Thanks, pinniped....
'Bout time somebody introduced some common sense into the discourse. Although we in the US are not really playing "tit for tat" with those dastardly "chippers and pinners" across the waters, I have noticed the inconvenience of my US cards not working at some Uropean automated vending devices.

The "inside the store swipe" may be inconvenient to traveling Canadians, wandering Zipcodeless about the US, but even we, Zipcodes and all, may encounter similar a**backward" inconvenience in our travels here.

Last week, I had to fill up in the tiny hamlet of New Ulm, Texas, one ancient "station" and domino parlor, two old style "no card at all" pumps, where I had to leave my CC in the hands of the teenage clerk, while I filled my monstrous SUV's maw, ever a'gape for gas. At least I didn't have to hand pump gas up into an old glass cylinder a'top the pump..... (And I didn't need to ask for the key to the "restroom" out back. There was no door.)

And as a foreign visitor I would expect this. We used to have cards issued by SAMBA in KSA and went through this when we'd visit the States. It's a pain, but I can't expect every system everywhere to accommodate every possible type of card. Adapt, as we say on active duty, and overcome.

OMG that made me LOL. Poor thing!

Thanks, all, for your comments. Some really good thoughts here.

I will try some of the tips I've seen here.

00000 and 99999 don't work on my cards; glad that some people have got it to work. Perhaps they work for foreigners whose credit card companies do not store data in a field called "ZIP", so any data will work.

I have learned that the world is a big, complicated place, and when things don't go my way it's not necessarily because someone was out to get me. (Who knew?)

Around here the gas stations are well aware that that not all of their customers are American. There is a label on the pump that says something like this:

"Your zip code will be requested. If your card was issued in foreign country, please see the agent inside."

^

...they do not accept US CC's for pay at the pump, just like the problem the OP is having with his Canadian CC at US stations.
Trust me, I have a US CC for my corporate card and its a pain in the bum especially in winter.

I have just found this discussion having been linked from another thread. As a Canadian travelling in FL a lot I can say that it has been an inconveneince, especially with a rental car. The only options were to leave the card behind the counter or to guess how much you wanted in order to pay before pumping.
I belatedly became aware that if I prepaid more than I wanted I could get a refund, as this information was never volunteered by any of the gas stations I went to. I used to leave my card, with a lot of discomfort I might add, until I was a victim of a cloned card. Instead I now prepay my gas with the rental company so it's less of a concern.

Ironically I arrived at that solution due to a different issue iun Victoria BC when I couldn't find a gas station open in the early morning near the airport.

As for US travellers in Canada I accept that you can't necessarily pay at the pump but you can still pump gas without prepaying, at least everywhere I have driven in Western Canada. In the US I can't even get gas without prepaying. with the problems listed before in many other posts. I have never successfully tried the false Zipcode thing but as I said it's a non issue now for myself at least.

I wasn't aware of the problems that US travellers had in Europe without a PIN and chip combo until I read this on another discussion. I can see it being an issue with automated machines with no attendant etc but when in the UK and Holland recently ( as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia) I never had a problem with swiping my Amex which doesn't have a chip. My chipped Visa worked everywhere.

For future reference the Chevron in Sidney is open 24h. You have to drive to the next highway exit though.

Keep in mind that we Americans have schlepped in to the gas station attendants to pay for most of our lives (until ~1997 or so when pay at the pump became nearly universal, some stations were earlier). We survived. Pay at the pump is convenient, but not essential.

If you crave pay at the pump, the best thing to do is to ask your issuer for a zip code or at least tell you what to do. Or stay in Oregon or New Jersey where all gas is sold full serve.

US gas stations will go to EMV chip and pin eventually, but don't expect it in the next five years.

I think people are missing the point that irritates people, including myself till found my work around. It is nothing to do with paying at the pump or not, although that has become the catalyst for the discussion. It is about having to prepay. Admittedly this is no problem unless you are having to fill a rental car tank to the brim, or need to fill a tank generally ( i.e. on a long road trip).At present you have to either know ahead of time how much gas you will need or you need to deposit your CC with the attendant ( where who knows what happens to it). When our US cousins come here, however, although they too can schlepp inside to pay they only need do so AFTER they have pumped and have selected how much gas they need. And they never have to leave their CC out of sight.

Thanks.^^

As I said I prepay now and it's a lot easier but I spent 30 minutes or more before a drop off with my Tom Tom finding gas stations only to find them all closed LOL.

You have to pre-pay either way. If you pay at the pump, it authorizes your credit card for a certain pre-determined amount, usually $75. If you go inside, it is the same process, only you get to choose the amount. If you do not use the full amount you authorized, you are charged the correct amount and the hold falls off your credit card after a few days. This is the same process that happens at hotels or restaurants, when they authorize your card first and then determine the exact amount later (due to tips or incidental charges).

So all you really have to do is go inside and tell the cashier an amount that is more than what you will need but less than the available credit on your card. This should not be too difficult to do unless you are running close to your limit, which you shouldn't be. I'm not sure why this is such an issue.

Until reading these threads I was under the impression that if I "guessed" I needed $50 but only needed $30 the gas station would get to keep the $20. At no time did any single attendant anywhere tell me that I could come back in again and reverse my previous billing to get a $20 credit.

As I said it's a none issue for me now but obviously is for a lot of visitors to the US.

BTW if you pump and then pay inside in Canada you are not prepaying one cent. You pump first and then pay. No hold on your card, just trust that you actually will go in and pay. The issue and the only issue when south of the border ( and only in the US )is being forced to leave my CC card behind the counter, which happened every single time in the US if I wanted to "fill her up".

I can tell you why no attendant ever told you that the station wouldn't keep the "extra" from your charge - because pre-paying with a CC is so common in the US (it was done that way for many years before pay at the pump came along) that it simply never occurs to the clerks that someone would pre-pay and not know that they don't have to leave behind money for gas they didn't get.

It's rather like going to a restaurant and never being told that you can pay with cash. It's so common, nobody would ever assume that you don't know you can pay with cash.