this gas (petrol) station has normal pumps , except that there is a weird optical detector of some sort . What does it do, and why does it point a laser beam right into my eyes?
here is a closeup pic of the laser device, including a bright yellow sticker warning you not to look directly into the beam.
this picture of the pump show where the laser beam is located. As you can see, the device is located exactly at eye level , so it’s pretty hard not to look at it!
(It’s not a very good pic, but you can see where the laser beam device is located by looking for the yellow warning sticker above the large red “96” octane .)
So my questions are:
what is the purpose of this optical device in the first place? What does it do, and why? This pump is a self-service one, but the other pumps (where a real human being operates the pump for you) also have the same device.
why is a device which is dangerous to the eyes located at eye level? It is clearly labelled as a class 2 laser. A quick google of “class 2 lasers +safety” shows that class 2 is pretty safe, but not completely. So why not move the device to a lower spot?
Weird. It looks very much like a checkout laser scanner for reading barcodes, which I think is also a Class 2 device. But as for why it’s on a gas pump, I have no idea.
The laser device does appear to be a bar code reader.
I used to frequent a gas station run by a grocery store chain that provided discount tickets for gas based on the amount of groceries you bought, plus it was pay at the pump only, with a cash receptacle. If you got change, you were given a ticket for the amount of the difference. The reader was used for both types of tickets.
These pumps had the beam pointed down so it didn’t hit you in the eyes…
I’ve seen credit cards with barcode symbols on them (in addition to the magnetic strip). Just a guess, but possibly this is a pump designed to read those credit cards?
But:
then there would have to be instructions saying to place your credit card over the spot where the laser reader is. (Though they could be added later when they start using this feature.)
I wonder if such a device would be any cheaper than the existing readers that you slide your credit card into. Especially with the need to keep that part of the pump clean, outdoors, in a gas station.
Maybe a Fleet Refueling gig?
Commercial/governmental firms put barcodes on their trucks, & just driving up to the pump scans the code & bills an account via computer modem?
Is it for Speedpass? One of those things where you just waive your card in front of it and it deducts the money from your account, rather than putting in your PIN or zip code, or signing.
Although I can’t see the pictures (imageshack isn’t working today for me), I am guessing it’s a barcode reader, possibly for some kind of discount card. Is it located in a gas station parking lot? I know Kroger grocery stores like to use these things, where I run my kroger card over the scanner and it lowers the cost of gas for me.
Right. I have a speedpass from Exxon/Mobil, and the reader is RFID. The laser one has to be optical, so there must be a good reason for that choice of technology.
