I have not found a setup to fuel as inefficient as this gas station. The idea is that you follow these steps:
1. You find an available pump
2. Read the instructions on the screen: "Pay Cashier inside."
3. Go inside and get in line
4. Tell the cashier how much gas you would like to pump
5. You estimate and hand out either the cash or credit card
6. You go back to pump and fuel your tank
7. Come back to get any change if you pump less than you pay in advance
8. Go back to your car and leave.
As it is, this setup is already cumbersome and annoying.
To begin with, there are no clear instructions to establish a flow of traffic on how to enter the pump aisles. With no clear directions to move the traffic in an orderly manner, drivers can go in both directions and obstruct the entry or exit of upcoming traffic.
Then you have the problem of the small screen against the sun. By the time you find out what your next step is, you have already tried to do what you would do at any other pump station: swipe your card, select the gas grad and place the nozzle on your car.
With no gas coming out, you go back to the screen and realize that your next step was not what other businesses do. You are forced to inside. Once inside, you have to get in line, before any of the cashiers can assist you. No signs to direct you on what you need to do inside, either. You go behind other customers who are waiting for other services.
You would think that a cashier would authorize your pump once you hand your card, but there is another step that requires you to estimate how much gas you need. It is not a simple operation, as you may think, especially if you do not know your tank capacity and did not pay attention where you left the gauge. A simple transaction has become a complex operation of guessing. No problem, you are told: just over estimate. Let's say, you only need half the tank, estimate fifty dollars. If you do not need fifty dollars' worth of gas, you can come back for the change. Fine, you overestimate and be done with it.
If only this would make things easier. Even if you go back, pump your gas and come back for change, there is the matter of getting back in line and wait for your turn to get your change. But if you are one of the unfortunate travelers that have the luck of a bad pump, then you have to come back, get in line and request again the authorization. You will be told that you can drive around the pumps and find a different one and go through the whole thing again.
Or you can take your business somewhere else, to the gas station across the highway where you can swipe your card, pump your gas and be on the road again. read more