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We don't get our shopping bagged in the UK. We do that ourselves.
Then why would you even need a checkout clerk? You're already doing most of the work. I prefer to scan my own stuff and bag it to my satisfaction. Fewer employees would also help keep costs down. Keep the ones they do have out on the floor restocking!

And we pay for the bags.... not to put petrol in, that would be silly. It would pour out the safety holes.
We still get to use plastic bags here, but their cost is just figured into the everyday expenses of the store. So, we do not pay for them directly. Our stores have all set up nice recycling plans for the bags, so we save them up and return them.
 
How does this work, a gas/petrol station, for the dumb masses, having no attendant/supervisor on duty? I can imagine a private pumping station for, say, a fleet of busses, or a shipping company. There, every user would be trained and competent. I do not travel, so I never saw a non-staffed self-service petrol station, and I did not know that such exists.

I worked as a convenience store retail associate / gas station attendant. This store/station had underground fuel tanks. Fuel pumps maintained pressure to dispensers, plumbing lines between tanks and dispensers was constantly pressurised. Its dispensers controlled how much fuel would get dispensed.

What do I mean by that? Imagine a water dispenser (an office "water cooler") which has an inverted 5-gallon bottle as its supply, or imagine a beverage dispenser on a table. When you want to fill a cup of water or maybe lemonade or iced tea, you open its spigot's valve, and gravity provides pressure to dispense fluid. There could be any number of spigots, relying on one source of pressure: gravity. The gas station where I worked was not like straws in a drinking glass, where each straw sucks fluid on demand.

Once, a driver knocked/tilted a dispenser. (Ey paid more attention to eir pokeyphone than to driving eir auto.) Plumbing in its base failed, a leak formed in a joint. Gasoline sprayed inside of dispenser, flowed down its case and out onto pavement. A puddle of gasoline quickly spreaded until it reached a sewer (meant for rainwater, not petrol). I should have stopped it sooner, before it flowed over into a sewer. There was a line of customers indoors, and I did not often enough look through the window to scan outside.

Thought of a petrol station sans attendant, which any drunk or pothead or witless teenager can access, scares me.



I don't know if people running off without paying is a problem. I don't see how it could be. I'm not aware of any gas station which will allow you to pump gas without prepaying at the pump or in the store. I don't see why you wouldn't do that there. No cash, no gas. Well no ATM pin or Credit Card authorization, no gas.

Mostly for taxis, an attendant would allow post-pay. But some taxi drivers will pay with plastic, so an attendant should not "turn on the pump"/authorise post-pay for every taxicab. So an attendant could memorise licence plate numbers, or wait until driver steps out of cab. The nice, understanding, drivers will face attendant and wave, wait for acknowledgement wave from attendant. Some drivers take post-pay for granted, as if it is a right which comes with their job, to fuel first and pay afterward. Sometimes there is race condition: driver, tired of waiting for post-pay fuelling, breaks out their wallet to pay with plastic, at same moment as attendant grants post-pay fuelling, resulting in a gas drive-off.

I can go on, and about more than taxis. Post-pay is a worrisome idea to sales associates, though it can make some customers loyal. I guess it is a regional norm.

Really, for how slim margins are on gas. I'm surprised they do this. Here if you want to pay inside. You have to go inside give them cash or do a credit/debit card authorization and tell them your pump number. Then you go out and fill up and come back in for change. If you give them cash the pump will stop once you hit whatever amount you hand them.

Sometimes it over dispenses by one cent, then cash register/POS computer makes a little alarm sound and pops-up a modal prompt! :eek: That alert box has no choice of action, just "ok" or "dismiss" or so on. It is annoying and interrupts cashier/sales associate from task at hand, as it blocks view of "change due" and whatever else was on-screen.

The worst though are manned gas stations where they close down for the night. So I'm low on gas, and there's a gas station, and there's a credit card reader right on the pump, but everything is shut off and so I'm screwed.

They annoy me, those dispensers which stay on all night, with glowing screens and flashing card slots. They send a mixed message, when their dispensers and great tall sign pole are glowing but business is closed.

Only gripe I have with pre pay stations in the UK is the block they put on the card at £99 until the nozzle is replaced and receipt produced.

Where I worked, "pay at the pump" transactions were limited to $100. One who never worked retail might not believe, how ignorant and stupid can some card users be. I have many anecdotes about this. I think your gripe is dumb or misguided.

They also sell 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 octane levels- very specific.

Here's a factoid which some of you did not know: gas stations do not have as many storage tanks, as many grades of gas which they sell. Most stations sell three grades ("low mid and high" or "regular special and super" or similar) but tanker trucks only deliver two varieties, low and high "octane" ratings. Anything in between low and high, is just coming from both storage tanks, a mixture.
 
How does this work, a gas/petrol station, for the dumb masses, having no attendant/supervisor on duty? I can imagine a private pumping station for, say, a fleet of busses, or a shipping company. There, every user would be trained and competent. I do not travel, so I never saw a non-staffed self-service petrol station, and I did not know that such exists..
You park your car next to the gas dispenser as always, put your credit card in, it takes $100 or so, you pump your gas ($45), and the machine puts the difference $55 back on your card and off you go. Lots of places in Europe have them (although sometimes they have a human around to help first timers, cleaning, etc.)
 
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Where I worked, "pay at the pump" transactions were limited to $100. One who never worked retail might not believe, how ignorant and stupid can some card users be. I have many anecdotes about this. I think your gripe is dumb or misguided.
No, it is the process behind it. I understand why it is there, I don't trust it. Hotels do the same I think when you open a tab basically. My dislike is the level of trust I have in corporate systems not getting in a mess or hacked.
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We still get to use plastic bags here, but their cost is just figured into the everyday expenses of the store. So, we do not pay for them directly. Our stores have all set up nice recycling plans for the bags, so we save them up and return them.
There has been a lot of angst here with the charges on bags being brought in.

Interesting to go to the usual large chain burger bar and when they ask if you want a bag, you produce the supermarket bought long life bag. Take that big corporate burger joint!
 
I'm amazed that anyone needs to be "trained and competent" in the use of a petrol pump. It's a petrol pump, not a passenger aircraft. Every driver in the UK has managed it for the past decade without any sort of formal training plan in place.
 
I'm amazed that anyone needs to be "trained and competent" in the use of a petrol pump. It's a petrol pump, not a passenger aircraft. Every driver in the UK has managed it for the past decade without any sort of formal training plan in place.
You’ve not met my wife. She thinks it works that you just pass the keys to your husband when it’s getting low ;)
 
I'm amazed that anyone needs to be "trained and competent" in the use of a petrol pump. It's a petrol pump, not a passenger aircraft. Every driver in the UK has managed it for the past decade without any sort of formal training plan in place.

Decade? Crumbs, never had fuel pumped for me in the UK in ever. Threw me first time it happened driving in the US.

However, there needs to be a certain amount of competency.......
Pick up a vehicle with twin tanks (Landrover 110), there is a switch for the reserve tank. Assume it is on the main tank position and gauge is low. Stop at station. Undo main tank cap and due to the heat and pressure the tank empties itself over you (well, a good spurt enough to soak). You are now soaked in petrol.

Switch was on the reserve position and that was the one that was empty, but it is under the dash so you cannot see it.

Ho hum.

Also used to get funny looks when you undid the drivers seat to open the reserve tank filler cap.
 
Decade? Crumbs, never had fuel pumped for me in the UK in ever. Threw me first time it happened driving in the US.

You're quite right, it's always been manual in the UK. I was referencing the in built card readers of the last decade, rather than a human in a kiosk, but I didn't make that clear at all. :)
 
Never could use them with company issues cards. And off route not allowed, the m way service station costs must have been eye watering.
 
I'm amazed that anyone needs to be "trained and competent" in the use of a petrol pump. It's a petrol pump, not a passenger aircraft. Every driver in the UK has managed it for the past decade without any sort of formal training plan in place.
It's been the same in the US, for a quarter century, aside from a few outliers like New Jersey and Oregon. The OP was just visiting the US from a country that did not have self-serve gas stations so, apparently, was a bit shocked to see it in the US when in fact it is just normal daily life, for decades now. I originally thought the OP was some kind of joke, since it was odd to be surprised by self-serve gas in the US, especially in California.



Mike
 
I know a gas station (with attendants) that not only has credit card readers in the pump but also bill acceptors, which is bizarre. They also have mobile payment. They also sell 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 octane levels- very specific.

Things are changing. But I suppose there’s still places like NJ and some suburbs of Boston where it’s illegal to pump your own gas at a gas station. In 2018 it’s pretty ridiculous.

I read a while back that there is one guy in Jersey who decides what come up for vote in the state senate. And he refused to put the issue of self serve on the agenda. No idea why, he had now explanation. Someone running in NJ should make that part of their campaign. Cheaper gas with self serve!
 
I read a while back that there is one guy in Jersey who decides what come up for vote in the state senate. And he refused to put the issue of self serve on the agenda. No idea why, he had now explanation. Someone running in NJ should make that part of their campaign. Cheaper gas with self serve!

Is there some union of gas station attendants or something? Other than these people losing their jobs, I can’t see why people would want to pay more for gas, especially back 10 years ago when gas prices were nearing $5/gal.

As I mentioned here in Mass there are some towns around Boston that have local laws preventing from self pumping. I feel like they’re probably just archaic laws no one has bothered to change.
 
Is there some union of gas station attendants or something? Other than these people losing their jobs, I can’t see why people would want to pay more for gas, especially back 10 years ago when gas prices were nearing $5/gal.

As I mentioned here in Mass there are some towns around Boston that have local laws preventing from self pumping. I feel like they’re probably just archaic laws no one has bothered to change.

I’ve never heard of a gas pumpers union.
 
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Insert card and it takes a pre payment before pump is activated.

What if there is a technical issue? Card cannot be processed, for instance... There would have to be manual employee on hand to handle cash. Otherwise, you've just lost business.

I have no gong automated, as long as there are fail-safe manual worker in place... in those un-forseen times.

No way can anyone survive on a 100% fully automated service station. and employee will not handle cash..
 
What if there is a technical issue? Card cannot be processed, for instance... There would have to be manual employee on hand to handle cash. Otherwise, you've just lost business.

I have no gong automated, as long as there are fail-safe manual worker in place... in those un-forseen times.

No way can anyone survive on a 100% fully automated service station. and employee will not handle cash..
Usually a buzzer through to somewhere, the pumps that have self service are often located near a larger shop or onsite with pay at the booth so someone around.

I don't like it but that is at the way it works. However I like it more than waiting in the queue for the shoppers with the evenings meals.
 
$5 would be a bargain, right now it works out to be $6.57 here where I live.
$1.46 a liter
1 liter X 4.54 = 1 gallon.
Yikes! Bet most of that is taxes, huh? Is it worthwhile to cross the border and buy gas in the US? I know many cross over to buy stuff.
 
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