Buying gas in the US without a ZIP code | Page 2 | Your stories | Discussion forum

Kanaka and Rick:

I am currently travelling in SouthWest Florida with my BMO US$ Mastercard. (Mine appears to be grand-fathered as it is fee-free and for US$49 I get 1% back.)

On the trip down I-77/I-79/I-95/I-4/I-75 I bought gas at 4 different gas providers. Sheetz in PA. would not take the card at the pump even before asking for a ZIP code, likely due to it being a "Canadian" card. The other three stations (all different brands) either didn't ask for a ZIP code or accepted ###00 as a valid ZIP code (using the numbers from my postal code and appending two 0's.

The most telling use was at the local fitness centre where I registered and the clerk was using Square as a payment authenticator. The clerk asked me for my ZIP code, I squirmed a little and told her ###00 and it worked. I then asked her to start another transaction and use 34104 (a Naples, FL ZIP I happen to know) and it failed.

There is starting to be some consistency but we aren't quite THERE yet.

Before leaving Canada I called BMO and asked about ZIP code handling and was told that they knew ###00 worked many places but weren't "publicizing" it as there was not universal acceptance.

I don't mind having to manage a US$ card or a US$ bank account as I buy US$'s all year to dollar cost average my time in the US. The money I am current spending is in my books at CDN$1.0005 to US$1.00 so I am saving about 6.4 cents (or 6.4%) using today's rate. Between condo rental and normal living expenses here I expect to spend about US$7500 over the three months here.

I did sign up for an Amazon card earlier this year but have yet to use it. I don't like having wait to get to $2000 to then get $20 off Amazon purchases. I may re-consider as time goes by.

GS

Peter:

Thanks - I need to look more closely at it. I find that while I am in the US I buy a fair bit from Amazon. It is astounding the variety of stuff they sell that I would buy anyway.

Last year I picked up three high end smoke/CO detectors for our home. These are Kidde and wired together so when one goes off they all go off. They have a seven year life and literally will drive you crazy when they reach seven years as they announce their pending demise. At Canadian Tire/Home Depot/Home Hardware near my home they were $79-$99. Ordered them from Amazon.Com and got them for $39.95 each. True, they don't announce in French and English like the old ones but these could be programmed somehow to either announce in English or Spanish. These were shipped from a fulfillment centre in New England and arrived her in two days - free shipping as I was over $25.

I also picked up a motorized three stage knife sharpener that I have been seeing in stores in the Us for around $79 but when I found it at $45 at Amazon.Com that was the tipping point. We now have the sharpest knives on our street - every day!

Amazon.Com just raised their free shipping threshold from $25 to $35. In their annual report they have a line item of $2.9 Billion (yup, with a "B") for shipping expense (difference of what they collect on shipping and what they pay out to ship).

Big news down here is that they also just announced start of construction on two fulfillment centres in Florida. One is for big items, Kayaks and Televisions were mentioned. The second is for the smaller items, books, electronics and consumer goods were mentioned. Once the centres are up and running they project it will create 1000 new jobs.

Amazon is BIG business. I answered a survey last week (another source of my retirement income) that turned out to be for Amazon and was questioning my grocery buying habits and was seeking to learn if I would be comfortable buying grocery over the internet - likely from Amazon.

Greg