Gas at 76 vs. Chevron

[Kaphawoman]

I see gas stations directly across the street from each other with big price gaps all the time. I guess they're banking on traffic heading one way to pull in and not think about U-turning or driving around to look for the best price. And 76 seems cheaper than Chevron everywhere in the LA metro area.

[justinbro2002]

The big name gas companies have managed to convince people that their gas is better than the lesser name brand. When intact they are all the same. This is because of how the gasoline in our nation is transported. You see we have a gas pipeline, actually pipelines, that goes from coast to coast and border to board. If the gas companies want to transport fuel from a tanker ship in Texas to a refinery in California they pump in into the transcontinental pipeline and pump it out on the other side. And Because of this all gas must meet the same standard and the only real difference is maybe one gallon of proprietary additive per tanker truck.

[jm1982]

Yeah Arco seems pretty much to be the cheapest. Ralphs gas is pretty cheap though and if you shop at Ralphs market and have rewards points it can bring the cost down quite a bit per gallon further.

One thing interesting with Arco is they all seem to only take ATM and they charge a 35 cent fee. 35 cents doesn't seem like a big deal but i'm sure some people just spend it for convenience and it ads up. I have no idea what their deal with with the card company though...if they are making any profit on that 35 cent fee.
At Ralphs market they advertise "We don't charge an ATM fee"

Also for some reason the ARCO by the LAX airport is the only one I've seen that does take credit cards..
It's kind of interesting

[SupBro]

The merchant has to pay fees to VISA/MC every time you swipe a card.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by SupBro

The merchant has to pay fees to VISA/MC every time you swipe a card.

Yeah that's why some places will have a minimum amount for credit cards like $10 or something