Any Gas Station/Convenience Store owners??

[hoosierdoc]

I know why they do it, it's just annoying when I want to buy a bottle of pop and have to try to find 3 more things to buy cause I don't have cash and don't want to pay a $5 ATM charge to get cash!

Gotcha. I was responding to "ripping me off"

 

[SmileDocHill]

The machines are taking over. Things are getting too smart. It is like my thermos, I put cold things in and it keeps it cold, I put hot things in and it keeps it hot! How do it know?

 

[Frosty]

Gotcha. I was responding to "ripping me off"

that comment might have been made during a fussy boy's early morning feeding after a quick nights nap... I may not have been in my right mind. Thanks though

 

[UncleMike]

If so, please explain something to me.

Why is it, that when you prepay with cash for your gasoline, the pump will go at normal speed until you get at about .50 cents from being completed. The last .50 cents goes in soooooooo sloooooow.

When you prepay at the pump with a credit card, the pump goes full speed until the tank is full, then shuts off while at full speed. What is is different when prepaying inside first???? Why does the pump do this?? I hate freezing my butt off waiting for my last .50 cents worth of gas.

Actually the thread title should be
Assalamu alaikum. Any Gas Station/Convenience Store Owners??

 

[chezuki]

Actually the thread title should be
Assalamu alaikum. Any Gas Station/Convenience Store Owners??

Aaand... IBTL

 

[UncleMike]

Aaand... IBTL

I would hope that offering a standard, very polite, greeting to someone who owns a Convenience Store wouldn't call for a thread closure.

 

[Leo]

I know why they do it, it's just annoying when I want to buy a bottle of pop and have to try to find 3 more things to buy cause I don't have cash and don't want to pay a $5 ATM charge to get cash!

Not busting your chops, but people don't carry ANY cash these days? I know I learned my adult habits in an age before ATM's and such, but I thought everyone still carried "walking around cash". I still cannot wrap my mind around using a credit card for a crummy hamburger from a fast food joint. I was always taught that you should never be caught with less than $21 on you so the police cannot run you in for vagrancy.

 

[Frosty]

Not busting your chops, but people don't carry ANY cash these days? I know I learned my adult habits in an age before ATM's and such, but I thought everyone still carried "walking around cash". I still cannot wrap my mind around using a credit card for a crummy hamburger from a fast food joint. I was always taught that you should never be caught with less than $21 on you so the police cannot run you in for vagrancy.

Hey I don't mind if you bust my chops! I can remember when people ran credit cards with the little slide deals, and there was no such thing as debit cards when I was a kid. With the debit card and paychecks getting direct deposited, I don't even think about getting cash now. Of course it makes it really easy to spend to much to!

 

[BogWalker]

You should see the look on their face when I pay with half dollars and dollar coins

 

[88GT]

If so, please explain something to me.

Why is it, that when you prepay with cash for your gasoline, the pump will go at normal speed until you get at about .50 cents from being completed. The last .50 cents goes in soooooooo sloooooow.

When you prepay at the pump with a credit card, the pump goes full speed until the tank is full, then shuts off while at full speed. What is is different when prepaying inside first???? Why does the pump do this?? I hate freezing my butt off waiting for my last .50 cents worth of gas.

It's not the difference between pre-paying inside or outside. It's what triggers the shut-off: the amount of fuel or the amount of money. I pay by card at the pump and when filling the truck I reach the vendor-set spending limit (usually $90 or $100) almost every time. I get the same slow-down when it hits the last $0.50.

 

[88GT]

Not busting your chops, but people don't carry ANY cash these days? I know I learned my adult habits in an age before ATM's and such, but I thought everyone still carried "walking around cash". I still cannot wrap my mind around using a credit card for a crummy hamburger from a fast food joint. I was always taught that you should never be caught with less than $21 on you so the police cannot run you in for vagrancy.

What the....?

 

[chezuki]

I was always taught that you should never be caught with less than $21 on you so the police cannot run you in for vagrancy.

Let me guess... You heard this in a gun shop?

 

[churchmouse]

My understanding (and i could be way wrong) is that the profit margin per gallon is very-very small. So a few cents spread out over many cars is a very big deal to the owner. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Same thing I said only different.........

 

[Leo]

Let me guess... You heard this in a gun shop?

No, it was probably left over from some City of Chicago anti vagrancy Statute during the post war recession. We still had foot patrol police in the city when I was a kid and things were a lot different. Since so many city dwellers do not have drivers licenses, many people had no form of ID, so if you couldn't prove you belonged there, it was a way for cops to run you out of a neighborhood. Of course all those ways of keeping the law abiding citizens safe have fallen by the wayside and now only thugs are safe.

Still, I do not know if it is generational, ethnic, societal or simply habit, not having enough cash to survive a few days in your pocket is foreign to me. I do not even have an ATM card.

Cash can also save you money. For example, say you need a jump start for the car, with cash you can solicit someone for maybe $10. With only a credit card, you generally have to solicit and pay a road service company and pay a lot more.

edit to update: I just looked it up, those vagrancy ordinances were pretty common in every major city in America and the Chicago code was last court challenged in 1999 when the city tried to use it to drive out illegal allien drug dealers.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Gas used to be a loss leader, it is not anymore. 20-25 years ago they would make 1-2 cents per gallon. Now it is not uncommon to make 10-12 cents on regular basis and 30-40 cents per gallon after a price increase.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but according to my parents, who DO own an independent Marathon gas station / convenience store - They'd be absolutely thrilled to make 1-2 cents / gallon. Often times they lose a few cents per gallon.

They depend upon selling "cokes and smokes" + income from the restaurant to stay in the black.

They also don't have pay at the pump pumps....so folks will have to come in to pay. So when they come in the chances are much higher they'll buy something else.

 

[Cameramonkey]

My understanding (and i could be way wrong) is that the profit margin per gallon is very-very small. So a few cents spread out over many cars is a very big deal to the owner. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes. Its called economy of scale. yes. losing $.01 on a fuel sale over-pump is nothing. Now repeat that a quarter million times over the year. Now it hurts. ($2,500 per year in lost product!)

 

[ccordray]

I don't feel sorry for you getting cold, OP.

I filled up at a BRAND NEW gas station yesterday. Brand new P-66 in Greenwood. Just north of Smith Valley Road on US 31. Pump 5.

It pumped at a whopping 45-47 seconds / gallon. 16 gallons.

It took me over TWELVE MINUTES to fill my car.

I went in and let the guy know the issue. While there a slight language barrier, I think he understood when I let him know that I doubted I'd be back.

TWELVE MINUTES! For a normal passenger car!

Oh, the HORROR!

 

[Cpl. Klinger]

I don't know where you're getting your information, but according to my parents, who DO own an independent Marathon gas station / convenience store - They'd be absolutely thrilled to make 1-2 cents / gallon. Often times they lose a few cents per gallon.

They depend upon selling "cokes and smokes" + income from the restaurant to stay in the black.

They also don't have pay at the pump pumps....so folks will have to come in to pay. So when they come in the chances are much higher they'll buy something else.

I can chime in on this as well. While I don't work there anymore, I used to work for a nationwide chain of truck stops (not the one owned bythe guy that owns the Browns and is being investigated by the Feds, one of their competitors). We made between nothing and next-to-nothing on gas. Diesel was only slightly better. Gas would average from -5/+2 cents per gallon, and diesel would average -5/+10 cents per. If we only sold fuel, we'd be closed in no time. We made a lot of money, however, inside the store on food and drinks, and out in the tire shop. And contrary to popular belief, we don't make a lot of money on cigarettes either. Our average margin per pack was less than 10 cents, depending on brand. Some we sold pretty much at cost.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Oh, the HORROR!

I know, right!

12.3 minutes to fill up an Altima with 91 octane!

 

[Bunnykid68]

I don't know where you're getting your information, but according to my parents, who DO own an independent Marathon gas station / convenience store - They'd be absolutely thrilled to make 1-2 cents / gallon. Often times they lose a few cents per gallon.

They depend upon selling "cokes and smokes" + income from the restaurant to stay in the black.

They also don't have pay at the pump pumps....so folks will have to come in to pay. So when they come in the chances are much higher they'll buy something else.

Thorntons is making a killing on gas, maybe because they have so many stores and pump so much gas everyday. They also send their fuel trucks as far as Nashville,TN when the price is right. They averaged 10 cents a gallon this past month and like I said earlier there are some days everyone should be making 30 cents a gallon. When you have 20,000 gallons in the ground and the price goes up 30 cents you are making 30 cents on everyone of those gallons.