"Play At The Pump" -- Paying a dollar for the privilege of gambling outside?

[slugline]

http://abc7chicago.com/news/pump-and-pay-buy-lottery-tickets-at-gas-pump-in-calif/272377/

It's like a page from the Ticketmaster playbook: Tack on a "convenience fee" during the purchase of a ticket, except the "convenience" they're selling is saving you the trouble of walking from your car into the store you're parked directly in front of, to go buy a lottery ticket!

Isn't America great?

[AH013]

I don't see this catching on.  After all, any winnings are automatically credited to the credit card used at the pump, but that defeats America's desire to pay the minimum amount every month instead of making real attempts at eliminate consumer debt.

[slugline]

Wow -- I mostly glossed over the part where people are buying the lottery tickets with a credit card. Oh, I foresee lots of happy endings from this. . . .

[DollarsAndDissonance]

What a gift from the generous folks at California Lottery.  "The lottery folks say they're just trying to make things easier for all of us.  'Californians, we have something to do, we are very, very busy people.'"  Wow, they're really making life better for hard-working Californians.  *sheds tear*

I love the ending of the article, too: "But one thing is certain: With gas prices where they are today, it seems as though you've got to win the lottery just to fill up your tank."  Yep, it's just so hard to afford all this fuel, amIright?  *tears off in GMC Yukon Denali XL*

[Dr. A]

I don't see this catching on.  After all, any winnings are automatically credited to the credit card used at the pump, but that defeats America's desire to pay the minimum amount every month instead of making real attempts at eliminate consumer debt.

You're totally right. "Hey man, don't bother with that. My buddy won $10 one time. You don't actually get the money, it just pays down your card balance. What a rip-off!"

[dragoncar]

Wow -- I mostly glossed over the part where people are buying the lottery tickets with a credit card. Oh, I foresee lots of happy endings from this. . . .

This is the bigger story IMO.  I swear it used to be disallowed... once I bought a ticket with some stuff at 7-11 and they had to ring up the ticket separately so I could pay with a $1 bill.

[sheepstache]

I remember when ATMs were first installed at my mom's bank.  The bank encouraged you to use them because it freed up a teller from having to handle a routine transaction.  Fast forward several years later and they had started charging a 5-cent fee to use the machine because of the 'convenience' to you.

I'm surprised the gas stations are on board with this.  I'd think a lot of drivers who play regularly would be drawn into the store to buy the ticket and then pick up other items since they were there anyway.  Maybe the data they have on sales doesn't back that up (e.g., lots of people just buy tickets) or they're betting that people who previously didn't buy tickets will start.

What a gift from the generous folks at California Lottery.  "The lottery folks say they're just trying to make things easier for all of us.  'Californians, we have something to do, we are very, very busy people.'"  Wow, they're really making life better for hard-working Californians.  *sheds tear*

Wow, you weren't kidding that was an actual quote.

[dragoncar]

I remember when ATMs were first installed at my mom's bank.  The bank encouraged you to use them because it freed up a teller from having to handle a routine transaction.  Fast forward several years later and they had started charging a 5-cent fee to use the machine because of the 'convenience' to you.

This crap pisses me off.  My parents live in a gated community that wants to charge $20/year for an RFID tag so I can drive in through an automated gate.  I said no thanks, I'll just drive up to the real human person that they pay hourly to open the gate for me (they have two).  They should be doing everything they can to encourage me to use the automated system.

[Davids]

For a second I thought the topic read Pay the Pimp...

[guitar_stitch]

You can't use a credit card for lottery here in Florida.  At least, you couldn't several years ago.  Been a while since I last paid the tax for people bad at math.

[eyePod]

You can't use a credit card for lottery here in Florida.  At least, you couldn't several years ago.  Been a while since I last paid the tax for people bad at math.

Yeah, but it's always fun once every few years to get into one of those pools.
CW - "What would you do with your money?"
Me - "Pay off my mortgage and my parents mortgage. Then retire."
CW - "But you'd only have 500,000 leftover!!!!"
Me - "But I wouldn't have a mortgage. That's an easy 20+ years right there!"
CW - "You're just too young to understand how expensive everything is."

Me - Bite my tongue when they have tons of cc debt and still go to Disney 3 times a year. And we don't live in Florida...

[seanc0x0]

I love the ending of the article, too: "But one thing is certain: With gas prices where they are today, it seems as though you've got to win the lottery just to fill up your tank."  Yep, it's just so hard to afford all this fuel, amIright?  *tears off in GMC Yukon Denali XL*

I read that as "GMC Yukon Denial XL". Seems fitting. :)