Are cash discounts at gas stations worth it?
August 4, 2008 – 9:30 amIf you're new here, I suggest you subscribe to my RSS feed. or bookmark this blog. You'll be able to easily keep up to date with new posts. Thanks for visiting!
Ac ouple days ago I went to my local Citgo gas station for a fill up and saw on the huge sign they were selling gas for $3.62 a gallon and next to the price was a sign indicating it was a “cash only price”. I had to drive up to the pump to find out the credit price was 10 cents more expensive per gallon at $3.72. I opted to use my credit card to pay for my fill up.
10 cents off $3.72 is a 2.7% discount. If your credit card gives you a higher percentage off it’s obvious to go with the credit card. I’m assuming the gas station basically giving you the discount on what they pay for taking credit cards. I didn’t take too long to decide to pay with credit as 5% of $3 is already 15 cents.
Another annoying factor when I use to pay with cash and got a fill up is the gas station attendent always pumped enough to round up to the next dollar which is basically wasted money and gas. This was back when gas was less than $2 so pumping a extra 50 cents was over a quarter of a gallon. I could smell the wasted gas if I kept the window rolled down while driving off. FYI it’s illegal to pump your own gas in New Jersey because of outdated laws from when gasoline use to be dangerous to handle. It’s mighty convenient when the temperature outside is 10 degrees.
