when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
#91
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Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
The stations in Pt. Roberts , WA don't seem to do it, but they also price and sell gas in liters since for all intents they have very few American customers, the bulk are Canadian so they make it easy for the Canadians since we use liters.
#92
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Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
The one's I have used in WA and CA take cash (lowest price) debit for a small fee, and then credit pays a higher price. But they do take it. We always pay cash since very few places accept Canadian debit cards in the US.
#93
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
Wasn't it supposed to become illegal to have a 'card price' and a 'cash price'?
That being said, any gas stations round our way never had a difference of more than 3c. It's really not worth the hassle of finding an ATM that won't charge me for a transaction just to save an average of 35-40c per fill up; I'll keep using my card
That being said, any gas stations round our way never had a difference of more than 3c. It's really not worth the hassle of finding an ATM that won't charge me for a transaction just to save an average of 35-40c per fill up; I'll keep using my card
Most places around here still aren't under $2 a gallon either.
#94
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Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
Nowhere is under $2.00/gal here either. Best I have seen lately is around $2.25. Perhaps up in Wisconsin it's getting down into the low $2s.
#95
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Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
You used to see a few places in CA that offered discounts for cash but I haven't seen one for a while - I think that California law says that you can't charge extra for using a credit card but you can offer a discount for paying cash ...
Also, don't some credit cards have merchant agreements that prohibit a difference in the cash vs credit card price?
#96
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
I find it's often possible to buy gas gift cards for 10-20% off, so at those times I'll stock up on a few hundred dollars worth to carry me through to the next promo. Every 2-3 months there's also a gas points promo on Visa gift cards at a local supermarkets that yields a months worth of fill-ups at $2.20 off per gallon.
#97
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
I find it's often possible to buy gas gift cards for 10-20% off, so at those times I'll stock up on a few hundred dollars worth to carry me through to the next promo. Every 2-3 months there's also a gas points promo on Visa gift cards at a local supermarkets that yields a months worth of fill-ups at $2.20 off per gallon.
#98
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
Many stores carry Shell, BP, Mobil etc. (e.g. Staples, Sears, Kohls, supermarkets) also eBay. Often these sellers coincide with other deals, e.g. AMEX Sync offers, Discover or Freedom category bonuses. Lots of scope for good discounts.
#99
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
I spoke to a pharmacist at our church in England about drug strength after assaying aspirin tablets when I was studying chemistry at high school, and he explained that drugs were often made "overstrength" (aspirins by 10%) such that they were still effective on the expiry date, even when not stored in optimal conditions. So long as your ibuprofen has been stored in moderate temperatures it will likely be effective long after the nominal "expiry" date, and I would continue to use them for another 2-3 years, unless/until I was finding them to be ineffective. Unlike foods they certainly won't become potentially dangerous to use after the expiry date.
So to use your example, when asprin degrades, it's main degradation product is acetic acid, which is why old aspirin bottles smell of vinegar. Acetic acid is not harmful at that level, so the worst that could happen if you take old aspirin tablets is that you don't get as much aspirin as you think you should and your headache won't go away.
However, other drugs can potentially degrade into chemicals that FDA & EMA consider to be more harmful. The expiry dates of the drugs are set so that should the drug degrade in your medicine cabinet, there would still be a very very small amount of any potentially harmful chemicals in there and you are fine to take them until the expiry date. After the expiry date, the potential levels of impurities, and thus risk, goes up with age of product.
Unless you are a toxicologist with detailed information on each drug in your possession, the degradation pathways of the drugs and the toxicology of each impurity, then stick to the expiry date on your drugs.
#100
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Joined: Jul 2015
Location: Watford
Posts: 1,147
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
My local Shell station has 2 prices, 10c cheaper for cash
#102
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Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
#104
I have a comma problem
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?
I paid nothing for gas yesterday. The fact that my car didn't need filling up is neither here nor there, though.