[PRCo] Re: Inflation

[Fred Schneider]

So, Howard, how the hell does a supermarket make money on people who  
use debit or credit cards when most food is sold on margins as small  
as a few percent?   Do they make it up on cat and dog food?

On Apr 6, 2008, at 8:02 PM, Howard Andrews wrote:

> As far as I know it is.   But the trick is, you get a discount for  
> cash, not
> a surcharge for using Credit.
>
> Many of the Gas Station here in the Detroit are doing the 2 tier  
> pricing -
> one for credit, one for 'real cash' (as opposed to debit card).
>
> Don't know what it is today, but in the late 1990 when I was  
> running my
> photography business taking credit cards as expensive.  I was  
> paying $50 per
> month just to have the account, then $0.50 per transaction plus  
> 2.5% off the
> top for every transaction.
>
> I don't know what the margin is for the operator - but I do know  
> it's slim.
> So if you give the credit card company a transaction fee then a %  
> that can
> eat away your margin real quick.
>
> Howard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of  
> Fred
> Schneider
> Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 7:13 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Inflation
>
> Is it legal to charge more for credit cards?
>
> On Apr 6, 2008, at 6:38 PM, <bob at dietrichsfam.com> wrote:
>
>> Wawa, our local convenience store is testing the concept of
>> charging % cents
>> less for a gallon of gas if paying in cash.  Coming into the store  
>> and
>> paying cash that is.  Personally the $2 I would save walking across
>> the
>> parking lot in the rain then waiting for 10 minutes to hand my
>> money to some
>> kid that can't make change correctly is just not worth it to me.
>>
>> My dad had a gas station and though I never got involved in the
>> money aspect
>> I know he didn't make much at it.  The oil company controlled
>> everything,
>> including his ability to make a profit.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
>> John
>> Swindler
>> Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 9:47 AM
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org; Lybarger Ed; Bente Bruce;
>> SCHNEIDER
>> ALAN; Craig Phil; Eshleman John
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Inflation
>>
>> From various sources, I get the impression that there was a higher
>> mark-up
>> 50 years ago.  There was a recent article noting that profit
>> margins are
>> very thin - gas stations are making their profit on the sodas and
>> subs that
>> you buy, so the real trick is to get you into the store.  Paying at
>> the pump
>> helps with costs, but hurts potential revenue.
>>
>> I thought I read somewhere recently that some countries are
>> starting to
>> change their pricing of crude to other currencies???????  Having
>> senior
>> moment trying to recall source.
>>
>> There was also a surprising comment recently that oil from Alaska
>> has been
>> cut in half over the last decade, and that they now have to heat
>> the ground
>> to get it to flow.  Guess that means that Alaska is pass it's
>> peak.  Also
>> going further out into the ocean to drill, and this could cause
>> problems
>> with some 'rule of the sea' being pushed by world government
>> types.  Again,
>> a senior moment trying to recall details.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>>> To: trams2 at comcast.net; bbente at bellsouth.net;
>> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org; alschneider2 at juno.com;
>> philgcraig204 at yahoo.com; jdeshlemanmd at aol.com> From:
>> fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Inflation> Date: Sat, 5
>> Apr 2008
>> 15:56:05 -0400> > In the Shuman slides I came across a color slide
>> of a
>> Pittsburgh > Railways route 60 trolley car passing a gasoline
>> station in
>> Homestead > in 1958, almost 50 years ago. The price at the pump for
>> regular
>> was > 29.9. If we work with the idea that inflation normally moves
>> the >
>> decimal one place in fifty years, that would jack it up to $2.99 >
>> 9/10s
>> today. Add a little more for the added costs of unleaded and >
>> perhaps $3.10
>> or $3.20 is reasonable ... we're right in the ball > park, aren't we?
>> (Understand that I'm not even considering using > the consumer
>> price index
>> in my thought process because it is adjusted > to consumption and
>> doesn't
>> reflect raw inflation.)> > But very little of the liquid fossil
>> fuels we
>> burn are pumped out o!
>>  f > the ground in the U. S. What stuns me is that we are buying
>> foreign >
>> oil in dollars and the U. S. dollar has gone to hell in a hand
>> basket >
>> thanks to our borrowing to run our government, borrowing to give  
>> tax >
>> refunds, the collapse of our mortgage market, etc. It is worth >
>> about 59%
>> of what it was against the Euro just ten years ago. We've > lost
>> about 20%
>> against the Canadian dollar in the last year and they > are the
>> largest
>> source of oil in North America.> > The independent truckers want to
>> strike
>> because the price of fuel is > up but all I can see is something
>> far less
>> than normal inflation. > If we adjust that inflation to the loss in
>> the
>> value of the dollar, > then our gallon of gasoline should be  
>> somewhere
>> between $3.84 and > $5.12 a gallon depending on where we buy the
>> crude oil
>> and No. 2 > diesel, which is taxed to a greater degree, should be
>> about 25
>> cents > a gallon more.> > Somebody want to tell me what I'm not
>> seeing? Was
>> there a lot of > markup in the !
>>  price of fuel 50 years ago that isn't there today? > Have the oil
>> comp
>> any's sacrificed investment to keep the price at the > pump low?> >
>> fws>
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