Credit Card Yowch!

[digitS']

I was in at one of those soopermarket gas stations the other day.

The sign said "$3.72/gallon." That, apparently, was the cash/debit price.

As usual, I shoved in a credit card but paid $3.82/gallon. Yowch! Is this something new? The end of the credit card, as we know it . . .

Steve :/

 

[baymule]

$3.85 is the regular price-the one they don't advertise..........but if you pay cash, then you get the discount price.

Yeah, right. :/

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

it depends on where you go to get your gas. there are a few places around here that do the 'cash' price. i've rarely ever seen one that also does the 'cash' price if you use your debit card. they get charged a fee every time you use a card regardless of debit or credit. with cash there is no fee involved to the store selling the gas.

 

[canesisters]

Back when high gas prices were the sole responsibility of the president a family that owns a couple of truck stops in my area issued little laminated cards to anyone who could proove they lived 'in the neighborhood'. If you present this card inside the store before you start pumping, you get $.15 off /gallon. It's a pain if you're in a hurry because you have to go inside and wait in line twice - but when time permits, it's saved me a LOT of money over the years.

 

[897tgigvib]

I really like that "local person" discount idea Cane!

Actually, just yesterday I went over to the resort to get an its-it ice cream sandwich. (mint ). They sold it to me for 1.19 and I reminded her its 2.00 and she said they started local discounts.

I really do not even like the idea of credit cards. No. Not at all. The bank forces me to have one of those debit cards, but I only ever use it to swipe thru the machine at the bank to prove I really am me. You'd think they know me by now, especially that cute brown haired teller Amanda that I want to bring home with me....woops...who typed that?

 

[digitS']

Even the lighted button on the pump said "$3.72" -- until I pushed my credit card in the machine. Last time I was in, it asked me if I wanted the 10 off because of "rewards." Sure!

Then, the pump button didn't change and still said the same as the sign on the street. I thought I must have pushed the wrong button or the machine failed to give me the discount. No, I gained advertised price by giving up their silly rewards from purchases in their store . . .

I wonder how it was that there was no yowch for using a credit card for the last . . . let's see . . . that one says 1991. Well, I've got a debit card and, if I can keep track of balances, $ in the bank. They will "cover" whatever I purchase regardless of account balance. Of course, there will be a yowch on the bank statement.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

There is a supermarket chain that gives you points, for every 100 points you get 10 cents off a gallon at shell gas stations. I once got 40 cents off every gallon.

 

[vfem]

Well, the danged credit card costs a business a transaction fee of $0.25-$0.35 cents per transaction plus 2.5%-5% of the total transaction! So I understand they don't want to give a discount on a large transactions like gas.

I accept credit cards for my business, and at the end of the year a large percent of my transactions go to pay fees all over the place. Debits and cash act like they come straight out of your bank account, which they do (fast checks), where you pay any applicable fees through your bank to cover on your end, not them. At worse, those companies pay to just swipe the card, and usually that's about $0.25 per swipe and not a huge deal.

With all that said... it still sucks!!!!

 

[digitS']

When I began my little produce selling enterprise, I took one of those business courses at a community center -- trying to learn to be a "businessman."

One thing that we were told was that having credit cards was a good thing, if they were used wisely. I remember that we were even advised that a relationship with 3 financial organizations was considered best and it would beef up our credit files and make it easier to wheel and deal.

Well, I already had a couple of credit cards and didn't really want to wheel and deal but, the lesson was remembered. Now, I guess that the small potatoes of carrying a credit card account might best be dropped. Better leave the wheeling and dealing to the big boys with connections to banks of various types. Personally, it was kind of a schadenfreude moment when my old bank, Washington Mutual went under ("the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008" - Wikipedia). I'd already abandoned WaMu because they couldn't keep up with an olde guy like me trying to have a backyard enterprise.

Of course, when gas was $4/gallon in 2007, I kind of thought I was working for Exxon! Yeah, I'd take nice fresh green produce and exchange it for dirty green paper and take that to my new bank and pay my credit card bill for all of those $100 fill-ups.

It costs me $100 to fill the tank again. But, the gas stations want the dirty green paper directly. Wonder if they'd take fresh green produce instead . . .

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

One way to look at is if you use cash you do not have to pay for other people's use of a CC. We all pay for using credit and debit cards, whether we use them or not, as the merchant passes the cost to the consumer. We have only seem that around here in a few places. It really annoyed my husband, too.