Gas: Cash is King

[The Iceman 6]

Saw this on the Cape when with BB Jake and now I've seen it in my hometown in NY today. Gas $4.19 if you pay with cash, $4.29 if you pay with a credit card. Are you f'n kidding me?

[likwid]

Nail the tourists.

[Mike P]

It's a coming trend. Credit card companies impose a fee--as high as 3% of the sale--on the retailer.

3% of a $70 fill up can really put a dent in the profit a station makes, since they only make a few cents a gallon. Let's say they make 6 cents a gallon--on a 20 gallon fill up they make $1.20. If the credit card company imposes a 3% fee, on an $80 sale they pay $2.40 cents. They lose money on the sale.

These figures are just for illustration.

[UserRemoved1]

Against the law in the state of mass....This was passed many years ago. Also against the contract they sign to accept credit cards. I cannot legally charge you more for buying with a credit card....neither can they....they can and will lose their ability to process cards if someone complains. Every retailer who accepts credit cards loses a percentage, it's a part of doing business and is already built into the price.

[Plum Crazy]

Hey Salty I did not know that.
I guess the station by my house doesn't know it either cause I just paid cash and got my gas 5 cents cheaper per gallon.
I paid 4.06

[fishbones]

$3.89 cash or credit in Providence yesterday.

[PaulS]

Their not charging you more - $4.29 is the price. Their offering you a discount for cash. Conn. just passed a law allowing gas stations to do this and making that part of the cc contracts void. Perhaps Mass did the same????

Even at 3% (0.03 * $4.00 = $0.12 vs $0.10 discount) the gas stations are making out better by having you pay cash instead of thru the cc.

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

Against the law in the state of mass....This was passed many years ago. Also against the contract they sign to accept credit cards. I cannot legally charge you more for buying with a credit card....neither can they....they can and will lose their ability to process cards if someone complains. Every retailer who accepts credit cards loses a percentage, it's a part of doing business and is already built into the price.

Interesting. are you sure of this Salty? I did not know that either....stopped last night and filled up with super @ $4.25 a gallon. As I was pumping I was reading the sign on the pump that stated due to rising debit/credit card fees they were offering a cash discount. $4.05 if you paid cash!!!! of course I was a little miffed I was paying 20 cents more a gallon on my debit card

[Nebe]

I wonder what the prices will be like next year???

I see no problem with this- I take CC's at my gallery and have always givin a discount for cash sales... it costs ME money to provide the service of taking CC #'s..... its not like that service is free.

[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by The Iceman 6

Saw this on the Cape when with BB Jake and now I've seen it in my hometown in NY today. Gas $4.19 if you pay with cash, $4.29 if you pay with a credit card. Are you f'n kidding me?

I believe in mass it is illegal for the retailer to pass this cost along.

[Swimmer]

$3.83 a gallon

[Joe]

Often times there is transaction fee in addition to the % of processing fee. Usually .50-.75 per sale - that's why some stores have a minium of $10 or so that you need to charge in order to be able to use a credit card.
So on a $10 with a .50 transaction fee and a 3% processing fee the merchant takes a $.80 hit - it decends as a percentage with a bigger sale (obviously) but on a small sale that's pretty significant. Makes the banking industry look pretty attractive, eh?

[UserRemoved1]

Absolutely positive. I have two merchant banking accounts and both are written into the contracts. They can and will pull anyones contract that gets caught doing this. This all came to head years ago in Ma when virtually all the gas stations were doing this. It was in the news for a while and the state Atty General went after a bunch of people then it all stopped. You cannot legally charge more for use of a credit card nor can you offer a cash discount as it's the same thing in reverse.

To the BEST of my knowledge Ma has NOT changed their laws. I have not heard anything on this nor have I seen any information from the bank indicating otherwise.

Now these stations may offer you whatever they want but the bottom line is they are trying to save the money THEMSELVES and I can guarantee you that if you dropped a dime to Mastercard/Visa/Etc that they would shut them down in a heartbeat. Once MC/Visa/etc dumps you then you are done period with them.

Originally Posted by Jenn

Interesting. are you sure of this Salty? I did not know that either....stopped last night and filled up with super @ $4.25 a gallon. As I was pumping I was reading the sign on the pump that stated due to rising debit/credit card fees they were offering a cash discount. $4.05 if you paid cash!!!! of course I was a little miffed I was paying 20 cents more a gallon on my debit card

[UserRemoved1]

And I may be wrong on the cash discount thing...I make lures not laws

[Raven]

there is a 3rd party involved that is the go between

between the gas station and the consumer...

a clearing house if you will

that does the processing.... and typically charges
more than the original purchase for several
days .....then it is credited back to your account,

[Plum Crazy]

How can they get away with this?
The station I went to is NOT a Mom and Pop station.
They would probably get more sales if they only accepted cash.

I wonder if that same law applies to charging me more (like $10more) to pay a bill over the phone.
They charge me to use my debit for cable and my truck payment.
I have made some orders over the phone where they have charged me for using my card. I don't use my card at all anymore.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Strike_King

A guy here in Burlington does the same thing with his station for cash customers..


http://www.boston.com/business/artic...count_for_gas/

After reading that--it doesn't seem like it's illegal here for stations to give a discount for cash. It's the oil companies' policy that prevents it. This bill would require oil companies to allow franchisees to offer a cash discount.

Most people aren't carrying $80-$100 dollars in cash--they pay at the pump with a debit or credit card. Let's say, you need gas, no cash, and your bank doesn't have one of its own ATMs in the area. So you use another bank, or a machine in some convenience store, pay that transaction fee on the withdrawal, and in addition, the fee your own bank imposes for using a non-network ATM. Then you have the inconvenience of having to hand some third world attendant cash, walking back to your vehicle, pumping the gas, and walking back for your change (if any) and then counting it to make sure old Mr. English as a Third Language has given you the correct change. Thinking that you saved $2 by paying cash to save 10 cents a gallon on a 20 gallon fill-up, without realizing that your ATM transaction fees cost you $3.

I'll just pay the credit price, thank you.

[Plum Crazy]

That is so wierd that we were talking about it and it hit the news last night.
Maybe the credit card companies will smarten up and stop charging for "EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING"
I always pay cash for gas. I hate paying before hand though.
Just a pet peeve I guess. I hate handing over money before I have my product.
We have the drive -offs to thank for that!
I always start out at $100 but my truck always takes more so I have to go back in and pay again.
It just sucks all the way around and there is no winning.
I am still buffaloed by how people like the cable company can charge me an extra $10 by paying over the phone with my debit card.(I know, off subject, but it got me thinking) How can that be right?

[Swimmer]

Someone with a few extra minutes should call the A.G.'s office in Boston and asked them. They will tell you straight up about a difference in price per gallon, cash v.s. credit card.

[The Iceman 6]

As follow-up, now 3-4 gas stations in my hometown are doing the same thing. I'm pretty lazy and like paying at the pump but now I'll walk the extra 10 steps and pay cash..

[Jimbo]

It is a pain to have to go to an ATM where you don't get charged a fee to get gas at the cheaper price. NJ has the gas cheaper for cash than credit, but there's Velero and maybe some others if you use their credit card you pay the cash price. On the Cape I do like the idea that you can use your receipt from Stop n Shop for .20 of per gallon at Christies. That helps.

[Mike P]

How often do you hear of people getting robbed at gas stations nowadays, as compared to getting robbed in supermarket/convenience store/bank parking lots?

Once the discount for cash goes in, expect that to change, too