Fuel Discounts - The Flying J Question

wbwood wrote:
Our experience is that Flying J's (or pilots) are no more expensive (we use gas, not diesel) than any other gas station at the exit (where most of them are). Matter of fact, there is one at an exit that I usually stop at when traveling to see our parents. There's also an Exxon there. Exxon give your Plenti rewards. So sometimes I will fill up there instead of the Flying J. I didn't notice it until my last trip that Exxon was charging a credit card fee on top of the price of gas. Therefore making it more expensive than the Flying J (where I can use the RV Plus Card and get 7 cents off a gallon. Where I live at, there are 3 gas stations at the exit. An Exxon, a Sheetz, and a Hess Travel Center (truck stop). All prices are pretty much the same. Maybe a penny difference amongst them. I always use the Exxon because of the Plenti rewards. As I was coming home yesterday, getting off the highway, I noticed the Hess truck stop had "Pilot" signs on it. I stopped and used my RV Plus Card and got 7 cents off a gallon. The plenti points don't add up that fast. Sheetz will give 3 cents off with their loyalty card. I'm excited about the Pilot near us. Will definitely save us money.

As far as grocery store rewards....we don't do a lot of shopping at those type of grocery stores. Nomrally not spending more than $25 or so to pick up something specific or for convenience. We mostly shop at places like Aldi, which ends up saving us more money in the front end. The other grocery stores require you to spend X amount of money in order to get some off the price of gas. Normally $100 (sometimes $50) and then you have to use certain gas station brands then as well.

It makes a big difference whether you are shopping for gas or for diesel. The big truck stop places seem to be much more competitive on gas with the other no-names clustered at a big interstate exit - because they have to be.

Most all of the stations at an exit will have gas prices at about the same price - or they would go out of business pretty quick. Sure, a Shell or BP can get away with being a little higher based on their brand name status but they won't be a whole lot different. But gas fueled cars and pickups will totally ignore a station that is 25-50 cents higher then all the rest. And cars and pickups will fit into just about any station no matter how small.

It's a different story if you're a semi driver or in a long RV looking for diesel. The Pilot/Flying J/Loves are always way more expensive then the Murphy or Racetrack that is a block away. But they have more of a captive audience because of the extra room they provide around the pumps.