If you were a local they’d see you pull up and turn on the pump. If you weren’t you’d go inside and pay cash first, but it was inconvenient because it was harder to just fill the tank.
My brother went to the same gas station in a small town, every day. Knew the staff by name. Went there for years.
One morning he pumps a few bucks of gas, then absentmindedly drives away.
Now I get it, a drive off is a drive off, and the cashier ain’t gonna lose his job. But it was like $10, in a small town (two stoplights), he knew these guys, they knew him.
Float my bro $10 and figure it out later.
But no, they called the cops, sent officers to my grandma’s house trying to find him, almost gave her a heart attack.
He never went back after that. Which was a maybe a little extreme.
But listen, this is the type of town, and my family was the friendly trustworthy type, such that I’ve overdrafted at the bank by a few bucks, and had the cashier catch it and put her own money to cover me.
They knew my mom better than me, but still.
Theres a station near me I go to regularly, and one time while waiting on a replacement card after my nunber got stolen online I went inside, gave them 40 cash tonpay for s few snacks and the rest for gas (about 35-ish for gas), and went out to the pump. My animal brain was used to pumping before going inside and getting snacks, so I just walked out, got in the truck, and drove home.
I realized it on the way to work the next day when my tank was low and had to buy gas at a different station on the way.
I figured I’d just lost the money and wasn’t gonna make any kind of fuss over it, but the next time I went to the station about a week later they recognized me and had kept the money in an envelope for me.
Depends where you live. I live in Australia, and there isn’t a single service station that makes you prepay where I love. You can just pump and pay at the end, always.
It’s possible that some of the places that used to skip prepay were illegally taking the cost of a pump and run out of the pay of whoever was on register. I’ve never experienced it personally, but I’ve heard a lot of stories.
How do people pump gas before paying?
This was how gas pumps worked everywhere when I started driving
Yeah.
If you were a local they’d see you pull up and turn on the pump. If you weren’t you’d go inside and pay cash first, but it was inconvenient because it was harder to just fill the tank.
My brother went to the same gas station in a small town, every day. Knew the staff by name. Went there for years.
One morning he pumps a few bucks of gas, then absentmindedly drives away.
Now I get it, a drive off is a drive off, and the cashier ain’t gonna lose his job. But it was like $10, in a small town (two stoplights), he knew these guys, they knew him. Float my bro $10 and figure it out later.
But no, they called the cops, sent officers to my grandma’s house trying to find him, almost gave her a heart attack.
He never went back after that. Which was a maybe a little extreme.
But listen, this is the type of town, and my family was the friendly trustworthy type, such that I’ve overdrafted at the bank by a few bucks, and had the cashier catch it and put her own money to cover me. They knew my mom better than me, but still.
Theres a station near me I go to regularly, and one time while waiting on a replacement card after my nunber got stolen online I went inside, gave them 40 cash tonpay for s few snacks and the rest for gas (about 35-ish for gas), and went out to the pump. My animal brain was used to pumping before going inside and getting snacks, so I just walked out, got in the truck, and drove home.
I realized it on the way to work the next day when my tank was low and had to buy gas at a different station on the way.
I figured I’d just lost the money and wasn’t gonna make any kind of fuss over it, but the next time I went to the station about a week later they recognized me and had kept the money in an envelope for me.
I’m 60, so me, too. But, I haven’t seen a pump or a station that allows pumping before paying in many, many years.
You hand over cash at the counter, and they turn on the pump. Or you pay at the pump--you need to put your card in before the pump will start.
Depends where you live. I live in Australia, and there isn’t a single service station that makes you prepay where I love. You can just pump and pay at the end, always.
You make love in the gas station?
No elevators nearby
It’s possible that some of the places that used to skip prepay were illegally taking the cost of a pump and run out of the pay of whoever was on register. I’ve never experienced it personally, but I’ve heard a lot of stories.
That’s pretty standard some places. Or at least it used to be.
How do you fill your tank without paying for more gas than you’re going to use?
In some gas stations you must pay beforehand, but in others you can pay afterwards so you can fill your tank.
The same way that people get completely exonerated of a crime by paying a fine for missing their court date: they fucking don’t.