I know when gas was $1.75 a gallon, I could fill up my car for $17 or $18. I’d pump the gas and go inside to pay, and maybe buy a candy bar or tea.
But now that gas is $3.00 a gallon, they want to you pay first before pumping. To do that you would have to go inside and give them money, then go back out and fill up the tank, then go back and get your change. So instead I just pay with a credit card and I’m on my way.
So does anyone know if convenience stores are doing less business with higher gas prices?
Don’t know about higher prices, but “Pay-at-the-pump” seriously cut into my inside sales. Prepay, I’ve noticed, tends to discourage impulse buys as well. All in all, I’m fairly glad I got out of the business when I did. Store profit on gasoline sales is minuscule, 5-10 cents per gallon and the higher prices go the lower the stores profit is, as the individuals try to undercut the competition by a penny or so.
I suspect, based on the above plus almost 10 years in the industry, that inside sales are indeed negatively impacted by these prices.
Really? I’ve never once had to pay before pumping. Weird. How do you know how much to pay if you don’t know how much the car is going to take? What if you pump less than you paid for?
In general basic math. My car has around 13 gallons to fill when it’s almost empty. It’s pretty simply for me to figure out how much gasoline @2.50/gallon or $1.50/gallon or $3.50/gallon it will take to get to 13 gallons.
I usually just multiply the price by 13 and pay for that much ahead of time, it’s relatively rare I actually have to do this, though. About 10 years ago, every gas station around here was “pay, go inside.” With pre-pay and pay-at-the-pump being present at some of the larger stations but most of them didn’t have the technology yet.
Pre-pay has been the standard in some areas for even longer, I think places where crime is generally higher have been pre-pay longer, now most places I’ve been in the continental U.S. in the last 5 years have been pre-pay.
Since I have a gas card I only actually “pre-pay” when I’m at one of the very rare stations that doesn’t have pay-at-the-pump. I think most people just pay at the pump now, which is why you don’t worry so much about it, you just swipe your card before you pump and however much you pump is applied to your account.
Also, not everyone goes to the pump to fill up. I always fill up, but people with lower incomes may only have, say, $20 to spend on gas even if it only fills their tank half up, so they know from the get go how much they’re going to spend.
It’s been “prepay” in the Philly area since I can remember. Back before pay-at-the-pump became common, I’d prepay a $20, say “fill it on pump whatever,” go out and fill it, then go back in for my change.
That was, of course, when it cost less than $20 to fill my tank.
I recently noticed, at a local C-store, they are charging ten cents a gallon more for CC use. These guys also, conveniently, forget to raise the prices on their signs when they raise pump prices.
I’m pretty sure that’s a violation of their agreement with the credit card issuers to charge a surcharge for card use. Do they get around it by describing it as a “discount” for cash payment?
Depends on your location. In Louisiana, prepay became more prevalent after Sept 11, 2001…prior to that, it was almost non-existent except at 7-11 type stores after dark in bad neighborhoods. The only time I ever prepaid my gas was if I was in a hurry to get $5.00 worth and wanted the pump to shut off automatically so I could jump in and go when I was done. I almost always fill my tank to the top, so if I’m paying cash, it involves a second trip back for change.
Since Hurricane Katrina, I don’t think there’s anywhere you can pump first in this area anymore.
It’s a cash discount. You can do that on anything, even merchandise. As long as the price posted is the credit price. It’s illegal to charge more for a credit card transaction.
Exxon did that at all of their stations into the early 90s. They even had charts at the pumps so you could figure how much cash you needed based on what the pumps showed.
We recently had a new Racetrac station open near here and they had gas for $1.89 a gallon (about 4 months ago when prices dropped). They were cheaper than everybody else by 5 to 10 cents but if you paid cash, it was only $1.87 a gallon.
I can recall a similar worry when pay-at-the-pump was growing more common; people paying by credit card wouldn’t need to go inside at all, which would be expected to seriously cut down those folks’ impulse buying in the convenience store.
I’ve lived in California since 1993, and I cannot recall in that time a single station that did not have pay-at-the-pump as an option (and pay-first as a requirement); it’s essentially universal around here, and has been for well over a decade.
I cannot remember the last time I paid cash for gas, and I only need to go inside when the pump* refuses to produce a receipt (perhaps once in 20 fillups) - and that’s just because I want one. I’ll occasionally use the restroom or buy something to drink - normally I’ll pull off into one of the normal parking spaces before going inside just to clear out the pump.
I’m well aware that the pump is in the ground, and that the thing one sees and touches while getting gas is more properly called the dispenser. I’m happy to roll with common usage here, even if it gets the pedants all worked up.
The store in question has a small sign on each pump that reads “Add 10 cents per gal. for credit card purchases”. It’s owned by an eastern family and mostly staffed by family members. I’d bet that they figure on getting by unless someone complains to the CC company. It’s like the large signs showing one price and when you get to the pump it’s several cents higher. They are constantly doing that. It’s the closest C-store to my house, but I’ve stopped going there unless I am just too rushed and actually need something in a hurry. Their prices are outrageous and the service it terrible.
If you pay at the pump, the gas pump pre-authorizes an amount set by the gas station. In most instances I’ve encountered (I work with credit and debit cards) the pre-auth is a dollar, but as gas prices began to rise some stations began setting that to as high as $75. If your card has enough available for the pre-auth, you can pump all the gas you want. One to two business days later, the station completes the transaction for the actual amount of your purchase.
