Recently, the state of Connecticut enacted legislation that enabled gasoline stations around the state to offer savings to customers (usually around ten cents per gallon) who pay with cash, rather than using a credit card. Sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong. One must always operate on the assumption that businesses will always seek to maximize profits. Here's what I have observed so far.
On a local major commercial traffic strip, known as the Berlin Turnpike, there are a number of competing gas stations. Each offers fuel at the same price (currently around $4.19 per gallon for regular unleaded gas). However, a couple of these stations have begun offering a discount for cash. So, you think you might be able to save some money by paying in green? Forget it. The two stations that I have seen offering such a discount have raised the price of regular unleaded gas by 10 cents per gallon, to $4.29. Then they offer you a 10 cent per gallon cash discount, bringing the price back to $4.19 per gallon. So are cash customers saving money? No. But credit and debit card customers (and that's most of us, as the price of tankful of gas is more money than Donald Trump carries in his wallet) now get to pay 10 cents a gallon MORE than we did before. This is known as "highway robbery," or, in this case, "turnpike robbery."
To be fair, there are still plenty of gas stations that are not offering this so-called "cash discount." They still charge the going rate, whether you choose to pay with cash or plastic. Those are the stations that I tend to patronize. I don't like getting ripped off.
