Gas price cash-credit gap spurs legislation

Amid consumer outrage over some gasoline stations charging $2 more for credit card purchases than for cash, a state lawmaker is readying legislation that would require that the credit price be posted on curbside signs if it's more than 7 percent above the cash price.

State Sen. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), who chairs the Senate's consumer affairs committee, said the bill is expected to be completed within the next week and that he was in contact with his counterpart in the Assembly about sponsorship there.

"I think consumers deserve fair notice before pulling into a gas station of whether or not that particular station is essentially tricking them into pulling in," he said.

Stations are charged fees by card issuers but typically post no more than 10 or 15 cents a gallon difference between cash and credit. A number of motorists contacted Newsday Thursday to report stations charging a $2 differential.

"I looked at the sign and said, 'Oh my God,' " said flight attendant Nelson Donald, 51.

He recalled noticing and then photographing the signs on the pumps at a Gulf station on Sunrise Highway in Bohemia that on Wednesday was charging $3.599 for cash purchases of regular and $5.599 for credit purchases. He paid cash.

A Newsday photographer found another Gulf station with a similar price spread, on the South Service road of the Long Island Expressway at Route 112 in Medford.

Spokespeople for Cumberland Farms, which franchises Long Island's Gulf stations, weren't available to comment Thursday night, but they have said in the past that prices are set entirely by their franchisees.

An attendant answering the telephone in Bohemia referred queries to a corporate office, whose telephone didn't answer after hours. The number listed on the Gulf website for the Medford location was disconnected.

All of the stations cited by readers were selling regular for $3.599 or $3.799 a gallon -- well below the Long Island average Thursday of $4.157 a gallon, according to the AAA.

Middle-grade and premium gasoline was similarly priced.

"It was a great discount," said Donald, "but I felt so bad for the person who was unsuspectingly going to" pay $5.59 a gallon without noticing the sign.

State business law forbids surcharging for a credit card purchase but allows a "discounted" price for cash. However, the law is not enforced because it doesn't define what constitutes a discount or a surcharge.

The proposed bill's details were worked out with the Long Island Gas Retailers Association, Zeldin said.

"Our shared goal is to target these bad actors who are giving the industry a bad name," Zeldin said.

He said he wants the law to provide for temporary shutdowns of stations that violate it.