topping off, get money back?

[benfrogg]

There's a station north of my location that offers a 5cent per gallon discount if you use cash. I had to fill my fiancee's car and was running late to pick her up, so I went in and handed them two $20's. I forgot about the discount, went in for my receipt/change, and hit the road. Later, I looked over the receipt. The attendant had intentionally handed me a "reprint" of some variety that omitted the number of gallons. I knew what the price per gallon was, but was in a hurry and depended on the receipt to tell me the gallons. Doing some quick math, it looks like the attendant did that to put the 5cents per gallon in his pocket.

Oh well, won't go there ever again. I can't confirm it really went down, just highly speculate it. I figure if that guy behind the counter is willing to risk his job/possible jail time for 5 cents per gallon from the few cash customers that still come in, he must have really needed it. In fact, he needed it far more than I did, and I'm a self employed musician!


On a different matter-
BTG, I don't get cards with special rewards for using them. It really just digs in harder to small merchants, as far as I'm concerned. Somebody pays somewhere for those rewards I get. It's almost always expressed as a percentage to the retailer. Maybe I'm wrong about it, but I just don't like the idea.

B

[VetteOwner]

the stations dont make much off of gallons so saving a nickel isnt hurting them.

majority is the cost of crude its like 69% of the price, refining comes in 2nd, transportation and marketing (ya know delivery and your favorite TV commercials, billboards, magazine ads, etc) is 3rd. Taxes on it can come in 2nd or 3rd (depends on your state/city) and refining it is bottom barrel.

Stations mark it up very little usually anywhere from a penny to sometimes outrageous dime. (we all can pinpoint the stations doing that)

so your saving a nickle isnt going to hurt anyone but the oil companies. i think they can splurge a dollar.

rewards cards or "clubs" have been around for at least 20+ years...i remember my parents having the old cards when i was very young.

[bowtieguy]

i'm with ya 100% vetteowner! i'm a capitalist at heart, so i fully understand owning and operating a business, but hey, they make most of their profit on amenities anyway. and i dont buy food, beverages, tobacco and the rest from them either.

[VetteOwner]

yea thier 69 cent fountian sodas thier making AT LEAST 65 cent profit, thier 12 packs of soda or milk are marked up high (4 pack of AA batteries are $6 haha) beer is usually all the same as i think distributors/beer companies set those prices (much like video game stuff)

its all the other crap they sell that they get thier bucks from.

[trollbait]

I believe benfrogg was referring to fees charged by the credit card companies to the merchants. The CCs get a bit of every transaction, so what little the gas station owner gets is even less, and possibly even lose money. It's why several stations have gone back to higher gas prices for credit transactions in the recent past.

Rewards cards might take a higher cut than a non reward one. A stand owner at the local farmer's market once told me he didn't take Discover because they charged the highest rates of the cards to merchants.

[theholycow]

I'm pretty sure the rate is the same for all cards in a given network, eg all Mastercards have one rate, all Visas have one rate, all American Expresses have one rate, and all Discovers have one rate. I'm not 100% sure about that.

[Jay2TheRescue]

The absolute worst processing charges for merchants are from American Express.