And the real Shell gas price is ...

I always love it when merchants run a little shell game on their customers.

Take the Corner Pantry Shell Station at South Lake and Platt Springs roads.

Last week (8/14), the sign said $3.25 a gallon. I drove in, stuck in the Shell credit card, filled 'er up and left - all for $3.259 a gallon.

This weekend - same sign, same price. But now there's a placard on the pump - the "credit" price is actually $3.31. Seems to me if you don't want to scam your customers, you'll tell them on the sign that the price is the cash price. (And doubly annoying is that I'm using a merchant card, not some bank-issued Visa or MasterCard.)

Maybe it's time for some truth-in-advertising legislation like in other states that require showing the different prices.

Thanks, Tucker Oil, which proudly proclaims on its website, "I take pride in treating my customers with fairness and respect." Just one of life's little annoyances. I suspect we'll be seeing more of this kind of stuff from a range of merchants desperate to keep their profit margins up.

I know newsrooms have largely done away with consumer units for fear of alienating local businesses, but this might be a topic to keep monitoring.