Frozen Canadian Mom Decision Making

I had a better morning today.  I got the munchkins off to daycare without hitting anyone with my car (not to worry, it was just a bumper tap yesterday, no damage), but I realized I was almost out of gas.   The light was on, so I knew I was going to be lucky enough to make it to a gas station, and no further.  Stopped at a light I pull out my phone and check my “Gas Buddy” app.  We have a Costco in town, and it makes our local gas stations a bit more competitive.  So, it looks like gas is $1.279/L ($4.36/G) versus my Ultramar at $1.311/L ($4.47/G).  Ok, so it’s four cents different. That’s typically enough to send me to Costco.  Costco is on the wrong side of the road and lights take forever and only accept cash (debit).  If the difference is less than $0.02 I’ll use Ultramar because I can collect “points” on my Walmart Mastercard that I believe makes it equitable. 

Then I checked the temperature.

It’s -30⁰C (-22⁰F) … so if I go to Costco I have to stand outside, swipe my Costco Card (likely twice to get it to read it), then wait.  Swipe my interact card, and then wait.  Select the amount I want to pre-approve for, confirm that, select which account, and wait.  Then punch in my PIN, and wait to be told to lift the nozzle and fill ‘er up!.  At Ultramar I hop out of the car, wave my Mastercard at the pump and lift the nozzle and fill ‘er up!. 

I went to Ultramar.  Cold trumps money savings!

FYI - average gas price locally is $1.361/L ($4.64/G)