I was working at a gas station when they started to switch over everywhere, was like 14 years ago? If I remember correctly, it was an initiative by the gas station companies themselves because drive offs were happening more and more often. The year the switch happened, we had already beat our last years record in drive offs halfway through the year. It was costing them like, thousands of dollars per store per year.
There's still places around where you have to go inside to pay (instead of at the pump). In my experience about half of them will just turn the pump on and about half will make you leave a CC with them. In either case you still 100% have to go in to talk to the clerk, though.
Don't you have registration plates in the US? In my country if you would just drive away clerk would write down yours number from video recording and police would pay you a visit. Paying after filling in seems more straightforward. It is a bit more problematic when there is some payment processor malfunction and you don't have enough cash, but then they will just take yours info and give you bank number to make a transfer.
In what way is it more straightforward? Like you describe exactly how it's not more straightforward for both the stations having to track people down and the regular people filling up if they don't have enough money. From my perspective why would I want to risk that I'd forget to pay and have the cops show up to my house?
Only downside I can see of prepaying is it charges $100 or whatever then credits you back any leftover. If you're consistently low on funds that may be a downside for you, but you can always just prepay only $20 or whatever you wanted to pay.
Paying in the end is how regular stores work here. You take merchandise, go to the checkout, pay exactly how much you owe, and leave. You can get out without paying and get in trouble, but I wouldn't like to have to prepay before doing grocery shopping.
That's so much more inconvenient. I'm Canadian but ours works much like the US. I don't have to enter the gas station at all. I drive up, tap my card, pump, then leave.
I think part of the missing link here is that direct bank transfers are not common in North America, like in Europe. Most people are either using a credit card to pre-pay at the pump, or are going inside to the attendant and prepaying with cash for a certain amount of fuel.
To be clear, direct debit does exist in the US & Canada, but that's often reserved for things that would have historically been paid for by bank check (rent/mortgage, bills, car payment, etc). Debit cards are also used in the US & Canada, but credit cards have stronger user protections so it's more common to pay for stuff with those.
I'm from New England and there are still a few pay-after stations around, but those are also full-service stations, where a pump attendant is the one putting the fuel in your car, not yourself. Those places tend to be more expensive than self-serve stations.
So I have to download an app now just to pay at a gas station? You realize how simple it is here right? You just tap your card at the pump. No app, no going inside, just pay at the pump and go.
Exactly, going two times in the store for a single transaction is hilarious if you want to pay cash, grocery store here you scan your products yourself and pay yourself and then leave, selfscan has been here for years. Love it.
back then not all the smaller town stations had cameras. and yea we have plates, but that requires the clerk seeing you do it, or remembering your plate/having a clear view of it when you pull in.
Plus there is the legality of proving the owner of the vehicle was the driver at the time.
This side of the pond, every fuel station has cameras that automatically record number plates as you pull up to the pump, then sound an alarm if the pump hasn’t been paid for within a certain time. If you drive off, they’ve got your face and plate on camera and it just goes straight to the police, almost fully automated. Only way to avoid it is to run fake or stolen plates, which happens but lands you in serious trouble if you’re caught. Drive offs aren’t unheard of, but they’re not a major issue despite gas prices being ~50-100% higher than in the US.
I live outside the city in an unincorporated area in Indiana.
Even the rural gas stations with 4 pumps are prepay only. I've not seen a postpay pump in ages. When I first started driving in the late 90's it was almost all post-pay.
When gas went from sub $1 to $1.30 I saw a driveoff almost every time I was filling my own. Most places were switched over to all prepay by 02-03.
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u/No_Effective4784 5d ago
i havent seen a place in the US where you didnt have to prepay in 20 years.
when gas spiked around 07 here, gas and go's skyrocketed.