It's illegal to charge for credit (and I think it's against Visa and MC TOS to require minimum purchase) but they can charge for debit?

Really? I thought all ARCO stations, as a corporation, charged the 45 cent fee. I have never been to one that doesn't. And in fact, I will only go there if I have cash because that fee ticks me off. To charge me to do buisness with them just means I'll go elsewhere.

I found out a couple of years back that my ATM card had a per day spending limit that I was unaware of. It was $1,000 a day. I never had the chance to spend that much in one day, until I tried to buy some furniture with the card. I called the bank (a credit union) and they raised it to $5,000. Now, if they contact me that they have dropped it from $5,000 to $50, I'm going through the roof! I can't go to the grocery store for under $100 most of the time!

I get the feeling this is one of those non-issues that some one brings up that will never come to fruition anyway....

Not without telling you first. But they can say "these'll be your new terms as of X date. If you don't like them, feel free to take your business elsewhere." That's what those occasional letters/booklets you get in the mail are doing if you read the details, telling you the myriad ways they're tweaking the terms of their deals and telling you to pound sand elsewhere if you don't like it.

I've never been to an ARCO that takes any type of credit card at the pump. Just debit cards (with a transaction fee). But maybe it isn't universal like I thought.

Just for clarity, this is a state law and while it is the law in California it is not the law in all states and generally applies only to credit cards and not debit cards (as is the case in California). And, of course, even if there is no difference between cash and credit/debit prices you still end up paying that fee since it will be built into the price (that is what I meant about the cap mostly moving money from one corporation to another; if WalMart pays $0.30 cents less per swipe in interchange fee, how much of that will they pass to the customer in lower prices).

Minimum purchase requirements for using a card are technically violations of the merchants service agreement with Visa/Mastercard but I understand why they do it so am not one of those people who complains about it.

Yes. The state legislature passed a bill a couple years ago that would have barred it for credit cards as well but Schwarzenegger vetoed it. So far as know it did not come up again because the federal cap will most likely avoid the issue.

Schwarzenegger's stated logic was the eliminating the fee would simply transfer payment of the interchange fee from consumers who used a card thus causing the fee to spreading it among all consumers so those who used cash would be subsidizing those who don't.

The first one I noticed it at was the one by DL. When moved here 4+ years ago I noticed it at the Arco by my place. Last weekend we stopped at an Arco on the way out of Vegas (by the new M) that had signs posted 'cash or credit only, no debit. All cards will be processed as credit'. The one thing I noticed about the three that I've come across is they are all newer style pumps. The Arco by my parents (in HB) or my office (Anaheim and Fullerton) do not take credit.

I use cash at the pump, have a Credit Union and use Discover allot . . . wonder what I will have to change.