I’ve used 99999 (not my ZIP code) at KMart and the transaction still goes through. This was when I thought it was for info gathering, not verification, and didn’t feel like giving my info.
But yeah, even with a debit card at the pump, it’s nowhere near as painful as in the OP.
You’re screwed. and you have to go inside. I’ve had it happen a lot.
It was a perfect storm of inconvenience. The machines that took cash were out of order and there was no one working the booth. We had to walk down the next station to get in.
I always use my debit card as a credit card. No problems using it at any of the stations I have tried.
OTOH, stopped at a station Sunday that ticked me off. They had a sign, “Prepay or Pay at Pump”, I missed that, so I put my card in and hit the Pay Inside button. They used the speaker to point out the sign, so I went inside to prepay. I tried to hand them my card to prepay and the attendant told me they couldn’t do prepay with a card inside, only at the pump. :dubious: So I go back to the pump, and there is no option anywhere to prepay, just pay inside or pay at the pump. So the only way to actually prepay there was to go inside and use cash.
I understand why they have pre-pay and don’t mind doing it, but if they are going to insist on it, they need to make it easier for the customer.
I remember using it five years ago, but only at one station.
I’m gonna go with this theory. I usually try to pay at the pump, because I am very susceptible to baked/fried/oversugared foods. The cupcakes, in particular, will call out to me.
At the gas station, you just have to bring the card inside if you don’t have a zip code. As to the OP, that’s a serious pain in the ass. Where I work, you swipe the card, select debit or credit, enter the PIN or zip code, wait about 15 sec for authorization, select grade, and pump.
Joe
The stations I frequent have large ATM-like machines, two per island. You enter the pump number, pay with cash, credit card or debit card and then return to your pump to fill the tank. I always pay cash and always a round number (normally it’s $20 but I recently bumped it up to $25). If you pay in too much cash, you go inside to get change. That hasn’t happened in a while.
I never let the tank get below half full, winter or summer. Otherwise, that’s the time something will happen when I will need at least half a tank.
Dollar cost averaging is an investment trick where you always buy the same dollar amount of stock regularly (say once a month), regardless of the share price. That way (assuming the historic rise in share prices) you always come out ahead. By using the same concept and only spend a fixed dollar amount for gas (no matter what!) it forces discipline to maintain a full tank and be prudent in driving, be it speed and cutting down on frivolous trips. I combine the journey home from work to pick up groceries and do odd things. If it’s not done at that time, it must wait until the weekend, no matter what. The only exception is life or death. OTOH, my wife fills her tank with a credit card at Costco. Other than that, her driving habits are the same as mine - no more frivolous driving.
It all comes down to discipline. The side benefit is we don’t waste money on frivolous things with frivolous journeys. We’re already beginning to budget for $7.50/gallon gas prices and I’m already looking ahead to $10/gallon prices.
Bring your license and card inside. I match the license with the card, hold the card inside until you finish pumping, then you come inside to sign. Some people don’t like to leave their cards. Oh, well.
Joe
I don’t know, but I wish whoever had come up with the lengthy process we seem to have here in Canada for “pay at the pump” would have taken our climate into account. Nothing like standing there in -30 temps answering a bunch of questions, each of which is followed by “Please wait…”
In Queensland, you fill the car first, then go inside to pay for it. (Yes, people do just fill up and drive off, but 99.5% of motorists do the right thing and pay for their fuel after pumping it)
They do have EFTPOS at pump, but it’s not widely used (it never seems to be working at my local garage).
It’s also worth bearing in mind we have Discount Dockets on supermarket receipts here good for 4c/litre off petrol. To redeem them you have to go into the store (where they can try and get you with bread and milk and smokes and Red Bull and flowers and soft-core porn mags and all the other things garages make their money off), and then they take the discount off your total fuel purchase- it’s not calculated at the pump.
Bolding mine. What’s the difference?
Although I’ll agree that it’s ridiculous that they can’t just open the pump up by securing my card at a lot of stations around here (which seems to be the opposite of the problem you’re having?)
Be thankful you can pay outside. Everyone I have seen asks for a ZIP code and I don’t have one (I don’t live in the US).
FWIW I also could not make a credit card purchase at WalMart as I do not have a ZIP code…
(ok, I hate WalMart, but I needed a few things before flying back to Dubai and they were the only place that was open).
This was about midnight in Cincinnati and I tried to explain to the girl at the desk that in Dubai there are no zip or post codes and that is where I lived. She said they can’t take a credit card without a zip code that matches the one on the billing address… but my billing address did not have a zip code.
Do Canadian post codes work in places like this?
One question: Is the ZIP code linked to the card or does any ZIP code work? If it is linked how does that work? Is it chip and pin with the number stored on the card or does it connect through to the card issuer and check against their database?
On pre-pay, I’ve never seen this in the UK. To avoid theft I believe most big petrol stations have cameras that photograph number plates before the pump starts to deliver the fuel.
I just stick the fake license plate sticker on my car, pull on the Richard Nixon mask, use a stolen card and drive away.
No hassles really.
Hah. For my debit card -
Swipe card.
Pump fuel.
Leave.
At least at the station I frequent.
Pay at the pump means to swipe the card, they authorize it, then charge you when you are done with your purchase. Pre-Pay is basically what Duckster does. Give them a set amount of money, either cash, credit, or debit, then the pump shuts off when it gets to that amount.
I actually would have normally just paid outside, but wanted to purchase something to drink and I didn’t want to make multiple purchases on my card. (Irrational pet peeve, but then I am an irrational person. :D) So I paid outside and left, and they lost money because they made things more difficult then they needed to.
Here it’s just:
Unless the place has a car wash and they have to ask about that, too.
I’ve never heard of this zip code requirement. Must be a California thing.
These are both confusing to me. First, debit generally costs the merchant less than credit (which is why Costco and Arco don’t accept credit cards), so it doesn’t make sense that the pumps default to credit. Hell, it seems like every time I use my credit card in person, the clerk will ask me “Debit?” first. Presumably their script is such because some people will just say “whatever” and the merchant will save $0.25, or something. Second, while I’ve seen additional fees for debit cards at some pumps (Arco, mainly), I’ve yet to see an additional fee for a credit card.
In fact, my credit card gives me 6% back on gas purchases. If you’re having to pay extra to use a card, I suggest looking for a different card (or different station). Even if I didn’t get a kickback, I’d rather use the card because receiving a bill once a month is far easier than going to the bank regularly to make sure I have enough cash to pay for things.