February 29 Returns After 4 Years... New Zealand 'Self-Service Gas Station' Stops Working

Payment System Error Due to Computer Recognition Failure
Similar Cases in the US in 2012 and Germany in 2016

In 2016, the baggage sorting system at D?sseldorf Airport in Germany failed to recognize February 29, resulting in over 1,200 pieces of luggage not being properly loaded onto flights. In 2012, Microsoft's (MS) cloud computing platform Azure was unable to authenticate certificates issued on February 29, causing a 12-hour service outage.

As February 29, the leap day, returned after four years, another amusing episode arose in New Zealand due to a computer recognition error.

On the 29th (local time), a gas station in Wellington, New Zealand, displayed a "Nationwide Payment Suspension" message and announced the suspension of operations. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

According to Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and other sources on the 29th (local time), self-service gas stations operated by New Zealand's fuel chains Z Energy, Allied Petroleum, and Gull suspended operations from early morning. The self-payment systems for fueling were not functioning.

As a result, the self-service stations posted signs saying "Out of Service" and closed, forcing drivers to seek staffed gas stations where employees pumped fuel and handled payments.

The cause of this incident was that the payment software used at the gas stations failed to properly recognize the leap year. A leap year is a year in which an extra day or month is added to the calendar to align it with the solar year. This year, once every four years, an extra day was added to February, making it 29 days long.

Gull stated, "It appears that the payment software did not properly recognize the leap year," and added, "We are waiting for the software provider's response."

Z Energy also posted a notice on its website stating, "There are issues with the payment system across New Zealand."

Regarding this, Inbenco Group, which provides the payment software to these gas stations, explained, "The system stopped working due to a leap year defect," and added, "The problem has now been resolved, and the new program just needs to be distributed to gas stations nationwide." They also said they plan to investigate the cause of the defect.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.