For the first time in more than seven decades, drivers in Oregon are allowed to pump their own gas.
I can’t see myself headed back to Oregon any time soon, but good. It was so frustrating trying to get gas behind a line of twenty five cars being “served” by a single slack jawed yokel taking smoke breaks between each car and God help you if you needed gas at night when everybody was closed.
New Jersey gas attendants can be surly, but my experiences driving there at least moved the cars through getting gas efficiently.
As someone from NJ I agree 100% with surly. Also you can get someone weird or the guy who just wants to talk the entire time. I really do hope this changes one day.
Or the guy who tries to wash your windows then asks for a tip. I’m still annoyed at that, and it was at least 15 years ago.
Having lived in NJ most of my life, and recently driving almost cross country to FL, the only benefits of living in FL is that there are like never any lines waiting for gas, and I don’t have to wait for a guy to come out. I just pull up, fill up, and GTFO.
Moved from Florida to New Jersey. You can keep Florida and I’ll keep my gas attendants! 😉
I fucking hate this state. I’ve been here for 9 months, and hate every part of it. The water is fucking disgusting, the heat is absurd, the traffic is ridiculous, the roads are shit, the beaches are shit, the people are… mentally handicapped is the nicest way to put it, the food is meh at best unless you want Cuban or something fried. There are absolutely no cultural things, like museums or anything that’s not hick crap. Went to a ship museum in Tampa with my kids, and it was a rusted out hulk of a boat.
Enjoy the cultural overload of the excess of museums, including the Nimitz, the amazing and huge variety of food, the cooler weather, really good pizza, and amazing pizza if you get closer to NYC, water that doesn’t smell like sewage until it’s ran for a minute or 2, water that doesn’t destroy your pots pans, and basically rust everything, you lucky bastard.
Oh yeah, and go fruit picking other than oranges, because you can just hit up dozens and dozens of orchards for all kinds of fruit picking, without sweating your balls off, pretty much any time of year.
Also, it’s called pork roll. Anyone that tells you it’s Taylor Ham is a monster, because Taylor Ham is the company that makes pork roll. Pork Roll with egg and cheese is a cure-all. Hangover, depression, snacky, quick breakfast, hungry, and dying? Yeah pork roll with egg and cheese on a roll will solve all your problems. If you have extra problems, add bacon and double meat. Pork roll with bacon, egg, and cheese on a hard roll will cure all your problems.
There are some bizarre and pointless laws in this country.
The way I heard it, if the only people pumping gas were employees, the company didn’t have to pay as much liability insurance.
Then why make it a law? Gas stations would all choose to have full service only if it was cheaper.
It’s a law specifically so that these jobs exist. It has nothing to do with liability insurance. Rather, one guy was able to lower his prices by having people pump their own gas and other gas stations didn’t like that
Reingold decided to offer the consumer a choice by opening up a 24-pump gas station on Route 17 in Hackensack. He offered gas at 18.9 cents a gallon. The only requirement was that drivers pump it themselves. They didn’t mind. They lined up for blocks.
"The other gas station operators didn’t like the competition. Someone tried shooting up Reingold’s station. But he installed bulletproof glass, so the retailers looked for a softer target - the Statehouse. The Gasoline Retailers Association prevailed upon its pals in the Legislature to push through a bill banning self-serve gas. The pretext was safety, but the Hackensack fire chief had already told all who would listen that Rein- gold’s operation was perfectly safe.
That kind of sounded like a scene from The Jerk.
Great news, you’re the eighth customer today. You’ve won a free oven mitt!
Was probably reasonable when they were enacted - before your grandparents met.
And some people will go to extraordinary lengths to defend them.
The state’s 72-year ban on self-service pumps was due in large part to safety concerns for drivers. A state law cited “increased risk of crime and the increased risk of personal injury resulting from slipping on slick surfaces.”
What an abomination of an excuse, and I live here.
Well, it may have been true 72 years ago.
Modern pumps are engineering marvels so probably right.
Fraud is a legitimate concern though. Skimmers are rampant, so I wonder if Oregon will see an uptick in card compromise.
That is a very good concern to have but even when the station’s had attendants, people still got skimmed at gas stations. It’s a concern that everyone should have at any place where you swipe or insert your card to pay. Banks, stores, ATM’s, etc
Clearly no Oregonians in this thread. Everyone I’ve met in Oregon loves that they don’t have to pump their own gas.
Do they? My entire family lives there and they fucking hate it.
Born and raised Oregonian that prefers to pump his own gas. It’s about damn time.
Granted I’m not a native Oregoner, but when I lived there I also thought it was stupid. I have not missed that part of Oregon one bit.
Serious question: why? It seems worse in every way.
I don’t understand anyone who says there’s long waits, because I never have that problem, even when it’s crowded. Conversely, when I lived in the midwest, I would have to wait for people to finish taking their sweet time paying inside before I could get to the pump.
Here we have an attendant who handles the pump and most people don’t even get out of their car. They just drive away when it’s done.
Anyhow, it’s not a big deal to me either way. I don’t mind that there’s people being paid for that, because our gas prices don’t seem higher for it compared to our neighbors. But I also wouldn’t terribly mind getting out and pumping it myself either
I love not having to get out of the car.
In what way is it worse?
Is it expected to tip the person who pumps your gas?
No… where do you get that idea? They are paid a wage.
Everyone you have tipped is also paid a wage
Just assumed, I get asked for tips basically everywhere at this point so I assumed that would be the case with someone pumping your gas for you.
Sounds pretty nice.
nope
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No, but I will if the weather is fuck awful or if it is around the holidays.
I live in Oregon most of my life. I moved to Montana for work for a period of time and moved back to Oregon. I absolutely hate having my gas pumped. I found it so much quicker to pump my own gas. Though when I traveled to and from Montana I noted there are a lot of idiots that don’t know how to responsibly pump their own gas. The only time where I somewhat even remotely hated pumping my own gas was when living in Montana and pumping when it’s -30F outside.
I love having it done for me. It helps that I have fuel efficient vehicle that I only use when other methods aren’t practical. Get gas once every month or so and get to sit back in air-conditioning.
How are you sitting in air conditioning while your gas is pumped? Doesn’t the car have to be off?
You turn the key one notched instead of 3. The engine is off and the AC runs on battery.
The compressor needs the engine on. It might be blowing air, but it’s not ac.
Fine I guess the residual is what I am feeling. It’s not like I ever tested it for a while.
Doesn’t it just make gas more expensive?
Also, how about electric vehicle charging? Do these attendants have to plug the car in for you? Just a matter of time before gasoline cars are obsolete.
Electric vehicle charging is usually done at places you stop for a while, like department store parking lots. I don’t see the stations at gas stations much at all
And they were never governed by the gas station laws
I was about to say. I appreciate every time they agree to pump my gas. The convenience, and the speed of just staying in your car is awesome!
Pick a better gas station is what I have to say to people that are upset at how the service was at one gas station.
Having grown up in the east, and the size of MEGA GAS STATIONS that let cars just SIT PARKED IN THE GAS STALL was the true goal of this bill. It was about commercializing the “store” because there is no profit in the gas industry.
I’ll still search out and return to gas stations that employ attendants.
Sad day.
It’s probably 50/50 for me. Half the time I wish I could do it myself to get it done, but the other half of the time it’s nice to not have to get out
I grew up in WA state but have been in Oregon for 20 years now. I’ve become accustomed to someone pumping my gas, but it’ll be like it was. I guess I don’t understand the big deal either way.
Is an attendant required to plug the charger connector for you at a supercharger station?
As someone from NJ and recently took a trip with a friend in his Tesla, no. Most likely because the law never included language for it because it never existed when it was put in place. I also doubt anyone is going to adjust this either not only because it is stupid to do so but because NJ has even had some rumblings in the past few years about ditching attendants and will most likely happen someday, just who knows how soon.
Self serve drives up gas prices due to insurance. Insurance goes up due to a couple of people smoking while filling gas and gas station without anyone being the favorite place for looters. The self serve campaigns advertise how gas will come down due to it, but it actually goes up. So question is who you want to pay - insurance companies or min wage employees…
Oregon has the fourth most expensive gas by state. New Jersey is pretty high up there, although admittedly cheaper than its neighbors by a few cents. I would doubt that full vs. self service has any real impact on gas prices
The reason West Coast states have expensive gas is that there are no pipelines connecting them to the rest of the countr, specifically Texas. Washington and Oregon produce zero crude oil. California can’t produce enough for the whole West Coast so a majority of oil has to be shipped by a more inefficient way, causing prices to go up. This is reflected by the fact the 4 most expensive states for gas are California, Washington, Hawaii and Oregon.
If this were true, full-service gas stations would be common in places where they’re not mandated by law because it would be cheaper and more profitable for the owners. They are not.
Doesn’t long island NY still have this too?
LI still has full service gas, but they have no law against self service, so it’s not really the same as NJ or Oregon.
