Different price for credit and cash?

[Exodor]

Originally posted by: JC86
IIRC, Arco's stations in southern california are always cheaper by 4-10 cents than the other stations but they do not take credit cards, they take debit cards.

Arco's in Oregon do this as well and it's a PITA.

Oregon doesn't allow self-serve gas so most of the time you can just pull up to the pump, hand the guy your card and get a fillup without ever leaving your vehicle.

At an ARCO you have to go inside and wait behind everyone buying cigarettes and lottery tickets just to pay for your damn gas with a debit card.


F- that. I never buy gas at ARCO.

 

[brandonbull]

i thought you can charge whatever prices you want as long as they are available to everyone. You can't allow only Walmart to get cheap gas.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
What are their advertsied cash and credit prices and what are nearby competitors prices?

advertised price on the big sign is cash price and near competitor prices are around the cash price. maybe 1-2 cents more

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: halik

turns out you're right

"MINIMUM CHARGE REQUIREMENTS

Some stores require consumers to spend at least $20 (or some other minimum) to pay for purchases by credit card. They engage in this practice because they and their banks do not want the expense of processing a credit card transaction involving a small amount of money.

This practice defeats one of the major purposes of credit cards?convenience?and may force credit card users to spend more than they want to. In addition, minimum charge requirements vary from merchant to merchant, and there are no regulations requiring disclosure of these minimum purchase levels.

Visa's and MasterCard's regulations prohibit minimum charge amounts. American Express's regulations do not explicitly prohibit minimum charges, but its policy is to discourage any merchant practices that create a "barrier to acceptance." Amex does prohibit "discrimination" against the Amex card, however, so if a merchant has no minimum charge for Visa and MasterCard, the merchant may not discriminate against Amex by imposing a minimum charge.
TIP TIP: If a store requires a minimum purchase for Visa or MasterCard, point out to the store manager that the practice is prohibited by the card companies."


fcking bars do this.. but instead of "minimum card charge".. they say minimum to keep a tab... and of course, you can only open a tab with a CC

 

[Vinfinite]

perfectly legal, its not like they're FORCING you to use your card. Pay with cash.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Vinfinite
perfectly legal, its not like they're FORCING you to use your card. Pay with cash.

i am well aware that I can pay with cash. But i rarely carry more than $20 cash on me and its getting close to $40 to fill up these days. I was just stating a matter of principle since I thought this practice was illegal. I guess I was wrong.

 

[rhino56]

thats something with paypal isnt it? they dont allow people to charge more for using it? something like that.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
It's not illegal by any means; you can discriminate between prices however you damn well choose; although, between cash denominations you probably can?t get away with it. However, depending on how it is setup, it may in breach of their contract with their credit card companies. For the most part, they are allowed to advertise at a higher price and give rebates to customers paying cash, however, they can't charge more than the listed price for someone using a card.

just got back from lunch. they arent advertising a higher price and giving a discount for cash. big sign displays 2.91/3.01/3.11. when you u pull up to the pump, there are two rows of prices - 2.91/3.01/3.11 for cash and 2.98/3.08/3.18 for credit

They're advertising their discount price for cash purchases.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

See, now we're getting into deceptive advertising.

- M4H

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: daveshel
Nothing new - been happening since the 1970s.

It stopped for a long time in the 90s - stations started going cash/credit same price probably as a selling point, then everyone started doing it and it became normal - now with the prices skyrocketing they're starting to do it again to stay competitive.

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
See, now we're getting into deceptive advertising.

- M4H

Yeah, advertising a conditional price is kind of shady IMO... I've seen a gas station that had lower than average prices on its sign, but the price on the sign was only if you get your CAR WASHED too.

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: jjones

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
It's not illegal by any means; you can discriminate between prices however you damn well choose; although, between cash denominations you probably can?t get away with it. However, depending on how it is setup, it may in breach of their contract with their credit card companies. For the most part, they are allowed to advertise at a higher price and give rebates to customers paying cash, however, they can't charge more than the listed price for someone using a card.

just got back from lunch. they arent advertising a higher price and giving a discount for cash. big sign displays 2.91/3.01/3.11. when you u pull up to the pump, there are two rows of prices - 2.91/3.01/3.11 for cash and 2.98/3.08/3.18 for credit

They're advertising their discount price for cash purchases.

They have to give everyone the option to pay at the advertised price. What this gas station is doing is against their agreement with the CC companies and should be reported.