Paying By Credit Card At the Gas Pump and Refusing To Use Cash

By MoneyBlueBook

Oh great - well I hope this articledoesn't foretell or signify a trend that's going to be widely picked up by the gas industry in the coming future. While they've been one of the most credit card friendly industries in the past, some gas station chains are apparently starting to scale back their payment options in favor of cash due to diminishing profit margins caused by higher gas prices and rising credit card interchange fees. The credit card interchange fee, a percentage of the total sales price paid to credit card companies by the merchant on every transaction, is usually fixed at somewhere just under 2% - but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services. As gas prices have risen dramatically, so have the credit card acceptance fees that gas pump merchants pay, drastically cutting into their profitability.

I Always Use My Credit Card To Pay For Gas And Don't Intend To Change This Payment Practice Anytime Soon

While I understand why some gas station owners and advocates are pushing for the move back to cash payment only for gas purchases, I hope this is not an emerging or widely adopted trend. Paying cash at the pump may work for some, but it's not going to fly for me.

I take frequent road trips and one of the most appreciated benefits of fueling at the gas pump is the ability to easily slide into a gas station off the freeway, punch in my prepayment, fuel up,

By MoneyBlueBook

These days, you can buy pretty much everything under the sun online. All it takes is some fancy keyboard typing and mouse clicking, and you can Google your way to an ideal product that offers both perfect features and perfect pricing. Theoretically if you wanted to, you could put yourself under house arrest, never venture out of your house again, and still live a relatively comfortable and convenient life by surviving on supplies and groceries ordered through the Internet. All you would need is a trusty computer or laptop, equipped with a reasonably fast high speed internet connection, and you would be good to go. With the emergence of online bargain shopping, consumers no longer have to pay the higher retail mark up prices due to overhead costs found at brick and mortar stores. Consumers are now free to go with online merchants who are passing along their own cost savings to online customers due to not having to pay extra expenses associated with maintaining physical retail locations. On the whole, prices found online for the exact same product otherwise available in a regular real life retail store are almost always lower. Frequently, the cost savings can be tremendous - as much as 10-25% savings simply by ordering the desired product online rather than purchasing it at a corresponding retail store location.

Unfortunately, there is one significant and readily present downside to shopping for products online - the inevitable wait time and frustrating inconvenience of having to wait around for days and weeks for the

By MoneyBlueBook

The other day I shuffled past my pet parrot's metal cage and casually glanced at him. He looked up at me and smiled. Well he didn't actually smile - that would be weird, not to mention it would be an exceedingly remarkable feat for a bird to do - but he did seem to want to tell me something. I glanced down at the bottom of his cage and realized what he was so antsy about - it was time for me to clean his bird cage. The bird poo clumps and endless feather fluffs were starting to dirty up the bottom lining of his cage and it was time to replace his bird bedding. So before cleaning his bird cage, I went and did what I've been doing for the last 10 or so years - I went to the supermarket and bought a copy of the Sunday newspaper to use as bird cage lining. When I got home and proceeded to clean his cage, dumping out the old newspaper sheets that held his former poop droppings, an interesting thought occurred to me. Although I've been buying newspapers regularly and consistently for many years now, I haven't once actually sat down to read one. It seems the only reason I even have them around in the first place is to use them to line my pet parrot's bird cage. Over the years I've learned that newspaper print pages contain the perfect combination of non toxicity and biodegradable composition that is uniquely more absorbent than

By MoneyBlueBook

It's not easy finding the right career path in life. Many of our own perceptions on what makes a good profession is shaped and sometimes even warped by the views of our family, friends, and perhaps most significantly, by the media's relentless spin. There are many jobs out there that may look attractive and rewarding on TV, but reality often pours cold water over hyped up expectations.

It's interesting to me how if you asked any little kid what they wanted to be when they grew up, almost all would respond with answers like doctor, lawyer, hip hop rapper, or even President of the United States. Unfortunately for those little kids, the great majority of them will never fulfill their childhood dreams or live up to the great but unrealistic expectations they envisioned due to their personal circumstances. People pick jobs and careers for many reasons, but their choices are often shaped by their own hyped views regarding what is hot and what is not, and frequently fraught with inaccuracies. Unfortunately, during the high school and college years, the media greatly reinforces the naive and misguided mystique that surrounds certain professions to the detriment of future entrants into the work force. Oftentimes the hype of certain careers tend to greatly exceed the lucrativeness and fulfillment potential of reality.

The job market and popular careers choices have changed greatly over the years and what was once perhaps lucrative no longer is. Here's my list of what I believe are the top 5 most overrated careers and professions. I'm

By MoneyBlueBook

Life is unpredictable. As much as we may try to project what is to come in the future, our feeble attempts at fortune telling and soothsaying inevitably fall short of reality. That's life and that's just the way of the world. We may try to walk the steady and safe path paved with good intentions, but sometimes life just insists on chucking a banana peel to trip you up when you least expect it. It's not always fair and it's not always just. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes unfortunate circumstances befall even the best of us. But the unforeseen and the unexpected don't have to ruin our lives and cause everything that's going for us to fall apart at the seams. We can plan for such an occurrence and protect ourselves the best we can by creating a back up financial contingency plan. Having a "Plan B" savings account and readily accessible emergency fund set aside will give you piece of mind in knowing that you will be taken care of should the worst case scenario occur.

I've personally had many unforeseen and unexpected situations spring forth in the last couple of years, and have learned that life comes at you fast. In the last few months, I've had to deal with a family health emergency due to the sudden passing of my grandfather which required me to go on emergency leave to fly overseas to be with him. I've also had to deal with a significant tax liability bill recently that

By MoneyBlueBook

An Updated List Of the Best Student Credit Card Offers Provided Below

It's remarkable how much the Internet has changed how we manage our finances today, and the sheer amount of information and knowledge it affords us. With a few keystrokes, we are now able to instantly access a wealth of reviews and consumer opinion pieces to better educate ourselves on the workings of all financial products and services. One of the best things to grow out of it is that it's also helped college and university students to become better informed and educated consumers when it comes to dealing with credit cards and the credit application process.

Don't Succumb To Bad Credit Card Offers Just Because Someone Is Giving Away Free Stuff To College Students

Back during my early student years as a college freshman, the Internet was only just getting popular, and many things were still being done the old fashioned way. At the time, my first encounter with credit card temptation was at one of those free credit card promotion booths on campus. I remember walking past the campus student union one day and noticing an attractive girl standing behind a fold out table adorned with a large promotional banner and colorful balloons. On the table was all sorts of prizes - everything from free T-shirts, free Frisbees, cheap alarm clocks, to free squishy ball stress reliever "thingys". Naturally, as a bright eyed and bushy tailed (not to mentioned gullible) young college student, I was ready at a moment's notice to sell my credit card