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Comment by thaeli | Hacker News Reader

At many American gas stations, (I don't know how applicable this is in other countries) there is a lower "cash" price because the station doesn't have to pay credit card fees on the transaction. It's less convenient, because you have to park, go to the cashier, give them cash, go back to your car, fill up, go back to the cashier, get your change, and then go - versus put credit card in pump, fill up, go. It's ultimately a consumer choice and some choose each option.

I'd love to have something similar for online payments. Give me a price, then charge transaction fees for credit and lower fees for debit or ACH, etc.

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I personally never understood the America style of paying for petrol first, and then presumably getting a refund at the end? As an Australian, I remember filling up in the US and the whole system baffled me (especially because the US bowsers did not accept my Australian Mastercard). Here, we just pull up, fill up, pay, and then leave.

This is common in Europe too. I guess the point from the retailers point of view is that they eliminate the risk of you driving off without paying.

It's extra annoying on a motorbike where you only have a rough idea of what your fuel level is and you absolutely need to fill it to the brim (typically you only get 150-200 miles out of a tank). At least in a car you can wait until you have a quarter of a tank and the put 40€ and know it's going to be some where around 3/4 full.

But why not have security cameras that record your face/license plate? People steal fuel here every so often, and you can be damned sure that the police will knock on your door asking about it within 24 hours.

They have those too.

Yeah, they have cameras and even ANPR in the UK. It's probably a easy one for police to deal with in most cases, often where someone has driven off accidentally, but anyone really trying to steal from them would presumably have the sense to use fake number plates.

Every gas station in France does that. If you leave the station without paying, the station may report (sometimes in real time) your car to the police (which is sometimes very close on certain highways) and the manager can even submit a complaint against you.

There was an explosion of people driving off without paying like ten years or so ago, when prices were very high, and they changed to the pay-first system. It used to work the way you described.

Similar in BC, Canada. A gas station attendant was killed trying to stop someone from gas-and-dashing. Grant's law[0] was made in his memory.

[0] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-to-imple...

That doesn't have to be how those transactions work. In the UK that goes: park, fill, go to cashier, pay. It's still a little bit more inconvenient.

You pay the same price though. Some stations will also insist on prepayment at certain times of the day.

> Some stations will also insist on prepayment at certain times of the day.

I'm not saying that this doesn't happen but in nearly 20 years of driving around the UK I've yet to encounter it.

I’ve only driven in maybe a dozen countries, but so far the US is the only one where the pre-payment thing existed. I was glad to have read about it in trip prep, or I would have stood there staring at a non-functioning gas pump for far too long!

Obviously it used to be like that everywhere (except where you can't pump your own gas by law) but I'd rather pay a little bit more to not have to wait in line behind all the people buying cigarettes, chewing tobacco and lotto tickets.

Companies like GoCardless exist for this reason. Problem is that fraud is still a thing and cash payments over the internet aren’t possible.

Interac Online in Canada offers this, for Canadian merchants with Canadian customers. It’s basically cash over the internet. Makes sense you wouldn't have tried this if you weren’t :) [1]

[1] https://www.interac.ca/en/consumers/products/interac-debit/e...

Interac Online appears to have been deprecated by most major Canadian banks in favour of Visa Debit. My understanding is the Visa Debit cards issued by banks like TD and Scotia are dual-mode: transactions will be processed through the Interac network when possible, with the lower Interac fees applying, and through the Visa network otherwise.

I don't know if the merchant fees for Visa Debit are any different to using a Visa credit card.

Looks like its 50/50. Banque Nationale and BMO only issue vanilla Interac cards, and in RBCs case, you get two debit cards: an Interac and a virtual Visa Debit. To your point dual mode Interac/Visa Debit are not eligible for Interac Online.

When at a physical point of sale, a Visa Debit card is processed over Interac rails, and I believe Interac interchange prevails. At one point back in 2009 Visa was going to set up their own debit network in Canada, but as of 2010, my understanding is they gave up on the plan. The value add from the Visa Debit rails is for international online purchases, for phone purchases and for international point of sale purchases, neither of which are well supported by Interac-only cards.

Do all American gas stations make you fill up your own gas?

IIRC, Everywhere except Oregon and New Jersey, where it's illegal to fill your own gas tank and petrol stations still have an attendant.

Not quite. Some gas stations choose to have full service even when not legally required, and some municipalities require an attendant when the state they're in does not.

I'm American and I've never seen this and I've been in a good amount of the country. What region is this in?

Works everywhere I’ve seen. Give it a try next time you fill up!

I guess I really haven't been paying attention!

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