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Comment by sammorrowdrums | Hacker News Reader

The zip code at gas pumps is not just a poor security measure, it also blocks international travellers like me from obtaining any fuel sometimes!!!

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No it doesn't. Usually gas pumps are set to accept 00000 for foreign cards and sometimes there's instructions for Canadians cards to substitute the letters for 0s. (ABC123=000123) Even if the pump blocks foreign cards altogether (and it usually won't), you can always use your card to pay inside.

I was travelling through the states a few weeks ago with a few friends. Neither zeros nor substitution ever worked for any of us.

I tried researching this last time it came up. Yeah, if you're from Canada you can run it through that formula (sucks if you didn't look that up before you left home). Nobody in the thread had luck with 00000 or something similar. I didn't really see clear instructions for other countries. It sucks if you need gas outside of business hours.

I had the reverse situation as an American traveling to Iceland when no chip+pin cards were available to me. I picked up the rental car with an almost empty tank. They point me around the corner--the gas station is automated. I start driving the 50km to reykjavik and cross my fingers.

Later in the trip I get into a similar situation of an automated gas station in a desolate area. I waited until a local came by, offered them cash to use their credit card. They seemed suspicious like it was some sort of scam (I dont blame them), but thankfully that worked out.

Yeah I had a similar problem in Canada. Got to the airport, tried to buy a bus ticket to get downtown from the automated kiosk. It asked for the pin on my credit card, which it doesn't have of course.

I was stuck. I eventually found a shop inside that would sell me a bus ticket if I bought something else.

Just make a note of the zip code of some random address in the neighbourhood. A hotel or even the airport will do. At least that has worked for me. The system doesn't seem to care that that zip code has nothing to do with my Norwegian issued American Express corporate credit card.

12345 is a valid zip code, it has a single address associated with it - General Electric in Schenectady, NY.

10101 and 01010 are also valid zip codes.

(00000 usually works too even though it's not a valid zip code)

I'm not positive, but I think zip verification fails open on foreign cards.

Here's an arbitrary one I know exists: 85310. Try it next time and see if it works.

I like to use '90210'

When I was a teenager in the 90s I worked at a chain store that had the policy of asking customers for their zip code at checkout to collect data on who was shopping. People sometimes would get really mad (and I mean really mad) that I was asking them, and since it was before the internet went mainstream people had not been conditioned to give out personal information yet/were unfamiliar with big data/weren't getting anything in return for their zip code. So in order to confuse the system (and avoid upsetting anyone - I am conflict avoidant) I would solely use 90210 as the zip code of all our shoppers, despite being on the other side of the country from Beverly Hills. I conspired to get my coworkers to do the same. A quarter of a century later I still feel minor gratification that I stuck it to the man.

I'm partial to giving my address as 1060 West Addison St., Chicago, IL 60613.

That Wrigley Field, for those not from Chicago.

Wrigley Field is the home of the Chicago Cubs, a Major League Baseball team, for those unfamiliar with American sports.

When a store offers the option of entering a phone number instead of using a physical "loyalty card", I've found that XXX-867-5309 nearly always works, where XXX is your local area code (for me, it's 206).

My wife and I went on vacation and didn't have the proper "club card" for the store. 867-5309 worked as a phone number, and was issued to a "Jenny".

I wouldn't be surprised if 90210 is outrageously over represented...

Or 02134.

I've had some success using the first 5 digits of a 6-digit Indian postal code.

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