this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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AssholeDesign
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In the US the ad videos are so loud, they would be considered OSHA violations. I'm not sure how they get away with it.
Isn't there a mute button? I never hear those things
The mute button stopped working on every gas station I've been to. People were writing "mute" next to it, making it too obvious.
Here's a protip. If you have a long key on your keychain, you can jam it into the speaker slots at just the right angle - might take some fiddling to learn, but it's the 10 o'clock position in towards the center - with a quick thrust you can disable the fucking thing permanently. If you do it right, it looks like you're leaning against the pump, stretching.
I started doing this at the stations I frequent, and AMAZINGLY they muted them ALL, doing away with the commercials and just throwing up a slideshow of ads instead. I will happily keep at it. Try it for yourself. Take a small flathead or a bowie knife if your keys aren't long enough.
Ive heard you can mute them by pressing a magic combo of buttons. Like top 2 times bottom 3 times and it mutes. Ive never had luck with them though.
I found the magic button on them- stick a saftey pin through the speaker grill and wiggle it around a bit till the noise stops.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start.
Uh oh, the pump tried to give me 30 gallons of gas but my tank doesn't fit that much
What kind of ad video are you saying that's so loud that it would be considered an OSHA violation? That setting a pretty high bar. Anytime I've been anywhere that they've shown an ad the volume's been negligible to the point where if I walk more than a foot or two away you can't even hear it.
Ours are on a screen that is beside where you pay, mounted beside the counter. Lots of Shell stations in the US have them. I was complaining about how much I hate them because they hurt my ears, and my friend whose husband also has auditory issues apparently avoids them as well. They are not just loud, they hurt. Southeastern US.