thousand people drop out of the job markets and the participation-rate goes down - where do you think those people are going? They're going to the underground economy.

The primary reason why the US gov't is taking internet monitoring and data mining to a whole new expensive level is to look for tax cheats.

Let no dollar of income go untaxed.

You'll pay for your stupid "wars" - one way or another.