At the gas pump
While at the gas pump the other day, an idea came to me… Why don’t gas pumps save your settings? Here is the typical pump experience (some may be in a different order but still the same):
- Insert Credit Card (Who pays with cash these days?)
- Select pay with credit ( I have no idea what my PIN is these days either…)
- Select cheapest octane of gas
- Pump Gas
- When done pumping gas, select Yes for the receipt (I keep track of gas/mileage/mpg)
- Take receipt
So there are a few steps that could be automated by the gas pump and the gas station… Why doesn’t the gas pump know my preferred settings? They should know what octane of gas I use, that I pay with credit, and that I always want a receipt… This is very simple to implement assuming all of the gas pumps are networked and even if they are not, each pump can remember your settings individually… A simple, secure way to store the settings would be to store some kind of hash of the person’s name grabbed from the credit card and/or a combination of name and credit card number (or part of the credit card number for even more security in case the hash turns out to not be secure). Interaction with the pump of the future should go something like this:
- Swipe Credit Card
- Pump Gas
- Take Receipt
Fast, simple, painless. That is how it should be… I shouldn’t have to waste a couple minutes selecting information that is just repeated each time I use the gas pump… The stored information should be available across all gas stations ideally, but even if it is just the same chain of gas stations that would not be so bad… Of course your preferred settings should easily be changed in case you buy a new car, have a rental car, or for some other reason you need to change the octane of gas, pay with cash, or you do/don’t want that receipt…
Anyways, I doubt we will see this anytime soon but just an idea which may be already implemented in some of the newest gas pumps…
Continue your holiday feast.
J!
Good point, better yet, take out the swipe card. But you should look into getting a patent on this idea so you can do it when your not under tech’s control.
Exxon Mobil does something similar to this whole idea through their credit card… it’s called a Speed Pass and the only think it doesn’t do that you would want it to do is select the fuel grade.
Instead of swiping, you just press your Speed Pass against a pad, it automatically charges your credit card and automatically prints a receipt.
Of course, the Speed Pass is only through their chain of stores and not universal.
I knew about the speed pass but I didnt know it took care of the receipt part…
That is definitely a step in the right direction…
A lot of major credit cards now have the ability to just “tap and go” as I believe MC says… would like to see that used with this application…