Modern Polymath

We are all feeling the pinch with gas prices, but an old practice that seemed to go by the wayside has reared it's ugly head again.  The "Discount for Cash".

You roll into a gas station, see an advertised price of $4.35 on the marquee, and decide it's a fair price.  You slide your Credit Card in the pump, and quick as a blink, the price changes to $4.48.  Then you notice somewhere, either on the pump or on the marquee that the advertised price is for cash purchases only.

Exactly that happened to me on my way back from Vegas at the Mobil Station in Buttonwillow.  Luckily I saw it (I'm sure most people don't.  As I was talking about it to the guy next to me, I think he fell for it, but didn't want to admit it.)  I hit cancel, and walked in and paid cash.  Had I been in my hometown and not in a hurry to get home, I would have pulled into a different gas station.

The reason I was on the lookout for it is because I fell for it about a month ago at the Shell station at March and I-5 in Stockton.  I walked in with my reciept, wondering if I had accidentally bought Premium gas.  The lady behind the bullet proof glass said with a smug look and attitude:  'Those prices are for cash purchases only.'  Yeah, the attitude didn't help.

I feel like that practice is dirty, underhanded, and misleading.  Gas stations that do that should be boycotted.  Don't fall for this, don't pay the extra money, and never go to that gas station again.  (At $0.13 per gallon extra, I would have saved money by going into the station and using my ATM to get cash out, then paying for the gas with that cash.)

I should see if my State Senator or Assemblywoman will sponsor a bill to make this practice illegal.