<p>I drove into the local Mobil gas station and started to pump gas. Suddenly I noticed that the pump price was WAY higher than the area prices or the posted price. It turned out that the Mobil station had a huge markup for non-cash payments. Watch out for this scumbag ripoffs!!</p>
<p>Some (most? all? I don’t pay attention because I always pay cash) of my local gas stations have a double price board posted out front. The difference between cash and not-cash is pretty striking.</p>
<p>I am aware of gas stations that offer a lower price for cash than other forms of payment. As long as they make this clear, it seems fair to me, since it IS a cost that they incur for allow us to use other forms of payment.</p>
<p>That said, the cheapest place by far to purchase gas in Honolulu is Costco. They have the same price, no matter what method of payment and when I use my business AmEx Costco card, I get 4% back on my gas purchases. I LIKE getting that refund.</p>
<p>HI has about the highest gas prices in the nation and has for much of the time I’ve been driving. It’s over $4 per gallon and consistently has for quite a long time.</p>
<p>Each customer can do the math and decide whether the price differential affects their method of payment, which is what the gas stations intend. They prefer to pass the costs of non-cash payment methods on to those who use those methods. That seems fair to me and I can weigh the costs and benefits to figure out what and where to purchase as well as how to pay.</p>
<p>I just pumped yesterday. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for this the next time.</p>
<p>One of our local gas stations inverted the prices for regular and premium. If you weren’t paying attention and just picked regular, you ended up paying the higher price. They did this for a couple of years, but I see recently they stopped doing it.</p>
<p>I’ve got some Mobil stations near my home. Some I think are owned by Mobil and some by independent Mobil dealers. The company owned Mobils charge less for cash and with using their own Mobil credit card. The independents near me charge same for cash, Mobil card, debit and other credit card purchases. It really annoys me having to pay the extra few cents per gallon when I use a Visa card…I avoid going to those gas stations. Lots of other gas brands do the same as Mobil. The independents’ gas prices are the same as the company owned Mobils cash price too, so I use the independents.</p>
<p>I use amex to buy gas. They pay at least 3% cash back on gas purchases. Sometimes 4%. If gas is $4.00/gal it is actually cheaper to use amex than cash since the cash price is about 10cents/gal cheaper but the amex discount is 12 cents. At $3.50 it’s break even and I’d rather use a cc. Anything less than that and cash is cheaper but it would have to be much cheaper for me to bother to walk into the station, give them cash and go back for the change. Just not worth the few cents. These number are usually posted on the big sign outside.</p>
<p>“The company owned Mobils charge less for cash and with using their own Mobil credit card.”</p>
<p>Where I live it is the opposite. The independent dealers charge less for cash.</p>
<p>Yeah the gasoline business is cut throat, and competition and demand largely determine gas prices. The oil companies always win though.</p>
<p>All stations around here seem to charge same price for cash or credit, so I can only assume it must be illegal to do otherwise (or else someone would be doing it right?). When traveling I recall paying 10 cents more than the posted price for credit card payment, but I can’t remember what state I was in. Anything more than 10 cents extra I think would be excessive, but having said that… it could cost the station owner more than that. How much do they pay in credit card fees? 2 percent of $3.50/ gallon would be 7 cents. I do know that some stations post a very low price that is only available if you also buy a car wash. </p>
<p>There was an Exxon station in my old town in NJ that charged way more than everyone else, like 50 to 75 cents above “market.” I think they only sold gas to folks that wandered up from the interstate and didn’t know any better. One time (and only once) I glanced at the price and thought it was reasonable until I realized the big figure was too high, so I was paying $3.50 when the going price at the time was $2.65.</p>