I’m from a US state where we don’t pump our own gas. Since I don’t pump my own gas regularly - only when I’m out of state - I’m not exactly sure when this happened, but all gas pumps seem to play ads now while the pump runs. At least the states adjacent to mine. Like can I not even pump gas in peace? Stop trying to manipulate my purchasing decisions 24/7.
Edit: ok I get it, there’s a mute button. I appreciate the tip, but people are already reporting that it only sometimes works. Knowing there a mute button that sometimes functions doesn’t make me less infuriated
It started happening a few years ago in my area. Maybe like right before the pandemic?
For a while some of the stations had a hidden option where you could hit one of the unmarked selection buttons and it would at least mute the ads. But starting around the end of last year they took that option away.
The only stations I know of that don’t show ads are Costco (and I assume Sam’s Club too, but idk). Plus they have slight discounts on gas because they are member only. But my local Costco station is such a headache to get through these days - even at around 9pm after the main store closes - that I not just go to a local Shell or Valero and resentfully try to ignore the fucking ads that always play.
It’s crazy how there are just more and more reasons popping up to go to Costco (e.g. supporting DEI, infinite return policy). I’m gonna get a membership.
Can one accidentally disable the annoying shilling screen whilst jostling the nozzle toward the intended vehicular orifice?
Press and hold two buttons in each corner. If those don’t work, try the other two. Keep iterating through pressing and holding one button on either side of the screen. Eventually, you will open a diagnostic menu. You can’t do anything here without a passcode, but it will stop the ad.
I’ve only come across a few pumps where I could not figure out the combo before I finished pumping.
Yep. And a lot of the gas stations in my area have the auto-hold latches busted or removed, so you have to stand there and have a super loud ad screamed in your face. Which is why I now have a pack of reusable zip ties in my car that I will slap on the fill handle if I come across a pump like that. And no, that’s not dangerous - the stop mechanism in the pump handle operates such that the handle depresses further when the auto-shutoff engages, so it does not disrupt the safety of the filler mechanism.
I just jam my gas cap in the handle.
I HATE this if I am PAYING for a product then I shouldn’t get a god damn ad.
Unfortunately gas stations don’t actually make much money from selling you fuel. Most of the money is made from the attached convenience stores.
Paying customers/additional ad revenue
Use ads negatively, it makes ads fun.
See an ad? Pledge to never buy that product. My black book is full of spite.
Because you’re not PAYING enough, now go INSIDE and buy some FUCKING BANANAS.
Look at this pedon thinking that he is entitled to dignity
Cute
I never see ads when pumping gas because all the gas stations that have ads that play on their pumps have been
vandalizedimproved so the screens don’t work lolThe entire US is a lesson on the consequences of barely-regulated rampant capitalism.
Weirdly enough the PNW just has normal gas pumps that don’t have screens or sound
I’ve def seen them in Seattle
Circle K here in Burien just outside of Seattle,WA has them.
Lol, imagine thinking you’re allowed a momentary reprieve from advertising in this hellscape of a world we’ve built.
The US never stop to amaze me
They’ve stopped using exposed speaker grilles so you can’t shove a screw driver into the speakers anymore :(
Ad blaring pumps are in Canada too. Shell is the most obnoxious.
Is gas less expensive compared to pumps where they don’t do that?
Nope!
Bahahahahahahaha!
No.
Almost two decades ago, I worked at a network service provider who had as a customer a company that provided the technology for serving those gas pump ads.
At each gas station they had a VSAT, a router and of course the digital signage boxes on each pump.
They fed the ads to thousands of pumps via a single T1 to HughesNet in Atlanta. They’d multicast the ads, and have a local cache at each pump that would receive the stream, cache it and serve it.
It was one of the most elegant setups I’ve ever seen, and should serve as a case study in multicast for efficient bandwidth utilization across an expensive data transmission medium.
I could almost stomach the ads if they weren’t blasted at max volume; it’s like being assaulted at the pump. I feel sorry for anyone who lives in proximity of those stations and have to hear this crap at all hours.
Most have a mute option it’s hidden but every one I have seen has a mute button… You might have to press some random button… Pro tip have a sharpie so you can label said mute button
They used to, not so much anymore. Most of them I’ve been to (I travel A LOT for work) no longer mute at all no matter which button you press.
The new ones I’ve seen still do… Maybe it’s the area but even the newer touch screen ones allow you to turn the volume all the way down
I wonder if that could be considered an ADA violation since some autistic folks may be overwhelmed by the super sudden and loud noise?
Typically the button on the right, second from the top mutes. It depends on the model, but it works on some.
I have like a 70% success rate with this trick
When the 2nd from the top on the right doesn’t work I proceed to hit all of them. Normally that works
There’s one near my house, and it has no mute button whatsoever. No buttons at all, in fact. You tap your card to the reader, then lift the pump of whichever variety you need, and that moment the ads start. With sound on full blast as well.
I’ve left a negative google review and make sure to update it monthly so that it stays on top, and drive to another station quite a bit further off just to avoid this crapshoot.
The 2nd button down on the right side of the screen mutes it. I always hit it when pumping gas.
I’ve seen a couple where someone had torn out the speaker with a pen, car key, etc
A well placed sticker does the trick.
This doesn’t always work. Every gas station I’ve been to in North Carolina appears to have this feature disabled.
NC here and I haven’t found one this didn’t work on. Maybe the button is broken from people rage pushing it? :D
We shouldn’t have to OPT OUT of being assaulted. I’m bringing matches.
Ads are like a gas (the physics kind). They expand to take up all available space.
And that’s why vandalism to destroy them is ethical.
Please don’t do this
It won’t end well for you. A better option is a boycott
I default to having a meltdown, smashing the screen, yelling “where is the goddamn mute button”.
Is this unhinged, yes. But if we all did it, they would eventually get the message.
Really though, I mostly get gas at Costco cuz it’s cheaper and they don’t do that shit.
If you can’t boycott, maybe some noise canceling headphones to wear while you pump, and Instead of looking at the screen, wash your windows, and dump all your car trash into their bins.
An even better option is to use a credit card and only get 10¢ of gas.
I think the credit card frees are now a percentage
I like the way you think though
You said ads, but I think you meant “late stage capitalism”
True. That is the generalization of this rule.
They’re loud as hell too. Makes me want to put a shishkabob skewer through either my eardrum or the speaker. That my be an exaggeration, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that I actively the avoid gas stations in my city that have this “feature”.
The buttons around the screen should mute it. It’s usually the 3rd one down on the right of the screen. You can also use the lower ADA buttons.
I’ve tried them all and in the last year or so, none of worked anymore. They fixed the glitch.
It was an intentional feature for techs working on the devices.
Many have been updated to make them unmuteable.
The auxiliary mute button is accessed by puncturing the speaker cone.
Like an electronic lobotomy. Insert rod and wiggle around until the offending behaviour ceases.
