Yes, it finally happened here. We now live in a Nanny State. As of Feb 1st 2008, all gas must be bought before pumped. Think about that.

We already had pay-at-the-pump before, for convience, quicker than going in the store to pay.

If you go into the store now, you must pay, for example, $50 but if your car only takes $43 then you have to go BACK into the store to get your change. They are either smart or stupid, whoever passed this LAW. Why? Smart because you go into the store twice and decide the second time that you do really want that chocolate bar, so they make a sale. REALLY REALLY Stupid because now all of us will be pissed off at losing something we took for granted and will Refuse to go into the store and not be bothered with change, so we will all pay-at-the-pump and ALL these "stores" "Gas & Shop's" will never make a sale again. AND if it is true that they only make 2% profit like it says on all the pumps, then they will lose their added revenue from store sales and be forced to close down.

I think I see the big picture...Forcing these stores to close down will free up valuble real estate to build more condo's on, creating less stations to fill up at, making us drive further to fill up, hence using more fuel, so we use more buy more, oil companies make more money, land developers make more money, demo crews make more money, construction crews make more, the economy stays artificially inflated until after the olympics, when it ALL collapses and housing goes down so the wealthy can invest for the long-term after having made all the money possible off of B.C.'s devil may care attitude. It's all part of a bigger plan...we are all just pawns and all the worlds a stage.

Back to smaller issues:

We already had, that you had to pre-pay overnight because of a few violent incidents, which I agree with, as that should've stopped any more violent incidents for gas and dash.

But does this really work? Won't the gas and dash thieves just go in the store first at 2AM with a rifle under their coat and tell the cashier to unlock the pump?

I think the only thing this 24hr LAW is good for, is for tracking the populations gas usage by the individual. Someday they will use their database to determine circumstantionally that this individual has been driving for three years and never bought gas so he/she MUST be a criminal because where could his/her gas have come from otherwise? Without considering that the husband/wife/company/parents always pays for the gas.

sigh, thats a weight of my conscious...thoughts?

 

I think you needed that.Venting is definately a good source to relieve stress.I agree with you.There's not a whole lot I will say on this,but I hope that after the Olympic's the economy doesn't crash.Without us,the blue collar worker,the province is doomed.

 

You sure looked into this deeper then I have.

I think the main fact should be that prepaying will definatly slow down on the gas n dash, hopefully preventing people from getting harmed or killed. I think that the people that have rifles that would go into a gas stationa nd use them, would use them for some criminal act, whether they had to prepay for their fuel or not.

 

I never thought of it in those terms. I was kind of oh ya whatever. Guess I'm a little layed back.

 

under the rules of Grants Law. when working at night, there must always be 2 people on shift, if that is not possible, then the doors are locked, and all transactions go thru a security window. This also applies to 24hr conveince stores, not just service stations. The owners have a 30 day grace period to make the changes, after that apparently the fines are pretty steep..

460, let me ask you a question. IF it was your child that was dragged to his death, would you be apposed to this law....

I know Doug De Patie at a personal level, I knew Grant De Patie from seeing him at his parents house from time to time. He was a great fellow, always helpping people out how ever he could...

Look at the whole picture, instead of your own pockets. If it saves one life, then it is worth it.

 

I think I am looking at the whole picture and extrapolating where all these little chippings away at freedom are leading to.

I never mentioned my pockets(money) at all in what I wrote. I think it is about money for developers(and others) in a roundabout way but it IS about principles of freedom to me(and you all too).

I am %100 in agreement with the overnight part, as that reduces crimes of opportunity.

I oppose it being 24/7 for reasons of freedom.

I forgot to mention how difficult this plan would be to implement at a grocery store, "How much are you pre-spending today sir? $100, $200, we have a special on Tuna-fish running until Thursday."

I use capital letters to emphasize, not to shout,

I fear the "plastic" way of life, where EVERYTHING you do will be recorded on your card or REQUIRE your "Identity" card. I need to have a human in the system, with plastic/digital it would be too easy to screw with identities.

Ever watch a war movie where people are asked for their papers? That is what is slowly happening around the world with the push for "plastic" papers...I don't want to live in "1984" under Big Brother. "Papers" seperate and divide groups of people into "lower than me's", "higher than me's", and "Better Than YOU"

If it was my child.....it is an unpredictable world we live in, drunk drivers, peer pressure drug use, space junk falling from the sky, street racing, elder attacks, lightning, random(?) beatings on Vancouver streets, cars running into houses, bears or cougars on nature walks, all of that. Screw terrorists, we have more immediate things to worry about. Everything in life has risks. I know people working in restaurants, I will not eat out again, ever, for health reasons, from some of the dumps they have worked at, nicest swankiest places with the filthiest of kitchens, but I digress...

All we can do is teach them(children) to THINK, to be aware of their surroundings, to pick their battles, know when to run, know when to help, don't spend more than you earn.....sometimes there are no-win situations that no-one could do different regardless of law(s).

It's like the difference between having your car "alarmed and locked all the time" versus the "glovebox/centreconsole open and doors unlocked all the time" scenario. If the bad person wants to break the car window, he will, if the car is locked or not. I still want the choice to leave my car open or locked. With this 24/7 change, the car is always locked, the store is the car, the pay-before-pump is the lock, and giving up our anonymity/freedom is the key. I like that key, wasn't that what WW1 and WWII were about? I had an ancestor die in WWI and my Grandfather narrowly escaped WWII alive.

 

I think you're being a little paranoid about the Olympics. But there is money to be made, and it isn't by the little guy. Think banks. Swipe your card in the pump is one transaction. Need smokes? Or a drink? Chocolate bar? Swipe your card again. Another transaction, so 2 transactions for ONE GAS STATION VISIT!!! Okay, so you prepay say $100 so you can fill up your truck, then get a drink, smokes, and a chocolate bar. You're only debited what you spend, so only one transaction fee that time. But what if you prepay $80, get $79 worth of gas, and, oh, wait a minute, it's Wednesday, the 6/49 is at 25 million. There's a $2 ticket, plus another buck for the Extra. You're $2 short. You gonna swipe your card for $2 plus? Cause you aren't gonna find that toonie that you just know is in your car somewhere.

Yeah, Grant's Law will save lives, but it will make banks way more money.

 

I dont know who you guys bank with, but I bank with the royal, I pay 12 bucks a month for unlimited usage of my card.

If any person was worried about that they could do the exact same thing and banks wouldnt make a dime from it.

 

I guess cash is always an option.

It's pretty sad that you have to worry about being harmed at work. The world has changed.

 

Specially in the bigger cities.

 

I alway's thought the barter system would be a good way to go.I use it when I can.

 

I usualy got to the shell station here...when they redid their pumps a few years bac the owner was too cheap to set up paying debit at the pump, only credit card...all of the other gas stations in town, you can pay at the pump with the debit card..Ive talked to the ladies at the gas station, and they say even within the first day they noticed less people were coming, directly related to not being able to pay at the pump with your bank card..

I just find it a pain in the *** because i just got a new truck and dont know how much it is to fill, so i keep putting in not enough to fill because i dont want to go over..

I do agree that its anoying having to pay first, but it really doesnt take any less time then paying after you pump

 

In a little while we will all forget why we are doing it and do it without complaint.

 

Thats right, you will conform!

 

EXACTLY! Its that way with a lot of things people do now, that they wouldn't have agreed to do years ago.