Gassed up today

[Kev Williams]

I don't know who's paying only 1.5% in CC fees, sure wish that's all I paid--

The reason for the CC surcharge is so cash payers don't get penalized for the CC fees-- the math is pretty simple: a 30 gallon fill at $2 per is $60, 2% vig is $1.20 Now simply do nothing but raise the price of gas to $5.50, a fill is now $165 and the 2% vig is now $3.30, a 275% fee increase that the gas station has to eat, and due to no fault of their own. Cash sales saves them money, so they offer buyers a choice..

[Bruce Wrenn]

I don't know who's paying only 1.5% in CC fees, sure wish that's all I paid--

The reason for the CC surcharge is so cash payers don't get penalized for the CC fees-- the math is pretty simple: a 30 gallon fill at $2 per is $60, 2% vig is $1.20 Now simply do nothing but raise the price of gas to $5.50, a fill is now $165 and the 2% vig is now $3.30, a 275% fee increase that the gas station has to eat, and due to no fault of their own. Cash sales saves them money, so they offer buyers a choice..

Both wife and I only use gas company branded CC, except where there are none of that brand. Discounts range from 5 to 30 cents per gallon, depending upon usage. Saw an interesting report the other day. Said if we slowed down to speed limit, nationally we would reduce our gas usage by 14%. Earlier this week, took wife to doctor, which is 30 miles one way. Drove on both interstate, and interstate quality road, driving the speed limit. In 30 miles didn't pass a single car, but most passed me. Some were running close to 100, based upon how fast they came by us. Same thing when light turns green. Some act like they were shot out of a cannon, only to be waiting at next light when we got there. Currently, we are paying $4.15 -$4.19 per gallon. I remember back in 1978 when the national 55 speed limit took place. Two police cars would ride down the interstate, side by side for miles. When they exited the ramp, another pair would come down the ramp on the other side of intersection.

[Lee Schierer]

I haven't because I assumed to avoid CC fee they must directly debit your bank account and I don't particularly want my account info anywhere else....But I don't really know if that's how they work.... Some stations offer significant savings for using those programs...way more than the CC fees would be. My cynical side says once enough folks are doing it, the price advantage will slowly go away??

If you pay anyone with a check they have your bank routing number and account number. It's printed right on the check.

[Paul F Franklin]

If you pay anyone with a check they have your bank routing number and account number. It's printed right on the check.

Of course you're right, which is one reason why I generally avoid paying anything by paper check unless there's no other way. I just looked and I wrote 9 paper checks last year. I'm sure I'm being overly cautious.

[Jamie Buxton]

Name brand regular costs $6/gallon here, for cash and credit. No-name regular costs $5.40, but they only take cash or debit cards -- no credit. I can't believe that using a credit card adds 10% to the bill, but that what it seems.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Today it $4.29 when I filled the wife's car up and washed it.

[Ronald Blue]

I bought gas Thursday for $3.65 in Bowling Green Missouri and for $3.89 yesterday at Circle K in Burlington Iowa. It's $4.48 here now or $4.38 with Circle K card. I forget the name of the company that it goes through but I've had zero issue with the Circle K store card. You have to use a pin number to authorize it. It is direct linked to my bank account but that's never been an issue. So is Paypal although my default setting goes to a credit card. I'm sure we haven't saw the end of the gas price increases and diesel is getting even more ridiculous. Expect everything to get much more expensive as fuel surcharges are levied against the freight of all types.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Expect everything to get much more expensive as fuel surcharges are levied against the freight of all types.

Look at the trucking You tubes.You will notice what companies are willing to pay for freight has gone DOWN. The owner operators who are in lease to own agreements are hurting-BIG TIME! One of the channels reported that one owner operator was within two grand of paying off his lease, but due to rising costs and suppressed rates, couldn't pay his lease off. This meant leasing company took his truck back, along with the equity he had built up over the last five years. Basically meant he worked for nothing for the last five years. He could make more being a greeter at Walmart, and also be home every night.

[Rollie Meyers]

I pay a 45 cent debit card/convenience fee at the station I use, they have not broken the $6 barrier yet while most others have, filled a couple of gas cans & topped off the truck with diesel, little over 9 gallons of diesel was $37.53, we have not seen the end of price hikes. There are some who want 8 buck gas nationwide.

[Curt Harms]

I pay a 45 cent debit card/convenience fee at the station I use, they have not broken the $6 barrier yet while most others have, filled a couple of gas cans & topped off the truck with diesel, little over 9 gallons of diesel was $37.53, we have not seen the end of price hikes. There are some who want 8 buck gas nationwide.

And that's a significant part IMO. How to make my expensive options palatable? Make other cheaper options more expensive.

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes - that's exactly how those direct pay cards work. You link the card to your bank account and they take the money directly out.
We have them linked to one of our lesser accounts so if it gets hacked and/or broken into, there's only a few hundred dollars.
We have one for Get-Go (Giant Eagle) and one for Circle K.

Do they give you the same discount for using your debit card?

Regards, Rod

[Tom M King]

Just by dumb luck, I saved myself some dollars. Back when the Olympics were running, I decided to fill everything up in preparation for grass cutting season. I put the 100 gallon off-road diesel tank in the pickup, and the just bought 33 gallon gas container with a hand crank pump. I had just bought the 33 gallon tank because the newest mower has two 7-1/2 gallon tanks, and is kind of aggravating filling it with 5 gallon cans.

I went and filled up those tanks, along with a half dozen 5 gallon cans, came home and filled everything here up, including the Farm Use car, except for the generator that I don't keep gas in. After I had filled everything up (one tractor holds 26 gallons of diesel, and the other 40 something), I figured I might as well go fill the tanks up again "since they were already on the truck, and otherwise I would have to handle them twice". I also filled up the pickup's 56 gallon diesel tank while I was there for well less than $4 a gallon. I don't drive that truck many miles any more, so that tankful should last until prices come back down.

I don't remember exactly when that was, other than during the Olympics, but non-ethanol was 3.99, and off road diesel was less than 3 bucks a gallon.

Just dumb luck that I did that before prices skyrocketed, but I probably have enough diesel for the whole season, and enough gas for the mowers to take care of most of it.

[Jason Roehl]

I’m surprised you guys don’t remember the difference between cash price and CC. I started driving in the early ‘90s, got my first car in January of 1994 (bought a motorcycle the previous fall for my first wheels). Back then, gas was around $1.10-$1.15/gal, and there was a 4-cent/gal surcharge to use a credit or debit card. Being a poor college student, I always hit the cheapest station that wasn’t too far out of my way, and paid cash. I also always filled up, couldn’t stand doing the $5 here, $10 there fill up. I had friends that did that, and it seemed like we were always stopping at a gas station if we went somewhere in their vehicle. Anyway, I was ecstatic when pay-at-the-pump came along, for two reasons: one, they did away with the credit card surcharge to encourage PATP use, and two, I didn’t have to go in the store and wait in line to pay behind people who insisted on scratching off multiple rounds of lottery tickets.

I filled my motorcycle (not the one I bought in ‘93, not by a long shot) last Saturday for $4.699/gal for premium. I think I saw $4.25/gal for regular on my way out for dinner last night. Either way, I use the GasBuddy app to find the cheapest gas that’s more or less on my way when I need gas, but that usually ends up being Sam’s Club, which is in sight of my commute to/from work, so that’s mostly where I stop. Sometimes I’ll hit Meijer because we have their CC, which saves us $0.10/gal at the pump when we use it.

[Ronald Blue]

I’m surprised you guys don’t remember the difference between cash price and CC. I started driving in the early ‘90s, got my first car in January of 1994 (bought a motorcycle the previous fall for my first wheels). Back then, gas was around $1.10-$1.15/gal, and there was a 4-cent/gal surcharge to use a credit or debit card. Being a poor college student, I always hit the cheapest station that wasn’t too far out of my way, and paid cash. I also always filled up, couldn’t stand doing the $5 here, $10 there fill up. I had friends that did that, and it seemed like we were always stopping at a gas station if we went somewhere in their vehicle. Anyway, I was ecstatic when pay-at-the-pump came along, for two reasons: one, they did away with the credit card surcharge to encourage PATP use, and two, I didn’t have to go in the store and wait in line to pay behind people who insisted on scratching off multiple rounds of lottery tickets.

I filled my motorcycle (not the one I bought in ‘93, not by a long shot) last Saturday for $4.699/gal for premium. I think I saw $4.25/gal for regular on my way out for dinner last night. Either way, I use the GasBuddy app to find the cheapest gas that’s more or less on my way when I need gas, but that usually ends up being Sam’s Club, which is in sight of my commute to/from work, so that’s mostly where I stop. Sometimes I’ll hit Meijer because we have their CC, which saves us $0.10/gal at the pump when we use it.

When I was a 16 year old $5 bucks got me a significant amount of gas. As I recall it was 34 cents a gallon. I never benefited because I was to young but recall late 60's "gas wars" and 18 or 19 cents a gallon. I guess the positive thing is I still remember those prices. I recall a few places doing a higher price for CC payers but it wasn't all stations. Yes I love pay at the pump for the reason you mentioned.

[Jim Becker]

The cash/CC thing in NJ is real, but some stations don't do that (like WAWA and Costco) and have similar pricing to the cash offers no matter how one pays. It's not a thing too much here in PA, although there are instances of it in my observation. I don't really carry cash, other than a few shekels for emergency use, so I'm not going to pay for gas that way. Our Costco Citi CC has 4% rebate on gasoline and since we also buy 99% of our gas at our local Costco, there's further savings over other sources because of the better price (20-30 cents lower), even in the current situation. Lately, I've been topping off to stay a little ahead of rising prices if I'm going there for something else, rather than waiting until the vehicle I happen to be driving gets down to about a quarter tank like in "normal" times...

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Tom, that was a really fortunate decision for you to set yourself up with all that fuel! Almost like a winning lottery ticket!