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!
Man, fuck lobbies representing business. What a load of shit.
Was probably reasonable when they were enacted - before your grandparents met.
Just because we have chiseled abs and stunning features, it doesn’t mean that we too can’t not die in a freak gasoline fight accident.
And some people will go to extraordinary lengths to defend them.
You never went to Switzerland where the only noise you’re allowed to do after 10 pm is pooping.
Now I’m curious about the situation that lead to that to that exception being added and if there was a death involved where someone held it in until morning when they should have just gone right away.
The legend says that you aren’t allowed to flush the toilet after 10 pm. Actually, people must avoid making noise after 10pm by law. It’s not here for fun.
Switzerland has a reporting culture. People will report you to the police and/or your landlord if you’re making too much noise after 10pm. Also, Sundays and holidays are by law a day of rest.
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.
I’ve used vintage gas pumps, and they work the same. It is cooler to see the mechanical counter turn over though than a digital display
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
so you take your hand, place it on the card reader and give it a shake. If the card reader is loose and can pull off its a skimmer.
Hahaha so instead of fixing cime we just spend less time outiside… Fucking stupid state
That must’ve been one of the most useless regulations. Is that just about jobs? I can’t really imagine it being a security risk issue or any other reason
Yeah, jobs. And yeah, it was fucking stupid. Imagine outlawing opening the front door to any business, so that every business would have to hire greeters to generate jobs. Same same.
It’s just welfare, but in its cruelest possible form. If we’re going to require someone to piss 8 hours of their day away contributing nothing to society (worse than nothing in practice… gassing up in Oregon took FOREVER cuz you’d be stuck waiting for an attendant to serve a backup of 15 cars) just so that person can collect a pay check… why not just give them the pay check with no strings attached? Then they can use that time to improve themselves, or at the very least, not spend their waking hours inhaling gasoline fumes and ruining their knees and such.
Protect people, not jobs. Robots and AI are replacing most of us soon anyway: mandating busywork is NOT the solution to getting food on everyone’s table.
So true. And as a bonus, a person receiving a universal basic income can also contribute by getting a useful job, even if just for a few hours a week.
I would rather see someone doing art part time hours than having them make gas lines worse for full time.
Did that also apply to electric cars? Or were you allowed to plug it in yourself
You can plug it in yourself but you are obligated to have the following conversation every time: https://youtu.be/FzAb8rVqDkY
Haha this is perfect^^
As long as you’re a certified electrician, go right ahead. Otherwise, jail.
Sounds like union territory. Which IBEW local is that?
Local 48. That said, in Oregon electricians and plumbers have to be licensed whether they are union or not.
Don’t worry guys. Whole continents manage to pump their own gas without Major issues. I’m sure you will manage it too 😉
We know. This wasn’t a ‘citizens needing help’ thing. This is a ‘propping up an archaic “job creation” law at the annoyance of the citizen’ thing.
They’re going to keep the full-service option. Now we have a choice.
Time for me and my male model homies to finally have that gasoline fight we’ve been putting off forever.
Don’t forget that orange mocha frappuccino!
Clearly no Oregonians in this thread. Everyone I’ve met in Oregon loves that they don’t have to pump their own gas.
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.
What? I honestly have no idea what you’re on about. I was kind of following your rant till the last sentence.
Companies tend to lower extras to lower costs. Once they do that the needle moves and that becomes acceptable.
Grocery stores used to offer free shop for you services. They don’t anymore. They used to have multiple registers open they usually have about two now. They used to bag for you, they don’t anymore. They used to rig you up now they expect you to do it. Heck in my state they don’t even give you bags anymore.
If people were willing to pay what it cost for those services, they would still be commonplace.
Blame the people who will drive across town to save 10 cents on a can of soup as much as the companies who have found competing on price to be a viable strategy.
You can still fly with plenty of luxury and service, but you’re going to pay more than a cheap coach seat. I can go to a store where my groceries are bagged for me, but their prices are higher than Aldi, where bags are not provided. I can get custom steaks cut to my liking, but it’s going to cost me well north of the pre cut steaks at Costco.
Who knows if full service will stick around. If it costs and extra $.50 or $1.00/gal to fill up, are more than a tiny fraction of people going to pay for it? Probably not, but at least people aren’t being forced to pay for a service they don’t value.
You know sucking up to corporate is only going to pay off as long as you are useful to them. Maybe show some class loyalty?
lol
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.
*yawn
Maybe don’t live in an area where a gas station is what separates you from death?
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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.
Born and raised Oregonian that prefers to pump his own gas. It’s about damn time.
Serious question: why? It seems worse in every way.
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
Yup. But I’ve worked pumping gas so do tip … especially when it’s -40C and/or during a snow storm.
I see it as an appreciation of the work they do for shit wages.
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 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?
There’s a card reader on the pump. You hand them your card and say how much you want. Or hand them cash.
But wouldn’t you have to give them your PIN for your card?
What are you talking about? Just use the credit option like a normal person.
Guess your card payments must work differently there, we have to put the PIN in whether it’s a credit or debit card. Unless you’re paying via contactless.
This is in America. The vast majority of credit cards there don’t have pins.
You hand them your card or cash.
It depends on the station. Some are well staffed and you rarely wait more than a minute or two. Others, not so much. I know of one such station in Hillsboro. Many times I just get out and pump it myself rather than waiting the five or ten minutes it takes them to do it.
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.
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.
Wonder how this will work in an electrified world. Especially in NJ.
Doesn’t apply to electric vehicles here in Oregon. At this point, the law just remained because people like not having to pump their own gas and it creates jobs. I’ve pumped my own gas plenty of times in other states and it honestly isn’t any faster. The longest I’ve ever had to wait for gas was at a station in NorCal where everyone wanted to go stretch their legs for 30 minutes inside the store before coming out to pump their gas.
Currently, I fill up twice a week and never wait more than 5 minutes even with one attendant working.
I see this change as a way for fuel companies to increase their profits while sticking the work on customers. Nobody is going to reduce their price when people were willing to pay the current ‘higher’ price. The gas/oil industry doesn’t exist inside a normal capitalist market (much like healthcare).
Obviously you’ve never had the misfortune of going to the 7-11 station in Hillsboro.
Also, not being able to pump our own gas is why most of our gas stations aren’t open 24-7, which sucks for working people who often have to leave home early in the AM before the gas stations are open. If you forgot to fill up the day before? Forget about it, you’re going to be late to work.
Obviously you have never been to NJ where there are 24/7 gas stations. I can also get a freshly made sandwich at 3 am.
That’s nice, but I’m talking about Oregon, not NJ which is far more densely populated and accordingly is a very different place. I can get a freshly made sammich here in Portland at 3am too, I just can’t get gas.
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 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.
Which could be a fun to die I guess.
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 fuckin’hate it. Most people I know hate it. I know maybe a handful of people who like it, but they are the exception. In any case, we still have the full-serve option, except for in rural Oregon.
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.
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
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I’ve been to Portland 3x and nobody has ever stopped me from pumping my own gas. I’ve definitely interacted with attendants inside prior to gassing up as well. Wonder if it’s due to the Canadian license plates/accent?
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They always let me pump my own gas when riding a motorcycle in NJ. My mom would be clueless if they dropped that law though.
I drove through Oregon and that threw me off when I was at the gas pump. What a weird law. Someone must have super fucked up to get that law pushed in the first place lol.
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.
They don’t have attendants, at least not here in Oregon. Maybe they do where you live?
About fucking time
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.
I love in western New York and places have full service still here, although it’s not as common and you can always pump it yourself.
There’s one township that has full service attendants but nobody is going to get mad if you pump your own
Don’t give in! I’ve been in NJ my whole life. I’m not ready for this
Why would you want that bullshit?
I’m not for or against this law. I just like not having to get out of my car when it’s freezing outside.
At the expense of someone else being outside for hours?
That’s not a good argument. The workers are being paid to do the job. The same way Garbage collecters, crossing guards, etc are being paid to be outside.
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How about health? Nobody should have to work a job that puts their future health at risk, especially a pointless job such as this. There are not a ton of studies on it but the ones that have been done show some of the effects from breathing in fumes majority of the day and it does negatively effect you where it could lead to higher % of complications later on. Of course people will argue against these claims, but who really wants to find out? It’s a job nobody should have to do so nobody should have to take the risk at all.
I used to change people’s oil for a living and get soaked in the stuff all day long. We should ban lube shops too as changing your own oil is super easy and only takes minutes to do yourself.
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Should we also eliminat landscaping jobs due to the negative health risk? They’re have to work in the blazing heat of the summer, using loud equipment, breathing in fumes. According to you, we should ban landscaping companies, and make everyone take care of the own lawns and yards.
Why have flaggers for road work? Drivers should just learn to slow for road work. People shouldn’t be forced to work such a pointless and dangerous job, right?
Many jobs have some sort of health risk, gas attendents included.
Once again, I am not for or against the law in NJ. If they got rid of the law tomorrow, than I couldn’t care less. I’m perfectly capable of pumping my own gas, and have done so both in and out of state. I just like the convenience of not having to do it.
Why have flaggers for road work? Drivers should just learn to slow for road work. People shouldn’t be forced to work such a pointless and dangerous job, right?
Umm…
This is such a ridiculous take. If we can get rid of a dangerous job, we should. If we can’t, they should get extra money as hazard pay, not minimum wage or just above it. If the argument is, but that job isn’t hard, maybe just maybe we shouldn’t mandate it exist just for the sake of having anything and actually take care of people.
Where I live, the business can choose. We have both options. People rarely choose the full serve since it’s more expensive.
That’s fine as well. If NJ allowed businesses to choose than I’d likely do full serve when I don’t feel like doing myself.
Why do I want to get out my car and do that bullshit. Let someone else do it
Because it’s faster and it’s really easy.
Sure it’s easy. And it’s fast either way. Let the other person do it. I’ll stay in my car
Is it faster? What studies did you do to conclude that?
Do I need a scientific study to know that me getting out of my car and pumping my own gas is faster than waiting for an attendant to come over, take my card, ask me which gas grade I want, whether or not to fill it up, have them walk away to service other customers, mine finished while they’re in the middle of talking to someone else, now I wait for them to come back over…
Do you ask questions this stupid in real life, or are you just being dumb online?
Personal attack, enjoy your block, while you are waiting for all the pumps blocked by people not able to use the credit card reader.
Oh no some random dipshit blocked me, what will I do
Lol that shit never happens enough to matter. Get a grip.
The rest of the country figured out how to use a credit card terminal and pump their own gas decades ago. Welcome to 2023 - we don’t have flying cars, but even grandma knows how Apple Pay works.
Pumping gas isn’t hard to do. I drive through Jersey sometimes and although I’m always happy that their gas runs a bit cheaper, I’m always annoyed that I can’t just get out and do it and be on my way.
I’m curious, do you have to tip the gas attendant?
When I was in Oregon, I saw them being tipped.
When I did the job in OR about 10 years ago, it wasn’t expected. More of a “oh hey here’s a dollar for washing my windshield while it pumped” or “$48.60? Here’s a 50, keep the change”, if anything.
No
Lol hell no you don’t
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
But why? What makes it different than any other service job? I pumped gas in NJ for several years, and it was a decent job all things considered.
I hate pumping my own gas. It’s dirty, it smells, the machine is always different in every company, so you have to get used to a new thing if you go to some place you don’t usually go to, and if the weather is bad, you have to stand out in the cold and wind. I’d absolutely pay a premium not to do that. Maybe not 100% of the time, but often.
That doesn’t keep gas stations from offering it, does it? It’s just not mandated anymore
No, it doesn’t. But they don’t offer it, which was my point.
They don’t offer because no one wants it
There’s no demand for it, why offer something the majority of people do not want or care for?
Gas pumps are pretty standardized, I’ve traveled all over the country and not once have I looked at a gas pump and been like “how the fuck do I use this?”, that sounds like a personal problem.
It’s the payment part that’s confusing. Because each pump does it differently. It’s not the dispensing gas part.
Either you put the card in the slot or tap it on the reader. I’ve never seen any pump do it differently. And they all have prompts on the screen that walk you through it if you’re confused.
If you really can’t handle it, you can go in and ask for 10 gallons on pump 3 or whatever.
Yeah I’ve ne
Yeah, i’ve never been confused by that either.
A hess gas station I was at a few years ago put regular in the middle instead of on the left. Started pumping before I noticed. Also, as I totally believe you about driving all over the country, you should know that octane levels vary a bit in places like Wyoming.
Pumps now also include ads as you pump your gas too. Now we’ll be able to stand in the rain listening to ads while we pay the same price to pump our own gas and then get our credit card skimmed because nobody is around to watch the pumps at night.
That sounds fair, but be aware that full service stations are probably going to disappear there within ten years because of the change.
Maybe not completely. There was one near the really wealthy area in Fort Worth, Texas when I lived there.
There as in Fort Worth. I am not obscenely wealthy lol. This was near where the Bass family lives, if you’re familiar.
