No Thanks, Rip Off Texaco, Competition is Cheaper

I drive a Jeep Wrangler.  They're thirsty beasts when they are driven.  It is 11 years old and it has 42000 miles on it.  I don't drive much.  When I do drive, I do enjoy the car.  They're fun to drive and if the weather is nice the roof comes off the thing and I have even more head room.   Being as tall as I am, head room is important.

Today I was out driving around, not exactly something I do often.  He decided that he was hungry and the fuel light came on.  Jeep Wranglers are "he", especially when they're dark colors...

Coming through Fort Lauderdale and back to Wilton Manors, I thought I'd watch prices since I walk past the Texaco station at NE 9th Ave and Wilton Drive enough with the dog to know that today the gas price was and is 3.67 a gallon.


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That was the going rate elsewhere so I thought I may as well just stop there and get gas before going home.

Pulling into the Forecourt, I went through the motions of feeding the gas pump my American Express card and entering my zip code when I noticed that this particular pump was confused.  It had added 8 cents a gallon to the price because I was not using cash or a Texaco card.

So I left since I don't have Stupid tattooed on my forehead and wasn't willing to pay 3.75 a gallon.

Cursing the whole way and being convinced that it was this particular Texaco that liked to charge too much in the convenience store for all its items and that I never went there anyway because it was too damn expensive, I drove the .4 miles down to the Valero station on NE 26th Street and got gas there.   Same price, 3.67 a gallon.  No surcharge.


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False Economy?  No, I did the math, I came out slightly ahead.  Average MPG 16.82 since I had the roof off for a quarter of the tank and that turns the Jeep into a gas guzzler.  .8 miles distance at 3.67 cost me 17 cents.

Had I realized that the same rip off Texaco was ripping people off by charging another 8 cents a gallon for credit cards just like it tacks a dollar onto items like the Quicky Mart on the Simpsons, I would have stopped somewhere else on the way instead of driving the extra distance to get there.

I won't any more.  Should have known better, that place has a bad reputation as it is.  I was warned when I moved here 6 years ago to avoid the place.  Yet another reason why.

Yeah it's a rant.  Then again a rant once in a while is good for the soul.