The Price of Plastic Gas - Paying for Fuel with Credit Cards

The rise of fuel cost is not only hurting consumers at the pump but also service station owners.

Many people believe the stations are raking in tons of cash but rarely consider the fees associated with the cost when taking credit cards to pay for the fuel.

It is estimated that a gas retailer works on about a 10 cent margin. When a gallon of gas is charged the cost of “fees” per gallon can run 8 cents or more leaving a very small margin of ONLY 2 CENTS per gallon for the station owner.

Look at the numbers….

A station owner buys gas from the distributor for $3.97 a gallon. In turn he sells it for $4.05. When someone pays with a credit card the credit card fees can be up to 13 cents a gallon… 5 cents over his potential profit.

Some stations without a repair business would be closing up shop.

Higher gas prices mean higher fees since most people don’t carry around a $100 in their pocket for gas.

How desperate is it getting?

The National Association of Convenience Stores claims that “Convenience stores paid $7.6 billion in credit card fees last year, while making $3.4 billion profits.”

It’s not only the gas companies making money… every time you use a credit card the company is making a tidy profit too!