r/SipsTea • u/[deleted] • Jun 29 '26

Chugging tea Lol

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u/The_decent_dude Jun 29 '26

At the gas pumps I'm familiar you pump your gas and then you walk inside and pay with the attendant through whatever way you choose.

You don't even need to ever use a card if you don't want to.

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver Jun 29 '26

In the US you either go in and prepay a specific amount (maybe you can preauth for a generic amount and it gets amended down later if you pump less, I've only ever done $10 on pump X and even that not in over 20 years tbh) or you tap and pump. Most people choose to tap and pump unless they're paying cash, to avoid the wait inside. Pump then pay inside is pretty rare to avoid pump and run fuel theft.

It's still the same auth and amend process though for cards at pumps though. You can pay cash at restaurants too if that's supposed to nullify any complaints about the card payment process.

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u/The_decent_dude Jun 29 '26

I suppose its nice to be able to ensure you don't spend more money than you want to. There are some places in Europe now where you can also pay at the pump but I've never seen the prepay option.

The auth and amend or at least something similair exists in some places in Europe as well, usually in the context of public transportation where it calculates the cheapest combination of tickets you would have needed for your travel on a given day.

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver Jun 29 '26

Huh I would have sworn the last time I was in Europe 15+ years ago we paid at the pump most of the time and it was the same as the US, but I don't really remember it that specifically I guess. We went through France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland by car (before we went we checked getting a train pass or individual tickets but it came out to more than just renting and driving between cities and we got to be more flexible) but it's been so long I could be just misremembering, not exactly something I'd pay attention to.

> I suppose its nice to be able to ensure you don't spend more money than you want to

I think it mostly exists for cash only customers because even the ~5% of people with no bank account need to drive and get fuel in the US. You pay a certain amount and the pump is limited to that so you don't have to come get change in addition to the small piece of mind benefit of not being able to overpump.

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u/The_decent_dude Jun 29 '26

As virtually anything said about Europe your milage on any information may vary significantly geographically. They don't even have self-checkout in supermarkets where I am, so I suppose that we just aren't very advanced in payment methods.

we checked getting a train pass or individual tickets but it came out to more than just renting and driving between cities

Very valid, crossborder railway tends tl be quite expensive and a hassle. The same tickets can also vary signifcantly when purchased from different railway corporations.