Have you seen: gas stations refusing credit cards, asking for cash?

[arendt]

I was told this is happening; I have not seen it myself. Here is what I was told:

1) Station profits have historically been around 10 cents per gallon; that is, not percentage based.
2) Credit card fees are percentage based.
3) As price per gallon rises, more and more of the profit goes to the credit card companies.

Is there any truth to this?

----

On a related topic of credit-card based authoritarianism:

Massachusetts has just enacted a law that all gas pumps must ask for your zip code (as a security measure that cannot be deduced from mere possession/swiping of a card). Great, more of my time and privacy down the drain - I have to identify myself to an effing gas pump. The only good news in this is that the next time some drone at a big box store asks for my zip code, I can say: you already have it. The credit card companies look it up on line.

arendt

[PRETZEL]

1. I haven't seen stations refusing credit cards

but what I have seen is stations now starting to charge different prices for cash vs. credit. That's more of a back handed way of getting people to pay cash as it's usually a couple of cents cheaper.

[arendt]

3. That was how it used to be, twenty years ago...

IIRC, the credit card companies at that time didn't like losing profits; so they put a clause in their agreement with the business (all businesses, not just gas stations) that, if the business wanted to use the credit card, they couldn't offer a lower cash price.

I wonder if that contract is still in effect?

arendt

[AmyCamus]

2. Not refusing, but having two different prices for cash and credit

One I go to is a nickle cheaper for cash

[mduffy31]

4. I do know that sometimes they ask for your zip code as a security measure

I asked my grandfather who used to work in a bank, he told me that when they ask for you zip code they make sure that you are entering the same zip code that is associated with the bank account. When I was first married my wife and I had our bank account to my in-law's address which was in a different zip code within the same city. When I entered the wrong one once my transaction was declined, so I don't always associate with evil.

[AP]

5. I think they ask you so that they can charge the right sales tax.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. no...sales tax is local to the facility selling the product

the only time that doesn't apply is on things like cars...where the car will "reside" is the tax rate charged...

sP

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. When they ask me to do it I always type in 55555.

Never had any repercussions. Maybe they treat it like a signature - it's always the same, even if it is impossible to read.

[SoCalDem]

19. I used to use random numbers, but Mobil will reject the card

if the zip does not match your own info ..

[mduffy31]

22. So you live in Young America MN then?

[HiddenCSLib]

15. Zip code requirement

A lot of places are now going to be requiring in you provide your Zip Code when using a credit card. The Zip Code is part of the data that encoded in the track II of the credit card, referred to as CVV, and is used to verify the card, which in turn will lower the basis point charged for the transaction. The data is part of the ever tightening security that is being placed on credit card transactions.

[CBGLuthier]

6. 2 things

Read those reports too, it is true about the structure of the fee and it can and soon will overtake all the profit from the gas.

As to the zip thing, that is a common security measure. If you order something online and are unable to give your billing address it should be declined. I would hope this law is enacting the same thing to keep thieves from using stolen cards at the pump and avoiding the need for ID.

And yes, if the thief steals a card from you he probably has your wallet with zip on your drivers license but it's something anyway.

However, considering your attitude towards your fellow working man (drone?) I doubt you will appreciate any of this.

[arendt]

9. I call them drones because they are NEVER apologetic about this corporate-demanded bit...

of privacy harassment.

It is part of the desensitization that the corporate environment forces on the employees. And, as far as I can see, most of them don't even notice it. Its like breathing.

So, get off your soapbox about how I don't respect my fellow working man. I respect them by demanding some kind of awareness that this whole zip code thing is time-wasting, marketing BS.

arendt

[Echo In Light]

8. A gas station not far from us requires employees to write down EVERY license plate #

...before activating the pump to allow for fueling.

Why? Obvious. More and more are fleeing without paying.

[a la izquierda]

10. Actually, I just experienced this the other day.

This is the reason: small gas stations are getting screwed with credit card fees. As the prices go up, gas stations are still only making x amount per gallon for each customer; but credit card transactions are based upon a percentage of the total sale. So, in order to keep more of their money, some small places are cutting out the credit card companies.

I used to work for a company that set up merchants with credit card machines. I'm wondering how many merchants my former company is losing because of skyrocketing prices.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Do the credit card fees apply if you are using a Visa Debit card?

Does the station have to pay for that kind of transaction?

[a la izquierda]

16. I'm about 90% sure that the station does.

But the fee chart is different for Visa Debit cards than a straight Visa credit card.
I'm having a hard time remembering the exact legalese from 4 years ago, but I'm pretty sure about that.

[sofa king]

11. I've seen just the opposite, actually.

In the past three months, virtually all of the gas stations around here have instituted a "pay before you pump" policy, so the only way to get the juice running without going in and out of the gas station twice--once for the downpayment, once for the change--is to pay at the pump with a card. That's a considerable incentive to use a credit card, if you ask me.

I suppose most people just drop a ten or a twenty (or a fifty or a hundred) and put that much gas in the tank. But I have a 50cc scooter that only holds four liters. I need to fill the tank all the way up to make sure I can go all of 80 miles on a tank because I regularly make a 74 mile round trip, and since I travel comparatively long distances, I have to fill up often--sometimes a couple of times a day. So I have to go in and out of every gas station twice per fill-up, once to hand the cashier some money, and once to get the change. So far, nobody has tried to rip me off, and I doubt they will, but it makes me a little uneasy that the procedure opens me up to being ripped off instead of them.

Anyway, that's why I've noticed the change in policy.

Oh, since we're on the subject of getting ripped off, every time you pay for gas with a credit-backed bank card and it asks you for a pin number, that's The Man ripping you off. The retailer has to pay a service charge to the credit company if you use credit, but if they can trick you into using your pin, you pay the charge--and often an additional charge from your own bank. Usually you can force the machine to accept a credit transaction by hitting the "cancel" button.

[DiverDave]

18. 74 miles on a SCOOTER??

Christ, I bet you got a sore ass.

Man, that is nuts, I hope you can find something closeror moove closer...74 MILES??

[stray cat]

12. yes and sometimes if you pay cash its 0.10$ cheaper

[Blue Belle]

17. Yes.

There are a few stations here in Salem that have refused credit cards. Can't say as I blame them... They're getting screwed left and right.

[BlooInBloo]

20. I just ordered chinese food delivered, and they stopped accepting cards!

bastids.

[AlCzervik]

21. not where i live.