It depends on the station. I'd imagine Florida has a high rate of drive-offs (people who pump and run without paying) that they have opted for that method of pay first, pump second.

I guess it makes total sense to do it that way.
It was just a shock as it's not something I've ever thought about in the UK!

Everywhere i have been since probably 2003 its been that way.

Pretty much now. Apparently too many places have had problems w/ ppl getting gas and just driving off. It's been awhile since I've seen a gas station that would let you get gas 1st and then go in and pay.

I'm guessing you don't have pay-at-pump petrol then? ;D Here, at some petrol stations (usually the ones at supermarkets) you can just fill your car up with petrol, stick your debit card in the machine at the pump, type in your pin number and off you go.

Oh, which brings me to another point... chip & pin! When we pay for things with debit or credit card we usually type in our pin number. We don't have to sign anymore, but when I was in Canada I found that they're mostly still signing for card payments (one store got me to put my pin in and they said they rarely have customers with cards with chip & pin!).

Oh no no, every gas station (as far as I've seen and know) you can pay at the pump if you have a card. I mean if you wanna pay w/ cash, you have to go inside to pay the cashier. ^___^

Our debit cards you have the option to pay as debit or credit. My family owns a business and we don't do debit: i.e. ppl w/ debit cards have to use the option to pay as credit b/c we don't have a pad for you to put in the pin number. However at big department stores you can choose whether you wanna sign (pay as credit) or punch in your pin number (debit). As for actual credit cards we don't really have ones w/ pin yet unless you're using the credit card to get money out of the ATM.

Really, credit is cheaper? My cousin manages a store here and always makes me run mine as debit because it's cheaper for them, she says! (Though I wouldn't doubt it if she were wrong.. she's the worst kind of blonde xD lol.)

As a business it's easier for us to only have credit. As a consumer you'd wanna always use credit b/c then if someone steals your card, there's fraud protection. W/ debit if someone steals it and uses your number, you're just fucked. I almost always use my debit as a credit card; plus I hate having ppl stand so close to me when I'm punching in my number. XD

But yes, if as a business you have the option to use either debit or credit, the business would always want the consumer to use debit b/c debit is cheaper. So it's vice versa. XD

Texas is the same way with gas cause of the high price and drive offs...but it works just as well since we pay at the pump with our debit card anyways

And here's another difference! I bought some salt'n'vinegar crisps (chips!) and they came in a blue bag!! Over here my salt'n'vinegars come in a green bag! Blue is cheese'n'onion in the UK, yo! At least with Walkers Crisps, which are the only crisps worth having!

And by "over here" I mean, "at home." So not "over here" at all!

green?? blue??? salt and vinegar chips come in pink bags here!!!

PINK?!?!?!?!

None of our chip bags come in pink! Jealous. xD

Prawn Cocktail comes in pink here. Mmm mmm. The best flavour.

I remember when Salt & Vinegar used to be blue and cheese and onion, green. When they changed them I kept getting so confused!! lol

Oooh, in Holland Walkers is called Lays (but it's the same company/brand, yo!) and the cheese and onion bag is YELLOW! And we don't even get salt and vinegar, for shame!! Our blue bag is for paprika, because that's like, a very popular flavour over here. Hmmm crisps!

How about McCoy's? They are pretty immense! And salt & vinegar is blue with them.

I really want some Salt&Vinegar chips now! (Gosh, people get confused by the nickname 'crisp' anymore, really?)

I think Golden wonder salt and vinegar are light blue.

I've never been outside of Canada, but I have one thing to say - Tim Horton's. xD

What or Who is Tim Horton's???

Well, you see, Tim Horton was a Canadian hockey player. But Tim Hortons is a coffee place he made back in the day. There's one on every street corner here (literally, there's about 20 in my small city). And it's only in Canada (I think there are a few in the states, but no where near as many as there are here). Yep.

Also, from Wikipedia:
The company opened twice as many Canadian outlets as McDonald's as of 2002.
The chain accounted for 22.6% of all fast food industry revenues in Canada in 2005.
Tim Hortons commands 76% of the Canadian market for baked goods (based on the number of customers served)
holds 62% of the Canadian coffee market (compared to Starbucks, in the number two position, at 7%).
Tim Hortons had 2,917 restaurants in Canada and 520 in United States for a total of 3,437 as of December 28, 2008

hahha, yes TIM HORTONS!!! I work there, lol

Canada also sells more donuts than almost any other country because of Tim Hortons