Comments on: More gas stations pulling cash-price scam at the pump

By: free gas card

free gas card — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:57:36 +0000

Thanks for the reminders. We need to be really vigilant ans careful when using our credit cards, sometimes some companies put some extra charges without noticing their clients. So sad that things like these are happening.
Again thanks for making us aware.

By: Craig Bennett

Craig Bennett — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:32:27 +0000

Being in the service industry I usually am responsible for setting the pumps to drop when cash payment is selected. I have seen station after station doing this due to the rediculous credit card fees they have to pay. In the 70′s these stations made about 30 cents a gallon profit. Now they are lucky to get 3 to 4 cents a gallon and with alot of the large chains trying to put the little guys out of business they are sometimes only making 1 cent per gallon. Gas is now a lost leader for most stations and the hinderance that is there only to draw you in to buy inside products where their real profits are. Don’t blame the stations, blame the government for rediculous taxation on gas, the credit card industry for charging exorbitant amounts for each transaction. Credit sales can actually make each gallon a loss of 3 to 4 cents per gallon for some of these places.

By: Kenneth Morrissey

Kenneth Morrissey — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:24:05 +0000

I found out this was illegal in new york state over a year ago.
After calling 311 I was told this should be reported to cuomo.
Reported 5 or 6 stations, three of them a year ago.

No action….other than more stations starting the same thing.
Almost all the gas stations I hit in queens are doing this now.

Breaking the law is one thing, but putting up a sign advertising your breaking the law… This doesn’t seem like a hard thing to catch people on…

By: Pump Suppliers

Pump Suppliers — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:20:26 +0000

Yes its true we have to aware as much as before, because its not legal that your government scheduled that Rs. 3.65 will be increased for petrol and you see that while you try to full your tank at Pumping station you checked that the pumping manager has schedule more than the the Government price has already scheduled.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:10:45 +0000

Well in jersey alot of station charging extra 10 a gallons on credit and debit cards, i work in gas station also and i can see y they charge extra money, caz they buy gsa for 4 cents differnce and sell 3500 gallons a day if a credit card is swiped they hay to pay atleast 80 cent on 20 dollar gas, its very easy for us to say scam but i don\’t think so, u have to make sure there is cash and credit price listed on the station every where, it’s good if u all guys pay attention when u r purchasing gas caz most of u morans of jersey stay on the phone and want full service on a cheap price, Gas station dont make money gas company does, every year the gas station are closing in jersy caz of a bad econmy, JUST KEEP UR EYES OPEN WHEN U PULL INSIDE THE STATION, AND U JESEY PPL FIGHURE OUT HOW TO PARK THE CAR FOR GAS. FINALLY I GET TO TELL PPL WHAT I CANT TELL IN MY STATION, CAZ I GET PAID STATE MINUIMM AND I HAVE TO WORK THE HARDEST JOB ON PLANET, AND WHEN THE PRCIE GOES UP THE PPL THINK ITS MY FAULT I AM JUST WORKERS U MORAN, WHY CANT U COMPLAINT TO GOVERMENT. THANKS

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:58:11 +0000

I was also annoyed by this same fact. I pulled into several gas stations here in Tampa, Fl they all had these additional fees. However, in researching this I am not sure what legal ramifications we as consumers have. It is a Florida Law that merchants can not charge a Surcharge for credit card purchases. A surcharge is an amount added to the transaction after the fact. However, what is completely legal is to sell their gas at 2.67 per gallon then offer a $0.05 discount per gallon to any customer choosing to pay cash. For some reason this is not the same thing as a surcharge. I guess when you look at these fees from the other direction, in other word offer the cash discount, the $0.05 extra your paying per gallon is not really a surcharge for the credit card purchase. The funny part is since there are only really 2 major groups of payment types I don’t know how the convening authorities don’t consider this raising the credit card price. Just another fine example of corporations making a mockery of the legal system to suit their own needs. I guess if i ever decide to assault someone I will simply tell the police he fell on my fist. See if that gets me anywhere. Sounds very similar to the whole burglar suing a home owner for assault.

By: Ariel

Ariel — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:15:36 +0000

Wow, interesting reading. I think I’ve come across a scam, but not so sure. Since, it only happened to me once. Over the weekend, I pulled into a gas station in Clifton, NJ. My wife’s been warning me not to go to this particular gas station, because they seem to be very slow in filling up the tank. But, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Plus, I needed gas quickly. So, anyway, I went there to get $20 of Plus using cash because there was a difference in the cash/credit prices. I’ve noticed that gas attendants like to use their own credit cards when consumers pay cash (which I have no problem with, only when the price of cash and credit are the same) to get the free gas points from their credit cards. Now, this doesn’t work for the gas attendants, when the price of gas is different for cash/credit. So, when I asked for $20 cash for Plus, I noticed the gas attendant started to use his credit card and started to fill my tank with Regular. I noticed that the price of Regular gas CREDIT was very close to the price of Plus CASH (6 cents cheaper). I caught this, because I always like to look to make sure they are putting in what I asked for. So, I’m thinking the scam is that the gas attendant is ripping off his employer, giving out more gas for the Regular price, but is scamming the consumer, by giving them a lower grade gas. Who do I contact in NJ, if I wanted to report this???

By: elliott.org | More gas stations pulling cash-price scam at the pump | Update Small Business

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:50:10 +0000

[...] posted here:

By: Day 4 - Haven’t been this POed since they cancelled Homeboys in Outer Space « Rogstad’s Temporary Weblog

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:40:18 +0000

[...] and full-fueled, even though I paid a nickel more a gallon because of the sneaky technique of discounting cash purchases. Yes, that smarmy policy is [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:58:29 +0000

In Suffolk County, NY the road price sign for a any product being offered for sale must be accurate and include the terms and condition of that price i.e. “CASH” or “Self Serve”.
Have you noticed some stations advertise on the road price sign their low octane, medium octane and medium high octane instead of low medium and high?
I don’t like it either but until there is a law changing it…. buyer beware.

By: ED

ED — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:27:00 +0000

I also am a small retailer. The credit card companies began issuing rewards card in 2005 I believe. The credit card companies just legally steal several percent more service charge from my account when I take a rewards, business or corporate cards. Under the credit card agreements I can’t refuse the transaction based on the nature of the card.The rate is sometimes twice the regular discount rate. Only about 60% of people that earn rewards take advantage of them and the credit card company makes out like a bandit.

Surcharges are legal in some states, but not in others. Surcharges are prohibited by the credit card/merchant agreements. Cash discounts from the regular posted prices are permitted by the agreements and by law(I read the agreement today). I have raised my prices on all items by a sufficient percentage to pay the gouge by the credit card companies. I give a 3% cash discount to everyone paying cash or with a PIN based debit cards. Signature based debit cards carry the same high rate that regular credit cards and the user gets no discount.

As more merchants get tired of getting ripped by the card companies you will find that you will be getting to pay more at a lot of places than cash customers pay. Get used to it.

By: Jo Schmidt

Jo Schmidt — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:58:28 +0000

I am surprised at how many fear mongers are out there rearing their ugly heads. I do not work for an oil company, a convienience gas station, or for a credit card company. However, I feel compelled to state the obviously absent facts here.
I do own a small automotive service business and we have been reeling from the increases in credit card processing fees in the past couple of years. We spend, on average, between $500-$900 EVERY month in credit card fees.
Now, from our perspective, the 45% of our customers who pay with cash or check, or even low cost debit cards, are going to have to pay higher prices, just as those paying with credit cards will, because we need to raise our labor rates to cover the ever increasing costs of doing business, specifically for costs associated with increases in credit card usage. Is that fair? If I were a customer who pays my bills with cash or check, should I have to pay more because other customers use a payment form that actually costs the business a significant amount of overhead? (Keep in mind that it takes many repair bills to cover that expense every month. Consider every sale must also cover other costs too: cost of parts, cost of labor, taxes, building mortgage & property maintenance, tools, training, large equipment (like hoists), etc., and a small fraction for owner profit.)
I only came across this discussion as I was looking for information on the legalities of offering a discount to customers who pay with cash (that means actual cash or check), or a little less of discount if you pay with debit card.
It’s unfortunate that when ever we feel wronged on an issue, we rarely get to the see the flip side of the argument.
What’s really going on with the retail gas price situation is that people are paying with credit cards, buying less in the convienience store (where the only real profits are), and the only ones getting rich are the fuel companies providing the fuel (certainly not the retail sellers – check it out) and the credit card companies.
Take a real hard look at the credit card industry. The are making great profits, and even though people are filing banckrupcy at an alarming rate (we just had an employee go through it) the credit card companies keep giving cards to young adults without financial sense and experience, especially to struggling college students, and to mature adults that are already too far in debt to be able to pay them off each month. Not to mention the rates Visa, MC, Discover, etc. are charging to retailers to cover the extra costs assocoated with all the perks and programs promoted to the end card users. Often times the card users never really benefit from those programs, but the credit card companies sure do!
Our economy is faltering, credit card companies lobby for laws that only protect them and their profits, AND the government will bail them out when they get into trouble. (Like the insurance companies that got bailed out after Katrina – even though they had lots of real estate they could have sold, and were making great profits!) Oil companies are posting record profits too! (From fuel and from gas credit card fees.) Yet, our government still subsidises the industry.
Who is going to bailout the little guy, your corner market, local barber, or your auto repair shop when the expenses to their bottom line put them out of business because they can no longer compete with the big retail bullies (like wal-mart)? Just look at what happened to many of the little family farms – gone.

By: darrell banco

darrell banco — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:22:24 +0000

July 27 2008;; I can tell you i just got cought up in this as well, i saw $3.85 and i pumped my gas and noticed i payed $3.90, i went back in and said something to the attendent and he told me i paid with a credit card, ,and there is a sign stating that,,,all i saw was a sign that said CASH OR CREDIT CARD, nothing really stating in spacific, but that made no difference to me,,,money is money to me , i know what he did is not right and even legal, i told him i am turning him in and reporting him to the proper people to deal with this, No matter how you look at this, people that use there cards are using them for a reason my case is so i don’t get robbed at my job,so i just don’t carry cash ,,i think this is some discrimination act against the people for using cards,i because after all , they are making money off this, they supposed to be greatful for our bussiness insted,but thats not good enough for them, so something really needs to be done about it,,,and i am not going to stop until something is done,

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:12:24 +0000

People – wake up and realize the obvious here. I don’t care how they want to call it – these are NOT “cash discounts” – they are merely a deceptive description for what they really are – credit card surcharges – and some are now running as much as 15 to 30 cents per gallon. Do the math – that’s an extra $20-30 /month on average. I can remember back in the ’80s when Getty proudly touted “Same Price Cash or Credit” at their pumps, and had radio ads attacking competitors who charged extra for using credit cards (Shell was one practicing this disguised as “Pay Cash and Save” -while they didn’t even have to post the credit prices!) The ad compared the practice to a restaurant charging extra for a customer using a credit card to pay for a meal. The outrage practically made this injustice disappear by the end of the 80′s, but with merchants losing profits with today’s gas prices, it has crept back into play. Given $4+/gal, who’s really going to have $75 or more in cash on them when they fill up … unless they run to the ATM beforehand. What also bothers me is that there is no law nationwide to clearly post both cash and credit prices, should the stations choose to do this. And those stations who force customers to pay “cash only” better be fully insured – as they will become obvious targets for robberies – as well as the paying consumers. I don’t have a Getty station in my area, but if they are still around (they’re being rebranded as Lukoil nationwide) I’d like to know if they are continuing their practice of charging the same price, cash or credit – and if they are, perhaps rolling out those old ads from the ’80s would help curb this injustice once again.

By: JoeSchmo79

JoeSchmo79 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:55:40 +0000

I have also run into this problem at a Shell station in Meriden, CT.

Many Shell stations have a sign where regular octane gas is priced and shown in large numbers, and a smaller price shown for diesel under it. The price was $4.23 for cash and $4.35 for credit. The problem is that the cash price is NOT signed as such (the one in large numbers) and the credit price is where the diesel price should be, confusing passing motorists (some who might have diesel vehicles) into thinking diesel dropped 65 cents overnight. However, instead of saying “diesel” it says “Regular Credit” in microscopic letters just to remind everyone they’re still getting screwed. They just don’t realize it until they pull up to the pump and see the digital price display above the nozzles.

No other station in town does this, and because of that, Shell will never have the pleasure of seeing my vehicle at their pumps ever again. I only went there today because I needed gas and had cash (only $20) on me and had planned on paying in cash anyway (I usually use my card and buy gas at the membership warehouse club when shopping there every 2-3 weeks or so). Plus, this station is less than a mile from my house so I wouldn’t use much gas driving from the station to my house (the warehouse club is 5 miles, at most, from my house).

As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Shell fooled me once, but never again. I will be taking my business elsewhere and keeping an eye on the signs. I will never buy gas from a station that offers seperate cash and credit prices ever again.

That should be it, for now.