Gasoline -- Cash vs Credit

[Villager Joyce]

Noticed this weekend that the Shell station at Colony has a cash price and a different price for credit. Don't know if this is new or we just noticed it. Marathon at Pinellas does the same thing. What a pain for filling up a car. Go inside to give them money, pump the gas, and go back in to get back change.

[rubicon]

BP started that cash program sometime ago. I refuse to go along with this ploy but worry that it will catch on. It will back up getting gas come prime time in TV. In that same vein I do understand people's desire to cut down on their gasoline expenses

[Sable99]

I try to use BP because I like their 'cash back" program. It doesn't hurt that I also get a better gas mileage with their gas. What really bugs me is when they charge a higher price when you use the BP card at the pump. Luckily, cash and card prices are the same at our local stations here in Michigan but I have noticed the different prices at other stations.

[Medtrans]

Actually we did go to a gas station in MI over the weekend that had a cash price vs credit. This is the first I have seen this and it was a big difference, I believe 18 cents a gallon. Here in the burbs of a Chicago we can get our gas at Costco and I don't think they can use those tactics because they don't have a cashier on site. But this tactic is just ridiculous. I know I don't want to go in the station to pay because you have to do this first, guess an amount or pay an amount and go back in again for change if needed, right? By the way, the trip to MI from Chicago was awful, construction all the way across IN to MI, crazy crazy drivers, heavy traffic and texting drivers. So dangerous. We had a few instances of people exiting the freeway cutting across all lanes of traffic to get there, barely clearing our car, another couple of instances of those stupid rocket type motorcycles blasting thru traffic at what had to be 80 miles an hour. I couldn't wait to get home. My husband and I remarked that we can't wait to finally retire (soon) and get to TV and maybe have to wait at a light 5 cars back. I know there are stupid drivers everywhere but it is certainly not at this level. I'm so tired of this. Oh, at one point (luckily going in the opposite direction than us) we saw a traffic alert on my IPad of a warning that it would be 1 hour and 45-minutes to go 2 miles due to construction on I94. Think about this today when you're driving in TV! I know I will when we come for our visit next month to our new home in Lake Deaton.. Sorry I digressed from the OP post about gas prices.

[njbchbum]

Why not get the Shell credit card - isn't gas the same price as cash when using their credit card? We used it last season and we used the Shell stations that also accept the Winn-Dixie fuel perks cents off program! It all added up to gas n go with a discount! :)

[wdonze]

I've seen different cash vs credit prices before, but I guess it just hasn't migrated everywhere yet. It is my understanding that a vendor has to pay the credit company a percentage of the transaction amount for the use of the credit service and that the vendor is just trying to recoup that expense. What really bugs me is when a gas station has a big sign that advertises a low price which only applies if you pay cash. I think some states have laws that mandate that such signs must also indicate that the price is cash only.

[kittygilchrist]

That would be new at the colony shell.
Perhaps they're concerned about competition with the marathon station offering a cash price. I like the management and the staff at shell and hey, now I can go in and say howdy and save six cents a gallon paying cash, it's my gain!

[rubicon]

The OP didn't tell us what the price difference was between credit card and cash at colony. Given this area lacks equal distribution of stations around TV this tactic will create a back up at the pumps and in the store. Perhaps those residents should let this station know their preference. Frankly I would find another station. Consider that once gas was a reasonable purchase and that attendants pump gassed checked your oil and washed your windshields. Then they began the rise to over a $1 in the 1970's and now it moves up and down at will. Certainly some posters is going to respond with inflation comparisons supply and demand but speculators really control price. given that cars have achieved CAFE goals that surpassed everyone's expectations should also factor in. Beside ask yourself how much does that 1/10 of a cent build to distributors given the volume of gas pumped daily.

[Penguin]

I try to use BP because I like their 'cash back" program. It doesn't hurt that I also get a better gas mileage with their gas. What really bugs me is when they charge a higher price when you use the BP card at the pump. Luckily, cash and card prices are the same at our local stations here in Michigan but I have noticed the different prices at other stations.

I wont ever buy BP gas. Remember when they installed inferior parts on the oil rig in the gulf and created an oil spill and killed some workers. Or when they were selling bad gas at a lot of their stations that caused people to have their cars repaired.

[LndLocked]

That would be new at the colony shell.
Perhaps they're concerned about competition with the marathon station offering a cash price. I like the management and the staff at shell and hey, now I can go in and say howdy and save six cents a gallon paying cash, it's my gain!

I beg to differ .... they have had different prices for cash/credit for as long as I have been going there (apox 5 years)

[redwitch]

Got burned once using a credit card at a gas station. Tis a common practice at many gas stations to put a dollar amount hold ($50-75) on the card for several days. Have only used cash or debit card since (and debit rarely -- too paranoid that the pump will have a fake reader on it).

[sunnyatlast]

Competition of a new gas station (Marathon) that's closer to a few thousand residents will show the existing station owners that they do not have a captive customer base.

When consumers vote with their feet, the business they left either learns, or goes under.

Knowing how many people here use their golf cart as primary transportation, I don't see the threat to the household economy in having to spend 60 cents more for a tank of cart gas by using a credit card. What can a person buy with 60 cents besides a postage stamp?

[Aandjmassage]

We try to only go to the ones that charge the same because if we go in we will buy something. That is where they make the money. Most things inside are 100% markup. Oil companies make most of their money at the pump. My family owned a gas station but got robbed alot. So another reason not to go in.

[Villages PL]

I love the idea of a lower price for cash. It makes perfect sense! There's no charge to the gas station for the use of a credit card. So why should cash customers pay the same price?

If you want the convenience of using a credit card, you should have to pay for it.

[Big O]

In Ohio when they had the lower price for cash it cost me $50-$60 to fill up. Guess what? They wouldn't take a $50 dollar bill so I had to always pack a wad of small bills. Fortunately they changed to the same price for cash or credit.

[The Mountaineer]

Different prices for cash or credit card is old news to other parts of Florida, I've found during my 19 years of winters there. Service stations pay a fee for every credit card transaction so they're trying to dissuade you from using your credit card to save THEM money, too. On the other hand, I get frequent flyer miles for using my credit card, which has saved me $1,000 on flights so far. So you have to weigh the positives and the negatives about everything you do financially. It's not always simply black and white.

[obxgal]

Cash only ... too paranoid that the pump will have a fake reader on it.

[Bonanza]

I wont ever buy BP gas. Remember when they installed inferior parts on the oil rig in the gulf and created an oil spill and killed some workers. Or when they were selling bad gas at a lot of their stations that caused people to have their cars repaired.

I agree with you. How quickly people forget. And with it all, BP came out of all of that smelling like a rose.

I don't believe that a previous poster gets better mileage with BP. Most people don't even know how to figure that out and in addition, don't take into consideration their driving methods from one tank of gas to the next one, i.e., the speed at which they are driving, the length of a trip, how they accelerate, does more than one person drive the vehicle, etc.

It's almost virtually impossible to accurately figure out.

[Bonanza]

Cash only ... too paranoid that the pump will have a fake reader on it.

Why are so many people paranoid about a reader when using their credit card???

We're all protected from that and if you aren't, you're with the wrong credit card company.

[janieb]

I try to use BP because I like their 'cash back" program. It doesn't hurt that I also get a better gas mileage with their gas. What really bugs me is when they charge a higher price when you use the BP card at the pump. Luckily, cash and card prices are the same at our local stations here in Michigan but I have noticed the different prices at other stations.

They may be the same in Adrian but they are not the same in the Detroit area, usually about a 10c per gallon difference.

[Suzi]

Got burned once using a credit card at a gas station. Tis a common practice at many gas stations to put a dollar amount hold ($50-75) on the card for several days. Have only used cash or debit card since (and debit rarely -- too paranoid that the pump will have a fake reader on it).

I pay cash as well for the very reason Redwitch stated: fake readers.

[Radioman41]

The credit card I use gives a 5% credit on gasoline purchases paid for at the pump. I'll try to find stations that don't charge more for credit card payments.

[HMLRHT1]

The cash can be money or debit card. Have used both stations at Colony and Pinellas and they both take debit card as a cash transaction or a credit card. You can do both at the pump.

[Vladimir]

I also use cash - as mentioned, don't trust the card readers. I'm used to a different price for cash vs credit and most states have this system in place. In NJ though an attendant still pumps the gas. BTW the other day Marathon at Pinealls gas was $3.11/gal while Shell at Colony was $3.28/gal - cash naturally.

[golf2140]

I beg to differ .... they have had different prices for cash/credit for as long as I have been going there (apox 5 years)

No they have not. This change just started

[The Buckeyes]

Competition of a new gas station (Marathon) that's closer to a few thousand residents will show the existing station owners that they do not have a captive customer base.

When consumers vote with their feet, the business they left either learns, or goes under.

Knowing how many people here use their golf cart as primary transportation, I don't see the threat to the household economy in having to spend 60 cents more for a tank of cart gas by using a credit card. What can a person buy with 60 cents besides a postage stamp?

Just a few quotes I have heard:
"A penny saved is not enough"
"A penny saved is a penny earned"
"Count your pennies...the dollars will take care of themselves!"
It is not what you can buy with 60 cents, it is the principle that 60 cents is in "your" pocket and not in the gas station cash register drawer.

[The Mountaineer]

I love the idea of a lower price for cash. It makes perfect sense! There's no charge to the gas station for the use of a credit card. So why should cash customers pay the same price?

If you want the convenience of using a credit card, you should have to pay for it.

Criminals use "skimmers" to gather data from DEBIT cards used to buy gas. Then they come back weeks or months later, get the data provided by the skimmer, and create debit cards with your name on it and suck the money out of your bank account where you have the debit card.

Two guys who set up skimmers in Wal-Mart parking lots in the Southwest sucked $400,000 from debit card users' bank accounts in 9 months.

Crooks never run out of ways to cheat the honest people.