Cash only at gas stations

This is a “cost-cutting measure” by the Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Dealers Association (TTPDA), whose President, Robindranath “Robin” Naraynsingh, explained to Newsday yesterday that doing so is necessary “in order to pay our workers, to keep (all of) our staff.” While this decision was taken at a TTPDA meeting last week, Naraynsingh said some dealers had stopped accepting debit/credit cards “long before”, due to the increasingly small retail margin.

“Credit cards incur a cost which we cannot pass it on to the customers because the the Minister of Energy sets the retail price and the wholesale price of gas. However the acceptance of credit cards is a cost that we can do something about in order to meet our commitments.” Naraynsingh said the vast majority of gas stations across the country are operated by TTPDA members. “There aren’t that many gas stations owned and operated by NP, probably about six or seven gas stations.” Announcing its decision via a written statement late yesterday afternoon, the TTPDA said the Retail Margin, which should facilitate fair operational costs, has remained fixed since “circa 2005” while this past January, there was “a whopping 200 percent increase in both Business Levy and Green Fund Levy Taxes, immediately destabilising the business of retailing fuel in TT.” The TTPDA acknowledged the “inconvenience that this poses” but said accepting cash only payments “is the least jarring measure we can take to keep our nation’s gas stations in operation.”