Just when I thought I had seen every slimy trick in the book, I

[rzemanfl]

went to the gas station to get gas for the lawn mower and figured I'd fill up the Metro while I was there. I waved my Mobil Speed-pass at the pump and started to fill the one gallon container for the mower. Then I noticed that the price on the pump was $4.14 9/10 while the big sign said $4.02 9/10 Then I noticed the smaller sign "Cash price only." Fucking crooks, 12 cents a gallon more for using their goddamn Speed-pass! Who carries cash these days? If you pay cash I suppose you will have to have a calculator with you to see if you got the cash price. I think tomorrow I will go take a grand out of the bank in cash so I can pay for shit with cash. I wonder how long the banks would last if we all did that.

So I left with the can filled and will try to find a gas station that doesn't try to screw me when I am not looking to get gas for the car. Thank you Supreme Court for the unending national disaster that is Bush Co and all their cronies.

Oh, and fuck you agent Mike and the folks at Verizon.

[MrCoffee]

1. You're only paying $4.14/gallon? Nice!

$4.39 here this morning.

[tekisui]

9. Not paid over $3.99 and 9/10's yet. (Knock on wood).

It is getting hard to find it at that price though.

[Subdivisions]

22. To me, that's $4. We reached that here two days ago. n/t

[KitchenWitch]

29. We have been over 4.50 since May.

[Demit]

2. You're better off paying cash for a host of reasons. For one, they can't track what you buy.

I imagine the gas station has to pay the company a premium for accepting the credit card, the way merchants pay VISA. Also, did you know that thieves are now putting little readers on gas pumps to steal your info?

Seems to me that, despite skyrocketing gas prices, this is one purchase that is not onerous to have to carry cash for. You protect your personal information, and you save money.

[loveable liberal]

3. And to stop my wife from going banana's with the checkcard.

I've put our family on a Cash diet. The wife used to shop cause she was bored and bring home all manner of junk. Now I pay bills and take our disposable income out in cash and when its gone, its gone. Amazingly she thinks its a good idea and we are much more careful about what we buy.

[rzemanfl]

13. That's all well and good, but if gas charged to my bank card is

12 cents a gallon more than gas paid for inside, where they can try to get you to buy shit, then they have been screwing their cash customers for years.

[Demit]

18. Our entire system is built on trying to get you to buy shit. It's up to you to say yes or no.

Very simple. Also, first they suck you in by offering something as a convenience, then when they've got you hooked on it, they start charging for what used to be free. It's up to you to say yes or no to it then, too.

Holy moly, just pay in cash. Save yourself some money & a few notches of blood pressure at the same time. That means you win.

[rzemanfl]

28. My entire lifestyle is built around being pissed at people who

try to screw me over and I am too old to change. A lot of folks pay cash because they don't have credit cards or debit cards. I gather you think it was okay when Mobil was screwing their cash customers in order to get other folks hooked on a convenience? If cash deserves a discount now it deserved it when gas was cheaper too.

[BreweryYardRat]

27. That "thieves" claim.

You have several sources for that? Because that sounds like urban legend BS to me.

[Demit]

31. I did your homework for you.

I read it in the Philadelphia Inquirer this past week:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/24061469.html

You can google for other sources yourself. Asshole.

[BreweryYardRat]

32. Well, aren't you just a prize-winner.

Buddy, I've heard about a ton of media-spread scaremongering crap about "identity thieves can do this" and "identity thieves can do that" since it started becoming wide-spread. And a lot of people tend to repeat the BS they've heard in the media, because they assume it must be true, or because they're too busy to sit down and think about it. We're not immune to people repeating the media scaremongering here on DU, either.

Which means I automatically dismiss any claims about new forms/methods of identity theft until I see documented proof. You've provided that. Thank you.

But hey, you want to gratuitously insult me for having a healthy dose of cynicism, go right ahead.

[Demit]

34. I answered you in kind.

You want to call something someone said BS, without looking it up first to make sure you can back up the charge, that's unnecessarily aggressive and hostile. And it makes you look like a fool besides. Those two things are what make you an asshole. Nothing gratuitous about it.

It is not smart to automatically reject everything you read or hear, out of suspicion of other people's motives or intelligence. That makes you stupid as well.

[iquiring mind]

4. Where have you been??

they've been doing this for more than 10 years.

Typically at Chevron or Exxon stations. Sometimes I've seen it at Mobil.

[HughMoran]

12. Opposite here - they stopped doing that cash thing 10 years ago

Don't assume the country is uniform

[rzemanfl]

14. Not here in Florida. n/t

[kimmerspixelated]

5. Thanks for posting!

[dysfunctional press]

6. some stations around here show a lower price in big letters...and "with car wash" in small letters.

same effect.
i'd love it if my gas station gave a lower price for cash- it's right next door to my bank and it's drive-up cash station...i could crank the bowie and...drive like a demon from station to station...

[Fumesucker]

7. I pay cash most of the time..

Lower prices for cash have been around for quite a while, probably at least ten years.. If you were in business for yourself you would probably understand more.

The credit card companies charge a fee to the business when a customer uses a credit card and the margin on gasoline for retailers is razor thin. In fact, a lot of the convenience stores don't make anything on gas, it's just there to lure customers in order that they buy other stuff while they are there.

[rzemanfl]

15. They set the pump, so you can never know how many miles

per gallon you are getting, because you can't fill the tank. Hey Exxon/Mobil makes $11 billion a quarter and it is MY FUCKING FAULT their retailers can't make money? I don't think so.

[Fumesucker]

17. You want the convenience of a credit card

And yet complain when it costs you something..

The retailers are very often independent businesses, not owned by the major oil companies. They are as much at the mercy of the majors as are you and I.

[rzemanfl]

24. Mobil sent me the Speedpass. They should structure things so

some of those billions go to their dealers, if the dealers just stopped pumping gas, they would have a lot more leverage than I get by taking my Metro to another station.

[trof]

8. Been a long time since I've seen lower prices for cash.

Guess it's making a comeback.

[Greyskye]

11. same here in CA

Haven't seen lower prices for cash in years and years.

[Gold Metal Flake]

19. They have begun credit/cash pricing in some places...

...here around LA. Sometimes the higher price excludes that station's CC. So that if you use a MC or Visa, you get the higher price.

Just gotta watch. Of course, there is no way of knowing if the pumps are calibrated properly at any station.

[Cronus Protagonist]

20. The credit card merchant agreement precludes lower prices for cash

Any business that give discounts for cash is flirting with not being able to take cards at all, or more likely, an increase in their merchant fees as punishment.

[TomInTib]

10. Twenty cents, here.

And $4.59/gallon, to boot.

[undeterred]

16. I saw a news story on that today- difference was 5 cents

They were forced to post both prices after it was reported.

[Catherine Vincent]

21. Our local news reported on this scam tonight. nt

[Rex]

23. Yeah new way to fuck us over, thanks SCOTUS and WH assholes.

A big fuck you to all of you that make money off us poor working class. Fuck you!

[uppityperson]

25. Credit card companies have been increasing rates recently.

So some places are now charging more if you use a credit card.

[baldguy]

33. And they make money both ways.

They charge you for the privilege of using the card, and they charge the merchant for the privilege of accepting it.

Nice scam, huh?

[elehhhhna]

26. Are they aware that this cash preferred policy endangers their employees.

methinks it could backfire in terms of losses due to robbery.

10 SUV fillups in cash could be near a thousand bucks right there.

[rzemanfl]

30. I've thought of that too and here there are also folks filling boats

that take 40 or more gallons too.