Fuck ads at the gas pump

Idk if this is the right instance for this, but how fucking tired of these forced ads at gas pumps is everyone else?

I'm paying 4 bucks a gallon to have you shove advertising down my throat like an erect cock?

What the actual fuck

Anyone have any good ad blocking practices for this?

I've seen duct or painters tape covering the speakers...

You can press a button next to the screen to mute it, but this doesn't work at all gas stations. (Usually its the 2nd from the top on the right side)

I guess its just time to gettoblast music every time I pump gas like back when I was 19....

Vanth ,
@Vanth@reddthat.com avatar

The next step is having to wait for the ad to complete before the gas will pump. "Premium" gas station membership for a fee will provide an ad-free experience, for now, but eventually it will come with ads too.

uberdroog ,
@uberdroog@lemmy.world avatar

I am pretty sure this already happened to me. Had to wait before prompted to enter payment. :(

Frozengyro ,

The one thing that would push people to electric. At least then you can charge at home and avoid gas stations.

Steve ,

Discounted electric rates on your ad-supported charging plug…

refurbishedrefurbisher ,

Don't worry; they'll just start playing ads in the car itself before you are able to shift gears to drive.

Rolando ,

One time I put in my card, but the pump couldn't show me an ad because it crashed. My card was stuck in the pump. The guys inside tried resetting the pump but that didn't work, so they said it'd be a week before someone came around to fix it. I had to cancel the card and get a new number. All because I couldn't watch the ads.

pdxfed ,

I hope you paid them for the lost ad revenue you caused them to suffer.

4am ,

I’ve never seen a pump that took a card inside it like an ATM; did you mean the transaction was stuck or the physical card?

colforge ,

I’ve been to many a pump that instructs you to insert and leave your card, then ‘latches’ onto the card once you’ve inserted it, locking it into place until the authorization for the transaction is complete. I’ve seen them in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

refurbishedrefurbisher ,

I've seen a lot of those. The card gets physically stuck until the machine decides that the payment is completed.

Baku ,
@Baku@aussie.zone avatar

I've never seen one in Australia. We don't really prepay for petrol here. Some servos in the dodgiest suburbs do make you between certain hours, but I've never seen one that makes everybody always prepay or one that actually takes your card. Most of the time you'd go inside to prepay anyways, but on the few pumps I've seen that do have card payments on the physical pump it's either tap or swipe, no insert, and no holding cards hostage

Quexotic ,

Pliers woulda worked (from experience).
I always keep a pair handy for this and other more practical reasons.

Steve ,

Stahp

TheOneAndOnly ,

Shhhh! Don't give them fucking ideas!

Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

And then once enough people buy the premium membership they'll start putting ads on those, too.

DdCno1 ,

This is one of those American absurdities that thankfully hasn't made its way over to Europe yet, at least to my knowledge. I hope I have an electric car by the point they start introducing these here.

SlopppyEngineer ,

Oh yes they tried. The damn thing scared me when that ad started playing. I haven't been back at that station again. Some other stations do have ads playing but those are silent, so I guess they do learn customers don't like the loud ads.

DdCno1 ,

Huh, I guess living in a small town with gas stations that have had the exact same pumps for many decades has its perks.

SlopppyEngineer ,

Yeah, I've only seen these near big cities and major highways.

MutilationWave ,

They're all over West Virginia which is pretty much nothing but small towns.

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Find the old gas station

Thorny_Insight ,

In Finland our equivalence to Wal-Mart also sells cheap gas and they have ads on their pumps advertising their own products but it's just on the display and there's no sound with it.

nokturne213 ,
@nokturne213@sopuli.xyz avatar

That is how it started here. Then they got loud.

NegativeInf ,

And now when I get gas I gotta listen to them hawk some shitty podcast from a washed up morning host. No! I don't want to know about Hoda Kotb, I just want gas!

Pwnmode ,

Would be nice if the gas was less expensive at the stores with ads. At least that's not the case in my area. 5 min down the road the same company has pumps without ads for the same price.

CosmicTurtle ,

You'd think it should be less expensive.

But then you're not thinking of increasing shareholder value.

How dare you!

AtariDump ,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/89757e63-a0a3-4a27-988d-5e1ddd435673.jpeg

letsgo ,

We've got some in the UK, like this one at the Shell petrol station at S60 5ND (pic from Oogle Gearth)

https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/0ee21d2c-7bc2-4bcd-8e1c-3beea88b1532.webp

AtariDump ,

Is that a scale so you can weigh your gas?

intensely_human ,

“Place your GASOLINE in the tank”

AtariDump ,

Took me a minute but when I heard it I can’t unhear it.

Taleya ,

A shell in Australia is the only place i've seen this as well. They will not be getting our custom.

Swedneck ,
@Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

get an e-bike :)

NikkiDimes , (edited )

I've been driving an EV for a few years, but I flew out of state and had to rent a car recently. I'd never experienced this before then. It was one of the most dystopian experiences ever, leaving me feeling dirty and used.

I don't think I could keep myself from vandalizing those things if I had to do that constantly.

shadycomposer ,

Why do you think charging stations will be immune? Plus with all the ‘smart’ ‘connected’ cars it’s not impossible for them to push ads directly to your car.

Yaztromo ,

EV charging doesn’t require you to stand around for 5 minutes holding a handle to fuel up. The charging times are longer, but once plugged in your need to stay anywhere near the vehicle is zero. And plugging in usually takes less than 5s.

So even if someone came up with a system whereby they expected you to watch an ad before the power would flow, you could always just plug in and walk away. How are they going to know you’re physically there?

As an EV driver I haven’t been to a gas station since I started driving it, but AFAIK this advertising hasn’t come to Canada — and hopefully it never does.

siipale ,

So even if someone came up with a system whereby they expected you to watch an ad before the power would flow, you could always just plug in and walk away. How are they going to know you’re physically there?

How about a button located near the ad screen and speaker that you have to hold like at least 80% of ad duration. If you failed to reach 80% it would reset to 0 and show you another ad so you can try again.

intensely_human ,

You’re hired!

Yaztromo ,

First — stop giving them ideas! 🤣

Second, a small rock and some tape would likely defeat that.

siipale ,

The idea I had was just so ridiculously evil I just had to teil about it 😄

If you think about it the rock and tape hack can be easily prevented, but I'm not going to elaborate any further as to not give them more ideas.

intensely_human ,

What sucks about charging stations is they don’t have:

  • trash cans
  • squeegees to clean my windshield
  • a portico to keep the rain off my head
  • a little convenience store with coffee and snacks
Sphks ,
@Sphks@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

There are some of these pumps in France. It infuriates me. The sound is horrible.

zaph ,
@zaph@sh.itjust.works avatar

Anyone have any good ad blocking practices for this?

Don't buy gas from places that do this. Hasn't failed me yet and if more people did it maybe they'll stop.

Blum0108 ,

They'd just blame millennials for ruining buying gas and double down on the ads.

BearOfaTime ,

More that I don't know of a single gas station without ads

fsxylo ,

Yup. The "free" market says that if everyone does the same shit, you have no choice, and they still make more money.

intensely_human ,

If a company’s being smart, deviating from the universal enshittification will earn them market share.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

They will get the market share of us few weirdos who haven't just accepted this shit. They will lose out on advertising revenue, have to charge more for gas, and will go out of business.

Dramaking37 ,

As you are able I'd highly recommend going electric. Then you don't even have to go to gas stations. If you're able to charge at home (which I'm aware many are not) it's even better because anytime you leave the house you can have a full tank.

intensely_human ,

I have an electric car and the result is a loss of 20% of my income in the form of time spent twiddling my thumbs while the thinks slowly accumulates charge.

xionzui ,

What job do you do where you can only charge it during work hours, yet the 30 minutes it takes to charge account for 20% of that work time?

Dramaking37 ,

A made up job!

Lexam , (edited )

The ones here, you can't mute. Pisses me off so bad I will refuse to back to a gas station. I have even pulled up seen the ads on another pump and drove off. I'm not a fucking captive! Congrats on losing money greedy fucks!

Speculater ,
@Speculater@lemmy.world avatar

Push and hold the left and right top buttons to put it in maintenance mode. You can do everything normally, but no sound.

frunch ,

Does this work universally or is there a particular station you frequent that it works at?

4am ,

Depends on the model of pump. Some of them you push one of the unlabeled buttons a few times (my local Shell it’s the 2nd one down on the right)

airportline ,
@airportline@lemmy.ml avatar

Are there any potential repercussions for sticking a utility knife into the speaker grill?

Promethiel , (edited )
@Promethiel@lemmy.world avatar

Mild electric shock and a vandalism charge if caught. Worth it? I don't know but I'm getting sick of the fucking ads

Edit: So stab then pump, instead of the other way around to avoid boom boom?

refurbishedrefurbisher ,

Most gas stations are monitored with cameras (often times with facial recognition), so they will be able to see your face and license plate, then charge you with vandalism.

AtariDump ,

In another thread someone said they carry a sharpie marker with them and label the button(s) you need to press to mute the audio for future people.

qwertilliopasd ,
@qwertilliopasd@lemmy.world avatar

I also always have a sharpie on me and often use it to fix the missing labels on these pumps.

aberrate_junior_beatnik ,

I avoid gas stations that have ads. There's a chain where I live that doesn't do them, so they get all my business.

BillDaCatt ,

I do this too. Speedway and Shell play video ads on their pumps with no obvious mute options. I don't buy gas there.

henfredemars ,

I wish I could do this. There are none left in my area and I’m not drilling and refining my own gas.

eager_eagle ,
@eager_eagle@lemmy.world avatar

good time to switch to organic, gluten-free, vegan, open source, self-hosted and family-grown biomass fuel

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Its always the one gas station that is a little run down and is the common place for violent crime

Ultragigagigantic ,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs."

– Banksy

Ultragigagigantic ,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

Interested in a Adam Curtis video on the merger of psychology, marketing, and politics?

interdimensionalmeme ,

That's why my hobby is firing infrared lasers at soviet early launch warning satellites.

Mostly_Gristle ,

I wish advertisers would realize that forcing me to watch their ad against my will makes me actively hostile against their brand and/or product. If I remember their brand name from an intrusive ad I will not only not buy their products, I will go out of my way to give my money to their competitors.

Thorny_Insight ,

Advertising is among the most studied psychological phenomenoms in the world. It's not so much about getting you to buy their product but more about you remembering the brand. Ads work. That why they're everywhere.

Sure I can name several brands that I'm not buying from either because of their ads.. ..but I remember the brands.

micka190 ,

Whenever someone brings this up, someone also brings up the fact that ads are proven to work in general not on everyone. So I guess it's my turn today.

jkrtn ,

Yes, but in the context of whether or not to be scumbags about the gas pump they only care about the aggregate behavior. "I wish they would realize I make a mental note to never buy," they do, tho. They don't care because it convinces two or more other people to buy. Ads will continue getting worse because none of us will do collective action about it.

ProfessorProteus ,
@ProfessorProteus@lemmy.world avatar

I've also cone to realize that this is the real purpose of ads.

Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world, you have the right idea, but the other key thing you should remember is to never talk about the corps to anyone, even if you're dragging their name through the mud. "No such thing as bad press," as they say.

It's good to denounce the practice, but it seems naming and shaming specific companies just doesn't work anymore at this stage.

Mycatiskai ,

I likely wouldn't buy a diamond ring but I most certainly not buy one from a certain diamond store that has fucking annoying ads. They know who they are and if you are in Lower Mainland of BC, you know who I'm talking about. They can blow and choke on a red hot cock shaped metal rod. I'm glad I moved so far north that I won't get any ads for them ever again.

NoIWontPickAName ,

Diamonds are scammed by Debeers anyway

4am ,

Second button down on the right side of the screen, press it (up to) 4 times and it mutes that shit

thedirtyknapkin ,

stopped working for me like 2 years ago

Bonesince1997 ,

Ohhh maybe it's the multiple presses that are needed

annoyedcamel ,

I was just pressing every button once without success.

remotelove ,

Since we are sharing...

Holding down 1-5-9 or 3-5-7 can drop a POS card reader into debug mode, but it's brand dependent. (I have had it also crash the host terminals in some cases as well.)

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

Because why just hack it as much as you need to when you can go all the way? AMIRITE?

remotelove , (edited )

It serves a niché function in some situations. (Physical pen testing, in my case. I needed the person at the register gone in one case so I could setup a small network tap.)

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

Physical pen testing

was it really pen testing or just pen..ing😏

JonEFive ,

The only difference is who pays you to do it 😁

BaumGeist ,

also want to say that this is illegal in most places. The store may or may not press charges, but they have the right to and they will win that case if they do. So only do it if you know you can get away with it or have permission or don't mind having the stain on your legal record and whatever fine they hit you with

remotelove ,

It's not destructive, nor can it really be considered illegal access. I suppose there is something illegal about it if it's classified as a DoS, I guess. There isn't much on a payment PED aside from an encryption key and maybe some network information.

Entering your PIN and accidentally hitting 3 buttons hardly seems like something to get charged with. How you leverage that for other things could easily be a problem.

All I am saying is that the likelihood of serious repercussion is very low. Still, I have to agree: Only do it with permission and with purpose.

Dupree878 ,

I’ve read that, but it’s never worked for me

DigitalDruid ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    ech ,

    The brain implant will be more like "adplus" of it ever catches on. I guarantee it.

    DigitalDruid ,

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    ulterno ,
    @ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

    I have a feeling that Surgeons will be made to sign contracts instructing them to refuse BYOC (bring/build your own chip) implants.

    Otherwise, just make your own chip. You decide the materials, you decide the process. You decide each and every part (alright, maybe just as much as you can fathom) of the circuit.
    You decide how powerful the feedback is and what functions it provides. So you are not paying for the risk of features other than the ones you want.

    quicksand ,

    I feel like there's very few people who could design and build their own brain implant chip. Even in the far future

    ulterno ,
    @ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

    I feel like if (the de-techification of general public doesn't take place in the future) && (I were to be born in the future); then
    I would probably giving free chip-design customisation services to friends and family, using some open source chip design as a base.

    But then again, there's already a very few number of ppl like me...

    quicksand ,

    It's just not something you can do in your garage these days (or for the past few decades), even if the designs were open sourced. I like your idea and wish there was less concentrated power in chip manufacturing, I just don't think it's very feasible.

    ulterno ,
    @ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

    Well, designing and manufacturing are 2 different things.
    You're right as in we will still have to rely on some Workshop having a million dollar fabrication setup with at least half a dozen experts working, to do the manufacturing part.

    Furthermore, said setup will have to be optimised not for scale (as in workshop mode and not assembly line mode), focusing on getting one-shot success rather than mass-manufacturing and getting yield %ages.
    So, we won't really benefit from things like Intel opening up their fabs, since they still expect a bulk order.

    We still always have FPGAs.
    Just need one with an open source VHDL compiler.

    qwertilliopasd ,
    @qwertilliopasd@lemmy.world avatar

    Surgeons already aren't allowed to put non FDA approved things in you. You would go to a tattoo/piercing shop for that sort of thing.

    ulterno ,
    @ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

    Ooh, that would be hard.
    Now you would have to make sure that the tattoo guy has enough time and drive to put the effort into understanding your custom chip design and know which probe to connect to which neuron.

    small_crow ,
    @small_crow@lemmy.ca avatar

    The version of Neuralink we can afford will be ad supported.

    Klear ,

    I'll just wait until Neuralink gets ReVanced.

    BallsandBayonets ,

    Only at first.

    Then every version will be ad-supported.

    JonEFive ,

    I mean... It's Las Vegas. You don't go to Vegas expecting a vacation experience free from the perverse corruption of money.

    chiliedogg ,

    Most of them the second button down on the right is mute, though I've been running into some recently that disabled the mute.

    Anyway, I sharpie a "mute" next to the button on stations where it isn't labeled for other people. It's one bit of graffiti that I'm not at all conflicted about.

    RGB3x3 ,

    This never works for me at any brand gas station. I try it every time.

    bhamlin ,

    I've had the exact opposite experience. Only once has the second button down from the right not worked. But in that instance it was the bottom right button.

    Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
    @Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

    Neither of those work at the gas station nearest my house. In my frustration I began running my fingers up and down the buttons and found that if you press the second from the top on both sides you get into an administrative screen. Pump still works fine and the ad is muted, and it resets when I leave.

    bigFab ,

    Wow, in Europe we haven't reached that gas station modernization stage yet.

    onlinepersona ,

    Hopefully Europe goes the other way and gets rid of cars before petrol stations modernize. Fuck cars.

    Anti Commercial AI thingy

    CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

    the_third ,

    Living in the boonies in Germany: Not going to happen. But whenever I'm in a city, the car usually gets stored in a car park for the time I'm there. Way too annoying compared to public transportation.

    onlinepersona ,

    I think that's the political will that's lacking. I've been to remote towns with good public transport. Switzerland even famously has one place where no private cars are allowed and nobody wants them. As the Germans say "Wo ein Wille ist, ist ein Weg".

    Anti Commercial AI thingy

    CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

    xia ,

    I avoid those stations i know have ads, and if surprised... i'm happy to know of the hidden mute button.

    Squirrel ,
    @Squirrel@thelemmy.club avatar

    Sadly, it doesn't always seem to exist.

    intensely_human ,

    In that case I reward the one that did the thing last.

    For instance, when Safeway removed my ability to mute the self checkout instructions, I stopped shopping there and only went to King Soopers.

    KS decided to also remove the mute option, but I’m still loyal to them because fuck Safeway for moving first on that.

    Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
    @Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

    Voting with your money sounds about as effective at influencing things as actual voting.

    Quexotic ,

    Me too. I let my $$ speak for me.

    Semi_Hemi_Demigod ,
    @Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

    Your money is the squeak of a mouse against the thunderclap of advertising money.

    If they lose a couple weirdos like us but get to sell eyeballs, they'll do it.

    Quexotic ,

    If necessary it'll be active resistance from me.

    toaster ,
    @toaster@slrpnk.net avatar

    I'm just going to leave this here.

    Spaghetti_Hitchens ,

    I was really hoping this was for fuel pumps, but the bus stop ads are great, too.

    Scolding0513 ,

    A gentleman and a scholar

    some_guy ,

    Late-stage capitalism means this bullshit will keep creeping into every facet of life. I hate it.

    DAMunzy ,

    Come live in NJ. No ads!

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