During a recent trip I made a shocking discovery; I pulled into a gas station next to the freeway, got out and almost put my credit card into the pump before I realized that they where charging a premium for using a credit card.

I stood there for about a minute trying to figure out why it was trying to charge me $4.30 when the sign said $3.72, until I discovered there are two different prices for how you pay.

This Valero gas station in West Covina, CA thinks they can charge an additional $0.58 per gallon on top of the normal gas price, and still charge a Debit card fee. I thought this was crazy and drove across the street where it was only $0.04 more per gallon with no fee to use credit card.

But this brings up a interesting point, do you think you should have to pay more for merchandise when you use a credit card VS cash?

I think that a merchant needs to plan on the cost of credit card fees into their business plan and not pass it on to the consumer just because they use a credit card.

With the gas prices getting so high I’m starting to wonder who really is cashing in on the high prices; we all know that Exxon Mobile earned $40.61 billion in 2007 setting a new U.S. record for profits.

Using a credit card costs merchants (Gas Stations) on average of 1 – 3% of the total transaction plus a $0.30 fee. So you can see that it costs the gas stations a little of there profit to accept credit cards, but is it right to jack up the price $0.58 a gallon just for using a credit card? An average customer, pumping say 20 gallons, would pay an exorbitant $10.00 just because he/she wishes to use a credit card.

Do you think merchants should be allowed to charge a premium for the convenience of swiping a piece of plastic?

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