Heard it on the local news the other day, and a friend told me they ran into that at 3 stations so far. My usual Amoco which has never done that, just installed new signs at the pump that say "cash price" and "credit price" although they are the same right now, but I assume that will be changing any time now. Kinda makes my 5% back on gas there just about useless. They are getting us from every angle anymore. I may need to get my ass in shape and start riding my bike everywhere!

 

It's been that way in my area for the last year I've been living here; usually the Valero stations.

 

It's not that uncommon for truck drivers to carry large amounts of cash, and large amounts of ammunition with which to protect it. Several drivers in my family that do exactly that.

And it makes sense that stations are going to have to start doing this again. It wasn't uncommon fifteen years ago when credit cards took a long time to process or had significant per-transaction fees. The fees are based on a percentage of the total sale price, and while that sale price climbs, the station's margin of profit hasn't...meaning there comes a point when it's not worth it for the station owner to accept credit cards because they don't make any money on the sale after they pay the percentage.

Me? I'll avoid these stations as long as I can. If it becomes more common than not, I'll pay with cash. Filling up every two weeks for less than $40, I can handle that.

 

There was one gas station in my neck of the woods that attempted to charge more for gas with the CC but it didn't last....... They are all the same price for Cash or CC in SC (that I know of)

 

I'll be avoiding the stations that do this as well for as long as I can. The 5% back that I get though between 2 cars definitely adds up over time. Time to switch to a 3% back card that can be used at any gas station, then cash once they all make the change to charge more.

 

::SIGH::

Credit card companies are pretty much in the hot seat right now. Because if someone defaults on a credit card bill, then the government doesn't cover it. So.... what do they do? They charge the retailers, gas stations, and other parties a fee to operate per credit transaction. That's why you see some vendors only accepting only certain types of credit cards. Gas station owners haven't been passing down the cost until now.

So it's really the credit car companies getting the extra fee, not the gas station. There's a shell down the street for me that reduces their price by $.10 per gallon for cash transaction just because the owner has to pay a fee for credit cards. He's been doing it for more than 3 years now.

 

I actually wish most stations and places of business would offer discount for cash. I wind up using my CC for almost everything earn points with and get cash back. Every business has either transactions fees or uncollectable revenue worked into the purchase price in one way or another. More places offering a discount on cash just makes the consumers aware of it. CC's are a huge benefit as the 1.9-2.9% transaction fee don't compare to cost of trying to collect on bounced checks and unpaid accounts (average 5% uncollectable revenue is standard for most business', some have even more... so esentially others wind up eating the cost of deadbeats)...cash you don't have to worry about it (unless employess have sticky fingers)

As for truck drivers with guns and cash... I know way too many that have used them as a theft derrent to encourage anyone to go that route.