Reporting Gas prices - cash or credit?

[ratmice]

This assumes that the credit price increase is equal across the board, which it seems to be in my area.

It isn't.... and CT, the legal price of gas is the Credit Price & retailers are allowed to offer (at their own discretion) a discount for cash, and that varies from station to station...

I didn't mean across the board, like every station has the same offset, but that the offset is the same for all grades at each station So, for EACH STATION, if there is a .09 "penalty" for using credit, then all you would have to do is update the prices, make sure the offset is correct, adjust if necessary, and go on your way.

If there is a different offset for different grades, then it's not as straightforward. However, a simple convention to choose the higher, or lower if you prefer, offset, will get you within pennies of the correct amount.

Sorry, can't do anything about your problem in CT where the credit price is the "legal" price, but it doesn't really matter as long as both prices are displayed in Waze, does it?.

[AndyPoms]

This assumes that the credit price increase is equal across the board, which it seems to be in my area.

It isn't.... and CT, the legal price of gas is the Credit Price & retailers are allowed to offer (at their own discretion) a discount for cash, and that varies from station to station...

I didn't mean across the board, like every station has the same offset, but that the offset is the same for all grades at each station So, for EACH STATION, if there is a .09 "penalty" for using credit, then all you would have to do is update the prices, make sure the offset is correct, adjust if necessary, and go on your way.

If there is a different offset for different grades, then it's not as straightforward. However, a simple convention to choose the higher, or lower if you prefer, offset, will get you within pennies of the correct amount.

Sorry, can't do anything about your problem in CT where the credit price the "legal" price, but it doesn't really matter as long as both prices are displayed in Waze, does it?.

The offset can also vary at an individual station... When they first passed the law, most stations went to a 10 cent discount... Now that discount is between 4 & 9 cents at most stations, and some stations change the discount based on the price of gas...

I support posting the Credit price in Waze for the following reasons:
1) It's the HIGHER (or equal) price no matter where you are - I don't want to find the station with the lowest price and be surprised by a higher price just because I'm paying with plastic - a surprise lower price is always better. This is my primary reason.
2) It keeps the system easier - no tracking the difference between cash & credit - and you get a surprise discount.
3) It's the legal price in CT. If you look at the laws in many states, it's the legal price there too - most consumer protection laws prohibit charging an extra fee to use a credit and/or debit card.

[CBenson]

Here in Maryland, stations must post on the big sign you can see from the road the lowest price that they offer (i.e. the cash price). Not really sure what the "legal price" means.

[ratmice]

The offset can also vary at an individual station... When they first passed the law, most stations went to a 10 cent discount... Now that discount is between 4 & 9 cents at most stations, and some stations change the discount based on the price of gas...

So you're saying that if the credit price for regular is 3.89, and the cash "discount" price is 3.80 (diff of .09) then it's possible that for premium with a credit price of 4.04, the cash discount price could be 3.94 (diff of 0.10)? I've never seen that, I'll have to look for it.

Even so, as I mentioned before, you could choose an "average" offset and still be within pennies (even on the total transaction). Thus, you can have all prices reflected in Waze, and be pretty spot-on, too. Choose the highest offset, if you want, to be pleasantly surprised, when it's a few cents less.

p.s. Nothing is perfect, but I see this as a (baby) step in the right direction.

[mapcat]

IMO it's pointless to attempt to keep track of every possible price for every product at the station. Since cash price seems to be the popular choice, how about a checkbox that points out that the credit price is higher? How much higher shouldn't be that important; it would just warn people that there are different prices.

How we would get "3rd party" to obey any of these guidelines is beyond me.

[ratmice]

IMO it's pointless to attempt to keep track of every possible price for every product at the station. Since cash price seems to be the popular choice, how about a checkbox that points out that the credit price is higher? How much higher shouldn't be that important; it would just warn people that there are different prices.

How we would get "3rd party" to obey any of these guidelines is beyond me.

If there's an easy way to do it why not? It would be automatically calculated by the app and the user verified offset. All we need is the 3rd party to populate one set of prices, the other can be calculated.

[reflon]

Here's a solution that should would work. When you fill up, there will be a screen that allows you to input what type you used, how much you paid and if you used cash or credit. Then when your searching for the cheapest price, you specify if you want cash or credit and what fuel type and it will display only those prices. There should be enough people to keep all the prices up to date using this method.

While I'm at it, why not allow us to input our miles and gallons too so we can keep track of our fuel mileage. I personally use separate apps for that but it would be nice if I could just input all this into one app. What you guys think?

[glosapp]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this is a big problem where I am at (NJ). All too often I see inconsistencies when checking fuel prices. Some people are entering in credit and some are entering in cash.

Whatever Waze wants us to enter in, it should be in the Waze app that indicates what we should be entering, because after reading through this entire thread, I'm still uncertain what we should be entering.

I can tell you that around me, many are using credit cards, not cash, because not many are lugging around that kind of cash and NJ residents cannot pump their own gas. Another reason is due to the fact that people get annoyed when gas station attendants top off their tanks with the high cost of gas. This ultimately is what happens when you pay cash because the attendants want to round it up to .00 cents so they don't have to run inside and get change.

I honestly think that we should be entering in credit prices and there should be a checkbox at the bottom of the screen that says "Discount available for cash". With it checked, the cash prices become greyed out, but with it unchecked, the prices mimic the credit fields unless the user enters in a different amount in the cash field (which they should be able to do).

But again, I reiterate - whatever you decide, you need to make it in bold highlighted letters on the app that the user should be entering in cash (or credit) so there are no more inconsistencies.

[failsafe]

Since Waze also feeds in prices via a 3rd Party now, and they report credit prices, this discussion is moot. I report credit; everyone should.

[dmcconachie]

Since Waze also feeds in prices via a 3rd Party now, and they report credit prices, this discussion is moot. I report credit; everyone should.

It was my understanding that the 3rd party prices were cash prices!