Every place that I’ve ever lived that had pump your own, if you paid cash and it didn’t take all of it, you could just go back inside and get your change back.
Yes, that’s true. Just annoying, particularly when there is a line of people at the register you have to wait through twice!
I can’t even remember the last time I paid cash for gas. Ever since pay at the pump was a thing, I’ll actually avoid using a gas station and find another one if the pay at the pump feature isn’t working! 
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The ski mask reminds me of a recent meme.
California. Fill up your gas tank with $150 worth of gas. Drive away without paying, then pay $60 court fine and you’re done.
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True story… When I was little my dream job aspirations were being a gas station attendant so I could swipey swipey the credit card on carbon copy and squeegee the windows or a garbage man so I could ride on the back of the truck.
We actually had a few full service stations around here until just a few years ago.
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This is interesting. In central Missouri every place wants a zip code. Even with a chip.
The closest to my house convenience store was the only place that didn’t until they upgraded.
Apparently all of central MO needs another upgrade. 
I think the last stations around here that did that were Hess, and they did the clean windows and check oil until the early 2000’s. They had to wear white coveralls and everything.
Now full service just means they pump your gas for you, lol.
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It’s the same way at every station I’ve ever stopped at in NC, SC, and GA. I always have to enter my zip code.
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We drove to DC one and that’s the first and only time I’ve ever encountered the whole illegal to pump your own gas thing. It was pouring rain and we were on E and that poor guy scared the absolute mess out of us screaming at us to get back in the car and not touch the pump. He looked like the Scream killer in the raincoat. Fun times.
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Now I use only a CC, it could be different for Debit…
Same here. I don’t even have a debit card. I wonder if the rules are different in different states or we’re just too lazy to program the pumps to not ask depending on card type.
NEVER use a debit card at a gas pump. My DH works for a company that owns a large number of convivence stores/gas stations. He did loss prevention. Security has gotten better but there are sometimes skimmers placed over the credit card slot that can scan your number. The bad guys can then take the money from your account. With a credit card they could run transactions but not take actual cash from your account. You can then dispute those charges. He actually says you should never use a debit card since it’s tied to real money. We only use credit cards and pay the balance off each month.
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When my sister comes up from TN she has to remind herself that she doesn’t have to pre-pay for gas here. Usually takes her one time, with the clerk looking stunned and telling her to just pick a pump and then come back inside to pay.
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I would suggest never using a CREDIT CARD either. I’ve had my credit card information “stolen” several times (forcing me to have to close the account number and get a new card…fortunately, the credit card company found the fraud before I did!). Not necessarily a financial risk, but an annoying one.
I switched to a gas-station-only card (meaning, no Visa or MC logo) because even if the information is stolen via the pump (skimmers and all), the usefulness of the card would be limited to someone trying to buy snacks or something in a gas station! When my Exxon-Mobil card tried to “upgrade me” to a Visa card automatically, I called them and immediately declined.
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What’s the reason behind it? Interesting that it’s cheaper. Do you tip the person filling up the car? I feel like gas doesn’t actually have a big profit margin (for the store owner - not for the gas company) they make the money off the convenience store. But only one store owner told me that just before he sold the business so maybe that’s not universal.
In the 70s here you could pump your own or do full service. My Grandmommie always did full service and I thought she was so rich. I havent seen a full service in probably 20 years now.
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So curious about our differences in gasoline prices I started wondering about the gas tax. That ranges by state up to around $.50. California is most at $.67, Alaska is least at $.15. New Jersey and Delaware are interesting because Delaware is only $.23, but New Jersey is $.51. I feel like the taxes should be taken into account when comparing gas prices around the country. (Maybe the world too?)
Here’s my source. It’s from summer 2021. Gas Tax Rates by State, 2021 State Gas Taxes | Tax Foundation
(I rounded the amounts.)
ETA: apparently there’s sales tax and fees on top of that too. So California for example has $.39 in fees plus the sales tax of approximately $.10. Here’s my source for that. From Nov 2021. Taxes, fees make up $1.18 per gallon of gas in California | KTLA
Gas prices at stations are primarily dictated by two things (while other things can play a lesser role):
- Accessibility to gasoline (being closer to refineries, etc, generally plays a role, but not necessarily)
- Gas taxes
Related to number 1 is WHEN the gas station last got a shipment of gasoline, and how much they paid for it. This is why sometimes two gas stations that are across the street from one another or perhaps a few miles down the road can have widely different prices. The gas station usually has a fixed “profit” they tack onto what they paid for the gas. A busy gas station might go through their supply faster, and are more susceptible to daily fluctuations in gas prices. A less busy gas station might have a lower price because they haven’t yet had to buy the more expensive gas.
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State gas tax is how they pay for road and bridge improvements in Minnesota. It’s a self funded use tax basically.
This is how a lot of states do it (Michigan included)…but there is some concern with more vehicles going the way of electrification, because it means people driving electric vehicles aren’t paying their share of using the road…so we might start to see taxing for roads being done differently in the future.
ETA: Ironically, electric vehicles are likely to cause MORE damage to roads because they tend to be heavier than their gas counterparts for the same number of passengers.
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Our gas tax only went up recently - in 2016 our idiot governor Chris Christie tied the gas tax to consumption - but in the stupidest way possible - if we use LESS gas we pay more in taxes. Before that our gas tax was only 15 cents per gallon. The pandemic triggered a huge increase last year.
But, like @ryan1 mentioned we refine a lot of petroleum here also, so the stupid tax is mitigated some by the lower costs of shipping it.
The original intent behind the ban on pumping your own was fire safety. But now a lot of the pushback is because of the number of entry level jobs that would be eliminated.
We generally don’t tip the gas attendants.
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I only use credit card - reward $$$
I’m thinking it’s geographical in some way. @LTinNC82 also inputs zip.
I know my sister puts in the zip code. She used to use her debit card but switched recently (maybe before covid 
) to get points.
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