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…

    • Rolando@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      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.

      • 4am
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        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?

          • Baku@aussie.zone
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            7 months ago

            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

        • colforge@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          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.

      • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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        7 months ago

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

    • Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

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

    • heysoundude@derpzilla.net
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      7 months ago

      Costco has no ads for the time being, and I can’t see it going with ads because they can only slow the sale of gasoline that people already line up for after paying to access the ability to buy it.

  • DdCno1@kbin.social
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    7 months ago

    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.

    • Thorny_Insight
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      7 months ago

      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.

        • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          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@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        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.

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            7 months ago

            Huh. I never thought of them as that big or widespread. Might be that it’s not very big here in the south.

            • Thorny_Insight
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              7 months ago

              Well yeah they aren’t but visiting their store in my home town is the closest thing to visiting Wal-Mart that I can think of. Even the customers look like rednecks.

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      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.

    • letsgo
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      7 months ago

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

    • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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      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@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      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.

      • intensely_human
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        7 months ago

        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
      • Yaztromo@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        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@sopuli.xyz
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          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.

          • Yaztromo@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            First — stop giving them ideas! 🤣

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

            • siipale@sopuli.xyz
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              7 months ago

              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.

  • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    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@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

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

      • BearOfaTime
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        7 months ago

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

        • fsxylo@sh.itjust.works
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          Yup. The “free” market says that if everyone does the same shit, you have no choice, and they still make more money.

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

            • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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              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.

              • BearOfaTime
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                7 months ago

                And that ad revenue is probably significant. While consumers of commodities don’t really have much selection.

    • Dramaking37@lemmy.world
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      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.

  • Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    "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

  • Lexam@lemmy.ca
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    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!

      • frunch@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

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

        • 4am
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          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@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

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

      • Promethiel@lemmy.world
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        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?

      • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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        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@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        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.

    • BillDaCatt@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

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

      • catloaf
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        7 months ago

        You shouldn’t be buying from Shell anyway given their history of human rights violations around the world. And in the more recent decades, their fight against eco-friendliness.

        Of course all oil companies are shit, but for now it’s a necessary evil, and some are worse than others.

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      7 months ago

      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@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

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

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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      Its always the one gas station that is a little run down and is the common place for violent crime

  • Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    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
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      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@lemmy.world
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        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@lemmy.ml
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          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.

      • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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        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.

      • ProfessorProteus@lemmy.world
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        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.

  • 4am
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    7 months ago

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

    • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      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.)

      • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        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@lemmy.ca
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          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.

        • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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          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.)

  • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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    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.

      • Billegh@lemmy.world
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        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-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          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.

    • Ech
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      7 months ago

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

        • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social
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          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
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            I feel like there’s very few people who could design and build their own brain implant chip. Even in the far future

            • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social
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              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
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                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@lemmy.kde.social
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                  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@lemmy.world
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            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@lemmy.kde.social
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              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.

    • JonEFive@midwest.social
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      7 months ago

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

        • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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          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@lemmy.sdf.org
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    I avoid those stations i know have ads, and if surprised… i’m happy to know of the hidden mute button.

      • intensely_human
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        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.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    7 months ago

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

  • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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    One of my most upvoted comments on here is saying I should be legally allowed to smash those screens if they play ads.

    I don’t need advertisements shoved in my face every second of every day.