According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, more motorists are paying at the pump with credit cards:

Convenience stores, which sell about three-quarters of all gasoline sold in the nation, have seen the use of credit cards for motor fuel purchases rise to 70 percent of all gasoline purchases from about 54 percent last year, according to the industry group.

Interesting stuff, but they move mightly quickly to supposing that it's an effort to stave off paying for gas:

And drivers are seen reaching into their pockets for plastic more often as they try to stretch their budgets.

"Consumers are trying to displace the pain for a few weeks," said Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the group, which includes stores owned by oil companies.

Outside the Beltway's Steven Verdon and The Oil Drum take this and run with it. Verdon:

The article rightly notes that gasoline that costs $2.60/gallon can easily morph into $3/gallon if the balance is not paid off right away due to interest, finance charges, etc. So unless you expect to see some significant drops in the price of oil in the near future this might not be the best strategy for dealing with the higher gasoline prices.

When confronted with a disagreeing readership, he elaborates:

So this sudden surge in the use of cards (check, debit, or credit) is most likely due to something else. What has changed recently? Prices have gone up. So we have two hypotheses:

1. People are using their cards more just because.
2. People are trying to defer the increased cost of gasoline.

I think the second hypothesis is the more likely right now. Merely noting the existence of check and debit cards does nothing to weaken the second hypothesis because conditioning on this information applies to both hypotheses. In other words, the debit/check cards have been around before and during price increases and will likely be around afterwards. Hence, why should people increase usage simply because of the price increase?

There could be a number of factors:

3. With gas prices going up, people are less likely to have the cash on hand and therefore paying with a credit card makes more sense.
4. More people have been forced to pay with a credit card because they don't have the money on-hand (because what used to be a $20 refill is now $30) and have found it very convenient and have continued to do so.
5. Pay at the pump is ever-expanding and the requirement that people either pay-at-the-pump or pay-before-you-pump (which was rare when I started driving ten years ago) has picked up significantly in the last year. Partially, I'd imagine, in response to more drive-offs because of rising gas prices and the fact that each drive-off now costs the station more money.
6. Some combination of 2-5, all of which include the gas price hike.

I think the sixth hypothesis is correct. How much of it is deferred payment? Some of it, I'm sure. Maybe more than any of the other factors, but it's by no means the only factor.

This post was expanded from a comment I made at Below the Beltway.