(My apologies if repeated elsewhere. Mods, feel free to move this.)


Nearly all gas stations I visit in the US require the credit card holder to type in their zip code on the keypad at the pump.

I'm from Canada. I don't have a zip code. It's impossible for me to buy gas in the US without the good graces of a clerk to manually override it. Occasionally, I have to leave a pile of cash as a deposit and go back to the pump.

These pumps are everywhere in the US, including locations just south of the Canadian border. I assume they're just north of the Mexican border, too.

Each year, about 20 million Canadians visit the US; that's over half the population. And even if American gas station owners don't like our currency (currently at par), when we pay by credit card, we pay in US dollars.

I have so many questions:

• Why does the entire US gas station industry assume that 100% of their customers are Americans?
• Does every gas station owner not want my business?
• Who should I be angry at: service station owners? chains?
• Are there some chains that don't have these machines?
• Is there a workaround or magic 5-digit override code I can use?
• If I tell my Canadian CC issuer to send me statements electronically, so they don't actually have to mail me anything, can I change my postal code to a (fake) 5-digit zip code, just to appease these machines?