Jul 14, 2008 5:28 pm US/Eastern
Paying Cash For Gas May Get You More For Less
AVENTURA (CBS4) ―
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As the price of gas remains well above 4-dollars a gallon, a South Florida gas station owner is raising his prices from some customers but not for others.
Arvind Singh owns 6 gas stations and says gasoline thefts are up tremendously this year. He says the measures that thieves are willing to go to are extreme.
"They're at the pump with crow bars trying to break the gears inside in an attempt to get gas for free," Arvind Singh told
CBS4'S Sharrie Williams.
Singh is not only battling bad guys who don't want to pay, but he's also fighting off high credit card fees. Each time a customer pays with a credit or debit card, the business has to pay a convenience fee. So Singh decided to run a promotion which allows people who pay with cash, 6 cents off per gallon.
"We want to encourage more customers to come in and we want to give something back so we give a discount and it also benefits us because we pay almost 12 cents per gallon."
In the past 2 months, Singh says there's been a 20 percent increase in the number of people who swipe at the pump. Hopefully the discount will encourage more to pay with cash.
Customer Greg Dobbs welcomes the promotion.
"I would definitely recommend everyone to come here. Got a chance for a cheaper price, same gas cheaper price by all means," said Dobbs.
But the promotion is also causing confusion for some customers. The price posted Monday is $4.06 for regular. But that amount only applies if you pay with cash. Some who pulled up didn't read the notice that paying with credit or debit means you'll have to pay the standard price and you won't receive the discount.
It was too late for some customers who'd already used their credit cards and thought they were going to get cheaper gas.
"It's kind of deceptive, I wouldn't assume that I would incur any other costs," said customer Mysha Browning.
Another customer agreed. "I would have paid cash otherwise. I did not know I was going to pay 6 cents more a gallon on top of the high price as it is," said Jack Ross.
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