It isn't all that hard to figure out. They are selling fuel as cheap as
they can, and do not want to lose the percentage of the sale they would
have
to pay to the card company.

I wasn't questioning the obvious. Rather, I was simply surprised that in
this age of widespread fraud a business would still take an out of state
check.

There is certainly a cost up to the amount of purchase in handling out of
state checks that are returned for insufficient funds. Apparently the
percentage of checks that actually are returned must be very close to
zero,
which says something about the quality of their customers.

For sure. One returned check for a $150 fill up will eat up more than a
month's worth of the 3% they'd be paying to have a credit card machine.
Which, of course, they could pass along to their customers, as do we all.
(Business people, that is...)

Which, of course, we would all appreciate, given the relative convenience of
using a self-serve pump with a credit card reader. Too often I've landed
in some out-of-the-way airport (on a Sunday, naturally) only to find a
padlocked FBO and no credit card reader on the pump...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"