How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981)

Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by Daviey on Sunday October 11, 2020 @06:18AM (#24744821)

In the UK, you can't "latch" it on - for flow, you need to hold the handle down constantly. This means that you are unlikely to drive off with the dispenser still in the car as there is no benefit to the driver to leave it in when they have finished.

It is interesting that it is the same dispenser design used around the world, but the latch is removed in the UK.

However, As a teenager I discovered the wonders of the latch on fuel dispensers on airfields. Then on the road I started using the removable fuel-cap as a wedge to the dispenser. eeeeek!

(Now I use an electric car)

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by nojokes on Sunday October 11, 2020 @11:23AM (#24746395)

Interesting. Similarly in some countries the ATM will return the money first and then the card and in other countries the order is reversed.

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by Daviey on Sunday October 11, 2020 @11:50AM (#24746583)

Yeees. I used to work for Diebold on ATM's, and we had some research that proved that:

  - people want to take out money from the machine
  - once they have their money, the activity is complete

We found that if we provided the card back before the money, they stopped leaving their card in the machine. This is because the 'activity' was taking out money.

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by jimmygrapes on Sunday October 11, 2020 @04:12PM (#24748714)

When chip-enabled cards and ATMs first started making their way to the general public in the U.S. I had a friend who forgot his card 4 times in a single month, the last 3 times just hours after receiving a replacement in the mail. Each time he admitted that once he had the cash, he completely forgot about the card. I'm not sure if the machines beeped back then or not, but for his sake I'm glad this particular UX was adjusted.

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by implements on Sunday October 11, 2020 @09:28AM (#24745614)

You're not the only one - though I completely forgot I used to do that until I read your comment!

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by juahan on Sunday October 11, 2020 @09:41AM (#24745697)

No latch in Finland either.

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by sjwright on Sunday October 11, 2020 @07:33AM (#24745090)

Same in Australia—no latch.

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Re:How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981) by chris1993 on Monday October 12, 2020 @05:52PM (#24759858)

Except some independents still have the latch which means you can fill and wash your windows at the same time.

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