On 2/26/2012 12:30 PM, Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 26-Feb-12 13:40, Goalie of the Century wrote:
In , Graeme Wall
writes
Tescos in UK have a facility to "Pay at Pump" You insert your credit
card and enter PIN and then fill up and drive off.

All the Tescos I've seen also have a shop and the option to pay there
instead

That's how most fueling stations in the US work these days: you pay at
the pump as above or go inside and prepay with cash. Some, generally
only in more affluent neighborhoods, allow postpay with cash.

Keep in mind that selling fuel is _not_ very profitable; the oil
companies and distributors gouge merchants for every penny they can get.
Payment at the pump reduces the merchant's labor costs and allows
larger stations with many pumps (some near me have 20+). It also leaves
cashiers free to sell the food, drinks, cigarettes, etc. that account
for most of the merchant's profits.

but I recently came across an ASDA that was entirely unmanned.

I've seen a few of those in the US, but they're rare. See above for the
likely reason.

The pumps had a sign suggesting that Electron card users put in at least
GBP 20 worth or else a larger amount of the balance on the associated
account would remain earmarked for a few days.

Sounds like they're authorizing the card for GBP 20, as discussed
elsewhere in this thread. US pumps authorize for USD 1 in my
experience, but Adam claims it's USD 75 at the pumps he uses; that's
quite a difference.

S



I feel like chiming in here. I worked at at gas station, briefly, the
summer I graduated for high school. This was the summer of 1980. The
company I worked for, USA gasoline, didn't take any sort of plastic.
Only cash.

We were one of the few, even 30 years ago! that didn't make people pay
(or present a valid form of payment) first. This was in Los Angeles
(well, technically, Santa Monica), but the practice of making customers
pay first was pretty common at gas stations here even 30 years ago.

I worked graveyard shift (9 at night to 6 in the morning) most of that
summer. We would have a "run out" at least once a week. That is, someone
who pumped their gas and then took off without paying. The set up of the
station was such that, particularly at certain pumps, a driver could
back out of the station, into the street, without passing the cashier's
booth. Providing there wasn't another car behind them. Needless to say,
this occured mostly in the wee hours, and not so much at say 5:30 in the
afternoon when we typically had lines. We were one of the cheapest
station in the area.

I had a gun pointed at my head one night and quit shortly thereafter,
since I was off to college out of town anyway.

The station, which was later re-branded as Shell, is now a vacant lot.

Sigh!

Regards,

DAve