Randi, you are wrong today

[LSK]

Most gas stations have traditionally let you fill up and then pay. I'd say 25% of them are the reverse situation.

[maveric]

1. 100% in CA are pay first.

I havent seen a fill first pay later station in over 20 years.

[SixStrings]

4. Seriously?

I live in Canada, and I have never heard this before. It's always fill up then pay. Anybody trust their neighbor down there?

[mattclearing]

28. Seen F9/11?

There's a big part in there about Canadians not keeping their doors locked, and the distinctions in trust.

Nobody trusts anyone around here.

[FreedomAngel82]

46. I thought that was in "Bowling For Columbine"?

Then again I haven't seen F911 in a while so my memory is kinda hazy on that.

[mattclearing]

47. Nevermind, you're right.

My bad.

[pitohui]

59. my area is fill up first, then pay

too many scams in rural areas the other way

say you put down a twenty, fill up, go to get change, they claim you gave a ten

of course these days no problem you wouldn't get change back from a twenty anyway for gas

but it's still fill up first, pay second unless it's a bad neighborhood

[AlCzervik]

6. me neither.

[don954]

15. i would say 95% are pay first here too (fort Lauderdale)

[mojavekid]

35. I'll second that,

though I do remember when many in So. Cal. would let you fill-up first...that was quite a while ago.

[question everything]

43. You need to define "pay first"

In all self-filling stations in major cities you cannot activate the pump until you swipe a credit card and the credit card is approved.

Or, you go to the cashier and you leave your credit card there to activate the pump.

If you don't use credit card, you pay first.

[sierrajim]

52. No they are not

I live up in the foothills of the Sierra's and all the stations in our area let you fill up first.

[Heddi]

53. Washington is Pay first, Fill later

We visited a relative in Western Idaho last year and were amazed, SIMPLY AMAZED that he could fill up his car THEN pay for the amount once he filled up.

Said they "trust" people out there. It's rural and everyone knows everyone else basically.

Not happening in Washington.

Numerous times in Seattle, I'd pay to fill up and misgauge how much my tank could hold.

I'd give them a $20 and the car would only hold $15 (have to go back in and get change)

or

Give them a $20, but have to go in and give them another $10 to complete the fillup...

argh.

Works much better, though, with a debit/credit card because then I can just let it run as long as I want.

[flyarm]

56. most in fla are pay first as well!

nj we still have people who pump for us..thank goodness..i hate filling it myself..and it keeps people working!!

i hate self serve!! and no its not cheeper..its cheeper here in nj with people pumping for us than it is in calif when you have to pump yourself!

they even wash our windows and check our oil in nj!!

( from fla and nj!!)

[htuttle]

2. I think it totally depends on where you are

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. I agree

Many of the stations in Houston I've been to want you to pay first. Where I currently live there is only one (that I know of) that makes that request.

[bryant69]

3. DO you have statistics?

Or any research you can point to?

I can say my experience is completely the opposite - I can't think of one gas station that will let you fill up and then pay.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[mtnester]

I rarely see the ones where you have to pay first

unless you are at the pumps farthest away, right next to a busy road.


You have to be in a really bad part of town to have to do the pay first stuff.

Central Ohio here.

[bryant69]

10. Tallahassee FL here

Which isn't a big city by any stretch of the imagination.

[LSK]

14. i only have 20 years of buying gas experience

I live in suburban Chicago and have driven cross country numerous times. I still say that most of the time you gas up 1st.

It could be different in some places I guess.

[AngryAmish]

34. In the city it is all pre-pay

[okieinpain]

54. in oklahoma city, it depends on how many drive off's they get.

my regular station went pay first for a while. dropped it, the gas hit 2.15 and they had to go to pay first again. said they were getting to many drive off's.

[maveric]

29. Come to San Diego, pull into 100 stations. I guarantee you that not one

will allow you to fill first. Most, maybe all have ATM/Debit card slots.

[dogday]

5. In the big city of Houston

Most are pay first.. Too many gas and dash people....

[Old Vet]

9. Upstate NY 80% Fill First during daytime.

[ET Awful]

7. The vast majority in Massachusetts are pay first.

The ones that aren't are the ones out in the boonies where nobody lives.

[Todd B]

40. In our town (MA)..

We have a couple of full-service stations which allow you to pay after, but most of the time you have to swipe your card before you pump. I've seen a few stations the Blackstone Valley area (Whitinsville, Douglas, Uxbridge) that allow you to pump first and then pay.

I guess it all depends on the area.

[ET Awful]

48. Full service is a bit different though.

They're there the whole time pumping the gas themselves, etc.

I thought we were only disccussing self-service. :shrug:

Oh well, you're right about full service.

[Todd B]

51. Oops!

Didn't catch the caveat about self-service *hides*

We have a few self service stations in town that allow you to pump first; although that is usually before dark. After that they usually require pre-payment. You're right that the majority are pre-pay, however.

[ET Awful]

55. There wasn't a specific caveat.

I thought it was just assumed :)

Mea culpa.

[redqueen]

8. Not here.

100% pay first here.

[proud patriot]

11. I've lived in the Bay Area , California My whole life

All gas stations require you to pay first here.

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. I still see a lot of fill then pay around here, but....

definitely declining and definitely the other way around in other places I've lived.

[Jokerman]

13. I haven't been to a pump then pay station in years.

Here in Indianapolis at least, they all require a credit card or cash up front before the pump turns on.

[CatWoman]

16. aren't they talking about gas stations on military installations?

I see the caller's point.

Active duty servicemen and their families should not be treated with suspicion.

BTW -- Here in GA, most gas stations are pay first.

[Mistress Quickly]

39. Not in more rural GA

I can't think of the last time I had to pay first. Even by check.

[Rainscents]

17. Here is Wahington State... 100% pay first.

[Lannes]

19. FLA

Its pay first around here

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. I'm in Florida and still see a combination of both.

Definitely swinging way towards pay first.

[Sapphire Blue]

20. That tradition has gone by the wayside... along w/full service.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

32. They'll do full service here, but for 25 cents a gallon more.

[mtnester]

37. If you have a handicap sticker and they do that

they are in kinda some trouble in many places.

[beyurslf]

21. Pay first or pay at pump here. And I live in KS

[MuseRider]

26. We still have a few

that you can pump first but there has been a lot of news about how that is about over. Since gas prices have gotten so steep there are lots more drive offs that ever before.

[beyurslf]

57. I suppose I don't know if all of them are pay first. But Qt is and that is

where I almost always go.

[aquaman]

23. It's mostly pay first where I live......

[bullimiami]

24. i think a lot of small towns are fill first.

the only ones ive seen in forever were in se geogia. freaked me right out.

[davidinalameda]

25. I swipe my card before I fill up

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Oh and base gas stations

bgth in Hawaii and California, both of them are fill up and then pay... they really demand the latter when people who don't have the right abuse it (civilians) then they demand to see ID (and money) first.

[Walt Starr]

30. I haven't been to a pump where you pay after in a loooooooong time

Always use plastic at the pump, though, and fill up.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. Not here

Most are pre-pay.

One regional chain just went to pre-pay due to losing so much to drive offs. Their total loss amounted to several million $ last year.

[LSK]

33. ok, I made a poll

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4260597

Lets see the #s.

[melissinha]

36. In Smalltown its pump first

I noticed that when I moved to Chicago... I always pumped first in samlltown Decorah, Ia and college town Cedar Falls/Waterloo Ia....

I always assumed it was cause in larger cities there's more possiblilty of theft, and in smaller towns/cities people are more trusting.

But like you all have said, this apparently was procedure at Andrews AirForce base..

[in_cog_ni_to]

38. ALL our stations are pump first pay after. I live in a SMALL town. n/t

[madinmaryland]

41. In New Jersey you can't pump your own gas.

They pump and then you pay.

[theboss]

42. It depends on the time of day here

Most places in VA let you pump first during the day. At night, it's pay first.

[Connie_Corleone]

44. It's pay first where I live. n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

45. That's what happens here

There are some gas stations where you fill up and pay and then there are some that make you pay and then fill up. The one down the road from us you can fill up and then pay. You can either go inside and pay or there's a credit card machine at the pump.

[Gold Metal Flake]

49. Pay first started in earnest in the late 1970s.

That's when a lot of gas theft took place. The response was simple, pay first.

[DURHAM D]

50. Frankly, where I live depends on skin color. Whites - fill up first.

Blacks and browns go inside and pay first. I have watched it over and over again. I have even asked the staff about it - they just shrug and look at the floor. Sometimes they offer the info that they average 1 or 2 drive aways a day now instead of one or two a week.

[Kurovski]

58. Oh. The thread title made it sound like

she was wrong for the whole day.

Nasty "brain worm", that.

Newspapers regularly get some facts wrong, and they aren't even working extemporaneously.

And it looks like this particular error is up to debate.

No big whoop.

[European Socialist]

60. Drive offs are such a solvable problem.....

Police should refuse to investigate.