Ads when you’re pumping gas
Ads when you’re pumping gas
I’m from a US state where we don’t pump our own gas. Since I don’t pump my own gas regularly - only when I’m out of state - I’m not exactly sure when this happened, but all gas pumps seem to play ads now while the pump runs. At least the states adjacent to mine. Like can I not even pump gas in peace? Stop trying to manipulate my purchasing decisions 24/7.
Edit: ok I get it, there’s a mute button. I appreciate the tip, but people are already reporting that it only sometimes works. Knowing there’s a mute button that sometimes functions doesn’t make me less infuriated
Grab a screwdriver and stab the shit out of the speaker, that shuts them up fairly reliably.
But in all seriousness I refuse to go to a gas station with ads on the pumps because fuck that shit. Old gas stations are the way to go (for now).
Lol, imagine thinking you're allowed a momentary reprieve from advertising in this hellscape of a world we've built.
You sound tired. You should try Lipton 'pick me up' teabags. A refreshing way to soothe the soul. Available now at most retailers. /s
So, most pump POS used to have a labeled or unlabeled mute button. That has become rare.
So far, I've been able to kick all of them into a diagnostic/trouble menu by pressing pairs of keys on each side of the monitor in sequence from the top.
Some of them have a timeout on this screen, but the counter resets when you hit a key.
Passwords can be entered from the keypad, with ok/enter also working. I bet the passwords are the manufacturer default, probably a 5-7 digit number. I was able to find partial training manuals and setup docs from one of the POS vendors but I didn't find a default password or deeper technical docs for the one brand I looked into.
Fucking ads in my face fucking piss me off.
Almost two decades ago, I worked at a network service provider who had as a customer a company that provided the technology for serving those gas pump ads.
At each gas station they had a VSAT, a router and of course the digital signage boxes on each pump.
They fed the ads to thousands of pumps via a single T1 to HughesNet in Atlanta. They'd multicast the ads, and have a local cache at each pump that would receive the stream, cache it and serve it.
It was one of the most elegant setups I've ever seen, and should serve as a case study in multicast for efficient bandwidth utilization across an expensive data transmission medium.
I'm from Washington and occasionally drive in Oregon, which is one of those states.
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welcome to like ten years ago?
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yes it's awful. Everything is awful.
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you can mute them or turn down their volumes. The buttons are there so you can press them.
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if it's not on the pump: yeah that's truly evil.
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late stage capitalism, in some cases, is still capitalism. You could tell the station worker or owner you don't like that and it's bad. But good luck with them not spitting in your face in return.
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do you live under a rock? Are you so isolated somehow that the GAS STATION is your only exposure to this bullshit? Tell me your secrets, I need that level of peace in my life.
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They have even been removing the mute where I’m at
Or… hear me out here … we could weaponize them. Most of them are operated by a company called GSTV who sell the ad slots. They could be purchased by activist groups to un-brainwash people who can’t mute them. They could read banned books out loud. Teach science. Explain what’s wrong with the electoral college.
GSTV also offers very precise targeting at specific zip codes or stations. So you could play an ad at your local station about whatever stupid thing your HOA is trying to do.
Is this a euphemism for farting?
Well, sure, but not on our gas pumps. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines and movies and at ball games, on buses and milk cartons and T-shirts and bananas and written on the sky. But not on gas pumps. No, sir-ee!
You can just say you're from NJ lol, it's not like any other state has an employment scam where you're legally required to hire people to perform the simple, relatively safe act of pumping gas. At least not since WA finally trusted people to pump their own gas a few years back.
Edit: Sorry, OR not WA
It started happening a few years ago in my area. Maybe like right before the pandemic?
For a while some of the stations had a hidden option where you could hit one of the unmarked selection buttons and it would at least mute the ads. But starting around the end of last year they took that option away.
The only stations I know of that don't show ads are Costco (and I assume Sam's Club too, but idk). Plus they have slight discounts on gas because they are member only. But my local Costco station is such a headache to get through these days - even at around 9pm after the main store closes - that I not just go to a local Shell or Valero and resentfully try to ignore the fucking ads that always play.
Yep. And a lot of the gas stations in my area have the auto-hold latches busted or removed, so you have to stand there and have a super loud ad screamed in your face. Which is why I now have a pack of reusable zip ties in my car that I will slap on the fill handle if I come across a pump like that. And no, that’s not dangerous - the stop mechanism in the pump handle operates such that the handle depresses further when the auto-shutoff engages, so it does not disrupt the safety of the filler mechanism.
Small knife/chopstick etc through the plastic grate in front of the speaker does the job too
I haven't lived in the US in a while, and every time I visit and one of these things starts shouting at me, I wonder how anyone tolerates this shit.
Occasionally you'll see one button that's more worn, maybe bottom right iirc, that mutes it. Doesn't always work, though.
Go ad lite for 5.99 a month or full ad free for 12.99. terms and conditions apply* Meaning they will be changed to be worse when we want more money.
Every single gas station in my state has gas pumps with screens and ads. Honestly one of the most annoying things today.
I have one gas station that I frequently use and found one of the pumps has a blown out speaker. Even though the ads still play, I hear nothing! The infuriating part comes when that pump is already in use when I arrive. I’ll have to try some of the other comments suggestions here about pressing a side button to mute it
I never go to Shell, they have a speaker right above the pumps blasting out music and ads. Fuck Shell. Too many other places to get gas.
It’s like that at every gas station where I live; every single one. All of the small gas stations have been bought and sold within the last couple of years and upgraded to this stupid video ad model.
That sounds frustrating, you should buy a pair or Ray Ban sunglasses to reduce the glare from the ad screens. Never hide - Ray Ban.
Around here they played audio very loudly for about a year and then they all stopped with the audio. Most still play a video, although they seem to mostly be for the convenience or grocery store that the pumps are at.
Drove out of state recently and there were pumps that still played the noise, so I pushed the one button that was well worn and it muted the sound.
The screens on the pumps (around me at least) have a mute button on the screen.
Holy crap if they started doing that in my area I'd switch to an EV within a month.
My state just made self-serve gas a thing so I got an electric. If I'm going to have to fuel up my own car, I'll do it in my carport.
But you do have Mt Hood and the Columbia River and the coastline to console you. 😍