@Anonymous wrote:In the first scenario, depending on the store I may throw in a pack of gum or something at the checkout (or if it's like a department store or something, maybe a pair of clearance socks?) to get over the $30 threshold. Something I'd use for sure that only costs a dollar or two.
For the gas one, honestly I've never seen it just click off after a quarter (usually it can get in about another half gallon after it clicks off in any car I've ever had) so I'd squeeze in the extra quarter's worth. But if I thought there was any possible way I wouldn't make the $30 I probably wouldn't have used that card to begin with or I would have read all of the fine print on it - if it worked in the store as well as at the pump to get the $5 off I'd have, again, gone into the store first and gotten a pack of gum or a Coke or something and prepaid the pump to an even $30 charge.
But that's just me.
Right, so yes, if I had had any idea I'd be that close I would have used a different card, or like you said, plan to pay in the store. But from the start, I really thought I'd have to stop the pump myself at $30 so I didn't go *over* and dilute the deal. I was driving a loaner because my sedan (an Altima) was in the shop. My Altima has a gas tank that holds a little over 17 gallons. So at $1.99/gal I've never had a problem reaching $30 as long as the tank is near empty. The loaner was an SUV, and I figured the tank would have to hold at least as much as my Altima. I ran the SUV until the needle was buried below the E, and the "remaining mileage" countdown had gone below 10 to ---. So I figured I must be pretty close to driving on fumes. But either the gauges are off, or the tank is freakishly small, but I couldn't get 15 gallons in.
I think the pump first clicked off at a little over $29.25, and then I kept squeezing in gas one click at a time until at $29.75 it started overflowing. So I got a quarter of a gallon or maybe a bit more in between the first click and all full. 1/4 gallon is a little less than I might have expected to get in after the click, but it's not an insignificant amount of fuel.
I have my car back, and have one more $5 off $30 to use. When I do use it, I'll be sure to bring along an empty gas can just in case. 
Chris.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:This wouldn't happen to be the AmEx $5 off $30 purchase at an Exxon/Mobil station would it? I had the EXACT same thing happen to me and even after overfilling my tank I was still about $.50 short of $30 so I ended up spilling that much on the ground. I didn't feel good about doing it either, but I was literally throwing money away by not doing so.
If there's someone close by (maybe the other side of the pump), put the 25 cents in their tank. Free gas is free gas.
Great idea, and I might have thought of that had there been anyone else around. But at midnight on Thanksgiving night in the middle of Wisconsin, the neighborhood was pretty desolate.
OTOH, I keep imagining myself being approached by someone at a gas station offering to pump some gas in my car for free. I think I'd be kinda weirded out, and I actually *understand* these types of promos. I'm trying to figure out how I'd explain to the average person how it was to my benefit to give them some gas for free, LOL, and not some sort of scam or an attempt to rob them or something.
Chris.
Both valid points. I would think a lot would be the type of neighbourhood you are in. If it's a smaller town/more intimate type of place... well, you're not going to see a lot of people in the middle of the night. But you'd likey find people more interested in speaking with you and not thinking you were a deranged axe murderer.
If it was a busier area....well, axe murderers need petrol, too 