Across the United States, more and more cases of people reporting increased prices when using credit cards are occurring. When did it become cheaper to pay with cash? Apparently in the past year, as many convenience stores are now moving to add surcharges to fuel purchases that in some cases are ungodly.
Throughout the suburbs of both New York City and Los Angeles, we have heard reports of gas stations charging as much as $2 per gallon more for using a credit card as opposed to paying with cash. Specifically, one gas station in Medford, New York was seen offering a cash price on gas of $3.99 per gallon while charging $5.99 per gallon when paying with a credit or debit card.
Perceived price gouging like this has left many people asking: is this legal? The short answer is yes, as a representative of the National Association of Convenience Stores explains. With the exception of sales of alcoholic beverages in a few states, all convenience stores can (and in many cases are encouraged to) offer "discounts" for cash purchases or can levy an additional amount for the use of credit cards.
This sort of tactic is allowed mainly because vendors end up having to pay for the processing of credit and debit card transactions. While the cost to process a card is nowhere near the amount some gas stations are charging (usually, 2-3% + $0.30 covers the costs of a transaction), many gas stations still feel justified in tacking on what we consider to be penalties. Gas stations make very little money off of selling gas (usually $0.10-0.15 per gallon) and this is being viewed by many as a new way to line their pockets with additional revenue.
Technology has made it possible to use convenience features such as debit and credit cards, but "convenience stores" seem to be evaluating their own convenience to make additional money off of gasoline as opposed to helping their customers.