On Jul 3, 12:26*pm, David of Broadway
wrote:

In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
security measure. *However, the machines are generally intelligent enough
to skip that step for non-US-based cards.

That's not my experience at gas stations in California. I've always
been asked for a zip code whenever I've tried to pay at the pump,
despite having a UK card.

It's a real pain having to leave my card with the cashier (or pre-pay
a fixed amount) before I can fill up.

PaulO

In message
, at
05:48:39 on Thu, 3 Jul 2008, Paul Oter
remarked:
In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
security measure. *However, the machines are generally intelligent enough
to skip that step for non-US-based cards.

That's not my experience at gas stations in California. I've always
been asked for a zip code whenever I've tried to pay at the pump,
despite having a UK card.

It's a real pain having to leave my card with the cashier (or pre-pay
a fixed amount) before I can fill up.

There are plenty of gas stations in the USA where all customers have to
do that. And not recently, either - I was caught out like that in Las
Vegas 20 years ago.
--
Roland Perry

David of Broadway wrote in
:

In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as
a security measure. However, the machines are generally intelligent
enough to skip that step for non-US-based cards.

In my experience, in the last couple of years they have lost that
intelligence if they ever had it. Petrol/gas station pumps in particular
demand zip codes from me, as does an automated system I use by phone
(though I have found it will accept 11111).

Many US websites won't accept that anyone lives outside the US, so I
usually place London in Wyoming as it comes last on the list and could do
with a few more people in it. However, a quick Google shows that someone
is selling a house in 'London, Wyoming' which turns out to be in Ontario,
Canada so maybe I should choose another state next time.

PeterCS

---
pjcs00 [hosted by] gmail [full stop] com

On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:48:39 -0700, Paul Oter wrote:

On Jul 3, 12:26Â*pm, David of Broadway
wrote:

In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
security measure. Â*However, the machines are generally intelligent
enough to skip that step for non-US-based cards.

That's not my experience at gas stations in California. I've always been
asked for a zip code whenever I've tried to pay at the pump, despite
having a UK card.

I stand corrected.

It's a real pain having to leave my card with the cashier (or pre-pay a
fixed amount) before I can fill up.

Indeed, but an inconvenient option is better than none. As I've posted
in the past, I almost got stranded at Edgware in 2006 because the ticket
office was closed and the machine wouldn't accept my credit card. And
when someone exiting the station handed me his Travelcard to try to get
me out of my bind, the agent at the gate refused to accept it, since
apparently Travelcards aren't transferable. (Here in New York, unlimited
MetroCards are transferable, as long as they're only in use by one person
at a time.)

(In the end, I did have cash, but I prefer to charge whenever possible,
especially while traveling, so I wasn't thrilled. If I hadn't had enough
cash to get me through the gates, I wonder if the agent would have
ultimately relented.)
--
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA