Credit, Debit, or Cash, for fuel????

[TitanMike]

Can't speak for ALL of the country but in my recent travels I have noticed more and more gas stations posting two different prices for fuel. One for Cash and another for Credit. Spread varies but is usually $0.05-$0.10 higher per gallon for Credit. Actually three different prices if you count the places that have little notices on the pump that a surcharge will be added for use of a Debit Card. I believe the surcharge at AM/PM (Arco) was $0.45 or so per transaction.

The Debit Card Surcharge isn't much but when you fill up your tank and use a Credit Card the amount can add up. I usually take an average of 22 gallons per fill, more if filling the generator containers too. As the saying goes, a couple bucks here, a couple bucks there, pretty soon you have some real money.

With this in mind, how many will use cash for their fuel purchases when the station has these split pricing scenarios? How many just drive on and look for a station that posts a reasonable price and doesn't charge extra for Credit Card?

[babock]

I get 4% back using my credit card. The difference is almost always less than 4% so I always use a credit card.

[spock123]

I get 5% back. Usually the two prices that I see are at truckstops. I don’t stop at truckstops, I can’t swipe my card at truckstops. I have to swipe the card at a pump to get the 5%.

[W5CI]

CC or DC makes no difference to the Business owner, it is all run thru same system. I learned that years ago from FlyingJ, but I could get the cash price with a check that was preapproved

[Mr. October]

Apparently the price for processing chip cards is a lot higher than prior to chip cards. I made a campground reservation yesterday for a place that decided to forgo accepting credit cards rather than pass along the cost. Cash only and no deposit required.

[frank4711]

We get gas cards from Publix groceries they are offered about every 3 weeks, $50 card for $40 with every $50 purchase. We get Racetrac they offer WAWA and Shell also, 20% discount is hard to beat. No surcharge for any of these cards at the stations.

[JohnD10]

Arco AM/PM stores not only have that .35-cent card charge out at the pump...but also if you buy anything from inside the store.

Got hit twice at an El Centro, California Arco on the same stop.

I thought it was a California thing...

But the Arco stations here in Yuma, Arizona do the same thing.

[Librarianocnj]

I use my Flying J Rv card most of the time when I tow -6¢
I use my Gas Buddy card otherwise. -5¢ Except at Exxon and shopping clubs.
I use cash if the cash difference is greater.

[cmysstailights]

Theres a .10 or.more.price.difference for.cc or.db over cash. So i use cash always.

[GL1800Rider]

Originally Posted by frank4711

We get gas cards from Publix groceries they are offered about every 3 weeks, $50 card for $40 with every $50 purchase. We get Racetrac they offer WAWA and Shell also, 20% discount is hard to beat. No surcharge for any of these cards at the stations.

I use the Shell card from Publix and occasionally Racetrac. I have found that Racetrac is not available outside of Florida and the very similar looking "Raceway" stations do not accept the Racetrac card.

I also have a credit card that gives me 5% back when paying at the pump but I will bypass any station that charges to use the card.

[Chuck_S]

Only found one (1) local gas station with a cash price lower than the credit price. My Shell and BP gas cards typically offer a discount, not a surcharge.

-- Chuck

[mjones12]

I never use cash. Better for others if I avoid having to go inside to pay.

Also avoid restaurants that don't take cards. And I can leave a better tip when I don't have to rely on how much cash happens to be in my wallet.

[Bama Rambler]

There's always been a cost to the merchants to handle credit cards, but until recently, the card agreements didn't allow the merchants to charge a different price for cash and cards. With recent changes to the laws, the card issuers can't have that stipulation any longer and that's why we're seeing different cash and card prices.

[Cabinfever97]

Like. BAMA said, guess who pays for the cash back programs, the merchant. That is why they are passing on the cost. Some merchants, usually smaller stores, do pay different fees for CC or DC especially after the sale reaches a set amount. Contracts that merchants sign use to prohibit a surcharge to the consumer to cover the fees. Ever notice Discovery wasn't accepted in many places? The reason is their fees were the highest. I know some small places locally have been charging the fee, if using a card, for quite some time. Even our local Pilot has been doing so for years. I am a small landscape company and do not accept cards. If I did it could cost me thousands, depending how many clients decided to use cards.

[tyler811]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

There's always been a cost to the merchants to handle credit cards, but until recently, the card agreements didn't allow the merchants to charge a different price for cash and cards. With recent changes to the laws, the card issuers can't have that stipulation any longer and that's why we're seeing different cash and card prices.

They have been charging extra for credit card usage here where I live for some 18 years. Some places charge the cash price if you use your debit card as a debit and not a charge crap...card.

[Cabinfever97]

Originally Posted by tyler811

They have been charging extra for credit card usage here where I live for some 18 years. Some places charge the cash price if you use your debit card as a debit and not a charge crap...card.

Same here. A couple places I go to told me that even though their contract language with CC companies prohibited doing so they couldn't afford to eat the cost. Seemed they never had a issue with the CC company. Maybe the CC compinies didn't know or care about small local places not following their rules.

[formerFR]

...stopped by a rural county campground the other day, and a very nice place, but they don't take anything other than cash - said the cost of accepting cards, and the accounting that goes with it, and that they don't get 'their' money from the card processor until the end of the month, it was no longer a good business decision to continue...

and, as a previous business owner who dealt with the same decisions years ago, I really don't blame them at all - it actually helps keep the overall pricing structure more stable since they don't have to cater to those who cost more by paying with a card. Few businesses can get away with the 'cash vs card' pricing structure as gas stations can.

Years ago, before Insurance Companies starting really accepting card payments as a 'normal' business routine, Agencies like mine had pressure to accept the card payments on their behalf, though the Agency certainly could not absorb the high overhead of 3-4% of each premium payment from a customer, when the reality is that the agency is simply passing on this payment to the Insurance Company, not making a 'profit' by selling something at a higher price than what was paid for it, like most other 'retailers'.

So, agencies would accept cards, but would have to figure out how to apply an additional 'fee' on top, to offset their cost of processing. The problem, though, is that regulations don't allow you to simply add a 'percentage' to each transaction, only a 'flat' fee... the agency would then have to 'guess' at what the average transaction payment might be, devise a fee that pays for those additional costs, and also provide not only a Notice to the customer, before they paid, but also eventually a signed acknowledgement, after several lawsuits of 'overcharging' for a transaction that the customer said they were not made aware of ahead of time, especially when that additional amount caused their card balance to exceed it's assigned limit, causing a possible additional fee from the card company. While much of that was 'back in the day' when card payments might not have been quite as 'common' as today, it was certainly a timeframe that caused many a retailer to question whether they should continue accepting cards, or risk not.

Now that cards are so widely used, acceptance has become the normal expectation by most anyone, and the 'rouge' retailer that doesn't accept them has become the 'exception', though not without a good reason - mostly due to cost. There is a reason that card usage can give you 'cash back'... and it's not because the card issuer just likes you - it's because of the huge percentages and transactions fees that they now have so much leverage to demand from retailers.

I, personally, have the Walmart credit card, managed by Synchrony Bank, who provides me a percentage or two or three of every transaction, fuel included. Now, they've reimbursed me anywhere from $30 to $60 per month, since 2014, and yet I pay the card in full each month, and have never yet to this day paid them one red cent in financing, fees, or charges of any sort. They've paid me to use their card. They've made money because of the fees and charges from the retailers who accepted my card. Simple.

What this means, in reality, is that our system of payments in this country, and most others I assume, now require the retailer to 'build in' this additional 3-4% of cost just to accept the majority of payments from their customers... the sad thing is that even if you pay with cash, you'll still help pay for all of those who's cost of using their cards in borne by the retailer. Fuel stations offer to offset your additional cost for this by offering the lower $ per gallon, for cash, which also reduces the retailers overall costs as well. You'll notice, though, this doesn't apply to those items you purchase inside their store. Which is the reason that most other retailers can't give a 'discount' just by paying cash... there's too many products to have to 'discount', which would be different for each one, and the calculations of the different profit margins of each product, such as groceries versus clothing versus lumber is never the same, as it is with fuel.

[Clamper]

I like CC for gas. First of all once I get the statement I can see what the trip actually cost. More importantly, I like to stay close to the coach, check the jeep towbar/lights/chains and keep an eye out for criminals/bums/panhandlers who keep your attention with comments while their cohorts circle around the other side looking for loose items. You can spot them a mile away. Ive bailed on a pit stop because of a 'bad' feeling' when I see a certain type of crowd.
30+ years in LE will do that.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by tyler811

They have been charging extra for credit card usage here where I live for some 18 years.

I was going to say the same thing. I don't know if it's been 18 years but I think it's been at least 10. This is not a new thing.

I have a set amount of cash that I pull out of my bank account every paycheck specifically for buying gas.

I don't like the credit cards that offer discounts because then you have to look for that specific brand/company. Around here the gas stations seem to change names or close up every other month.

I know one place that has been branded with 3 different companies just in the last couple of years.

[spock123]

I use PenFed, it’s a military credit card and mostly I look for Walmart or Murphy. I use gas buddy to check for the lowest price. I normally only buy diesel every couple of days, I have a auxiliary 100 gallon tank. When I buy diesel it’s normally two hundred dollars and never at a truckstop. I know up ahead how much diesel is by checking gas buddy. Last year I went to the International Rally in Goshen from NC, I stopped in Pigeon Forge for the night, brought enough diesel to pull the camper to Goshen and back to Pigeon Forge. We normally go out to eat after a long day and that’s when I look for diesel. If I can’t swipe the card I look for another station. I see more campgrounds that will not accept credit cards, but sometimes the campgrounds lose money by not accepting credit cards, if you don’t show up that night then the campground loses that one night stay. With a credit card the campground will charge your card if you don’t show up.