Are Maverick Gas Stations Being Deliberately Duplicitous?

 

   Take a look at the above picture of a sign for the Maverick gas station located at the intersection of Colfax Ave. & Kipling Ave in Lakewood, Colorado.

   Note that the price for a gallon of unleaded and the price of a gallon of diesel is displayed as $3.74.99 and $4.52.99 respectively.

   Now take a look a the below picture of the very same sign for the Maverick gas station at that same intersection taken mere moments after the above picture was taken.

   The price per gallon for unleaded and diesel has gone up by 15 cents per gallon. Why? Well, the generally accepted reason for the price per gallon increase is that the upcharge is attributable to the use of a credit card versus payment in cash. 

    At least that was the consensus of every single person purchasing fuel at this particular Maverick gas station (7 different people, 3 of whom, like me, opted to pay in cash in order to save a little money - hey, every penny counts these days, even if pennies are no longer being produced).

   However, after walking back to the pump the truck was parked at (one has to actually go inside the Maverick service station convenient mart to pay cash) and depressing the large green button to dispense the diesel fuel, I discovered that the price of a gallon of diesel was still showing as being $4.67.99.

   Thinking that a mistake had been made by the cashier I walked back into the Maverick convenient mart and explained to the cashier that the pump I was parked at still showed the credit price of $4.67.99 when I had in fact just paid in cash only moments earlier.

   The cashier then explained to me that the $4.67.99 price on the sign was for both credit and cash transactions, and that the lower price shown was for something called "Nitro" transactions. 

   I stared outside the large windows of the Maverick convenient mart at the big sign, watched how the word "Credit" (and only the word "Credit") lit up between the "E85" and "Unleaded" placards that were located directly below the word "Maverick" on the big sign when the prices shown were $3.89.99 and $4.67.99 for unleaded and diesel respectively, and then watched as the numbers changed seconds later to $3.74.99 and $4.52.99 for unleaded and diesel respectively - and saw that the word between the "E85" and "Unleaded" placards was now showing as "Nitro".

   When I asked what Nitro referred to, the cashier politely explained to me that the Nitro price was for customer's using the Maverick Nitro card or purchasing on the Maverick Nitro App.

    Which kinda pissed me off. I (as casually but pointedly as I could) stated that I thought that was a bit duplicitous, as there was nothing to indicate on the big sign or posted on the pumps that the lower price was not indeed a cash price but required the use of the Maverick credit card or app.

    I also stated that the last thing I needed was another credit card or another app on my phone, and that I would like a refund of the cash I had paid, as I had not yet pumped any fuel into my truck.

   As courteous as a cashier who has had to deal with tightwads such as myself could, she said she would have to get the manager for that, and she did just that. The manager actually processed my refund almost instantly, and I went back out to my truck.

   When I was back at my truck was when I asked the seven different people filling up at the pumps around me if they were aware that the lower price being advertised on the big sign was not for customer's paying cash, and received the answer from each and everyone of them that no, they were not aware of that at all, and the three people who had paid cash each kinda grumbled a little when they looked at the diesel price on the pump and realized that I wasn't kidding, that they were indeed paying the higher posted credit price for fuel.

   None of them went back into the Maverick convenient mart though - I guess some people are okay with paying 15 cents more a gallon for fuel than the initially thought they were.

   Years ago, when I was living overseas, an Englishman taught me something about responding to a business that was being duplicitous (which is the word of the day, obviously) or just guilty of poor business practices, and that was to "protest with your feet", by which he meant just leave the business and never return.

   Being as how their are fuel stations galore in Lakewood, I did just that - well, I protested with my wheels, actually. I got into my truck and drove a couple miles to the Shell station that posts and charges the same price for fuel regardless of whether one pays with cash or credit card (theirs or any other). 

   Sure, a gallon of diesel there was a penny more, but even a tightwad such as I am can eat a few pennies (even if they are no longer in production).

   At least the Shell station is honest about what they're charging.