OCEAN COUNTY, NJ - An increasing number of gas stations in New Jersey are offering discounts for customer who pay by cash, notes the Barnegat-Ocean Acres Patch.

Low margins and high credit card fees are driving more retailers to try cash discounts, OPIS director of retail pricing Fred Rozell told the newspaper.

"The average (gross) profit per gallon sold for a local gas station was about 18 cents in 2011, but the profit has been as low as 9 cents in recent years. It averages about 14 cents a gallon," Rozell said.

NACS 2010 State of the Industry data shows that credit and debit fees contributed 4.7 cents per gallon to the cost of selling gasoline, no matter what payment is used.

"It's hard to operate at such a low profit margin when most of these stations are probably only doing about $50,000-$80,000 of business a month," said Rozell.

However, some customers see the discounts as a negative.

"I don't carry that much cash on me," Toms River resident Mandy Pearce told the newspaper. "Why penalize me for that?"

On February 2, NACS released its annual Retail Fuels Report, which looks at cash discounts and other methods to lure customers to store. The complete report was released on February 2, and is an excellent tool to share with consumers as we begin the annual transition to summer-blend fuel.