If you want to pay cash at the gas station, chances are you either need to pre-pay or leave some sort of deposit inside before the attendant will even unlock the pump. But a station in Saginaw, MI, is testing a new pump technology called Post-Pay that allows cash-paying customers to unlock the gas pumps with a mere swipe of a driver’s license.

When they’re done fueling the car, drivers can pay for fuel with cash at the station’s register. But, if they “pump and run” without paying, the information captured from the license swipe is transferred to the police.

This could be a nice option for people who don’t know exactly what it’s going to cost to fill up their tank. as Post-Pay eliminates the need for station customers to first pre-pay–say, with $60–to fill up with fuel and then return to the register for change–because they only needed $52.36 for a completely full gas tank.

It’s also been a deterrent to pump-and-runners. In the two months since this technology went into use at one gas station, there has only been one such incident. That’s a huge drop from the 3-4/week that the station was on the hook for before installing the system.

Bob Hohn, president for Paxson Oil Company and inventor of the Post-Pay system says information from a driver’s license can’t be viewed by the cashier in the store and that the data is only recorded if a driver attempts a pump-and-run theft.

So far, the technology–which Hohn has applied for a patent–is being tested only at two gas stations owned by Paxson Oil.

Gas drive-offs drastically reduced with new invention [WJRT-TV ABC12 News]
New pump technology prevents gas theft, lets you pay after pumping [Autoblog]

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