No, I Don’t Want a Carwash
Why is it that gas stations have started to use the payment systems at the gas pumps for relentless advertising?
The whole purpose of a pay at the pump service (to me anyway) is to make the gas station experience as efficient as possible. You get to pay for your gas more quickly and the gas station owner gets to cut down on labor costs to process your payments, etc.
I bought gas yesterday and paid at the pump. After I ran my card, the machine asked for my zip code. Because there are no audible tones when you press buttons on the keypad, it’s hard to tell if the machine is accepting your input without leaning down and trying to read the tiny screen. After that, it went through the authorization process and then asked me if I wanted a car wash. This required going back to the keypad which is by the way located too far away from the screen to actually look at it while typing and punching the no button. After waiting for 2 minutes, I was finally ready to pump gas. Now how much time did that save me?
