For the first time in more than seven decades, drivers in Oregon are allowed to pump their own gas.
Don’t give in! I’ve been in NJ my whole life. I’m not ready for this
I’d like the option for days where i’m in a rush, but definitely don’t want it to be the norm.
When I was a kid, gas stations in Indiana had “self-serve” and “full-serve” (they pump it for you) options. I’m not sure why they stopped. Probably to save money by hiring less people.
Or, hear me out, having someone else pump your gas for you in the modern age is fucking wild
That sounds fair, but be aware that full service stations are probably going to disappear there within ten years because of the change.
I’m not for or against this law. I just like not having to get out of my car when it’s freezing outside.
Where I live, the business can choose. We have both options. People rarely choose the full serve since it’s more expensive.
Why do I want to get out my car and do that bullshit. Let someone else do it
Clearly no Oregonians in this thread. Everyone I’ve met in Oregon loves that they don’t have to pump their own gas.
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.
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 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.
How is having one attendant pumping gas for six vehicles faster than me pumping my own?
Answer; it’s not. Source; I live in Oregon. Fun fact; due in part to this law, Oregon has relatively far fewer gas stations than other states, so picking another station often is not a viable option.
I guess there is a difference in frequency. I fill up once every two weeks, at 510 miles to the tank. I tend to do it when I run an errand near a gas station that has the best quality gas, and the best prices. I tend to see the same attendants, and they are always on top of every car there, and have mine filling in no time flat.
I do recognize that in the east, many cars would pull up and get only $5 in gas, very quickly, and then drive away. I get that scheduling a moment to stop and let someone fuel up your rocket-ship is a a little more of a hassle. But the last many years living in Oregon have been a blessing I’ll continue to look for.
Thankfully attendants will still be available, and there is no penalty to the customer for getting “Full Service”, so we both can get what we desire.
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
How do you pay? Does the attendant carry cash and a contactless device for your card/phone?
If enough people love it, then full service pumps will still hang around as an option. Personally as someone who lived in Minneapolis for 20 years, full service pumps would have been fucking amazing in the winter, but mandating them by law is just stupid.
The fact that full service doesn’t exist even in the frozen tundra of MN leads me to believe very few people are actually willing to pay extra for it.
If enough people love it, then full service pumps will still hang around as an option.
Yes we all know that companies never cut out extras to reduce costs. That is why flying domestic gets better every year, when video games are released they have been properly QAed and dont need to be patched. I remember when I was a kid you had to bag and scan your groceries yourself, now every store has all these open registers where people do that for you.
Corporate world is like this as well. Back in the day I had to answer my own calls, we didn’t have security or IT, or receptionists, or secretaries, and you had to make your own coffee. Now, I go to work in my nice office (thank goodness cubicals and open office are gone) and there are so many support staff to keep me focused on getting stuff done.
I am positive that a product that is effectively irreplaceable will be the same way.
A full service option is mandated by law. This new law just means we can choose self serve now. The rules are different in rural Oregon where, due to the vast distances, especially in eastern Oregon, not being able to get gas can be legitimately dangerous.
What? I honestly have no idea what you’re on about. I was kind of following your rant till the last sentence.
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.
No it’s actually cheaper than Washington and California prices. Companies aren’t going to lower their prices just because their costs went down. That isn’t how the gasoline market works.
Don’t worry guys. Whole continents manage to pump their own gas without Major issues. I’m sure you will manage it too 😉
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.
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.
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
I suspect you tip the guy filling your car though? Probably a few dollars each time?
From what I read tipped workers are generally paid below minimum wage and as such the cost difference to a station is probably negligible.
But the real cost to you will be less because I doubt you’re going to tip the cashier and definitely not pay at the pump…
I’ve never seen anyone tip a gas station attendant in NJ before. I don’t know what they get paid though
I suspect you tip the guy filling your car though? Probably a few dollars each time?
No, but continue to express an opinion on something that you don’t understand and doesn’t impact you.
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.
I live in the UK and for as long as I can remember and probably considerably before that (and I’m not young) fuel has been self service.
I also have seen plenty of people smoking and using phones (surely the bigger danger is backfiring cars though). You know I cannot recall a single news story about a fuel station exploding due to this. I reckon that’s the kind of story that makes it onto the news. Not to say it never happens, but with the amount of fuel pumped daily, I’d expect it to be a common event yet I cannot recall a single time I heard about it happening.
So, feels like insurance companies fear mongering stations into higher payments to me. Sure it’s possible, but highly unlikely.
