"We're still selling gasoline for only 8 to 12 cents more per gallon than we pay for it - the same margin as 15 years ago," DiBono said.
Credit card fees are based on a percentage of the total sale. That ranges, depending on the brand of credit card, from 1.6 to 2 percent.
On top of that, DiBono said, there is a credit card transaction fee of about 10 cents.
So a 20-gallon fill-up, at $4 a gallon, costs $80. At that rate, as much as 8 cents a gallon is going to the credit card company and to cover oil company costs of processing credit card transactions.
The profit margin of 8 to 12 cents per gallon charged by station operators has to pay the people who work for them, the rent or mortgage, and the electric bill.
Why not just raise prices? Retailers such as Wawa, which sell gasoline as a sideline, set the market price. "Get more than 1 or 2 cents over their price," DiBono said, "and you get hurt."
Trade associations urge retailers to offer discounts for cash purchases to show customers what credit card companies are charging. But retailers say they are not expecting that to go far. Among other things, many major oil companies prohibit the practice because already-angry customers do not like paying the penalty.
Priscilla McDonald, for example, became annoyed yesterday when she saw a 10-cent discount for cash at the Xpress Gas station at South Columbus Boulevard and Tasker Street. "I'm moving on," she said. "I'm not paying 10 cents more. I don't carry cash."
But credit card use for buying gasoline is soaring. DiBono and others estimate that more than 75 percent of gasoline is now bought with credit cards, a 25 percent increase over a few years ago.
