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when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

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Old Oct 30th 2015, 10:20 pm
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by Pulaski
I only know of one gas station locally that posts a separate cash price, and that's a Shell station and I am reluctant to put shell gas in my mower.
The stations I have seen and used on Mainland WA state, as well as in California pretty much all have a lower price for cash. I've seen them at both branded (Chevron, Shell, Arco, 76) as well as the non-branded.

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.
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Old Oct 30th 2015, 10:22 pm
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by mrken30
I think most of the Arco stations around here used to be cash only. That may have changed because I don't go to Arco gas stations.
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.
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Old Oct 30th 2015, 10:49 pm
  #93  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing
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
They're around 10-15c a gallon cheaper down here, but yes, I'm not entirely sure it's legal.

Most places around here still aren't under $2 a gallon either.
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Old Oct 31st 2015, 3:19 am
  #94  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by Bob
They're around 10-15c a gallon cheaper down here, but yes, I'm not entirely sure it's legal.

Most places around here still aren't under $2 a gallon either.
10-15c is way better than anything I have seen around here. Very few stations even do it anymore and when you do, it's less than 5c. You do get up to 20c off if you buy a car wash, but even at that saving, if I buy a $5 wash, I'm still out a couple of bucks after I fill up, so fack that.

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.
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Old Oct 31st 2015, 9:22 am
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by Bob
They're around 10-15c a gallon cheaper down here, but yes, I'm not entirely sure it's legal.
Legality will depend on what state you are in.

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?
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Old Oct 31st 2015, 11:17 am
  #96  
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Default 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.
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Old Oct 31st 2015, 8:39 pm
  #97  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by tonrob
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.
where do you see gas gift cards Tonrob?
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Old Nov 1st 2015, 1:55 am
  #98  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
where do you see gas gift cards Tonrob?
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.
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Old Nov 2nd 2015, 10:31 am
  #99  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by Pulaski
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.
Sorry to say, that is not necessarily true. Expiry dates are set after extensive testing during R&D to find out how long the drugs are stable, and at what conditions. One of the main criteria on which they are assessed (and there are many) is not just that the main drug 'goes off', it's what it becomes when it goes off.

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.
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Old Nov 2nd 2015, 6:22 pm
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Default 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
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Old Nov 2nd 2015, 8:40 pm
  #101  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by dj6372
My local Shell station has 2 prices, 10c cheaper for cash
I paid Shell 10c for my last fill-up!

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Old Nov 2nd 2015, 8:45 pm
  #102  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by tonrob
I paid Shell 10c for my last fill-up!

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...svpmssfm7.jpeg
No, you didn't - you paid them $1.95. Says so right there in the screenshot
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Old Nov 2nd 2015, 9:21 pm
  #103  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing
No, you didn't - you paid them $1.95. Says so right there in the screenshot
Ok, ok - but I paid that using a Shell gift card I'd bought for 80c on the dollar.
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Old Nov 3rd 2015, 12:56 pm
  #104  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by tonrob
Ok, ok - but I paid that using a Shell gift card I'd bought for 80c on the dollar.
Nice one.

I paid nothing for gas yesterday. The fact that my car didn't need filling up is neither here nor there, though.
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Old Nov 3rd 2015, 2:48 pm
  #105  
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Default Re: when you were moving to the US, what did you wish you'd known about?

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing
Nice one.

I paid nothing for gas yesterday. The fact that my car didn't need filling up is neither here nor there, though.
I hate buying gas, Fortunately I only have to do it once or twice a month
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