🚀 go-pugleaf

batemand@NOSPAM.buck.com (Dan Bateman) writes:

> Do you mean that the gas station is closed, but you can still pump gas
> 24/7 using a credit card?

I stumbled across one of those in or near Candor, NY a few years ago
entirely by accident.  I pulled in, put my card in the reader, and
filled up the pump.  Only as I was pulling out did I notice the CLOSED
sign on the door.  I don't know if the pumps are deliberately left on
overnight or if this was an oversight; in any case, I had paid.

It seems I often drive into closed gas stations.  Another time, up the
road in Ithaca, I pulled up to the pump, inserted my card, and started
pumping -- only the gas refused to flow at more than a trickle.  At
about 11 cents, I gave up and pulled up to the next pump, which refused
to give me anything at all -- and only then did I realize what was up.
I guess the shutoff valve on the first pump wasn't tightened.  Yes, the
11-cent charge appeared on my statement.

(That's the smallest credit card charge I've ever made, but I have
received in the mail bills for 2 cents and 3 cents.  NetBank wasn't at
all fazed when I put through the corresponding bill payment requests.
Also, for two consecutive months, at my insistence, MCI credited my card
6 cents.)

There is a full-time unattended gas station in Urbana, IL, just off I-74
at exit 183.  I only went there once; it's in an inconvenient location,
and most other stations in town are fully open all night and charge the
same or less.  I do expect this sort of arrangement to become more
common over time; there are still long stretches of highway with no
overnight gas stations, and an existing gas station could get some extra
money (even charging a bit extra due to the isolation) for next to no
cost by keeping the pumps active all night.
-- 
David J. Greenberger