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Self-Pay Gas Station Pumps Break Across NZ As Software Can't Handle Leap Day (arstechnica.com) 92

Posted by BeauHD from the leap-year-glitch dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Today is Leap Day, meaning that for the first time in four years, it's February 29. That's normally a quirky, astronomical factoid (or a very special birthday for some). But that unique calendar date broke gas station payment systems across New Zealand for much of the day. As reported by numerous international outlets, self-serve pumps in New Zealand were unable to accept card payments due to a problem with the gas pumps' payment processing software. The New Zealand Herald reported that the outage lasted "more than 10 hours." This effectively shuttered some gas stations, while others had to rely on in-store payments. The outage affected suppliers, including Allied Petroleum, BP, Gull, Waitomo, and Z Energy, and has reportedly been fixed. In-house payment solutions, such as BP fuel cards and the Waitomo app, reportedly still worked during the outage. A representative for Petroleum, when prompted via Facebook to "maybe remember Leap Day in four years' time," responded: "We'll add it to our Outlook reminders :("
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Self-Pay Gas Station Pumps Break Across NZ As Software Can't Handle Leap Day More

Self-Pay Gas Station Pumps Break Across NZ As Software Can't Handle Leap Day

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  • Maybe the NZ Government will think about regulating such a monopoly provider of an essential service so they are either reliable or not a monopoly.

    • What fraction of gas stations were affected? 1%? 25%? 95%?

      • Article says one of the affected suppliers is Z Energy, and according to Invenco [invenco.com], Z Energy alone represents "around 45 per cent of New Zealand's total fuel needs."

        So... a lot of people were affected by this.
        =Smidge=

        • That is a huge market share for 1 company.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Anyway, good thing for those Luddites who haven't converted to battery only EVs and who still live in the middle ages with their polluting ICE! This has obviously contributed to saving the planet!

          • Z Energy is also a major wholesale importer for other fuel outlets as well.

            But theres a lot of retail competition here - where I live, a modest town of 22,000 people, there are 2 Z fuel stations, 2 BP fuel stations, 1 Challenge fuel station, 1 Mobil fuel station and a Waitomo fuel station.

            Travel 20 minutes up the road to the nearest city, and you can find 50 fuel stations covering a population of 185,000, of which only 8 are Z Energy fuel stations.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      The government had nothing to do with it. If the companies all chose the same fuel pump supplier then that is on the companies.

      • Not the same fuel pump provider, the same payment processor.

        Which when you consider how fucking tiny NZs population really is, its not surprising that theres only a handful of providers in the first place - that one of the specialises in fuel station services is not surprising.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ukoda ( 537183 )
          Yes, and probably know some of the payment processor's team given the size of the developer community here.

          While agree the problem is them using a common provider I was pissed at nicoaiplum implying it was the fault of our government. While our, like every government, could use improvement, they have a pretty good balance of being hands on with essential service only were it is needed for the public good.

          With the decline in the number of petrol stations and homogeneity of those remaining such a thing

          • Heh, see my other post about bitumen products, the government definitely fucked up there by being about as hands on as you can get

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by ukoda ( 537183 )
              Interesting read about the bitumen, they clearly fucked up there. Somewhere in this thread I did say they were not perfect, just generally ok. The one that did surprise me is how the whole Chorus thing worked out. Slower roll out than I would have liked, but the results so far are better than I expected.

          • While our, like every government, could use improvement, they have a pretty good balance of being hands on with essential service only were it is needed for the public good.

            Unless it's with supermarkets.

            For non-NZers, there's a duopoly that essentially owns the entire market there, and ensures they squeeze the absolute maximum out of the population of the entire country while the government - any government, doesn't make any difference who's in power - sits there and wrings its hands and says "gosh, isn't this awful? If only someone had the power to do something to fix it".

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by ukoda ( 537183 )
              Yes, I will give you that one. They have done some token things to improve the situation with supermarkets, but I would rate their performance as a 'D', fail. As I said "like every government, could use improvement"

    • Re:MMMMMonopolies! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Thursday February 29, 2024 @10:48PM (#64280888)

      Normally Id agree with you, but NZ governments arent great with regulation.

      We are a country of 6 million trying to act like a country of 25 million, so we want nice things while not having the import market of the size to be as cheap as elsewhere.

      For example, until recently, there was one supplier of bitumen products covering 70% of the NZ market, and all bitumen is imported here. The NZ transport agency didnt like having to pay a foreign company rates higher than other countries so it had legislation passed to make the transport agency the sole supplier and required importers to sell to it at a fixed price, much below the then current market rate.

      The 70% holder of the market basically overnight went “yeah, fuck no, bye” and pulled out of the market rather than sell to the government at something at or below cost. It stopped importing the product entirely.

      So now theres a massive shortage of basic roadbuilding materials, and no new companies filling the hole because why the fuck would they?

    • Maybe just go to a fuel station that accepts cash. Since the only effect is the payment processor it is not a massive issue.

    • A small outage once in 4 years affecting less than half of companies involved which in most cases had a work around (not being able to pay at the pump doesn't mean not being able to buy fuel since it still worked inside), is not something the NZ government will given the tiniest shit about.

  • while others had to rely on in-store payments.

    That's all I use when I pay for my gas. I hand over cash, the person gives me change. No worries about card skimmers, bad charges, or, in the current case, payment not working. Also prevents a card company from selling my data.

    • while others had to rely on in-store payments.

      That's all I use when I pay for my gas. I hand over cash, the person gives me change. No worries about card skimmers, bad charges, or, in the current case, payment not working. Also prevents a card company from selling my data.

      I mostly use cards for the points, I don't really care if they track my purchases. But I always make a point of having some cash on hand for cases when cards don't work, not a huge amount that it would hurt to lose or be stolen, but enough to pay for a dinner or some gas. Sometimes use it for tips as well, when I'm not sure who tipping on a card may actually go to. Backups are not just for files.

      • Paying tips in cash doesn't mean it's all going to your server unless they're pocketing the tip which at most places would probably get them fired. Most service industry places i've known of usually pool the tips of everyone on the shift then at end of shift the whole tip bucket gets evenly distributed between all the servers / bartenders that worked that shift and bar backs / bussers getting some fraction of the tips as well. Service industry folks do like those who pay and tip in cash cause if there's eno

        • Paying tips in cash doesn't mean it's all going to your server unless they're pocketing the tip which at most places would probably get them fired. Most service industry places i've known of usually pool the tips of everyone on the shift then at end of shift the whole tip bucket gets evenly distributed between all the servers / bartenders that worked that shift and bar backs / bussers getting some fraction of the tips as well.

          That would be fine so long as all those people have access to all the card transactions and know exactly how much in total is to be split between them. Some unscrupulous owners skim some of that off for themselves as well though, and how would the workers know? Sorry, I'm tipping the help, not the management. Cash adds a bit more transparency, but I never said it was perfect.

        • It actually is pretty transparent to them, Of the places I am familiar with it's usually one of the servers that counts out the drawer at the end of the shift. You start shift with $2000 in the money bag to start out the register. During shift you're putting cash transactions into the register and entering card receipts into the register as they happen, during a slow period or end of shift. End of shift you run a report register says you made $5000 in sales and whatever in card trips. Put that $2000 start

        • Sharing tips like this pretty rare.
          And completely voids the point of tipping.
          I know cases where the waiters share 25% or so with the kitchen, though. Because the kitchen personell has no contact to the customers.

      • ...but enough to pay for a dinner or some gas.

        So you carry a couple hundred thousand on you at all times?

        • ...but enough to pay for a dinner or some gas.

          So you carry a couple hundred thousand on you at all times?

          No about $100 CAD. We don't use the Rial here.

    • Paying cash for gas is annoying in this pay before you pump world. Go in hand the clerk $60. Pump and you can only fit $55 worth into your tank so now have to go back in and get the change. It wasn't that long ago that you could pull up to the pump and just immediately start pumping then when you were done you would go in and pay whatever the total came out to be. Then gas prices skyrocketed and drive offs became so common that they ended the ability to do this.

      • some pumps had an DBA on them did not last long

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Calydor ( 739835 )

        Where I am the gas stations trust customers to not drive off without paying, so you park, pump, then go inside to pay. With cash or card as preferred.

        I'm sorry you live among a population that can't be trusted not to steal if the slightest opportunity presents itself.

        • I'm sorry you live among a population that can't be trusted not to steal if the slightest opportunity presents itself.

          Humans ruin everything [si.com]. This is why we can't have nice things.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kackle ( 910159 )

          I'm sorry you live among a population that can't be trusted not to steal if the slightest opportunity presents itself.

          Thank you, it does suck and is sad to see it get worse over time. And it's not just in the "big cities" anymore as they've migrated their way out to at least the suburbs. The desperately poor immigrants coming by the millions don't help the issue, either.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by agm ( 467017 )

        $55? Why are you getting petrol when your tank is already nearly full? /s

      • You know what I find worse then having to go inside twice for the transaction? Having my card info stolen. Besides, most gas stations I shop at give a discount for cash on gasoline. So yeah, I think the "burden" of walking a few dozen steps to the cashier, then to the pump then back to the cashier is really a nothing burger.

        I think the only reason I wouldn't want to do this would be if I actually had young children with me. Otherwise, just walk your lazy ass inside. Typical American could probably use the e

      • Paying cash for gas is annoying in this pay before you pump world.

        That is America, not the world. The world has pay after you pump.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dryeo ( 100693 )

          I'm in BC, have to pay up front. Problem was the gas stations were taking thefts out of the workers wages, incentivizing them to stop thefts and one kid got dragged to his death, a gruesome death.

    • It sure is annoying though when you're waiting for a pump and half the cars are sitting there empty while the driver is inside shopping or using the bathroom or paying cash or whatever it is they're doing in there.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dryeo ( 100693 )

        There's arseholes everywhere. Pay at the pump and then make a phone call while sitting there seems common.

    • I'd like to do that too, but it's hard to argue with 4% cash back on gas when I pay with my card. Or does your area still have separate cash and card prices?

  • The majority of petrol stations that I visit are still manned by staff.

    I know of at least one that's a prepaid pump and it's in an industrial area, the advantage of which is that it is opened 24 hours but there's plenty of gas stations around that are also opened 24 hours.

    I was hoping to read something about the advertisement petrol pumps failing, I hate those thing so much, I'm just trying to get some gas dude I don't give a s$#t about your large cheeseburger combo, I am waiting for the day where somet

    • I'm in favor of injecting spray foam into the speakers on those pumps.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ukoda ( 537183 )
        That would be vandalism and you are clearly a bad little consumer if you don't attentively watch the adverts that have been lovingly selected to separate you from your cash.

        Of course the truly evil of us here in NZ never knew about it yesterday while we charged our cars for free from solar panels connected to an ad free wall charger. Que evil laughter ... "muhahahahaha"

  • Incorrect (Score:3, Insightful)

    by hoofie ( 201045 ) <(mickey) (at) (mouse.com)> on Thursday February 29, 2024 @07:37PM (#64280528)

    There are no "gas" stations in New Zealand unless is a Petrol Station that also sells LPG from a pump

    However Petrol Stations which sell petroleum spirit and diesel fuel are very common.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      And now you are obligated to translate 'boot', 'bonnet', 'gerry can' and 'tiki tour'.

      • 'Tiki Tour'. I like that. Saying that I'm taking the 'scenic route' whenever I get lost is so cliche`.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ukoda ( 537183 )
          For me a tiki tour is not being lost, it is heading off on a journey without a destination. If a passenger asks me where I'm going I reply that I will tell them when we get there.

    • Is Venus the morning star or the evening star?

    • However Petrol Stations which sell petroleum spirit and diesel fuel are very common.

      If you are going to be pedantic about the use of "gas" to describe petrol, then it helps if your post does not also then equate it to an archaic term "petroleum spirit" which is used by precisely zero people in the market you claim to represent.

  • Things always break on leap day. This is a recurring screwup in coding decade, after decade, after decade.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      I don't get it either. This is a long-solved problem. There are very few reasons to write your own date code as the standard library for whatever you're using likely already has what you need. If for some reason you need to do this yourself, it's not difficult at all. There are just a few rules and they're trivial to code. It's the kind of project you might see as a homework assignment. If you can't handle that, maybe find a different profession?

      Leap day breaking code... Unbelievable...

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by drnb ( 2434720 )
        I've literally seen it happen.

        Application ran 24/7 and did daily and monthly reports on activity. Guy writing the reporting code was a Poly Sci major who learned to code a little on his own.
        CS/CE grads were working on more difficult parts of the system.
        QA didn't test for a leap year.

        On the next leap day the distributed app spit out bad reports for Feb 29 and the month of Feb. There was an array in the code hard coded with the number of days in the month, 28 for Feb.

        I don't want to beat on Poly Sc

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by narcc ( 412956 )

          I'm not saying it doesn't happen. That's what the article is about, for goodness sake. I'm only saying that it's absurd that still happens.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kackle ( 910159 )
        Because experience retires. Newbies get hired. Do all languages have "libraries"?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by narcc ( 412956 )

          Because experience retires. Newbies get hired.

          Leap days aren't some obscure fact about our calendar nor are they complicated to handle. A program to generate a calendar given a year or a function that can add days to a date is simple enough to be homework assignment. This shouldn't be a problem that requires wisdom and experience!

          Do all languages have "libraries"?

          A library is just a collection of routines. A standard library is a collection of routines that users can expect to be available. Odds are close to100% that whatever a beginner is using is going to have a standard library.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by kackle ( 910159 )
            Heh, it seems there are mountains of things that "shouldn't be" today. We recently offered our college intern a job when he graduates in May and he said that he didn't want to work full time. Does JavaScript have proper libraries? I don't know, I'm a low-level C guy.

          • A library is just a collection of routines.

            No it isn't. It's a set of resources that your code can hook into or otherwise import. Can be any or all of data structures, functions, and/or binary blobs, which themselves can be precompiled code (e.g. closed source libraries,) graphics, or basically anything that can have digital representation.

            A standard library is a collection of routines that users can expect to be available.

            Again, no. It's just a component of the language that is both defined and available across all implementations of the language. If an implementation is missing anything, anything is materially different, or anythi

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by narcc ( 412956 )

              You do realize that nothing you've written contradicts my post, right? Just how stupid are you?

              Also, your stalking is getting creepy. Go fixate on someone else.

  • I was there 25 years ago (Score:4, Funny)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Thursday February 29, 2024 @07:41PM (#64280544)

    I was working on code that talked to gas pumps back in 1997-2000, and at some point in 1998, I noticed that the code for leap year wouldn't be right for 2000. So I fixed it. And I didn't test it. And it was in assembly language. And I got the branch condition wrong. And it would break on all leap years. Fortunately all the Y2K mania meant that someone else did test it before it became a problem. But it would just have messed up the date on your receipt at worst.

    In-house payment solutions . . . reportedly still worked during the outage.

    Yep this is a problem with the place that handles the credit cards. Probably caused by an outsourced idiot, because local idiots are too expensive. I remember back then when I freaked out some of our contractors from India that were working on our cash acceptor project, by showing them a two-dollar bill.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rossdee ( 243626 )

      "I freaked out some of our contractors from India that were working on our cash acceptor project, by showing them a two-dollar bill."

      NZ doesn't have $2 bills, The $1 and $2 are coins.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Back in 1990's we still had $1 and $2 notes in NZ.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rossdee ( 243626 )

          "Back in 1990's we still had $1 and $2 notes in NZ."

          And in the 1960s we had pennies made of copper. the diameter was about the same as a D size battery, so we used them to get a good connection in a torch.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      I assume you know that 2000 was a leap year, just like 1996? While it is except every 100 years the exception to that exception is every 400 years. Apologies if I have misunderstood why you were making the change.

      I do recall software discussions about how many days you can have in a day. It came up when writing code for the TAB where a 'race day' can go past midnight for night races so we had to code for more than 24 hours in a day. Yea, in assembly language too. That was in the 1980s so no Y2K worr

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I find the best way to handle time on computers is to just use the number of seconds (or sub-seconds) since an epoch. Then convert that for display in human readable format.

        That way you have a single count that always increases, and if you store it then bugs can be fixed retroactively without altering records. It also makes handling things like leap seconds easier, because you only need to account for them when converting to UTC or some other format that uses them.

        Doing arithmetic on time is trivial.

        I've wr

    • Leap year problems can have annoying side effects.
      Like keeping doors locked, or elevators shut down, or the opposite, because the software thinks it is Sunday instead of Monday, or vise versa.

  • I mean, we've had leap years for a long time, and we've had self-pay gas pumps for a couple decades. Why didn't this happen before now?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      You could blame 'improvement'. Paying at the pump is fairly recent here and I gather since I last brought petrol that pumps also advertising displays now. So maybe the new pumps' code tests were too focus on streaming media and they didn't bother to check the basics on their fresh shiny new code base.

    • Why didn't this happen before now?

      I'm guessing that it's because every so often, the guys who write the pump code retire. The new guys don't like the old guys' code, and rewrite it from scratch. All the lessons learned by the old guys are lost on the new guys, so the new code has to be patched year after year for decades in order to squeeze out all the bugs. Then the cycle repeats as the new guys become the old retired guys.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by evanh ( 627108 )

        Or the new Internet fly-by-nighters selling a competing product for cheaper. And, of course, it hasn't been tested on anything anywhere.

    • Modern programmers do not do test cases beyond their nose. If it worked yesterday, it's done.

  • for not switching to memory-safe programming languages.

    Or not.

  • When my fuel station's IT crashed, they just got out the old card imprinter from under the counter. Lucky I was still carrying cards at that time; I'm not any more, but then I don't use those stations any more.

  • That's normally a quirky, astronomical factoid.

    Doesn't the -oid suffix indicate that it's not really a fact? Androids are not really men. Asteroids are not really stars.

  • Looks like a programmer didn't read Falsehoods programmers believe about time [github.com]

    Did their manager want the code shipped before it was adequately tested?

  • ...so who wrote this software?
    I'd like to know if there were actual consequences, lawsuits, and firings.

    It's not like Leap Day sneaks up on anyone, this is rookie-level programming.

  • *conspiracy warning*
    This was a test run to see how it affects the climate in preparation for mandatory days without cars.

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