Gas Stations May Stop Taking Credit Cards
Gas stations may stop taking credit cards because of the high fees they must pay to process credit card transactions, reports Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
According to West Virginia's The State Journal, credit card companies make twice as much as retailers from gas sales.
Many people associate gas retailers with the big oil companies, when they're actually separate. Gas retailers simply sell gas from those companies, so they don't rake in billions of dollars from gas sales.
I believe the gas stations who stop taking credit cards will end up hurt and will possibly go out of business. Consumers have become very dependent on paying at the pump. Something like 66% of gas customers pay with a credit card. With direct deposit and ATM cards, fewer people are carrying cash these days so it's inconvenient to pay for gas with a cash. I'd drive to the next gas station before I went out of my way to withdraw cash and pay inside. Of course, if most gas stations stopped taking credit cards, we'd have to adjust.
If passed, the pending Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 will provide relief to gas retailers and keep the convenience of credit card payments.
Would you buy gas from a station that didn't take credit cards?
Comments
Ah yes, yet another way of causing the middle class and poor MORE heart ache; as if raising the cost per gallon and forclosing on houses wasn’t enough.
HUM, I ask; WHO IS GETTING RICH OUT OF THIS MESS?
I ALREADY avoid stations which do not have pay at the pump at which I can use my debit card.
There is one station in town that is usually cheaper than the others. They insist that you go inside to pay cash before you pump.
I used to gas up there when I could fill for less that $20. Not any more.
Now I go to an intersection that has Thornton’s, Meijer, and Kroger all on the same corner. I figure in my discounts and pay at the pump for the cheapest rate.
With a toddler in the car, it would be a MAJOR hassle to have to get him out of the car seat, drag him in, wait in line (keeping his hands off of everything and telling him no to all the junk food he wants me to buy), go outside, put him back in the car seat, then finally get to pump my gas. I would either have to make a special trip to get gas when he isn’t with me, or pay more at a station that still takes credit cards.
Pay at the pump is wonderful for me because I have a disability. It’s a lot easier not to have to go inside to pay. I also don’t like to carry much cash. I would definitely choose a station that accepts cards over one that is cash only.
Once I would have agreed with the other posters and for all of their very good reasons. (Of course my little ones have grown up and now have their own little ones, lol)
But then my local gas station started holding three times the amount of ga$ pumped.
I lost everything in a nasty divorce and then a hurricane; I cannot keep a big enough balance to afford a 3x hold on my checking account funds! The resulting NSF domino effect wiped out my very modest little savings account I stupidly tied to my checking account.
I now pay cash for EVERYTHING!
The local HOT SPOT has two prices posted for gas. One for cash and one for cards. The card price is 10¢ a gallon higher than the cash price