No self-serve gas stations in New Jersey

[corco]

Heh, interesting. That does pretty clearly sound like they mean multiple cars are legal. In fact, I even get from 35 gallons per vehicle per purchase that you could put 34 gallons of fuel each into 1000 cars on one discount. That's the worst worded thing I've ever seen.

[kkt]

the reason I do not like self-checkout lanes is because they do not work all that well.  Home Depot is a great example of a store where I end up needing human assistance anyway. 

For spray paint, I have to be 18 (the idiocy that law is a completely different topic!) and I can't just swipe my license, which would be the intuitive solution.

sometimes I'm buying something without a bar code - like a single 9c washer.  I'm not sure what they expect me to do in that situation - steal it?

Oh, thank you!  I have now realized why it makes some sort of sense for Home Despot to package 8 screws in a bubble pack.  It's so it can be self checked out with the barcode.  Too bad pretty much every checkout at the self checkout ends with one or more supervisors coming over to make the machine work right.

[agentsteel53]

Oh, thank you!  I have now realized why it makes some sort of sense for Home Despot to package 8 screws in a bubble pack.  It's so it can be self checked out with the barcode.  Too bad pretty much every checkout at the self checkout ends with one or more supervisors coming over to make the machine work right.

there are some products which I cannot find in blister pack form.  the washer in question, for example. 

[J N Winkler]

The Dillons stores in Wichita have long had a fuel rewards program which lends itself to a similar abuse because the reward payout is a set amount off the per-gallon price in a single fuel-dispensing cycle, which gives customers an incentive to try to fill up multiple vehicles in the same cycle.  Dillons, unlike Giant, does not ban this, but the pumps reset automatically if fuel has not been dispensed in a certain amount of time (about 40 seconds), so unless you have the two cars set up to dash the nozzle from one tank opening to the other, you lose the reward on the second tank.  The nozzles are also not long enough to reach both tank openings on two vehicles parked back to front.  1995hoo's method, which is to park one car at a right angle to the other, can obstruct the apron, and greatly inconveniences other customers if it is done in the aisle between two ranks of pumps.

Until Dillons started allowing customers the option of taking a smaller discount on one fillup to save a discount for the next tank, people would often rush to move their cars within the same fuel-dispensing cycle, which frankly was a recipe for disaster.  I don't think the discount rollover option altogether removes the incentive to try to fill up multiple tanks on a single fuel-dispense cycle.  I think it should instead become unlawful for grocery stores to structure fuel rewards as a flat discount on an arbitrary number of gallons (whether pumped into one tank or several).  Instead, the discount should be a fixed percentage of the cost of groceries purchased using the loyalty card, and the customer should have the option of using up any proportion of it on any fillup.  It should never expire (there should never be a rush to use up fuel points by the end of the month, as often happens under some reward programs).

[corco]

That's actually a good idea- with a minimum of $100 purchase or whatever, you get $5 off your next fillup. I do wonder if that would be more expensive, though. "5 cents off a gallon!" sounds a lot more meaningful than "$.75 off your next fillup!" so they'd have to bump those numbers up somehow to make them more enticing.

I guess the trick would be to raise the reward amount to a number that sounds appealing and then raise the amount that needs to be spent proportionally.

[1995hoo]

.... 1995hoo's method, which is to park one car at a right angle to the other, can obstruct the apron, and greatly inconveniences other customers if it is done in the aisle between two ranks of pumps.

....

Yeah, when we've done this we make a point of using one of the pumps on the end for precisely the reason you cite. The Shell station we use has a large amount of space beyond the pumps at either end.

[Scott5114]

At the Walmart Neighborhood Market that I shop at, you must put your item in the bag or on the "scale" next to the bags before you can scan another item.  I've seen others scan the item then put it directly into the basket or put it in a bag but not leave it in there long enough and an error message pops up.  The secret is to wait until the "Finish and pay" icon on the touchscreen flashes, then you can put your item in the shopping cart.

Here, the Walmart scanners also have red and green LED lights on them. Scan an item, and the LEDs go red until they're done weighing. It goes back to green when you can scan the next item.

Some self-checkouts have a little cup for accepting change, like a mini toll basket, instead of the slot like vending machines have. If I've accumulated a lot of change while shopping at other places that day, I will sometimes dump it all in the cup, then pay the remaining amount with a card. That's something you can't do with a human cashier, since they would have to count it all and you would understandably get some dirty looks for it. You can also do things like pay for part of your purchase with a different card (like if you have a business card and want to put your non-business purchases on your personal account) more easily.

[J N Winkler]

That's actually a good idea- with a minimum of $100 purchase or whatever, you get $5 off your next fillup. I do wonder if that would be more expensive, though. "5 cents off a gallon!" sounds a lot more meaningful than "$.75 off your next fillup!" so they'd have to bump those numbers up somehow to make them more enticing.

Yeah, I suspect the "X off a gallon" structure evolved because it was easier to promote.  But actually you could continue to advertise "X off a gallon" while moving to a fixed-percentage structure, as long as there were fine print:  "assumes a typical fillup of 15 gallons" or something like that.

I guess the trick would be to raise the reward amount to a number that sounds appealing and then raise the amount that needs to be spent proportionally.

That is one way to do it, or you could simply say, "Each $100 spent on groceries between this date and that date gives you a $7.50 discount on fuel," and let it be understood that fractions of $100 buy equal fractions of the $7.50 discount (no need to make the obesity crisis worse by leading people to think they actually have to buy $100 worth of food in order to get any part of the discount).  You can have a base discount percentage, which you raise for short periods of time for special promotions and the like.

(As an aside, I wonder why supermarkets continue to advertise discounts as BOGOF.  They don't even interpret this condition consistently.  At Dillons and other arms of the Kroger octopus, BOGOFs and other multibuy offers only reduce the average price per unit--you do not have to buy the advertised number of units in order to get the discounted average price per unit, though Dillons does not stress this in its advertising because it does not want to encourage customers to buy fewer units.  At a typical British supermarket, however, you have to buy the specified number of units in order to access the discount.  A BOGOF on shampoo for £2.50 does not mean that just one bottle of shampoo costs £1.25; it only means that you pay £2.50 whether you get one or two bottles.)

Yeah, when we've done this we make a point of using one of the pumps on the end for precisely the reason you cite. The Shell station we use has a large amount of space beyond the pumps at either end.

I figured you might be doing something like that, and one advantage of contracting with an oil-company chain for discounts on fuel is that customers can access their typical station layouts, which include an extra-wide aisle between the pumps and the shop.  Dillons, on the other hand, run their own filling stations and each tends to be located in a corner of the parking lot where it is "boxed in" by circulating aisles.

[deathtopumpkins]

(As an aside, I wonder why supermarkets continue to advertise discounts as BOGOF.  They don't even interpret this condition consistently.  At Dillons and other arms of the Kroger octopus, BOGOFs and other multibuy offers only reduce the average price per unit--you do not have to buy the advertised number of units in order to get the discounted average price per unit, though Dillons does not stress this in its advertising because it does not want to encourage customers to buy fewer units.  At a typical British supermarket, however, you have to buy the specified number of units in order to access the discount.  A BOGOF on shampoo for £2.50 does not mean that just one bottle of shampoo costs £1.25; it only means that you pay £2.50 whether you get one or two bottles.)

I've always been irritated by inconsistencies in this.
I worked for a Farm Fresh store when I lived in Virginia, which is one of the Supervalu brands. Whenever we had anything buy-one-get-one-free, the discount would be per unit, i.e. it would actually be two at half-price. Now that I've moved to Massachusetts and occasionally shop at Shaw's, which is another Supervalu brand, I've found that they usually require you to buy the specified number, which can be very annoying (my mother recently complained of going and buying something that lasts her several weeks so she would never need more than one of, and already had her money counted out, expecting to pay half-price for it, only to have the cashier inform her that she needed to buy a second one to get the discount).

[Scott5114]

If it lasts several weeks, though, that means it's probably not perishable. It would be wise to go ahead and buy the second one to take advantage of the deal, and just keep it in storage until you run out of the first one.

[Duke87]

I've worked with some shady characters and would be utterly shocked if any of them would run off with your credit card- these people deal with hundreds of credit cards a week. If you think your credit card is special, I don't know what to tell you.

I am well aware that my fear is not realistic. But it's nonetheless permanently ingrained in my head on an instinctual level to keep all my possessions close to me and secure lest someone decide to grab something from me and run away with it. Bullies did that sort of thing to me a lot when I was a kid.

As an aside, I wonder why supermarkets continue to advertise discounts as BOGOF.  They don't even interpret this condition consistently.  At Dillons and other arms of the Kroger octopus, BOGOFs and other multibuy offers only reduce the average price per unit--you do not have to buy the advertised number of units in order to get the discounted average price per unit, though Dillons does not stress this in its advertising because it does not want to encourage customers to buy fewer units.  At a typical British supermarket, however, you have to buy the specified number of units in order to access the discount.  A BOGOF on shampoo for £2.50 does not mean that just one bottle of shampoo costs £1.25; it only means that you pay £2.50 whether you get one or two bottles.

Or, even more literally, it means you get two even if you only want one.

I have never seen this or the "1 or 2 cost the same" implementation. I have, however, seen plenty of cases where something is advertised as "2 for $5.00", and it's $3.99 if you only buy one, rather than $5.00 or $2.50.

On this note you also have the annoyance that stores will put a cap on how many of something you can buy when they put it on sale. I remember trying to buy four boxes of pasta once when they were on sale and the cashier told me I was only allowed to buy two.
The next day I went back and bought four more, and used the self-checkout. While it did not stop me from scanning more than two, none of them scanned at the advertized sale price. I didn't care, I eat a lot of pasta and I wasn't intentionally binge buying it just because it was on sale. Nor will I cry over an extra quarter a box, or whatever it was.

That, actually, is another reason I like using the self checkout - nobody argues with it. Too many times I've been in line behind some old lady at the register complaining that her prunes scanned at $3.99 when the flyer in the paper said they were $3.79, forcing everyone behind her to wait a good 5-10 minutes while the cashier goes and gets the manager to handle things so the lady can save 20 cents. This sort of shit never happened growing up in Connecticut. It happens all the goddamned time in Queens. (yeah, yeah, I know, the average household income where I grew up was much higher than it is where I now live, but still!)

[Scott5114]

The quantity cap is so people don't go crazy Extreme Couponer on them and buy the whole stock out because it's on sale. Not only do they not have any in stock for anyone else then, it defeats the point of the sale, since part of the reason for putting certain items on sale is to get to you into the store so you might buy non-sale items, and perhaps to try that brand if you haven't before(hoping to earn your loyalty to that brand even when it's not on sale). The store might actually end up losing money without the cap, since the sale price might be at or below cost.

[NJRoadfan]

I have never seen this or the "1 or 2 cost the same" implementation. I have, however, seen plenty of cases where something is advertised as "2 for $5.00", and it's $3.99 if you only buy one, rather than $5.00 or $2.50.

Its all marketing. People think they have to buy Y of item to get the "$X.XX for Y" price. That is not the case unless the price tag is specifically marked "Must buy Y for sale price". The local Shop-Rite does this all the time in their weekly sale circular. For example, I have bought one unit of an item marked "3 for $10.00" and only paid $3.33 many times.

[Scott5114]

In that case, you actually get charged a penny more if you buy three.

[1995hoo]

At the store where we shop, "buy one get one free" means exactly that (no discount if you just buy one), but "two for $6.00" means if you buy one you pay $3.00.

There's a sign by the self-scanner telling people to scan both items in the BOGOF situation. It's for inventory control purposes. Makes sense to me.

[leroys73]

So when I pass through NJ this summer on my motorcycle and stop for fuel I have to let some careless gasoline pumping technician either spill and/or dribble gasoline all over my painted tank and let it run down on my seat or maybe engine?  

BTW I bet NJ has a certification requirement for this position.  College credit?  Also the pump will shut off at about half full on my MC.  Oh, I have two tanks will I have to get into line again to fill the second one or is a second tank illegal in NJ?

[corco]

One of the biggest lies out there about flat plates is that they increase visibility. 

Wait, somebody argued that? The Idaho sheriffs came out publicly against the lack of visibility when Idaho switched to flat plates (making some of the most beautiful plates in the country some of the ugliest)- and it's definitely true. I can typically read an embossed Idaho plate from twice as far as a flat Idaho plate.

[agentsteel53]

Its all marketing. People think they have to buy Y of item to get the "$X.XX for Y" price. That is not the case unless the price tag is specifically marked "Must buy Y for sale price". The local Shop-Rite does this all the time in their weekly sale circular. For example, I have bought one unit of an item marked "3 for $10.00" and only paid $3.33 many times.

in some places this is the way it is, but not universally.  I have heard that in Ohio it is like that by state law. in California, it definitely isn't, because I see plenty of items which are sold as "$3.19, two for $4.99". 

(Red Bull, btw, seems to be that price in just about every convenience store in the state.)

[kphoger]

Also the pump will shut off at about half full on my MC.

Right there's your real headache.

[hm insulators]

So, if you work as a fuel attendant in NJ, are you allowed to fill up your own car? If so, do you have to be actually on duty and at your actual workplace to do so? What credentials are required?

That almost sounds like a favorite rhetorical question of mine: "If a fire station catches fire, who do they call?"

[andrewkbrown]

That almost sounds like a favorite rhetorical question of mine: "If a fire station catches fire, who do they call?"

Mine actually had a small fire in the kitchen once while we were away from the station. Hearing your own firehouse's address being dispatched over the radio sure is interesting.