Yeah, it's for security, so the thought of "suing gas stations for discrimination" is ridiculous. Luckily, this idea probably wouldn't occur to most Canadians -- "enterprising" citizens pursuing litigation jackpots despite not being aggrieved in the least is still mainly an American phenomenon.

Gas stations are not the only place. Most e-commerce sites on the internet require complete addresses, including zip codes, to accompany credit card purchases. They seem to authenticate the address based on the numbers in the "address" field -- so if your address is 123 Main Street, or P.O. Box 123, you can type in "123 none of your business street" and it will be accepted. But zip code is usually a required field.

So I have difficulty using a credit card issued in the UAE or Qatar on a U.S.-based merchant's site, as these locales have no zip codes. I just put the number associated with the address (which is a P.O. box, because, at least in Qatar, they don't even have a street addressing system, believe it or not), and any state and a zip code of 00000. That almost always works. Or, some places authenticate that the zip code is a valid match to the city and state, so as long as those are internally consistent, they don't have to match the actual billing address of the card. (This is especially a pain on United Airlines's site -- which does not even have "Qatar" as a valid billing country even though they serve DOH. I use the method described here as a workaround in using a Qatar-issued credit card.) Sorry for the off-topic ramble.

1 i thought canadians were americans, as were mexicans
2 if you are purchasing 10 gal of gas, the owner gets about a buck. who needs you, if the transaction is not smooth. he gets more from the coke you bought
3 most stations are controlled by very large corporations. vent there.
4. many are even worse
5. the real reason for the zip code entry..........there is a time lag between card scan, and approval. the corporations have decided it best to keep you busy.

I visit Canada very often and 90% of the time I have to go in because a "signature is required".

00000 and 99999 work very well with my non-US corporate card. Oddly though, my Puerto Rico cards, which are US cards, have given me issues when I enter the ZIP code. I usually have to go inside to take care of this.

Only honesty people in DC pump their own gas

1) more evidence that cash is king

2) suing the gas station is idiotic unless you have a US work visa and applied for a job there... THEN an actual, real law would apply

True, no doubt, but it is also true, no doubt, that it was not a trivial conversion in those countries (i.e. most of the so-called Western world, at least) that have changed over to chip-and-PIN cards.

I don't think the investment is that big of a deal. Most stores replace their equipment every several years anyway, so if you have an appropriate transition period, it shouldn't cost too much extra. The savings from reduced fraud are likely to pay for the investment.

As a Brit, I've suffered the ignominy of this in the US for 10 years or more.

I have a solution. I type in the only US Zip Code I know - 90210 (from that TV series). It used to work as *all* gas stations.

Now, circa 2012, it works at some. Generally, it depends on the station 'brand'. It never works at am/pm stations. Sorry I can't remember which 'brands' it's currently working on. I guess technically it's the ones which have implemented a policy of not verifying non US codes.

Anyway, as others have mentioned, if my trick doesn't work just pop in and preauthorise an amount - you get refunded if you actually tank less.

Yes it's a pain in the butt.
Adey

You don't need a zip code to get gas. You just need to pay inside. Simple.

No.

A clerk would never have asked for your zip code to make a transaction. If anything, just an ID. Not sure why you spent your time arguing about paying at the pump when in less time the clerk could have completed the transaction.

^

The merchant doesn't pay for fraud, the customer and the credit card companies do. Even if a merchant is replacing it's equipment every several years (which is way too low of an estimate) many of them are buying refurbished equipment that the store down the street just turned in when it bought refurbished equipment and the company cleaned it up, fixed it, and tested it.

For example, an VX510 new is $330 from Staples. It's under $150 refurbished.

Most terminals have a lifespan of about 100,000 hours on them, and are used less than 10,000 hours per year (because there are only 8,760 hours in a year). Barring any compliance related changes that can't be done to the terminal, it should last at least ten to twelve years if it's not abused.

Many gas stations just updated their readers to be PCI complaint in the last couple of years, and the pay at the pump units cost something like $3,000 each. There's no way they will embrace changing all those again any time in the near future for chip and pin.

why all this discussion?? the OP could just walk into the station and pay at the cashier...i don't think i've ever seen an unmanned pump anywhere here in the US. confused as to why "canadians are not welcome"...their cards are accepted at the cashier.

I never lived in Canada, but for both Danish and UK cards, I always just put in my old US zip code (which predates the accounts the cards were for, so could in no way be connected). It always worked...

Well, except some little corner place in a suburb of a not very big place in northern Alabama last winter. But everywhere else I tried, it worked (mostly along the Eastern Seaboard).

DanishFlyer

Didn't know that asking for a zip code was so common. I rarely come across it. I only know of one station in my area that asks for it.

Well, the benefits are likely to be much higher. Billions of dollars are lost every year because of CC fraud and it's very likely that frauds keep increasing in US because of the antiqueted systems...