WORTH THE TRIP?: 10 cents a gallon might not be a deal if the drive is long.

  • WORTH THE TRIP?: 10 cents a gallon might not be a deal if the drive is long.

Well, sure. Walmart is offering 10-cent-a-gallon gas savings (if you pay with a Walmart card) to get people into their parking lots in hopes they’ll ring cash registers inside the stores.

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Other retailers are offering variations on the deal, such as the drug chain CVS, which gives a $10 gas card for $30 in certain purchases.

“The increase to gas prices,” Wal-Mart’s chief financial officer, Charles M. Holley, said in a call with reporters in May, “certainly does hurt our core customer going to the store, and they’ll consolidate trips.”

Even when the gas deals do not save shoppers that much money — the Wal-Mart promotion saves consumers about $1.60 per fillup for a 16-gallon tank — they can give them a psychological lift.

No savings in Oklahoma, however. That state has an old law that requires a 6 percent markup on everything, including gas.

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Noted: I’d have to burn almost a gallon of $3.60 gas (36 gallons worth of savings) to get to a Walmart pump and back. I wonder how many people factor this in before firing up their car for a run to Walmart?

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