3mo ago

If you're at the gas pump, trying to use some app on your phone to pay for gas at the pump. And it takes you an incredibly long time. Just give up and use your credit card

You’re wasting time and holding up the line. I just watched two cars go through (pull up, get gas, pay with credit card and leave) in the time that one person tried to just get his app to work (and he still hadn’t put in gas yet).

35 comments

I think you could simplify that to:
If you're at [anywhere], trying to use some app on your phone to pay for [anything]. And it takes you an incredibly long time. Just give up and use your credit card
- That was a strange reply
  
  Lol
  
  There's probably a few missing levels of simplification in between.
- True. Thank you
What did this person who frustrated you make you late for? Kraft Mac and cheese while watching Yellowstone?
You were so perturbed that you went online and whined. Bro, you chose to get mad about it. People do weird shit. Move on. Life is easy if you let it be.
- Read the other replies and you’ll realize I’m not the only one.
  
  Doesn't disprove their point
Wherever checkouts are asking for a phone number for rewards, I use (local area code) 867-5309. Works at all the gas stations, and it's luck of the draw who gets the fuel discounts because other people use it too.
So we all charge the discounts up, and one lucky asshole gets to benefit.
- Joke's on you, Jenny is getting all those discounts for doing nothing. Maybe what was written on the bathroom walls was right.
- I use that at 7-11 all the time lol. They caught on to our local area code and removed it, but my hometown area code works just fine.
  
  They caught on to our local area code and removed it
  Fuckers
Yea, I just don't bother using my phone for this kind of stuff.
A card just works, a paper boarding pass just works.
Phones are tech that can decide to go belly up for no apparent reason.
- I will say that I use my phone for my boarding pass, but I am willing to defend that on the grounds that I do not own a printer and the way I do it is I just pull up a screenshot on my phone, rather than using some bullshit app.
  
  I check in online, and print my boarding pass at the airport
  
  Screenshot is at least much more stable.
  I print mine at the airport. There are self-serve kiosks.
Just take a minute to wait for someone who's not having their best day.
Using an app to pay doesn't always take longer.
They didn't purposely fuck around just to make you wait.
Those apps usually have points systems where you get discounts on your next fill up once you hit a certain number of points. So that person was likely really trying to avoid using their credit card. I personally like using the app because of said points, and I no longer need to worry about card skimmers.
It has only happened to me once where the app didn't work and I tried a different pump to confirm that there was just something wrong that day. Fortunately the gas station wasn't busy so I wasn't really holding up anyone. I'm definitely moving on quickly if there was a line behind me and the app won't work for whatever reason.
Zero credit cards skimmed since switching to apps.
- RFID (tap) and chip both aren't able to be skimmed either. I haven't gotten a card in many years that doesn't have those features.
  If you're still worried about skimming you can mar the shit out of your magstripe.
  If you are concerned about RFID intercept attacks (really, REALLY hard to achieve, especially at point of sale instead of a controlled environment to prove a conceptual attack exists), use a hole puncher or drill to punch a hole in the embedded RFID antenna in your card.
  You're at a much greater risk for card fraud when you let a server take your card at a restaurant than any of these, or people working for businesses stealing card info from poorly protected computer systems. IMO card skimming isn't really a threat any more unless you're careless in certain areas (ie by not yanking on the skimmer hardware before you use it - vast majority of skimmers are "stick on" devices that cover up the original equipment so you stick your card in unknowingly. These are ridiculously easy to spot/detach if you're actually paying attention)
I'm not one, but there are people who don't carry a wallet/cards anymore because they can (technically, assuming it works) do what they need with just their phone. I wonder how many people who fiddle with the app are like this and how many just don't think to give up and use their card.
I had something like this during my lunch break. I went to the supermarket to buy a snack, and there was a pensioneer in front of me at the checkout. Why do they have to do a weeks' grocery shopping during lunch break time, especially now that we have a heat wave?
It took him ages to put his stuff on the belt. It took him ages to put the stuff back into his cart. Then it took him ages to open the store app on his mobile to claim some pennies in savings, and ages again to pay.
- Actually in your case the old people are just watching and waiting for you
Don't place the onus on consumers to solve a problem that is only going to increase the more regulations are dismantled.
Here’s my unpopular opinion: anything that makes polluting the atmosphere and contributing to the downfall of the human species via oil less convenient is a good thing. So please, block that pump for as long as you can. It’s a public service.
- So block the pump so that way everybody else is Waiting longer and burning more fuel? Does that sound like a very good idea?
  I’m thinking there’s probably a flaw on that logic somewhere
  
  A small price. If it convinces even a single person to stop driving then it’s worth it.
  I did warn you it would be unpopular. I think I got you beat on this one.
  
  Maybe turn off the engine while standing still?
just park next to someone who has gone inside to use the bathroom or buy stuff and borrow their pump while they are gone

35 comments