[PRCo] Re: Inflation

Mon Apr 7 08:25:23 EDT 2008

Don't know.  I would assume for large volume retailers (i.e., the 
supermarkets) they get better rates than little guys like me when I had the 
business.  

Howard

On Sun, 6 Apr 2008 22:30:19 -0400, Fred Schneider wrote
> 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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Thanks,
Howard Andrews