The ACTUAL price of gas at the pump

Don't feel dumb... I've never seen that before. But I will double check next time I pump gas! Cause Tyler and I both always use our Amex for the money back.

Tude, you ARE slow.  It's been like that for a long time at SOME stations.  I think it's actually getting more uncommon to be that way since so many people use credit cards right on the pump now.  But some stations will get you on that because they know hardly anyone uses cash for gas anymore.  The credit card is so convenient, no change, no trip into the store.  You just have to watch closely.

Sam's Club  won't take cash, but they have one price for debit or credit. $2.73 there yesterday, and falling. ARCO doesn't take credit cards and charge .45 for debit.

I only knew this because Sean makes such a big deal out of not going to certain gas stations that charge extra for using a credit/debit card.

I have never seen that on my receipt at either Costco or Albertson, which is where I generally get gas.  It has to be certain stations only.

We usually go to the Space Age stations and there is no difference in cash or credit card.  I'm with you Jarom it is a rip off to have 2 different prices. That is the reason I never ,,if I can help it go to Safeway.   I know if you don't have your card you can give them your tele. # but the price they actually have posted on an item is the card price.  Suppose some one is visiting our country and goes to pay the price posted on an item.  the checker says "oh No you have to pay more"  Other store that like Albertson's Haggen" etc.  either post both prices or the regular retail price.   I think that is honesty not the way Safeway does it.

I've seen very few gas stations around here that charge a different price for using cash vs. credit.  The one I've noticed is a Valero in Sunnyvale.  Their cash price is almost always cheaper than anywhere else (it was $2.99 yesterday), but even their credit card price is cheaper than the place across the street.  So don't feel too ripped off.  I think the "credit" price is the standard price, but some places give you a discount for paying with cash since they don't have to pay the fees to the credit card company.

The Shell station at our corner has credit vs. cash prices. We never go there anymore, since Sam's Club put their new pumps in.

Yup, always knew there was a cash and a credit but I figured out if I use my card with the 3% rebate AND go to Sams I am getting the better deal.  Like Robie I do not like the Arco and have to use debit and pay a ATM charge.  Not sure if you use the card instead of cash at the other stations if you are really still doing ok in the long run. Guess it depends on the cash vs cc savings.  My Shell on the corner was not that big of difference.

I read about this sometime recently - it's not all stations, but some will do it so they can advertise the cheaper price in big letters but rarely have to honor it since most people don't pay with cash. Also, Jay, you're still making out okay on the cashback, right? If you're paying $3 per gallon, then 3% is 9 cents cash back, so you're still getting 3 cents back over what you'd be paying in cash.

Grandma, I will have to look now. I am pretty sure that our Safeway posts both prices, but maybe it doesn't. I know they definitely indicate somehow that it's a sale price - otherwise you wouldn't know it was on sale and buy whatever it is that they want you to buy.

Safeway posts both prices.  Of course the cheaper club price in bigger, bold numbers.  At other grocery stores where I don't have a club card (like Smith's when we're in Utah) I'm usually able to get the check out clerk to give me the discounted price anyway.  

i usually throw in a mtn dew to my purchase, to ease the pain of spending $50-$60.

I thought you didn't drink Mtn Dew anymore?

It must be a growing trend.  The only place I've ever seen it is by mom's house.

In the last two months, I have expensed over $900 in mileage reimbursement for work. And still not sure if that really covers the fuel and wear and tear on the car. Time to get a Hybrid!

I wouldn't say you are slow, it's like 2% of gas stations out there, and most of them are in Cali that have 2 different prices.  The other catch at some stations is that they charge you $0.35 to use a debit/credit card.  Sidenote:  I filled up my 23 gallon truck the other day for $59.70.  Pretty awesome.  I used to spend $75 (hitting the station limit) and that would not fill up my truck. 

At the station I go to, the price is the same credit/debit/cash, AND they pump my gas for me!! I LOVE Oregon!

I hate it when they pump my gas for me when I'm up there.  :(   I think about the added cost and the wasted lives, sniff, sniff.  "Me, gas pumper."

I always start to pump it myself if the guy's not there and then they catch me and tell me how that's not allowed.  I then point out the CA plates. 

Chris, don't you realize how dangerous it is to pump your own gas in Oregon?  You could slip on the rain slicked concrete while holding the nozzle wide open spraying the station down with fuel and cause an explosion.  Thank goodness for the highly trained meth heads.  What would we do without them.   

HA HA Sean.  Gas was $2.59 today at Sams.

I have to say that I like to do it myself, its faster and I don't mind. Same holds for self service check out at markets. I get so mad when I am waiting in line and the checkers are either talking to each other or moving so slow that you want to do it yourself. The other day I went to Staples for our new office and got behind a woman who was at the check out counter. The clerk was slowly lifting items out of a cart and blindly looking for a Bar code to scan. Finally, another clerk called me to come to this register. When I walked over to it, the dumb and slow clerk yelled out to me that the woman ahead of me should be next at that station. Come to find out,  he wasn't even waiting on this lady, he was still fumbling over items for another woman who was at the end of the stand near her cart. I almost told him that if he knew how to work a little faster, nobody would have to leave his line, and the other guy could have been stocking shelves or smoking outside. hahah

Jeesh gas here is about $3.20. And I get frustrated b/c our Sam's gas is never more than one or two cents cheaper than the other regular gas stations. What's the point??

I like Oregon's system, though my husband complains constantly.  I don't want to touch the gas pump and have my hands smell like gasoline.  I also don't believe the prices are any worse as a result of having attendants.  Plus, look at all of the jobs it provides, Sean.

once again - do i need to point out the obvious solution here...........

just make it UN-ILLEGAL to pump our own gas.  Keep the boys working there, let em pump Charlotte and Holly's gas.  But if i see that the dude is busy, and feel like pumping my own, then i can get out and pump my own, and help the fella out, and be on my way faster.

I am with Sean and Geoff on this one. I am becoming used to letting them do it, but there are plenty of times when there's a huge line and you're sitting around waiting on some slow attendant. I think they are afraid to make it un-illegal, because then the majority of people wouldn't use the attendants, and then they'd fire them, and then no jobs. So sad.

I do make sure any time we travel out of state that Michael helps with at least one gas fill-up, so he can't claim ignorance later on. Gabriella is probably getting old enough to help out, too.

I think this is my #1 pet peeve in Oregon.  If I could pump my gas I would gladly step aside and let Obama be president and veto all of Sizemore's measures.  I think Geoff's solution is spot on.  Leave the pump jockeys for the lazies and let me pump and get out of there.

 

Is there any data that supports that Oregon has lower unemployment than other states because of this excellent job opportunity?

haha, yeah, the lost jobs is a really weak argument if you ask me. I don't see other states having soaring unemployment rates because we don't have the pump junkies. Its simple, if they werent pumping your gas, I'm sure they'd find some other way to make minimum wage. Its the same argument they use for illegal immigrants. Nobody else wants those jobs! Lies...go to states that have 0% of illegals in them, and you will STILL find people out in the orchards picking the berries. There are ALWYAS people willing to work, regardless of how crappy the job may seem.

All the gas stations where we live are way cheaper for cash...at the one down the street form my high school it was $.20 less per gallon (maybe now that people have figured it out they changed it) . And yes I hate Oregon gas stations, it seems like they take so much longer, and even if they don't the concept makes it feel like an eternity longer. I always rebel and pull the Chris if they get mad saying I'm from CA.

Right on Kellyn!

Some more news to make us all happy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081030/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_exxon_mobil

 

I was really annoyed when we first moved up here that we couldn't pump our own gas.  All this "it's not safe" business they have written on the pillars at the pump.  I'd been doing it for 15 years, and now that I am in Oregon it is considered unsafe?!  Ridiculous, especially considering who they have pump your gas.  Besides, I have always had a stubborn streak, and not been very good at being told what I can or can't do.  But, now I have fallen into complacency.  Alas, it no longer bugs me, and I actually enjoy not having to do it. 

I am in and out of the gas station in seconds.  Never have to wait for a car pumping ahead of me. 

I remember when I was younger the gas stations here had full serve and self-serve, you'd just pull into a different aisle.  They might have charged more for full serve, I wasn't old enough to pay attention.  But I never see that anymore.  So I'm guessing if you were allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon, most people would, and those gas station attendants would be out of work.  Maybe they could go work at In N Out for a higher wage plus benefits. 

I didn't think I would like pumping my own gas when I moved to Cali but I ended up loving it.  No lines, you didn't have to wait for someone to come over and swipe your card then wait again for them to take the nozzle out.  The only time I didn't like it was when it was late at night and I didn't feel safe getting out of the car but that only happened once. 

I always thought that your best gas filling experience in California was in Stockton.

The kids remind me of that ALL the time.  That is why we have police just incase we run out of gas: )  I was trying to get thru Stockton because of the traffic and the fact that we had drove all night didn't help.

I got yelled at once by the gas attendant lady, "YOU'RE LUCKY A COP DIDN'T DRIVE BY WHILE YOU WERE FILLING UP, 500 dollar fine!"..... how ironic it was she was taking a smoke break less than 25 feet from the gas pump.

I came unglued the other day when I went to the gas station.  I was driving the Ferrari and filling it for the first time since doing all the work.  I had no intention of letting the pump jockey do it for me, however the guy was too quick and had the nozzle out and in the car before I could stop him even though I was standing right next to him.  He shoves it in the Ferrari and cranks it on full blast.  Immediately gas starts spraying everywhere, all over the side of the car, the soft top, the rear trunk, and me.  It was like nothing I had ever seen before, like out of of a movie.  In my entire life I had never seen such a gas mess before, and it had to be all over the side of the FERRARI!!!!!  He tries shutting it off, took a couple times before it did.  Then starts apologizing profusely, grabs the squeegee for windows and proceeds to start wiping down the side of the car.  I tell him, dude, just don't touch it.  Let me clean it up myself.  I pull around to another pump and FILL IT MYSELF, amazingly without spilling a drop.  I then drive to Walmart down the street, buy a stack of microfibre cloths and clean up the huge mess all over the side of the car.  It smelled like gas for several days.  Believe me, I was irate about it.  Since them, not a single pump jockey goon has been allowed to pump gas in it.  I'd rather take it to another station if they refuse to let me do it myself.  Lesson learned.

dude, you are putting yourself at serious risk handling those explosive gas lines yourself.

doesnt the ethanol in the gas do damage to fiberglass too?  deteriorates it or something.

Sean!  That totally sucks!  I would have been SO mad!  That is when not being able to pump your own gas "legally" really begins to be a major pain!  What a frustrating experience!!!

Didn't know you had a Ferrari.  That's fun. 

Just temporarily.  Doing a bunch of work on a friends.

Portion of a news article on yahoo news:

 

Unlike credit-card thieves, who usually charge merchandise and then resell it to come up with money, people who create counterfeit ATM or debit cards by stealing your PIN and other account data can simply pull cold cash from your bank account. Using a technique known as skimming, they set up equipment that captures magnetic stripe and keypad information when you input your PIN at ATM machines, gas pumps, restaurants, or retailers.

Here's how you can protect yourself:

Don't Type in Your Pin at the Pump

Be especially vigilant at gas stations, Litan says. "Gas pumps are notorious for skimming because they're produced by only a couple of different manufacturers, and if someone gets the key to one from a disgruntled employee, they can insert a skimming device inside the pump where it can't be seen," she says. She recommends using a credit card rather than a debit card when you fill your tank.