Is this normal gas station policy?

[Rock'n Robin]

Today I needed gas. Of course it had gone up today (God knows why; everything I see says it should be going down). It went from $2.61 to $2.83.
Sometimes Meijer or Giant Eagle are lower, so I drove there, but they had gone up. There is a little cluster of stations about 4 miles from there, including Sterlings. I called them and asked them if they had raised their prices. THEY REFUSED TO TELL ME! I explained (rather heatedly) that I didn't want to drive across town if the price was the same--but she said it was company policy not to give out prices over the phone and no gas stations would give prices over the phone. I told her she had lost a customer! In fact, that very station has told me their price over the phone before!
IS this normal gas station policy? Maybe they thought I'd drive over and if the price was raised, get it anyway. But why should I drive 8 miles out of my way (1/2 gallon of gas) to take that chance? I just got it at Giant Eagle.
Robin M.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I've never called a gas station to ask about prices. I usually stop at one nearest my home. The price on their signs, however, almost never matches the price at the pump. I guess it changes so much they gave up changing the signs!

 

[Shutterbug]

Robin go here to check area gas prices:

GasBuddy.com

I use it all the time.



Actually I have run into that policy with stores with some items.

 

[live4christp1]

I worked for a Golden Gallon right out of high school and that was our policy, never give out any price information over the phone. They thought it was competitors calling to try and beat the price. This was in 1988 and there were some major price wars going on in our area, and that was when gas was .77 - .79 cents, oh how I wish for those days again!

 

[RadioNate]

prices can change so rapidly I'm sure they don't want to quote something and have it change or like live4christp1 said competetors trying to beat the price for the gas.

Saving a few cents a gallon isn't going to make a huge difference anyway. What you save a dollar on a tank? You'll probablly use more gas than that driving all over town to get the best price.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

...and that was when gas was .77 - .79 cents, oh how I wish for those days again!

I wish, too!!!!

 

[brerrabbit]

I worked for a major Energy company in the Retail division for five years and as said as it sounds it was the policy to not give out price information over the phone. As I understood it it was the policy of most major companies to also not give out the information. There are numerous price tracking organizations as well as AAA. I know it sounds weird but since most stations literally price off their competitors on the street and have policies that call for them to always be 1 or 2 cents over off brands and equal to majors.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I do have gasbuddy.com but I wasn't going home first. And it wasn't just to save a few cents--according to that site, the station I called was $2.58 early this morning--it would have saved me 25 cents a gallon. As it was I only put $15 in and hope it drops a little by the time I need more. Didn't oil prices drop this week? Weren't the refineries a lot less damaged than they expected? What a racket this is.
Robin M.

 

[KristaTX]

Saving a few cents a gallon isn't going to make a huge difference anyway. What you save a dollar on a tank? You'll probablly use more gas than that driving all over town to get the best price.

I don't know the size of the OP's gas tank but I did a little math. Maybe I read something wrong, but assuming a 15 gallon tank, a $0.22 increase would cost her $3.30 extra, not just a dollar. Depending on one's commute distance and gas mileage, those dollars start adding up and affecting the family budget REALLY fast. Especially since gas prices already shot up to above $2.00 this year.

I know that we Americans waste tons of gas with our big cars, and that we get it cheaper than many other places around the world. But that does not mean that the increases are easy to take. Gas price increases finally began really affecting my spending habits once it hit $2.25 a gallon. For some reason that was a magic number for me. Today I saw it for $2.99, so that REALLY has an impact on me . That would be an $11.00 increase per tank over the $2.25 price per gallon. That is a lot of money.

 

[katerkat]

I did a story on gas prices once (I can't remember why) and yes, every station refused to give me a price on the phone. So I had to drive around and write them all down.