Pump first than pay?

I just use my debit card. I rarely carry any cash on my at all.

 

I don't utilize my debit card as a credit card. I utilize it as a debit card and use the PIN. When you use the PIN the transaction is processed immediately and you aren't subject to the credit holds.

 

Here if you pump and pay cash, you pay first and then pump. There are no stations that I know of that will let you pump first and then pay.

 

Y'all need to move to a smaller town. We have two stations in town. The one I use is right around the corner. They have an intercom and it isn't unusual for the cashier to say hello and call me by name. Pump your gas, go inside and chat with the old guys (Salty's age group) having their coffee, pay for the gas and leave. Once I got chatting with the boys and plum forgot to pay for the gas. They wrote my name on the slip and caught up with me the next time I was there.

 

I use a credit card. With the receipt I always know the cost/gallon, total cost, and amount of fuel. I always divide total cost by the cost/gallon to be sure it agrees with the amount before I calculate my mpg/tank... which is seldom that accurate in itself, but it can be used to get the actual if you keep records, as well as for experimentation, in which I have long discovered that not topping off (I just pump to the next .1 (ten cents)), filling at dark (especially in the hot weather) and keeping tires consistently and evenly inflated each matter for about 0.34 mpg. Pumping on low speed improves mpg about 0.6 mpg. And don't fill up when there is a delivery going on-- but it's harder to experiment regarding that. In short, keep all related elements even and minimize the vapor pressure of the fuel (don't jostle it more than necessary). But the vast majority of people are too impatient and myopic to do these things, so more fuel for more cost to drive the same distance is where they rest.

BTW I hate the idea that it is illegal in NJ (and now I gather other places) to have self-service. Besides the higher costs, don't imagine that they don't know these little tricks of how to use more fuel for the same driving, and that they don't do them to you. If you were to ask them to fill your tank on low speed, they'd probably say that's illegal, too-- or else, just tell you not to come back and hold them up again. This must be unions shoving their illogical sauce to fleece you and keep Horshack's job.

 

The Padre is right, you guys need to get out more. None of the stations here ask you to pay in advance. They have you on video coming and going. I am sure they occasionally have a drive off, but they are usually caught.

 

"Pump first than pay?" Sounds like the statement a gas thief would make.

- Peace

 

>Fortunately, in my town self serve is illegal!! So we always have full serve so no problem.

A municipal welfare program? New Jersey and Oregon are the only states with this form of welfare far as I know.

The fake driver's license business should pick up.

 

In "welfare" because if the municipality allowed self-service, the job of gas pumper wouldn't exist.

 

At least four of the local stations I regularly do business with have pump-first-then-pay. I am not a special case. It is the regular policy. It is nice to just go up to the pump and hit the button.

I pay with cash most of the time. There isn't much potential for fraud; I never overdraw the account with cash! When using a card, I prefer credit. The card companies are supposed to provide some fraud protection on credit cards.

So far as the license scanning scheme goes I think it is ok as an option but would rather not use it. One chain I do business with (occasionally) has a store card that serves the same purpose. You scan the card - pump the gas - pay cash inside and get 3 cents discount per gallon. I just pay first there though.

A.F.

 

I'd have no problem using it, but would only do so if the option to prepay isn't there since I always know how much the car takes, so if I use cash, I just underestimate a bit. Who cares if it's a tiny bit less?

I used to live where it was illegal to pump your own gas. At some places, the attendant would get over-zealous and act like a murder was being committed if someone who didn't know (and a lot didn't as we were by the state border/main highway) and tried to use the pump. Kinda funny at times. I was taken by surprise myself the first time, then found out that it is done for job security and that's just fine by me!

I do want to know how all these people manage to commit all these crimes and get away with it. I accidentally shorted a cashier two cents once and thought they were going to shoot me when I turned around to leave and one other time at a drive-through, I hadn't known they started doing the thing where you pay at one window and then go to the next for your stuff, never saw that in my life so I just went up to the same one they always had people go to before and the worker came running to the window yelling "DON'T GIVE IT TO HER, DON'T GIVE IT TO HER SHE DID NOT PAY!" and I thought I'd die of embarrassment.
So I can't imagine actually trying AND getting away with anything major. I can't even get away with stuff by ACCIDENT! LOL

 

You're comparing apples and oranges. One is a job that is (arguably) necessary. The other is a job that exists completely because the government says it should exist. The only reason the government says it should exist is because they pander to lobbyists.

I have no doubt they are nice people (at least some of them). I have nothing against people that work for a living in (just about) any capacity. It isn't their fault and they are simply doing their job. My problem is government overstepping its bounds.

Tell small business owner that having an extra guy there isn't a big deal. Your "not a huge deal" just doubled the small business owners payroll.