I don’t know when gas stations started doing this, but you no longer get your receipt at the pump. Of course they all still say pay at the pump, but those fuckers are full of shit. You see, some fucking MBA douchebag looked at the profits for gas stations and saw that most, if not all, come from the convenience store part of the station. So this cockgobbler decided that if he forced people to go inside they might buy something. Now instead of getting my receipt and being on my way, I have to go inside and wait in the fucking line. Well, listen to this Mr. MBA Asshat, there’s no fucking way I am buying anything. In fact, I’m not going to buy any shit from your god damn store. I hope you go fucking broke and then burn your dick off burning down your station for the insurance money.
I fucking hate this “Let’s hold the consumer hostage and see if he’ll buy shit”.
Yes, I need it for my expense report. That is besides the point though. They can give me my receipt at the pump, but they’d rather try and hold me hostage in the hopes that I buy something.
So don’t buy anything. We have a mix of gas stations here–some spit out the receipt at the pump, others you have to go in and get it. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything except gas at a local gas station. Road trips are different, but what do you need at a local gas station except gas?
Find a station that doesn’t require you to go in and get the receipt. Chances are there is one near you (unless you live in rural parts).
The point is not whether I buy anything. The point is that I pay at the pump to get in and out quickly. That is the whole idea around it to start with. If I have to go in for my receipt that means more often than not I will have to stand in line to get it. While waiting in line I hope that the cashier knows how to print out the reciept and it is not some poor girl with her first time alone at the register that has not learned how to do that yet.
Road trips should not be different. I do not travel a lot but if I did how the fuck am I going to know if the station is the kind to give me my receipt at the pump or make me truck my ass inside for it? There is no way of knowing until the thing beeps at me to go inside to get the receipt.
I have had it happen at local stations that I go to all the time but I figure it is because the machine is out of receipt paper but I could be wrong and it could be some new scheme to get me to go in after it. I never do though as I don’t have to keep my receipts other than for my own books.
I have this problem with a gas station near my home. I’m not about to fill up while I’m at work in Albany, where gas is at least 8 cents higher, so my other option is to fill up while on the way to daycare. I live in a rural area 20 minutes away from work.
I can’t leave my 2 year old in the car while I run in for a receipt, but I’ve since found a Pilot station about a mile on the other side of daycare (so not too far out of the way) that is just as cheap or sometimes cheaper than the Hess I normally go to.
I never realized they were doing it to get you to come in to the store. I always thought they were too lazy to put paper in.
I’m with treis – completely dickish thing to do. Bonus points when you go inside and the clerk doesn’t know how to print the receipt. Jackasses.
Although, as Nutty Bunny said, I always thought it was because they couldn’t be bothered to keep paper in the pumps. If it is done on purpose (and, as someone about to complete an MBA, I can tell you that many MBAs are in fact big enough douchebags to do this), then whoever approved it should be about the second or third up against the wall when the revolution comes.
As far as needing the reciept – I keep all my credit/debit card recipts and match them against the statement from the bank to make sure I haven’t been overcharged (a restaurant in NYC once boned me for about $10). You need the actual receipt to fight those things.
I’ve seen this from time to time as well. I’d say half the time there is a new clerk who is incompetent and doesn’t know how to change the receipt paper outside. I’m certainly inclined to believe this at 24 hour places who close the inside of the station at night. I’m sure they don’t want people coming up to the window all the time at night.
However, there are some places who I am sure come up with this so-called clever idea to try to increase their sales. If I went to a place where this happened more than once, I wouldn’t be back. Nothing worse than standing behind people who are drooling over the scratch offs or counting out their change to buy cigarettes while waiting for a stupid receipt.
This. The whole idea is to to get your gas and get out. My complaint is that I’m buying diesel, and more often than not the diesel pumps are waaaaaay across the parking lot, so I have to walk that much further. Yeah, I know, it’s not going to kill me to walk an extra 100 feet to get the receipt - it’s the principle of it.
Provided the credit card statement spells out “gasoline” or “pump charge”, then sure I can. But it doesn’t always do that - sometimes it’s just a number, and sometimes the name of the business is something like simply “Tom’s”. Plus it’s my company’s official policy anyhow, and they have the option (and sometimes do) refuse to pay me for a non-receipted item even if the IRS may accept it.
I’ve noticed the same thing at several stations around here. Part of the problem could be that many more people are paying at the pump and the paper runs out quickly. I know on at least some stand-alone credit card machines, the paper supply is fairly small and the ribbons are laughably small.
I haven’t yet experienced this. Receipt at the pump is always the case. However, I drive a lot in a state that doesn’t allow you to pump your own, either.
I haven’t noticed this in Los Angeles. Sure, every now and again I’ll have to go inside to get the receipt, and I grumble to myself when that happens. But it is relatively infrequent; I normally use the same couple of stations to get gas, and perhaps once every few dozen fillups (this is very much a guesstimate) I’ll need to go inside.
A station near my home had lots of problems with the receipt printers on their pumps, so that more often than not you had to go inside for your receipt. I stopped going there because of that very reason.
It must have cost them a lot of business, because I drove past there the other day, and on their sign they had posted the following message:
But it is relatively infrequent; I normally use the same couple of stations to get gas, and perhaps once every few dozen fillups (this is very much a guesstimate) I’ll need to go inside.