Leap-Year Trouble At Petrol Pumps

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

I assume this sort of thing
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/february-29-allied-fuel-pumps-around-nz-ground-to-a-halt-as-systems-forget-leap-year/XEQBK5JLBZG6LO3VGUQ6Q2WGC4/>
happens because people are still trying to roll their own date
routines, instead of using the abundance of standard off-the-shelf
libraries that already know how to deal with all the well-known
pitfalls.

[BungleBob]

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
I assume this sort of thing
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/february-29-allied-fuel-pumps-around-nz-ground-to-a-halt-as-systems-forget-leap-year/XEQBK5JLBZG6LO3VGUQ6Q2WGC4/>
happens because people are still trying to roll their own date
routines, instead of using the abundance of standard off-the-shelf
libraries that already know how to deal with all the well-known
pitfalls.

And why would a petrol pump even need to bother about the date?!? It
shouldn't. The payment system would need to know the date, but
everybody else's payments systems are working fine and it's largely
irrelevant that the bank statement is a day out.

Just yet another reason to NOT have silly "pay at pump" and
"robo-stations" with no staff. Just pay at the counter like a normal
human being rather than a lazy-ass.

[David Goodwin]

In article <urp40d$c1dv$***@dont-email.me>, ***@thejungle.com
says...

Post by BungleBob

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
I assume this sort of thing
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/february-29-allied-fuel-pumps-around-nz-ground-to-a-halt-as-systems-forget-leap-year/XEQBK5JLBZG6LO3VGUQ6Q2WGC4/>
happens because people are still trying to roll their own date
routines, instead of using the abundance of standard off-the-shelf
libraries that already know how to deal with all the well-known
pitfalls.

And why would a petrol pump even need to bother about the date?!? It
shouldn't. The payment system would need to know the date, but
everybody else's payments systems are working fine and it's largely
irrelevant that the bank statement is a day out.

Indeed the payment system would need to know the date. And in this
instance it appears to be the payment system that failed to know the
date correctly.

Presumably the payment terminals at the pumps failed to account for the
leap year and were trying to send transactions dated for 01-MAR-2024 to
the payment provider on 29-FEB-2024 and the payment provider was
rejecting these transactions from the future as it should.

Post by BungleBob
Just yet another reason to NOT have silly "pay at pump" and
"robo-stations" with no staff. Just pay at the counter like a normal
human being rather than a lazy-ass.

I prefer not having to walk into the store and queue while someone else
buys a coffee or whatever. Even worse are those stations where you have
to walk into the store *before* pumping fuel. I've got places to be and
more important things to do. If I can spend 10 seconds doing the payment
rather than a few minutes I gladly will.

[~misfit~]

Post by David Goodwin
says...

Post by BungleBob

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
I assume this sort of thing
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/february-29-allied-fuel-pumps-around-nz-ground-to-a-halt-as-systems-forget-leap-year/XEQBK5JLBZG6LO3VGUQ6Q2WGC4/>
happens because people are still trying to roll their own date
routines, instead of using the abundance of standard off-the-shelf
libraries that already know how to deal with all the well-known
pitfalls.

And why would a petrol pump even need to bother about the date?!? It
shouldn't. The payment system would need to know the date, but
everybody else's payments systems are working fine and it's largely
irrelevant that the bank statement is a day out.

Indeed the payment system would need to know the date. And in this
instance it appears to be the payment system that failed to know the
date correctly.
Presumably the payment terminals at the pumps failed to account for the
leap year and were trying to send transactions dated for 01-MAR-2024 to
the payment provider on 29-FEB-2024 and the payment provider was
rejecting these transactions from the future as it should.

Post by BungleBob
Just yet another reason to NOT have silly "pay at pump" and
"robo-stations" with no staff. Just pay at the counter like a normal
human being rather than a lazy-ass.

I prefer not having to walk into the store and queue while someone else
buys a coffee or whatever. Even worse are those stations where you have
to walk into the store *before* pumping fuel. I've got places to be and
more important things to do. If I can spend 10 seconds doing the payment
rather than a few minutes I gladly will.

Yep, agree. The more space between me and the unwashed masses the better.

Also I only buy NPD 100+ octane fuel and I can only afford that because they don't have any staff
on site at all and so can pass on those savings.

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Seems like all the service-station chains are dependent on the same
payments provider, and that’s why they all went down today
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/february-29-allied-fuel-pumps-around-nz-ground-to-a-halt-as-systems-forget-leap-year/XEQBK5JLBZG6LO3VGUQ6Q2WGC4/>.