With road travel expected to peak this Thanksgiving Day long weekend, I thought I would share with you some of the most common “Secret” Gas Pump and Gas Station marketing tricks to get you to spend more money. With gas prices reaching highs again, you don’t need to spend anything extra.
While none of these are scientific, they are collected from various people I’ve spoken to, or from my own thoughts while pumping gas.
The Slow Pump
This is a great marketing trick, but it is annoying for most gas station consumers. Have you every gone to the gas station, and felt like the pump was setting a world record for being slow? Well, chances are it was setup that way. Gas stations make most of their money inside at the convenience store, not through gas purchases. As a result, they are trying to get you to come inside and spend some money. And the longer you are going to wait for gas, the more likely you are to come inside and shop while you wait. Sneaky huh?
A second explanation, which may be more probable, but even more scary, is that the speed of the gas pump is determined by how clean the filter is built inside the pump. These are supposed to be changed regularly, but many gas stations don’t to save on costs. As a result, you could be getting some nasty gas…no pun intended.
While I doubt one or the other contributes entirely, I think there is some truth to both.
The Cash Discount
Did you know that gas stations are not legally allowed to charge a customer more for a credit card purchase than a cash purchase? However, merchants are allowed to offer a cash discount, and that is what many gas stations do. Many will list on their signs a great price on gas, but in small print, it will say “Cash Only Price”. Once you actually pull up to the pump, you will notice that there are really two prices, one for cash, and a more expensive one for credit users. I would venture a guess that 99.9% of people will just accept that amount and pump rather than get back into their cars and drive to another station. In the end, the gas station got you!
Make It Easy on Yourself
Make getting gas easy on yourself – go places where gas is not the primary way the company generates money and customers. Think about Costco. They offer gas to members as a service, not as a primary means of customer generation. As a result, their pumps are fast, they are not trying to up-sell, and you CAN’T even pay cash at Costco for gas. I’m not advocating Costco gas (although it is pretty cheap), but there are other places that do this as well, such as some grocery store chains or other retailers. These are some great ways on how to save money on gas.
Readers, what other secret marketing tricks have you seen, heard, or fell victim too?
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This post was written by...
Robert – who has written 317 posts on The College Investor.
Robert is the founder and editor of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to young adult and college student finances. You can learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I HATE it when the buttons for the different grades of gas are reversed. Most pumps have the lower grade gas button on the left. So, I’ve developed a habit of automatically hitting the button on the left. However, every so often the premium gas button will be on the left. Do gas stations do that on purpose? Hoping you’ll accidentally hit the left which is now premium grade….which means your paying more.
Wow, that’s a good one!
Really? I have never even seen this before. Good for you for being alert. Where I live, the lowest priced gas is always on the left.
That IS a good one. I hate that too. That’s like an online scam when you try to hit “no” to a purchase, and the cancel is on the opposite side of where it typically is. I have accidentally purchased something without even realizing it and just trying to cancel out. Ridiculous.
I will only fill up at places that charge the same for cash or credit. Grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, and practially everywhere else you shop all manage to charge the same price no matter how you pay, so I flat out refuse to be penalized because I choose to pay with credit.
i totally agree with you about the cash only option. i’ve been fooled so many times. they should make THAT illegal.
I notice that they will have a cheaper price on the way to work than they do on the way home. Something about people not wanting to stop in morning traffic.
I also notice that the price of gas drops right before a big travel weekend. I guess this is to make people think they are not spending as much.
I try to fill up at Sam’s Club, as it’s on the way to work. If it’s a slow pump, I just hang up and leave.
Hahaha…nice!
Hmmmm there’s no gas stations around here that offer a discount for cash, I get double points though… first for using my membership, second airmiles for using my creditcard, so I don’t mind.
I recently visited a station where the pumps furthest from the convenient store were not operating, but somehow the ones closest to the store were actually working. It was at a low-traffic time. Makes you wonder….
Wow, I’ve never heard that one before, but it would make me wonder!
I’ve been hit by the “cash vs. credit” price before, but mostly only while on vacation and trying to decide which station out of 4 on a corner to pull into. I usually leave though once I realize that though. The stations I go to here don’t do that.
In Canada, they never brought down the price of gas. Back in 2008, when oil was at $140 a barrel, the price at the pump was $1.40 per liter. Today, it’s still $1.30 per liter.
Wow, I had no idea! Thanks for sharing these secrets!
Costco doesn’t sell gas up here in Canada, but I used to worry that the gas wasn’t “clean” enough as the grocery stores (we have something called Superstore here).
Now I know!
Yeah, prices are still $1.30/L in Vancouver- we have so much tax on our gas.
Yes, I’ve fallen for the cash only price before too. Now there is only one station I will go to because they have the same cash vs. credit card prices. I hadn’t thought about the slower pumps before….
Slow pumps are driving me crazy sometimes. But I just sit in my car and go through my email on mu phone. And wait…
I have seen a lot of pumps with slow speed, never thought about this trick that they employ. To me giving less price on cash purchase makes sense as they don’t have to pay the card issuer.
Chevron is a culprit for reversing the gas price buttons on the pumps. I got caught once when regular was .99c and premium was 1.12. If that is a legitimate trick to scam you into paying more then I am done with Chevron.
My stations are in NJ, it is against the law to pump your own gas here, so I never even paid attention to how buttons are set up. I wish I could make my pups run faster so I would serve more customers. They are set to the limit and it is annoying for all if they are slow. A dirty filter is making the pump slow. I don’t believe that a slow pump makes you want to visit a store. It make you want to stop and drive to a next station. Can’t afford that. Regarding the Cash/Credit pricing; I don’t do it, but I would gladly pass on the savings to consumer and I would call it a cash discount. Credit Card Company is charging me 3% to 5% from the total to process the transaction and I get the money for the sale in about 3 days. The only winner is the Credit Card Company. When I need to get gas for my car, I look for stations with cash pricing.