By Office of the Chief of Public Affairs
Exchange OCONUS Region-Europe/SW Asia
U.S. military, dependents, civilians and authorized persons, may have been wondering about whether or not they were charged the correct tax free price, from the local ESSO Station, due to the remaining ration and pre-paid balance information missing on the bottom of their receipt.
“We want to clarify the receipt printing capabilities of the local ESSO Stations, versus what expectations are for the receipts,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Davison, Deputy Commander of the Exchange Europe and Southwest Asia. “ESSO currently operates two models of gas stations, such as ESSO operated stations versus independent franchised stations, with different information printing capabilities.”
The Exchange understood and accepted those differences.
During the inception of the Exchange Gas Card ESSO program, we considered how to deal with the receipt printing difference. The least likely option was to only allow the ESSO Stations with remaining ration and pre-paid balance printing capabilities to accept the card and exclude the others. This would have eliminated allowing our customers to utilize some very prominently located ESSO Stations (on Autobahn A7, A1 and A61).
On the other hand, accepting that some ESSO stations could not print the information but will still accept the cards gives our customers access to more than 99% of ESSO stations. It is still possible for our customers to know they were charged the taxed free price because in the body of the receipt they will find a reference to the AAFES Card.
“We accept that there are stations that are not able to print the ration and pre-paid balance receipt messages, and that will allow us to keep all ESSO stations available to our service members and their families across Germany,” said Davison.
For a listing of stations that lack the capability to print the special information on receipts, please go to www.shopmyexchange.com and look at the German Fuel Ration webpage FAQ.