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’s a mute button that sometimes functions doesn’t make me less infuriated
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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.
I’m from a US state where we don’t pump our own gas.
New Jersey or Oregon?
Oregon can pump their own gas now. it’s the worst and i hate it.
Grab a screwdriver and stab the shit out of the speaker, that shuts them up fairly reliably.
But in all seriousness I refuse to go to a gas station with ads on the pumps because fuck that shit. Old gas stations are the way to go (for now).
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.
Do me a favor, when you’ve got a minute, go by a Wawa and grab an Italian hoagie and enjoy it for me? I miss them every day, man. Gas pump ads, shitty gas station hoagies, it’s rough movin across the Sheetz/Wawa line
I will buy 2 and pour one out for you
<3 u a real one
Oh man, do I miss Sheetz and Wawa, especially the fried Mac n cheese, pretzel bun sandwiches, and Hoagie Fest.
They have even been removing the mute where I’m at
The 2nd button down on the right side of the screen mutes it. I always hit it when pumping gas.
We shouldn’t have to OPT OUT of being assaulted. I’m bringing matches.
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
I’d say this is a point for electric cars, but it’s only a matter of time until those start playing ads… And you’re gonna be there for 10-30 minutes…
They’re already putting in ads on the dash screen in Jeeps… I’d imagine electric cars (well, teslas, anyway) are going to start getting grumpy that radio stations and spotify get so much ‘free’ ear time, and start putting in their own ads in the speakers that will play when they feel like it.
I’m scared because I have a huge iPad for a center console.
Is this a euphemism for farting?
One of the unlabeled buttons on the side of the screen should mute it. Whenever I find it, I’ll take a pen or sharpie and mark which one is the mute button for future people who don’t want to be subjected to that shit.
They will just disable the mute buttons. It happens around here all the time, marking them accelerates it.
I now avoid any gas station with immutable ads. But if I am in a pinch. The longest sharpest key on your key ring can slide right in and puncture the speaker, thus solving the issue more permanently.
I HATE this if I am PAYING for a product then I shouldn’t get a god damn ad.
Use ads negatively, it makes ads fun.
See an ad? Pledge to never buy that product. My black book is full of spite.
Unfortunately gas stations don’t actually make much money from selling you fuel. Most of the money is made from the attached convenience stores.
Look at this pedon thinking that he is entitled to dignity
Cute
Paying customers/additional ad revenue
Because you’re not PAYING enough, now go INSIDE and buy some FUCKING BANANAS.
You sound tired. You should try Lipton ‘pick me up’ teabags. A refreshing way to soothe the soul. Available now at most retailers. /s
Sounds like you need Ketchup, packed with natural mellowing agents.
…where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above-average…
You sound like one of them Lake Wobegone types. We don’t cotton to that around here, too uplifting.
Ads are like a gas (the physics kind). They expand to take up all available space.
You said ads, but I think you meant “late stage capitalism”
True. That is the generalization of this rule.
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
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
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.
So, most pump POS used to have a labeled or unlabeled mute button. That has become rare.
So far, I’ve been able to kick all of them into a diagnostic/trouble menu by pressing pairs of keys on each side of the monitor in sequence from the top.
Some of them have a timeout on this screen, but the counter resets when you hit a key.
Passwords can be entered from the keypad, with ok/enter also working. I bet the passwords are the manufacturer default, probably a 5-7 digit number. I was able to find partial training manuals and setup docs from one of the POS vendors but I didn’t find a default password or deeper technical docs for the one brand I looked into.
Fucking ads in my face fucking piss me off.
I just have a rubber handle icepick in my glove box that works wonders on gas station speakers.
Can’t play an ad if there isn’t a speaker.
Very true, and more efficient.
For now, I can mute all that I’ve found, it also looks like the pump has crashed, which is fun.
It quits working, I may adopt your method.
12345 works as a default a surprisingly large amount.
2580 is another one I’ve used with success.
12345 works as a default a surprisingly large amount.
That’s amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!
Why would 2580 be common?
Straight down the centre.
Had an Android tablet that sat in a lost and found for like three years with no claims. Finally decided to mess around with it. After charging it up there was a password screen. Tried 1234. No dice. 2580 and it opened right up.
One of the side buttons mutes it. It varies though as far as I know.
A lot of them have been updated so that no longer works.
I bet a piece of duct tape over the speaker would work. Also, whatever money they are paying the gas stations, they would probably still get that money even if you manually muted the speaker. Really feels like a win win 😀
Hmm, maybe someone could make some stickers with anti-advertising/anti-capitalist slogans on them for the next person to see specifically for this purpose
Or even better, “Join Lemmy, it’s like Reddit with no ads”.
“Your screens should be nicer to you than this one. Join Lemmy!”
“Have you installed Arch yet?”
Unfortunately I’ve found that Lemmy has a more defined “hive mind” so you better make sure you like the same things as the group.
Well fuck. That’s terrible news.
Yep. Most of the time someone has marked it somehow because it’s immensely annoying. That being said, there are a few stations that aren’t able to be muted, so I intentionally make a point to note whatever is being advertised and never buy it.
The speakers are often easy to bust by jamming a key through the slots ☺
Or, you’re holding a nozzle that sprays liquid. Just douse the speaker in gasoline.
Gas pumps live outside. Do you really expect a little liquid to hurt them?
A match afterwards might help… better obscure your face, license plate, and use cash.
I try to only get gas at one specific local gas station that doesn’t do ads.
Ever came across something you really really wanted to buy, but it was “noted”?
If you absolutely need it, then get it used or other method to where the original manufacturer who paid for the ad doesn’t profit, duh.
I don’t think I want to buy used hotdogs
Aye, get your used hotdogs for free straight from the source!
That’s no longer a universal thing.
The gas station I prefer has a mute button labeled on the pumps. Their ads are also less annoying because it’s mostly just promos for stuff in store.
