Gasoline stations

[ponytug]

Yep, Bird, they still have that law. I've heard all the reasons, but I have no idea what the truth is...

Most of the time, I find myself pumping my own gas. It irks me to have someone do something for me that I can do myself. It gets lots of looks, and then people read the license plate and realize that I'm a "foreigner" from the dreaded state down south.

All the best,

Peter

...
I understand some politicians claimed ladies not wanting to get gas on their hands was the main reason Oregon passed a state law prohibiting customers from pumping their own gas. Of course others claimed it was for safety reasons while still others claimed it was to provide employment for otherwise unemployable individuals. I tend to think it was the latter. I don't know whether Oregon still has that law or not, but in 1991, I forgot about it and stopped for gas in Oregon and started putting gas in my truck and an obviously mentally retarded young man came out and bawled me out for doing that. Probably the first time in his life that he got to feel superior to another human so I certainly wasn't going to deny him that opportunity, and didn't say anything. So he finished the job and stopped at least 5 gallons short of filling the tank. Of course, he didn't perform any other service; didn't clean windows or even ask about checking anything else.

 

[kenmac]

Ten cents a gallon on a product that requires no advertising, no R&D, no one to pump it and not even anyone to take you money or make change sounds like a pretty good profit to me.

I've heard owners say that they only get 1 cent per gallon and only make money on food sales. The coffee goes for about $20 a gallon.

I wouldn't know if it's a good profit or not. I don't know what his rent is, power bill , What he has to pay for using credit cards,& equipment up keep is

 

[Bird]

I wouldn't know if it's a good profit or not. I don't know what his rent is, power bill , What he has to pay for using credit cards,& equipment up keep is

Yep, I recently saw a news story about some service stations that have quit accepting credit cards because what they're charged is a percentage of the total cash price. Now I'm not sure what percentage they pay, but I know some companies negotiate lower fees than others. However, if a station was paying 2% (or 2 cents) when gas was a dollar a gallon and now it's still 2% (or nearly 8 cents) when gas is nearly four dollars a gallon and the station's "profit" remained the same amount per gallon . . . well, you can see why.

Of course my question is . . . would people rather pay an extra few cents (say 6 cents) a gallon and be able to use their credit cards, or would they be willing to pay cash to get the gas a few cents a gallon cheaper. And if you're getting that cash from an ATM machine and paying their fees, do you save money or lose money?

In the mid to late 50s, we gave S&H Green Stamps at our service station, as did the only supermarket in town, which was right across the street from us. Then came the day that the owner of the supermarket told us that the profit margin (markup) on groceries was so little that he figured if he quit giving Green Stamps and lost half his business, he'd break even. So he quit giving Green Stamps, lost three-fourths of his business, and started giving Green Stamps again.

 

[kenmac]

I remember those stamps as a kid. I got alot of toys at the S&H green stamp store. I also remember when stations offered a lower gasoline price for cash. Don't see that anymore

 

[Bird]

I remember those stamps as a kid. I got alot of toys at the S&H green stamp store. I also remember when stations offered a lower gasoline price for cash. Don't see that anymore

Ken, do you remember when a lot of trucks, even the tractor trailer rigs, were gasoline powered and stations usually gave a "truck discount"; i.e., a 2 cent a gallon discount for anyone who bought over 20 gallons at a time?

A couple of times, when I needed something like a typewriter or adding machine, I checked to see about getting them from the Green Stamp store, but every time I found that our cost for enough Green Stamps to get what was needed was more than going to a place like Sears and buying the product. Sperry & Hutchinson was selling all that merchandise at full retail prices even if every Green Stamp had been redeemed. And of course they were getting their money before they even had to order the merchandise.

But I can tell you that those Green Stamps were incredibly important to many of our female customers. Mobil tires were good tires, made for Mobil by Kelly Springfield, but they were too expensive, so we didn't sell many. But one of our regular customers wanted a full set, so Dad showed him our catalog, what the retail price was and what our cost was. Dad told him that he'd sell him the tires at $1 each over our cost plus the mounting and balancing, but couldn't give Green Stamps if he sold the tires at that price. The customer was happy. Late that evening the customer's wife showed up alone and wanted to know where her Green Stamps were for those tires her husband bought. Dad showed her the catalog and explained what he'd done and told her if her husband had been paying retail price for those tires, he could have given double Green Stamps. That lady wrote out a check fof the difference because she wanted those stamps. Dad gave her triple Green Stamps, we still made a little more money, and she left just happy as a lark.

 

[N80]

I don't know what his rent is, power bill , What he has to pay for using credit cards,& equipment up keep is

About the same as any other local businesses.

Credit card fees are another matter. I don't like to hear retailers of any sort whining about credit card fees. Credit card fees are overhead. Just like any other sort of overhead. But they are integral to most retailers. My M-I-L owns a shoe store. She never complains about credit card fees. The buying habits of Americans are governed by the use of credit cards. She knows that if she did not accept credit cards her business would die overnight, even if her prices were lower.

I got no problem with station owners having credit and cash prices, but you rarely see it in the rest of the retail world that relies on credit cards. So why at the gas stations? Its not like they don't increase the price per gallon as the price per barrel goes up. The only times when they do this cash/credit deal is when prices get higher than the economy can support.

Regardless, they can do it if they want, but I sure don't want to hear them whining about it.

I was in a local sporting goods/hunting supply store. I needed something cheap, don't remember what it was, but it was under $20. When I got to the cash register the owner told me he had to tack on something like 5% over the marked price if I bought anything under $25 to make up for his credit card fee. I handed the item back to him and told him to keep it and see how the loss of the sale and the fact that I'd never come back compared to his credit card fee. He went belly up about 6 months later. New owner in the same place and same inventory doing just fine there now.

I pretty much do the same thing with gas. I know where the places are that either have one price, cash or credit, or, my favorite truck stop whose credit price is the same as the cash price of the Exxon right across the street AND he has a cash price that is even lower. That's business the American way.

 

[tallyho8]

In 1961, at the age of 16 I worked at a Tenneco SERVICE station that a friend owned. Tenneco gas sold for 27.9 cents a gallon for regular and 31.9 cents for premium. All the big stations (Shell, Texaco, Esso) were selling gas for 29.9 and 33.9. These prices did not change from 1960 to 1974. We paid 20.9 cents for regular making a gross profit of 7 cents. I didn't even know what diesel was but I heard that there was a place across town that sold it for 15 cents a gallon. We also gave S&H green stamps, 1 for every 10 cent purchase, and these stamps cost 1/10 cent each. We also gave away drinking glasses with each fillup of 10 gallons or more and we checked each customer's tires and oil and cleaned the windshield. No one ever filled their own tanks. As others mentioned, the profit was in oil, antifreeze, tire repairs, car washes and lubes. Installation was free if anyone bought anything. (Wipers, headlights, antifreeze, oil, tires etc.) But usually, when we checked someone's oil and found it a quart low, they wouldn't buy it from us because they didn't want to pay the 29 cents for a quart of Shurlube. Back then, only about 10% of customers used charge cards, most paid cash. Our station had 8 pumps and it took 3 employees to pump the gas. The owner used to actually work at the station. Nowdays most owners own a string of stations and never set foot in any of them. Back then we even had to maintain 3 restrooms. Modern stations only have 2.

Today, many GAS station owners tell me that 90% of their sales are by charge card and many say they sell the gas for 50 cents a gallon more than they pay for it. They have no service at all and most have convenience stores with high markup. Generally, one person can handle all the gas transactions at a small station and work the counter at the store also. Most gas sales are pay-at-the-pump that involve no work whatsoever. No stations have free air now, it is usually 50 cents for enough to fill a small car tire (don't even try to fill a large truck tire) and they have no free water and nothing to clean your windows with.

The agreement that credit card companies make the dealers sign states that they must sell their items for the same price, cash or credit, and they are not allowed to give you a cash discount.

Suddenly, I feel very old......

 

[srossman]

I remember those stamps as a kid. I got alot of toys at the S&H green stamp store. I also remember when stations offered a lower gasoline price for cash. Don't see that anymore

Some of the local stations around me have started advertising cash and credit prices. The credit price is anywhere from 4 - 10 cents a gallon more than the case price. The problem that I have is that I usually don't carry around more than 20 or 30 dollars in my pocket, and that would only get me about 1/2 a tank of gas.

 

[Bird]

The agreement that credit card companies make the dealers sign states that they must sell their items for the same price, cash or credit, and they are not allowed to give you a cash discount.

I've heard that a lot of times, and yet I've known of lots of service stations that did it; however, I guess the last time I encountered that was over 15 years ago.

I don't like to hear retailers of any sort whining about credit card fees.

How do you feel about doctors who whine about them? Because I know some who do. Of course you might not consider them retailers. Of course I agree with you that "Credit card fees are overhead", so I don't know why these doctors complain and in a couple of cases I'm familiar with, don't take credit cards, or don't take particular kinds of credit cards.

 

[Chuck52]

I use a credit card for gas like most folks. I also carry a couple of cards from the credit union I bank with. One is only for ATM transactions, while the other can be used as a debit card or credit card, though the "credit" transactions still deduct directly from my account. I never use the debit card for gas. If you use a debit card, some transactions are treated as credit card transactions, but you can do a debit transaction at some gas stations. I wonder how the charges work out then? Does it still cost the dealer the same fee as a credit transaction, or is it a "cash" transaction?

Chuck