"I was made to feel like a criminal!"

[smileyeagle1021]

just my two cents on the topic of prepay vs. pay after you pump.... this is why I fully support the stations that have switched over to credit/debit only... absolutely zero chance of theft, and much faster service for all involved (except those who still have no plastic, a concept I find foreign, but )

Though I have to agree with Lace, doubtless of what business sense it makes one way or another, criminal activity is criminal activity. period.

[Lace Neil Singer]

In any case, my beef is with the people who come in to pay after being nabbed by the police, and whine about being made to feel like criminals... while blaming the fact that they stole petrol on the cashier. Can you imagine that excuse flying for regular shoplifting?

"That damn cashier didn't bother to tell me before I walked out of Walmart with a trolleyload of shopping that I needed to pay for it!"

"The sales rep didn't tell me before my test drive that I needed to return to the car lot to pay for it!"

"The stupid waitress didn't tell me I needed to pay the bill before leaving the restaurant!"

[Mark Healey]

Okay, time for me to play Devil's Advocate... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I agree but would have said more nicely, and considering how many times I've been dinged by the mods (I agree with about half of them) that's saying a lot.

Someone else mentioned impulse purchases in the shop. I don't know if there is any research but my instinct is that impulse purchases would go up at a prepay station. You have to go in to give them your money where you get a look at all the sugary, fatty, salty goodness and then you make a second pass when you get your change.

[XCashier]

British Columbia only recently went to "pay before you pump." I understand the reasoning behind it (a kid was killed trying to stop a gas-and-dash) but a LOT of people whined and moaned when the law came into effect.

People always whine and moan when change occurs. They whine and moan about fuel stations switching to prepay, whine and moan when the mint changes the design of the currency, whine and moan when a manufacturer changes the packaging on its products. It's silly, but they do it. If we listened to the whiners and moaners and "good-old-days"-ers, we'd still be living in caves.

Yeah, I understand the concept of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but change is inevitable, it's a part of life, and you have to deal with it.

[Primer]

(except those who still have no plastic, a concept I find foreign, but )

I have a handful of acquaintances (they were friends until they tried to scam money from me) who have screwed up their credit so royally that they cannot even open a savings account, much less get plastic. They can't even get a prepaid credit card!

I used to prefer to pay cash, until my arthritis and health problems got so bad. It's so much easier to use a card at the pump! But if I had to walk in, pay, walk back out to pump, then walk back in to get change, I think I'd find a different gas station, even if I had to pay more.

[cinema guy]

Someone else mentioned impulse purchases in the shop. I don't know if there is any research but my instinct is that impulse purchases would go up at a prepay station. You have to go in to give them your money where you get a look at all the sugary, fatty, salty goodness and then you make a second pass when you get your change.

The only prepay station I know has a credit card gizmo on the pumps. No going into the shop is neccesary. And no queue.

[bunnyboy]

It's silly, but they do it. If we listened to the whiners and moaners and "good-old-days"-ers, we'd still be living in caves.

In caves? Hell we'd still have tails and live in the trees....and by some we made the first mistake when we stopped being a collection of amino acids and became single celled creatures.

all that aside, this is a big reason that unless I have to, I wont go to the closest automobile fuel station near me, why, pumps don't accept my card, and I don't feel like paying $2 to get $20 to put money in my tank.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Guys, this is going off topic; if you want to discuss the whys and wherefores of prepay vs pay after, maybe head to Fratching and open a thread there before the mods close this one?

I'd prefer to discuss the bad attitude of the SC who bitched about being made a criminal cuz she was caught redhanded stealing.

Oh, and the goods in the petrol station are the same price as the supermarket; this is a SUPERMARKET petrol station, so that question doesn't even come up.