Gas caps

[signalman]

The Taurus/Sable from 1986-2007 had it on the passenger side

All years and generations of the Taurus have been on the right side.  Even the Ford 500 that was made for a few years in place of the Taurus filled on the right.

[signalman]

didn't have the check recipient, signature, and other static fields filled out before you got to the register?  5%

I usually get stuck behind the one asshole in the county who still pays for groceries with a check.  They will wait until every item and coupon is scanned, then the woman (it's always an older woman) will unload the entire contents of her purse out onto the conveyor belt to find her check book.  They then need to ask the cashier to borrow a pen.  The cashier often doesn't have one since the need for one is almost nonexistent because everything is electronic nowadays.  They finally get a pen from another cashier and the woman begins to fill out the check after asking for the amount owed 3 or 4 times.  Then she will turn around and ask me the date.  I once took a line from Al Bundy, "I don't know, lady.  Look at the date on your milk and add one.  Hurry it up, my fucking ice cream is melting!"  She then had the nerve to look at me as if I were the asshole.  I've made it a policy to not queue in line behind an old woman.  If it isn't miss check writer, it's coupon queen instead.

[Duke87]

As the actual cost of electronic transactions is negligible, the government should just abolish price differentials between cash and credit/debit transactions.  Same goes for ATM fees.  It may be called a "fee", but it's no different than price gouging.

it should be done in reverse. 

credit card?  free
pay cash and make someone have to count it?  1%
{...}

time is money, people.

Small businesses in and around NYC usually prefer that their customers pay in cash, because when you pay in cash the owner will likely put it in his pocket and not report it on his taxes. Can't do that with credit card transactions because they leave a digital record trail. I've even had people explicitly tell me "yes, I can take your credit card, but I'm going to have to charge you sales tax if you pay that way".

As for split cash/credit pricing on gasoline, good luck finding a station on Long Island that doesn't do it. It's a way of life out there. In the five boroughs it is common but not universal. Head north out of the city and you pretty quickly stop seeing it. It is interesting how there is such drastic regional variation on this practice within the same state. I assume that Long Island reached some tipping point where so many stations were doing it that you'd lose more money than you gained by not doing it, and that Long Island's geographic isolation helped this occur as well as helped prevent it from spreading.

[oscar]

Small businesses in and around NYC usually prefer that their customers pay in cash, because when you pay in cash the owner will likely put it in his pocket and not report it on his taxes. Can't do that with credit card transactions because they leave a digital record trail. I've even had people explicitly tell me "yes, I can take your credit card, but I'm going to have to charge you sales tax if you pay that way".

Arco gas stations in California and some other western states generally don't take credit cards either.  They do take debit cards, though.  What they're trying to avoid is not the paper trail, but rather the fees charged by the credit card companies (so by cutting out the fees, they can charge lower prices).  Or so they say.  At least they don't give you a hard time about giving change on a $50 or $100 bill, so long as you fill up your gas tank before coming back inside to get your change.

I've been to a few other gas stations in remote places where the owner pressed me to pay in cash, without explicitly refusing to take my credit card.  I did not force the issue with them, since I wasn't sure I could make it to the next gas stations along my route. 

[Scott5114]

I know its first come first serve, but some people can and will be anal about it.  Having the long hose would be the best option at least at wholesale clubs or at least one way driveways with enforcement.  The Sams in Kissimmee, FL has one way driveways in and out, but I have seen plenty times where someone pulls in the wrong way and of course the station attendant does nothing to stop them just as cashiers in supermarkets do nothing about people ignoring the 10 item or less sign at the check out.

What causes this behavior is an edict from management that no customer shall be turned away from the register even if they have 91 items, because then you get people whining to corporate about how they had A Bad Experience and I'll Never Shop Here Again By Which I Mean Tomorrow, and people arguing that since they have two of something it should count as one item, and so on.

You get something similar with gas pumps because no matter who ends up with the pump, a sale is being made either way. It's not worth the station's time to step in and risk pissing someone off. Personally, I avoid stations that are that busy. I'd rather pay a few cents extra than deal with getting in a fight because of something stupid like a gas pump.

[hbelkins]

Re: ATM fees -- check to see if your bank is a member of the Alliance One network. Both my local bank and my credit union are Alliance One members. That means fee-free ATM transactions. I can withdraw money from my credit union (based in Frankfort) locally at my bank's ATM without incurring any fees.

[vdeane]

The cashier often doesn't have one since the need for one is almost nonexistent because everything is electronic nowadays.

Not even for having credit card customers paying over $50 sign their receipt?

[corco]

The cashier often doesn't have one since the need for one is almost nonexistent because everything is electronic nowadays.

Not even for having credit card customers paying over $50 sign their receipt?

I haven't signed a paper receipt at a grocery store in a few years now- the signature is usually done by one of those digital pens in the credit card machine. Even the local IGAs around here have you sign the credit card machine instead of a paper receipt.

[vdeane]

The cashier often doesn't have one since the need for one is almost nonexistent because everything is electronic nowadays.

Not even for having credit card customers paying over $50 sign their receipt?

I haven't signed a paper receipt at a grocery store in a few years now- the signature is usually done by one of those digital pens in the credit card machine. Even the local IGAs around here have you sign the credit card machine instead of a paper receipt.

I don't think I've seen a Price Chopper/Market Bistro (Price Chopper's attempt to ensure Wegmans never expands to Albany) with one outside of the pharmacy (though Market Bistro might have them at the eateries, the Starbucks, or the doctor's office).

[1995hoo]

The cashier often doesn't have one since the need for one is almost nonexistent because everything is electronic nowadays.

Not even for having credit card customers paying over $50 sign their receipt?

I haven't signed a paper receipt at a grocery store in a few years now- the signature is usually done by one of those digital pens in the credit card machine. Even the local IGAs around here have you sign the credit card machine instead of a paper receipt.

Apparently the companies that supply the equipment to capture the signatures charge a fee based on how many signatures you capture (this based on information from my brother when he worked at a computer store that had you sign the paper slip). Evidently that's one reason why some stores still use paper.

The grocery store I usually visit has the electronic things corco mentions in the self-checkout lanes, but in the manned lanes you sign the paper slip. Weird.

My wife and I are planning a trip to Rome. I need to ask American Express whether I can get a chip-and-PIN card. (I'm also interested in trying out Apple Pay next month when it debuts.)

[JREwing78]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but most vehicles have some kind of indicator on the fuel gauge telling you which side the filler is located on. Of course, the people who have trouble remembering which side the filler is on probably won't remember that either.

[DaBigE]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but most vehicles have some kind of indicator on the fuel gauge telling you which side the filler is located on. Of course, the people who have trouble remembering which side the filler is on probably won't remember that either.

Actually, it was...back on post #4

[Duke87]

I've made it a policy to not queue in line behind an old woman.  If it isn't miss check writer, it's coupon queen instead.

In my experience the common old lady grocery store offense is arguing over the price of an item because it was 20 cents cheaper in the circular in the newspaper.

This is one reason of several why I always use the self checkout. Old ladies won't touch it. Even still, I used to often have a problem where I'd find myself behind someone (non-elderly) at the self checkout who had trouble figuring out how to get items to scan. But interestingly, this seems to have stopped happening - I guess self-checkouts have been around long enough now that you no longer encounter people using them who are noobs at doing so.

[signalman]

The cashier often doesn't have one since the need for one is almost nonexistent because everything is electronic nowadays.

Not even for having credit card customers paying over $50 sign their receipt?

I haven't signed a paper receipt at a grocery store in a few years now- the signature is usually done by one of those digital pens in the credit card machine. Even the local IGAs around here have you sign the credit card machine instead of a paper receipt.

The electronic signature pads is what I was making reference to.  Thanks for clarifying that for me, corco.  There are places around that you still have to sign the paper receipt; I work at one.  But most large retailers have the electronic signature pads.

[signalman]

I've made it a policy to not queue in line behind an old woman.  If it isn't miss check writer, it's coupon queen instead.

In my experience the common old lady grocery store offense is arguing over the price of an item because it was 20 cents cheaper in the circular in the newspaper.

This is one reason of several why I always use the self checkout. Old ladies won't touch it. Even still, I used to often have a problem where I'd find myself behind someone (non-elderly) at the self checkout who had trouble figuring out how to get items to scan. But interestingly, this seems to have stopped happening - I guess self-checkouts have been around long enough now that you no longer encounter people using them who are noobs at doing so.

I forgot to mention the ones arguing over 20 cents.  I even once gave a lady a quarter just so she'd stop her complaining and get out of my way.  "Here miss, here's a quarter.  I have more important things to do today than wait behind you haggling over small change."

In regards to self checkout, I will use it when it's available.  I prefer doing things myself and the impersonal approach when at all possible.  Unfortunately at the two places that I buy groceries they do not have it.  I'm assuming it's because of produce since it has to be weighed or charged by the piece. 

[kj3400]

I've made it a policy to not queue in line behind an old woman.  If it isn't miss check writer, it's coupon queen instead.

In my experience the common old lady grocery store offense is arguing over the price of an item because it was 20 cents cheaper in the circular in the newspaper.

This is one reason of several why I always use the self checkout. Old ladies won't touch it. Even still, I used to often have a problem where I'd find myself behind someone (non-elderly) at the self checkout who had trouble figuring out how to get items to scan. But interestingly, this seems to have stopped happening - I guess self-checkouts have been around long enough now that you no longer encounter people using them who are noobs at doing so.

I forgot to mention the ones arguing over 20 cents.  I even once gave a lady a quarter just so she'd stop her complaining and get out of my way.  "Here miss, here's a quarter.  I have more important things to do today than wait behind you haggling over small change."

In regards to self checkout, I will use it when it's available.  I prefer doing things myself and the impersonal approach when at all possible.  Unfortunately at the two places that I buy groceries they do not have it.  I'm assuming it's because of produce since it has to be weighed or charged by the piece. 

Interesting, because the grocery store I go (Shoppers) to lets you weigh the produce on the self checkout lanes yourself, so that can't be the case.

[signalman]

Interesting, because the grocery store I go (Shoppers) to lets you weigh the produce on the self checkout lanes yourself, so that can't be the case.

Hmm, good point.  Now that I think about it, I've seen it available at other grocery stores in other areas.  I guess the two local stores don't want to offer it for reasons that don't seem obvious to me.  One cannot buy alcohol at a grocery store in NJ either, so checking IDs for alcohol purchases isn't a concern either.

[US81]

I know its first come first serve, but some people can and will be anal about it.  Having the long hose would be the best option at least at wholesale clubs or at least one way driveways with enforcement.  The Sams in Kissimmee, FL has one way driveways in and out, but I have seen plenty times where someone pulls in the wrong way and of course the station attendant does nothing to stop them just as cashiers in supermarkets do nothing about people ignoring the 10 item or less sign at the check out.

What causes this behavior is an edict from management that no customer shall be turned away from the register even if they have 91 items, because then you get people whining to corporate about how they had A Bad Experience and I'll Never Shop Here Again By Which I Mean Tomorrow, and people arguing that since they have two of something it should count as one item, and so on.

You get something similar with gas pumps because no matter who ends up with the pump, a sale is being made either way. It's not worth the station's time to step in and risk pissing someone off. Personally, I avoid stations that are that busy. I'd rather pay a few cents extra than deal with getting in a fight because of something stupid like a gas pump.

The store I go to lets customers slide up to about 50% over the limit, ie about 15 items in the "10 or fewer" line and so on.  Past that, during high volume hours (evenings and weekends), the cashier can flag some sort of supervisor who "helps" the offending customer by claiming that the specific register won't handle the number of groceries the customer wants to check out but that the store staff can help them over in one of the regular lines. The supervisor remains very apologetic, helps to cart the groceries over to an appropriate register, etc. I've seen it happen several times, these folks are very smooth and it sure looks like they manage to avoid insulting the overladen customer while winning over the rest of us.

[mhh]

This is one reason of several why I always use the self checkout. Old ladies won't touch it. Even still, I used to often have a problem where I'd find myself behind someone (non-elderly) at the self checkout who had trouble figuring out how to get items to scan. But interestingly, this seems to have stopped happening - I guess self-checkouts have been around long enough now that you no longer encounter people using them who are noobs at doing so.

In my area the old ladies use the self-checkout, but since they have no clue about how to use it they end up getting full service from the attendant, resulting in knowledgeable customers with legitimate requests for help not being able to get it.

A few months ago I experienced a self-checkout delay when the customer in front of me accidentally scanned the same item twice. When she asked for help, the attendant, who was busy counting paper clips, responded "It'll be awhile; I'm busy," then she went back to counting paper clips. When I tried to speak to the manager later by phone, he didn't care. A week later, at the same store, the attendant (a different one this time) closed a self-checkout machine and put up an "out of order" sign, even though there was no apparent problem. A few minutes later an off-duty employee bypassed the long line of customers (including me) and went to the "out of order" machine; the attendant then removed the sign – the attendant had reserved the machine for the employee! Again, the manager didn't care. I reported these incidents to corporate headquarters. I was told that the regional manager would get in touch with me, but I've heard nothing. Thanks, Meijer! 

[cjk374]

Some cars from the '70s had the gas tank access literally behind the rear license plate, which was on a spring-loaded hinge.

Yep, my '79 Olds Cutlass did.

So does my '83 Grand Prix.

[Duke87]

Now that I think about it, I've seen it available at other grocery stores in other areas.  I guess the two local stores don't want to offer it for reasons that don't seem obvious to me.  One cannot buy alcohol at a grocery store in NJ either, so checking IDs for alcohol purchases isn't a concern either.

I've purchased alcohol at a self-checkout. The way it works is the system flags it and the attendant has to come over to check your ID before you can proceed from scanning to paying.

The thing about self-checkout is that it is a significant capital investment to install it. A lot of stores that don't have it probably don't have it because they haven't had the money to spend on it or the desire to spend money on it.
Also, in cases where the store workers are unionized, that can be an obstacle as well since it cuts a few jobs. Although, the store I go to has a set of self-checkout machines despite being a union shop, so it can be done.

[Darkchylde]

The whole cap thing's weird, but I guess I've been lucky.

My Festiva, Civic, Regal and Sentra all had the gas caps on the driver's side, as does my girlfriend's Explorer. It really does make things so much easier.

I think my old Monte Carlo was a center fill (1976 model, 2 door), but I'm not sure. I never actually got to drive it. (Broken transmission.)

My Silverado had them on both sides ('85 model, dual tanks), but only the passenger one actually worked (tank switching toggle was broken), and a friend's Taurus that I ride in a lot also has the cap on the passenger side. All of my hate for having to cross the car like that.

[Laura]

Now if only all vehicle manufacturers would put their gas caps on the same sides of cars. If I'm driving my wife's vehicle, I always pull in to the pump the wrong way because her gas intake is on the passenger's side and the ones on my car and my truck are on the driver's side.

I don't necessarily know if that's a bad thing. I have one car (an RX-7) with the gas cap on the passenger side. At crowded stations it often means I get to the pump more quickly because some people don't want to approach from the other direction or don't want to do a three-point turn to back up to the pump, so I just go around them and pull up to a right-side pump.

Not to get too far OT, but this. You double the throughput of a gas station by having 50% on the right and 50% on the left. Matters less at your neighborhood station, but matters a lot on a freeway rest area where everyone has to point the same way.

I can't comment on gas stations at rest areas because I avoid them like the plague, but this does not work for "neighborhood" stations. Since many more cars have the tank on the left side, they will pull into the station and take up all of the pumps facing the convenience store first, then will drive around at the end of the pumps and take up all of the pumps facing the road, causing a left side gas tank monopoly.

I know this because I have only ever owned cars with right side gas tanks (two Chevy cavaliers). Half the time I have to rush to back into a pump, which is incredibly annoying, and ruins the flow of traffic. (And then there's some left side dumbass pulled in front of me so that I have to parallel my way out of the spot!) If all had pumps were on the left, then an actual traffic pattern could be created and enforced at gas stations.


iPhone

[1995hoo]

Interesting, because the grocery store I go (Shoppers) to lets you weigh the produce on the self checkout lanes yourself, so that can't be the case.

The one I usually patronize (Giant) does that as well. But they also have something better, a system I first saw at Wegmans: They have digital scales throughout the produce area that let you weigh the item and print out a barcoded label to stick on the plastic bag. It saves time at the checkout regardless of whether you use the self-scanner gun, the self-checkout lane, or a manned lane. For some reason, though, a lot of people simply refuse to use those scales. I'd rather generate the label myself because I'll know I entered the correct item code and got the correct price, whereas it's less easy to remain on top of that sort of thing when the cashier is punching in four-digit codes. Plus invariably the cashier winds up looking for a code at some point.

Now that I think about it, I've seen it available at other grocery stores in other areas.  I guess the two local stores don't want to offer it for reasons that don't seem obvious to me.  One cannot buy alcohol at a grocery store in NJ either, so checking IDs for alcohol purchases isn't a concern either.

I've purchased alcohol at a self-checkout. The way it works is the system flags it and the attendant has to come over to check your ID before you can proceed from scanning to paying.

....

Same here. I regularly buy beer or wine at the self-checkout lane using the self-scanner gun I described earlier. The system lets me do everything except finalize payment; before I can do that, an employee has to come over and tell it I'm over age 21 (I think I've been carded one time at that store....funny thing is, though, at age 41 I've been carded more times since turning 40 than I was in all of my 30s combined).



I find it interesting to look at the different self-checkout systems and to see their pluses and minuses. Giant and BJ's Wholesale Club have the self-checkout lanes configured pretty similarly to the manned lanes in terms of there being a conveyor belt leading to a bagging area. After you scan your item you have to place it on the belt (unless you used the self-scanner gun) and it passes a sensor sort of thing to confirm you put it on the belt. Some other stores, such as Harris Teeter and Safeway and Home Depot, have a metal "bagging area" that acts as a scale to detect when you put the item there. What I don't like about that system is that if you bring your own reusable bag or cardboard box, the system often balks when you put the bag in the bagging area–it detects an "unknown item" and shuts down your lane until the cashier can override it. Pain in the arse. It works better, I've found, if you scan your first item and place it in the bag as you set the bag in the bagging area. (All the more reason why I prefer the self-scan gun, but Giant is the only store that has that. They also have an iPhone app that will do the scanning, but I tried it and didn't like it.)

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but most vehicles have some kind of indicator on the fuel gauge telling you which side the filler is located on. Of course, the people who have trouble remembering which side the filler is on probably won't remember that either.

It's funny, I don't think I've ever driven a car, including rentals, that had any such indicator. I have seen very prominent "DIESEL" indicators on the fuel gauge on rental cars I drove in the UK, but that's quite understandable.

I find it hard to fathom why people who drive just a single car on a regular basis have trouble remembering where the fuel filler door is. I can understand why you might forget if you regularly switch between cars having it on the other side and you have to fill them up reasonably often (example: my father's car has it on the left, my mother's on the right, and my father drives both cars fairly often and tends to forget Mom's Volvo has it on the other side because all his cars dating back at least to 1982 have had it on the left). But if you always drive the same car and fill it up regularly, I can't understand why it wouldn't become second-nature to know where it is. Sort of like light switches at home: I don't have to look for them and I don't have any trouble finding them in the dark because after 13 years I know where they are.

[PHLBOS]

Some cars from the '70s had the gas tank access literally behind the rear license plate, which was on a spring-loaded hinge.

Yep, my '79 Olds Cutlass did.

So does my '83 Grand Prix.

No surprise there, the Olds Cutlass & Pontiac Grand Prix shared the same platform during those model years.

GM's full & mid-size RWD coupes & sedans from the 60s onward had the center-located gas cap with the spring-hinged license plate door.  The last mid-sizes to offer such were the 1988 Chevy Monte Carlo & Olds Cutlass Supreme Classic.  As previously stated, GM's full-size sedans offered such through 1996.

All GM RWD station wagons had the fuel door on the driver's side.

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but most vehicles have some kind of indicator on the fuel gauge telling you which side the filler is located on. Of course, the people who have trouble remembering which side the filler is on probably won't remember that either.

It's funny, I don't think I've ever driven a car, including rentals, that had any such indicator. I have seen very prominent "DIESEL" indicators on the fuel gauge on rental cars I drove in the UK, but that's quite understandable.

Vehicles sold in the U.S., regardless of make & model at least among domestic brands, have had such fuel door marking indicators near the fuel gauge since the 1990s.