Sunoco Gas Station - National Pike Rd Markleysburg Pa Complaint - Minimum purchase requirements for use of visa card

Posted by Skye on 2011-09-20:

I know lots of places have a minimum charge, because the the credit card machine costs big bucks, and anything less then a $5.00 purchase, just isn't worth the processing fee's they have to pay.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-09-20:

Sunoco is too big to be requiring a minimum $ amount for using debit/cc purchase. If it's a small Mom n Pop store, sure, but not these giant chain companies. Whenever I see this I just walk out and tell them if I have to pay another 45 or 50 cents to do business with them, I'll find someone else that doesn't do that.

Posted by trmn8r on 2011-09-20:

As a long-time and devoted credit card user, my memory is that minimum charges used to be common but no longer are.

I am tempted to agree with j_c that Sunoco is "too big to be requiring a minimum," HOWEVER Markleysburg is in the middle of nowere. I've been there.

I don't mind CC minimums myself, because I have come to accept that retailers pay significant fees (2-3%) for CC transactions.

Posted by GenuineNerd on 2011-09-20:

Who buys only $5 worth of gas anymore? $5 is just a little over a gallon now. Especially with a credit card.

Posted by clutzycook on 2011-09-20:

I was going to say that I don't think I can walk out of a gas station for less than $10 nowadays.

Posted by Kris10 on 2011-09-21:

A lot of Sonoco chain stores aren't corporate owned. A lot of them are privately owned. That may be the reason for the 'minimum charge' here. Like Skye said, they have to pay huge fees on credit cards transactions.

Posted by oldisgood on 2011-09-21:

there is going to come a day in the near future when credit card companies are going to charge us a monthly users fee. When that day comes this old person is going to go back to using plain old MONEY. Why anyone would charge nickle and dime items to a CC is beyond me. I do not blame any business for their minimum requirement. With a really small purchase the charge by the CC company to the merchant could be more than the purchase.

Posted by Nohandle on 2011-09-21:

To me it's not so much the amount of the sale but amount of profit for an establishment. For some it just isn't feasible to lose money in order to please the consumer. Business 01. oldisgood said it best.

Posted by trmn8r on 2011-09-21:

I charge small purchases to my CC, simply because I get to use someone else's money for a month. Then, I can pay for all my purchases at once using my own money. It makes it much easier to handle my checking account.

When they start charging us to use them (this was being phased out when I first became a CC customer) I'll think about going back to cash - it depends how much they charge.

Posted by oldisgood on 2011-09-22:

I wasn't talking about a CC Annual fee. I was talking about a monthly fee similar to what banks do. I too charge most everything over $20 so I can use their money for a month and earn bonus points for motel rooms (that is what my card is for), but when it comes to something like $2.46, I still think that is silly. However, thatis just me. If I were a business and a really small transaction would actually cost me more than the price of the sale, I would set a minimum.