Or you could get decked out in khaki, buy a Safari-style Camel Trophy edition Land Rover, and carry three weeks’ worth of gas strapped to the roof.

The moustache is optional.

For us poor college folk, prepaying is an easy way of paying for gas if you only have a fixed amount of money that you can spend. So I would say that I’m in favor of keeping prepaying.

Fujitsu, a large electronics conglomerate, manufactures the U-Scan system which Kroger uses in its grocery stores. Gas station systems are a different animal, and for pure reasons of space, would be a poor place to install an ATM like device that accepts and dispenses cash. Less filling units could be deployed in the same pad.

However, just like there are special pumps for diesel fuels, it might make sense to have a couple cash pumps. Enclosed in some sort of concrete barrier.

And so I come full circle, or 180, or something like that. Still, what’s the problem with paying for gas with a debit card? You have a job? Pay checks get deposited in your account, right? You pay for your hosting with a credit/debit card, I imagine. What’s another expense like… gas, then?

You pay cash at a terminal and then select your pump and it stops pumping when whatever you paid is used up. I don’t know what happens if you put too much money in there, with the ridiculously high prices for gas I never had that happen.

I think there are certainly measures that could be undertaken to prevent theft; moreover, I feel like whatever expense goes into creating a system like this would be justified by the savings that would come from eliminating drive-offs. I used to work in the convenience store industry, and I can say (with confidence) that if you could solve the drive-off problem, you would be the undisputed hero of the industry.