chevron trick pricing

so, today i needed to get some gas, and i was in north fresno, away from the gas stations i usually go to.  i was heading south on north blackstone and saw that i could get to a 76 or a chevron.  i scanned the signs, and the cash price was about the same, or so i thought.  chevron was going to be a little easier to get to, so i pulled in, went inside, and gave the attendant my cash for the fill up.

and then, i realized i had been duped.

you see, on my experiences, and i'm sure yours as well, gas stations advertise their cash and credit prices.  so, in the picture above, i saw that the cash prices were $4.25, $4.17, and $4.25, with the credit prices 20 cents more at each level.

nope, at this station, those lower prices are for a gallon with a car wash.  with a car wash?  w.t.f.?

yes, it is my own fault for not being able to read that with car wash element when i was going by and eyeballing the prices.  i understand that.  but that is some chicanery by chevron, setting up their pricing advertisement just like every other station, but swapping in a variation of car wash instead of cash.

to be honest, i have no idea what it would have cost me had i been using plastic instead of cash.  i dread the thought that it would've been another 20 cents on top of the non-car wash price.  it's pretty devious to trick your patrons in that manner, especially at 20 cents a gallon.  since i ride a motorcycle, the car wash wasn't even an option, so i'm not sure what it would have actually cost in addition to the gas for the car wash.

today's lesson: i should have gone to 76.  and, never assume that the standard formatting is what you're getting.

3 cents

today i filled up the motorcycle at one of the gas stations i usually go to. there are two am/pm-arco's near my work, so i usually hit one of them up because the victory runs on premium, and they've got good prices. for those that don't know, am/pm takes cash & debit, and i usually pay cash. you can insert your money out at a terminal, and after you're done pumping you get change inside. my bike usually takes about 4 gallons to fill, and so that's always going to give me change off a $20.

such was the case today. i prepaid with a $20, and filled it up. when it was done, i noticed that my total was $13.37 (that's right geeks, 1337). i walked in and waited in line for my change, $6.63. when it was my turn, the salesclerk gave me my change and i walked out of the store.

as i put my change in my pocket, my mind turned over, because the change just didn't seem right. i hadn't looked closely at what the cashier had given me, just sort of glanced and put it in my pocket. did she give me only 3 coins? how could she have given me correct change with only 3 coins? so, i reached back into my pocket and could only feel 3 coins. i pulled them out - two quarters and a dime. i reached back in my pocket, no other coins to be found. the cashier shorted me three cents. i stood there dumbfounded for a second, wondering if i should just move along with my day, or go back and get my 3 cents. i mean, it's only 3 cents. and as i stood there thinking, i got a little bit pissed. it wasn't about the actual worth of the money, it was about the principle of it.

i went back inside and stood in line for the same cashier. when i got to the front of the line, i said to the cashier, "you shorted me on my change. it's only three cents but..." and before i could finish she was handing me the three cents. she didn't check my change, didn't check my receipt, didn't let me finish and tell her how much it was. it really seemed like she knew exactly how much she had shorted me, and was quick to fix the error.. it felt like she had intentionally shorted me and probably does it regularly to customers, but most of us just stuff our change in our pocket without checking. sure, it was only 3 cents to me, but over thousand of transactions it adds up nicely for the business. shady.

gas price war

we complain about fuel prices, but the euros don't fool around. flippin cars, fighting the police. that's what i call doin' something. not that i advocate violence, i'm just saying, it's more than crying because it now takes $100 to fill up your recockulous s.u.v.

and people say the french won't fight

taking a stand for the little guy?

wow. i just read an amazing article about a businessman putting himself out of business to make a point. he didn't like the business practice of the multinational corp he worked for, and so he did something about it.

although this seem like a stupid idea, it's the sort of thing you can do when you've already made it.

"I'm going out with a bang,'' says Oyster.