Question about "Pay at the Pump"

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jaywood1207

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Joined
Jun 18, 2006
Messages
811
Location
Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
Thursday and Friday I headed down to Kentucky for a business meeting. Once over the border I stopped to get some gas at a pay at the pump place. I inserted my card and then was asked for my zip code. Being from Canada we don't have zip codes and it wouldn't accept my postal code. I tried the zip code of the place I was going but it wouldn't accept it so I'm assuming the zip code you enter must match the the address for your card. Long story short I had to go into the attendant, leave my card with her and then go back out and pump my gas. On top of this they sent out an employee who I thought was waiting for a ride but after a few minutes I figured out he was sent out to watch me which was confirmed when I finished pumping because he followed me into the store and went back to work. I didn't think I looked that suspicious but maybe I do. Needless to say I was quite irritated by the whole experience and felt like a criminal with the way they treated me.

Now for my question. Why do you have to put a zip code in for the pump to work on a pay at the pump? I'm sure this place (TA truck stop) which is in Monroe Michigan right on 75 gets a lot of Canadian traffic. Seems to defeat the purpose for a pay at the pump. I asked the attendant and she complained about it as well but couldn't answer the question. Is it just for security to make sure the card isn't stolen or is there another reason?
 
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My credit card company sent out a flyer with the bills a while back -- the zip code needs to match the billing address zip code -- supposed to avoid scams where the card codes can get skimmed, but cannot be used without the billing number zip code.

You are probably stuck with either working out something with your credit card company for codes, or to use pay at the window.
 
In the US most merchant accounts have safety measures to cut back on the fraud. When ever we process a credit card our system requires us to enter in a house number and a zip code. When it is done processing we get a code saying YY or NN or NY or YN. The first Y or N tell us if the card billing address matches the card number used. The second Y or N tells us if the billing zip code matches the card used. When we process any international cards we just enter nothing for the house number and the zip code as international addresses are not supported in US systems.

While I can fully understand your frustrations and the way you felt, imagine if your card had been stolen and someone was trying to use it. This could potentially stop any fraud, return your card and incarcerate the person trying to use it.
 
i ran into this problem in florida in a rental car... the guy inside said "well, how much does it cost to fill it, ill charge your card that amount..." being a rental i had no idea how much it would cost to fill it... kind of a problem when the rental company needs to you take the car back full... i eventually found a place where a lot of snowbirds go and they would let me pump before i paid... certainly not like back home... ;)

--Dave
 
KenV said:
My credit card company sent out a flyer with the bills a while back -- the zip code needs to match the billing address zip code -- supposed to avoid scams where the card codes can get skimmed, but cannot be used without the billing number zip code.

You are probably stuck with either working out something with your credit card company for codes, or to use pay at the window.
Click to expand...

Before credit cards, no one even thought twice, it's just what everyone did. Then had to go back inside to get your change (if there was any).

Today with rfid scanners fraud is getting worse. Holidays coming up, activity will increase 100X. There are a lot of people out there just waiting to get a chance to scam people.

It's just to protect you from the hassles of getting your account cleaned out and them from the loss of the money.
 
I understand the security aspect but quite honestly me paying inside with the card really wouldn't have stopped me using a stolen card if it was becuase they didn't check ID or anything. Just swiped it and away I went.
 
Not all cards

I have not been asked for it locally here in DE so all cards don't require it yet.

I don't know if my web site asks for it or not because I don't handle anything manually. I do know it requires the billing address to match the card.
 
The square credit card system also requires a zip when running the card manually instead of swiped. Security is the reason. The goos thing is, square recognizes international zips anode works fine with them
 
Most of the time if I run it as credit it asks for zip code. Run as debit and it hardly ever asks. What part of Ky did you go to?
 
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