Mildly Infuriating

I HATE this if I am PAYING for a product then I shouldn't get a god damn ad.

You sound tired. You should try Lipton 'pick me up' teabags. A refreshing way to soothe the soul. Available now at most retailers. /s

Ads are like a gas (the physics kind). They expand to take up all available space.

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 never see ads when pumping gas because all the gas stations that have ads that play on their pumps have been ~~vandalized~~ improved so the screens don't work lol

The entire US is a lesson on the consequences of barely-regulated rampant capitalism.

I’m from a US state where we don’t pump our own gas.

You can just say New Jersey. After Oregon lifted its ban in 2023, it's the only one left!

One of the side buttons mutes it. It varies though as far as I know.

Or… hear me out here … we could weaponize them. Most of them are operated by a company called GSTV who sell the ad slots. They could be purchased by activist groups to un-brainwash people who can’t mute them. They could read banned books out loud. Teach science. Explain what’s wrong with the electoral college.

GSTV also offers very precise targeting at specific zip codes or stations. So you could play an ad at your local station about whatever stupid thing your HOA is trying to do.

Good god... Worst I've seen so far here in Canada (granted I'm on an island stuck 20 years behind everyone else) was the pump screen flashing to show a loyalty program like AirMiles or PC Optimum or something and none of them have audio.

Lol, imagine thinking you're allowed a momentary reprieve from advertising in this hellscape of a world we've built.

I could almost stomach the ads if they weren't blasted at max volume; it's like being assaulted at the pump. I feel sorry for anyone who lives in proximity of those stations and have to hear this crap at all hours.

Typically the button on the right, second from the top mutes. It depends on the model, but it works on some.

The US never stop to amaze me

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).

The local one doesn't play ads. They get my business for it. I live in a not so good place. I've had weapons pulled on me several times. The ads make me jumpy.

Get an EV. Charge at home. Watch YouTube ads while you wait.

I'm boycotting Valero because of it. None of the gas stations around me seem to do it, it's just them. So fuck them.

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.

Second button from the top on the right will mute the ad.

The button second from the top on the right hand side of the screen is the mute button(usually).

If I can't mute them (usually one of the unlabeled buttons on the right), I'll go to another station. I really hate those. God damn Cheddar TV or whatever. Fucking Maria Menounos, ugh.

They're loud as hell too. Makes me want to put a shishkabob skewer through either my eardrum or the speaker. That my be an exaggeration, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that I actively the avoid gas stations in my city that have this "feature".

In my neck of the woods, gas station owners have sharpies which of the 10 buttons is the mute button.

So as soon as the ad plays you just press mute.

It is God awful though.

Never understood this. Sincerely hope that any place trying out here is shunned.

EVs will hopefully put the tactic out of business forever. 'Plug in and fuck off somewhere else for half an hour' is not a position you can really advertise in.

Unless it becomes 'watch ad to enable charger' 😬

I'm from Washington and occasionally drive in Oregon, which is one of those states.

1. welcome to like ten years ago?

2. yes it's awful. Everything is awful.

3. you can mute them or turn down their volumes. The buttons are there so you can press them.

4. if it's not on the pump: yeah that's truly evil.

5. late stage capitalism, in some cases, is still capitalism. You could tell the station worker or owner you don't like that and it's bad. But good luck with them not spitting in your face in return.

6. do you live under a rock? Are you so isolated somehow that the GAS STATION is your only exposure to this bullshit? Tell me your secrets, I need that level of peace in my life.

Well, sure, but not on our gas pumps. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines and movies and at ball games, on buses and milk cartons and T-shirts and bananas and written on the sky. But not on gas pumps. No, sir-ee!

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.

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.