I drive a 1994 Ford pickup.\u00a0 It has two 18-gallon gas tanks, and with gas in Tucson at 2.85 cents per gallon (yes, I know it’s a lot more elsewhere in the States, never mind Europe, so spare me already), it takes more than a C-note to fill it up.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of trucks like mine on the road, many of them purchased second-hand by independent contractors, construction workers,\u00a0and yard-service guys, who drive them to make a living.<\/p>\n
Here’s my beef: gas stations\u00a0that still set their pumps to limit debit card gas purchases to $50.\u00a0 They had the same limit five or six years ago, when $50 would have done the trick.\u00a0 Why didn’t they adjust the cutoff limit when gas prices started going up?<\/p>\n
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but gas stations with cutoff limits on debit card purchases tend to be those in the\u00a0poorer parts of town, exactly where people who drive trucks like mine go to buy gas.\u00a0 How is a blue collar debit card different from a white collar debit card?<\/p>\n
Maybe I don’t understand how these things work, but every debit card I’ve ever seen has a MasterCard or Visa logo on it, which means to me that the gas station’s going to get\u00a0its money no matter what.\u00a0 Either\u00a0your debit card purchase is guaranteed by the credit card company that backs up\u00a0your debit card, or the debit card itself won’t allow\u00a0you to spend more than you have in\u00a0your account, right?<\/p>\n
So why impose a limit on debit card purchases?\u00a0 And why only on the wrong side of the tracks?\u00a0 Is it just to hassle working-class people, or is there some legitimate reason I don’t know about?<\/p>\n