Interesting - in Canada, if you want to "Pay Inside", you have to go in and actually pay - they authorize the maximum transaction, and it unlocks the pump and sets it to a maximum amount. If you pump less than that amount, you pay only for what you use. But, OTOH - Canada seems a bit ahead of the US when it comes to Interac/debit-card transactions in general (... but also a little "behind" Europe and AU/NZ...)

A lot of places in the US are either pay by credit card at the pump or pre-pay inside only. I've also seen where "pay inside after" only works if you leave your driver's license with the attendant inside before the pump is activated.

Huh, interesting.. the usual default in most of Europe is pump then pay, with nothing required beforehand, they have your license plate on video anyway?

It used to be like this in the US too. Now we have “upgraded customer interactive digital displays” that stream ads, TikTok, “cheddar news” , and propaganda into your brain while you pump and I haven’t seen a pump then pay in some years.

Side note: If you're at a pump with those stupid TV things, try and hit...right side, second button from the top. This usually activates mute. Some people go to the effort of putting little stickers indicating where the mute button is. Other times you can tell which one it is if the button is heavily scuffed. If that button doesn't work, just try pressing each of the other ones on there. In my own experience, it doesn't hurt to try. I think one time the left side, bottom button worked too.

Whatever the case, I find those infernal things to not only be obnoxious, but a potential safety risk. I mean, you have a customer literally in the process of handling large quantities of dangerous, liquid flammable material which emits fumes that can be ignited by a spark, with potentially inadequate controls in place to stop it killing people. So, let's distract them with shrill, unwanted blather-boxes showing distracting imagery. I make a point of trying to avoid gas stations that have those stupid things installed precisely for that reason - I don't trust that location to put my safety above them making $.0002 from some shady ad network.

I just can't stand that there is such a concerted effort for this war on silence. Just give me a few minutes of simple contemplation.

Just a personal anecdote, but miss-timing your button-press sometimes results in a car-wash being added to your pump charge.

I was trying to hit skip or cancel or something (this was in the Before Times, barely remember what it was asking) and what was the skip button became the "Yes, I'd like a car wash" button as the next ad started. I always suspected this was a bit of Dark UI level trickery, but could also have just been unfortunate button selection between two separate ads.

Since then, I just avoid those buttons when ads are playing lest they get me again!

It would be better to put some tape over the speaker grille to cut the volume by a good amount, since it would help the next person and generally improve the place. Hostile defaults and having to repeatedly do some action to "opt out" means the shitheads essentially still win modulo an illusion of choice, like so many modern dynamics.

While I fully support this if user hostile then hostile user idea, I remembering hearing stories about people putting Biden stickers on pumps getting charged with crimes. Apparently any sticker or even magnet could be argued to be an attempt at changing its pumping mechanism. So maybe just be discrete.

There's always the possibility of malicious arrest/charging/prosecuting when bucking the authoritarian order of just accepting that it's proper and just for shit to be rolled downhill. Funny how there's never any charges against hostile pump owners for assault, disturbing the peace, possible stalking [0], etc. The answer is to be aware of the vanishingly small possible downside, do it regardless, and then be personable to mitigate the damage if you do end up drawing aggro.

(Not that anti or pro Biden stickers terribly upset that status quo. The problem is having upset the wrong person with a modicum of power)

[0] If the nuisance pump is tied into the commercial surveillance databases for choosing what content to blast. I've no idea if we're there yet.

I recently learned that you can mute some of these! I've had success with the top right or second from the top on the right button near the screen. No reason not to try them all if you're a captive audience anyway...

I spam all the buttons on any pump to attempt to mute it, and like you have had success with top right, or second from top on the right having the highest success. In my area, I'm only about 1/4 in being able to mute it, but when it works, usually top right.

I wonder if I could just get a powerful electromagnet and use it to rip the coil out of the speaker. Would be a benefit to society.

You can't buy a toothbrush without calling a attendant where I live, no way they let you pump $100 of gas without paying first. Pay after was the norm when I was a kid though.

Unattended/night stations still work like this: you pre-authorize your card then pump to get charged.

Most rural areas away from interstate highways can still pay after you've pumped, without needing to leave your license or anything else.

>in Canada, if you want to "Pay Inside", you have to go in and actually pay - they authorize the maximum transaction, and it unlocks the pump and sets it to a maximum amount.

I'm in a good-sized city, and every gas station I've been to lets you pay inside after filling up. The only ones that require pre-pay (either by going inside as you described, paying for a max amount, or by CC) are the farthest pumps away from the store.

this is insane to me. I have not been to a single station in the continental united states in the last 7 years where "pay inside" does not equate to "pay first"

That being said - perhaps its an "attendant" state? Several states have laws which restrict motorists from pumping their own gas, is this the scenario which you are talking to?

edit: grammar

Laws saying you can't pump your own gas? Having to prepay inside? Wow, I'm flabbergasted, and it's a bit funny you're thinking it's insane the other way around. I guess it's what you're used to.

When tanking before paying, I also used to get into the car and move it so that someone else could fill while I was inside(it would start a new transaction when you put the nossle back), probably to you look like a dash from the bill. Then walk inside saying "hundred and fifty something on pump 3 is mine".

But I haven't seen a pump not accepting card in what, 20 years, here? So haven't used anything else for ages (and now got an electric car anyways)

I'm in Canada, not the US. But no, no attendant.

You fill up for $X, then walk into the store and say "I filled up on pump 3", then you pay.

thank you! This pattern essentially disappeared from the US with the exception of perhaps the very smallest and remote locations (public accessible) seemingly since the late 1990s (I do remember this pattern as you have described, just not in the last 20years)

> Several states have laws which restrict motorists from pumping their own gas

Just one now. Oregon just starting allowing it last month so New Jersey is the only one left.

I'm in Canada and I have never seen a pump or gas station in the last 10+ years that allow you to pay after filling up. I had thought all the stations have changed since incidents like this: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/attendant-drag...

Perhaps only BC made the switch? Not sure. But I filled up this morning and paid after the fact at PetroCan, so it's definitely not a Canada-wide thing.

One in Yahk, BC let me pay after filling up last week. In fact, that was the only option there.

That was normal in Texas ~15-20yrs ago. But in the intervening time, I've seen that become less common. I've run into places that won't let you pay after and will instead just ask you to prepay (full transaction) and come back in to get the difference refunded.

But I've also ran into plenty of places that if you hit "pay inside" on the pump will simply just turn the pump on, or will call you via the pump intercom (is that common everywhere?) and tell you they're turning the pump on for a max of XX gallons and to prepay or use the card at the pump if that's not enough.

The pump intercom is done because then you know someone inside actually saw you and is expecting you. If you drive off without paying they are much more likely to notice and call the police in time for the police to catch you. Or at least that is what they want you to think.

Yeah, I figured the intercom call was to get you thinking that they're watching closely, even though they're usually too busy with other customers to really be watching someone on the chance they drive off.

It’s more efficient to pay after you’ve completely filled your tank. I guess there is a trust issue, which is why it isn’t common in the US anymore.

Nope! It's actually because there's a financial standard transaction flow for things like pumps!

-Confirm account: super small test move to confirm liveness of endpoint

-Place hold: (locks $⁷5 worth of funds attached to an account) Finalize transaction

-Finalize transaction for final amount

-Release hold

This is actually a really troublesome thing for people who have trouble keeping their account balances positive, because you can end up locking them out of further financial activity until the hold is expired/released.

It's one of those things you don't really think about but are all over the place, and are a big part of making the world turn the way it does.

Similar problem for people this close to the financial edge: saying "I want exactly $23.46 worth of gas" because thats all the cash they have, a penny more wouldn't fly. Much easier and safer to ask the attendant to preload the pump with that amount and run it down to zero than to try and get as close as you can with the trigger without going over.

This comment is kind of confusing; maybe others have had a different experience, but I live in the Midwest and what you're speaking of has been the norm for like the last decade. I've been driving for 13+ years and don't have any memories of being able to pump gas without first paying at the pump, or paying inside and my pump automatically stopping at the amount I paid for.

I starting driving in 1990 - back then there was no pay at the pump so the norm everywhere was to pump gas then go inside and wait in line to pay. You knew you were in a bad neighborhood if you had to pay for your gas before you pumped it (you probably already knew you were in a bad neighborhood, but this confirmed it). About 15 years ago stations started to realize that nearly everyone was paying at the pump even if they were going to come inside for something else - which made it much more likely anyone not paying at the pump was trying to steel gasoline and so they went to pay first as few were inconvenienced.

I do not miss at all standing in line behind someone who couldn't figure out which lottery ticket they wanted to buy.

As an American living in Canada: that’s exactly how it works on both sides of the border.

Presumably they find out within a week when they reorder gas and the filling truck has to fill substantially more than expected.

They probably start investigating for a fuel leak, pull the data from all the pumps, and then realise the number of gallons pumped and the number of gallons paid for don't match up, and then check the CCTV.

Depends really. Most businesses will assume some amount of shrinkage. If you fly beneath the radar eg only hit the station once a month or every other month. You might get away with it.

> Most businesses will assume some amount of shrinkage

in the gas trade, they use the term "evaporation" ;P

Completely agree.

Also, volume is huge.

If a gas station averages 1 car at all times across a month, you’re talking 400,000+ gal. Even just 1 hour of pumping each day is 18,000 gal.

Are they really going to bother if one person swipes 20 gal a month?

Not to mention the margin of error. Do fuel delivery quantities really exactly align with sold gas, to within a gallon or so? Or is there natural variation from each transaction being +/- $0.01, plus evaporation, plus any other rounding/physics considerations?

Here in NL it's 'pay inside' or 'pump then pay' by default unless you're in a border region where there are a lot of scammers. And judging by some recent foreign trips pretty much the same happens in other countries in the North of Europe.

Yea it’s less automated but this bit: “when the clerks inside try to stop it - they can’t.” suggests it’s very obvious.