Last Thursday I travelled to Michigan on business. During my trip I stopped a couple of times for gas. At each gas station the pumps had a “Pay Before Pumping” sign on it and each time I was planning on filling the car up. Now maybe some of my American readers can tell me if all gas stations are like this (I only stopped at ones directly off of the interstates) and if so why are they like that? Are there a lot of gas crimes in the States?
Other than that my trip was rather uneventful. I spent most of the day driving and the a couple of hours at the clients site. No problems at the border – though I didn’t buy anything in the states (other than lunch and gas) so they wouldn’t have found anything.
10 Comments
Not all gas stations are like that, usually just ones in bad areas. OR some stations will make the pumps closest to the road, or further from the station pay before you pump. I guess lots of nasty folks like to drive away without paying. Of course, it makes the job easier for those poor, overworked station attendents!
Yes, simple because of people not paying for the gas. Pay first, the pumps stops at the prepayed amount and everyone is happy… well maybe not the thiefs.
Thanks both of you. It’s just weird since we don’t have that in Ontario. Okay I think there might be places where you have to pay before pumping if you are stopping in the middle of the night (after midnight or something).
you should have continued on down to ohio and visited me!
From what I understand here in Connecticut…driving off without paying is a Felony. I.e. if you’re convincted you’re never getting a (legal) job again. Yikes.
Here in Oregon I hardly ever see the pay before you pump places. Maybe there are fewer thieves here?
David: That’s what I was thinking. Everyone in Michigan must be thieves 🙂
Yeah, also in Oregon, we don’t have to pump our own gas! 🙂
Although, I do get annoyed with the attendants who make me get out of the car to pay inside, because I hate taking the baby out of her seat when she’s already bundled in there nice and warm, and has to be un-bundled and un-warm.
I just pay more so I don’t have to deal with that.
-H
I think it really depends on the area you live in. Down here in my area of Florida, nearly every gas station is pay before you pump, simply because of the vast numbers of drive-offs the stations have gotten over the years. And I believe, it’s also a felony here as well. Which seems sort of funny to me, I mean….why do people do it? For my part, if I was going to do something that had the risk of me ending up in jail, going to jail for gas seems rather stupid, doesn’t it?
I live in a very good area of NY–upscale, and all the gas stations are pre-pay because people in the past have left without paying enough times to make the gas station owner switch to pre-pay. we also have full serve, and NJ ( or parts of NJ) has ONLY full serve, also out in the pretty and “nice” countryside a lot of places are pre pay because people drive off “forgetting to pay” I prefer full serve so I choose that station.