# Do you stand by your pump? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647 "2016-11-21T15:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/61 "2016-11-22T14:38:28Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > As a resident of one of the 48 States Other Than New Jersey Or Oregon, I’ve always found the ban on self-service gas to be weird, but–these professional pump jockeys y’all are forced to employ just stick the damn gas nozzle in your car, engage the little doohickey, and then wander off??? Yeah, pretty much, plus swipe the card/return the receipt if you want it. NJ/OR aren’t a large enough market to make special pumps for, so we use the same pay-at-pump ones that everybody else does; it’s just someone else inserting the card into the little slot. Note that they don’t wander off very far, usually just to the next car. Oregon has a vastly lower population density than New Jersey, so we don’t usually get the wait except maybe in Portland. Even in the rural areas, though, they usually try to get you going as soon as possible. > [@Flyer](#): > > Do you people not keep track of your gas mileage? Among other advantages, it can alert you to certain mechanical problems. Both my cars were built in the last ten years, so they keep track of it for me (and my current one is a PHEV, so the gas mileage is usually pegged at it’s maximum 99.9). But I’ve been driving a long time, and never had a gas mileage change alert me to something that some other idiot light didn’t tell me about much earlier. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/62 "2016-11-22T14:45:39Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Do you people not keep track of your gas mileage? Among other advantages, it can alert you to certain mechanical problems. Gas mileage is variable from one fillup to another, depending on the nature of the driving during that time (uphill, cold starts, heavy traffic, wind, road conditions, etc.) . Any mechanical problem that would cause a variance in fuel consumption beyond that natural variable, would have long since manifested itself in other ways. Unless you are completely oblivious to your car and what it is telling you as you drive it. By the way, what ARE the other advantages? ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/63 "2016-11-22T15:15:33Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Do you people not keep track of your gas mileage? Among other advantages, it can alert you to certain mechanical problems. I keep close track of gas mileage. Despite the variations in different driving conditions I’ve found that it does alert you to trends, if you always do it and track the results. I also just like to see how high mileage I can get on our main newer car, and how the driving conditions of various road trips affect it. On my son’s older car that we look after it’s more to see if something is going wrong with the car. We live in NJ so mandatory full service. I prefer self service, as when we’re road tripping, except in places where they remove the locks and you have to continuously hold the trigger: that’s annoying. It’s rare that the weather would be so bad I’d want to sit in the car instead of getting a little fresh air; might clean the windshield though. But again, I only deal with self service on long road trips. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/64 "2016-11-22T15:23:13Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > By the way, what ARE the other advantages? A sudden drop from 20 mpg down to \<1 mpg could alert you to a hole in your gas tank or a neighbor with a siphon. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/65 "2016-11-22T15:39:48Z")
I keep rough track of mileage, but it doesn’t require writing anything down. I just reset my trip odometer every fill up and have a pretty rough idea of where I am mileagewise when I refill. My old car would vary anywhere from barely 250 miles on a full tank during winter to just over 400 miles on the highway in the summer. I still do the same with my new car, but it shows me my mileage as I’m driving. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/66 "2016-11-22T16:04:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I keep rough track of mileage, but it doesn’t require writing anything down. I just reset my trip odometer every fill up and have a pretty rough idea of where I am mileagewise when I refill. My old car would vary anywhere from barely 250 miles on a full tank during winter to just over 400 miles on the highway in the summer. I still do the same with my new car, but it shows me my mileage as I’m driving. That’s what I used to do. Now my car does it for me. I can tell you my mileage for the month, from the last fill-up, or for the life of my car. (and, I can do all that from my phone if I want!) ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/67 "2016-11-22T16:08:50Z")
I’ve had an automatic shutoff fail. Fortunately I was standing right next to the car and had just started thinking, “Based on the gauge and the tank capacity I don’t know if it should be taking this much,” so when it started to spill out I was able to react quickly. I went inside and complained and they washed off my car and closed that pump. So no, I never leave the pump unattended. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/68 "2016-11-22T16:12:53Z")
I usually stand by the pump, but I’m not a fanatic about it. If it’s very cold, I sometimes even get back in the car (being careful to discharge any static electricity before I touch the handle again). ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/69 "2016-11-22T23:48:08Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I stand by the pump. It has nothing to do with walking away being illegal, I’m a shameless scofflaw. > > All too often, the pump shuts off prematurely, then when you mosey back to it, you have to waste more time starting it again and waiting for it to fill, while the driver in the car behind you blows his horn at you and other customers, loving the schadenfraude, hoot insults and crude gestures at you, or just roll their eyes. Not the kind of attention I try to attract, no matter how cool it looks when it works properly and I can glance around at the admiring spectators. Aren’t you blind? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/70 "2016-11-23T04:02:21Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Stand by your pump… You win. I came in here to ask if anyone else heard the thread topic in Tammy Wynette’s voice. To respond to the OP, I always stay by the pump to make sure nothing goes wrong, but I’ve made exceptions in extremely cold weather. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/71 "2016-11-23T05:37:05Z")
I alos read it as Stand by yerrrr pumpppppppp ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/72 "2016-11-23T16:20:53Z")
“Release the hounds!”: [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KaL8pozgEo) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/73 "2016-11-23T20:04:11Z")
I stand by it if I don’t have something else to do. But I certainly don’t stress abut leaving it unattended. As with everybody else, washing windows, buying something in the convenience store or, on road trips, using the latrine are my usual reasons to wander away. Back when I lived in cold country I’d sometimes get back in the car. Or just as likely go hide in the store. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/74 "2016-11-25T02:52:52Z")
I generally stand by the pump even though I always use the auto-fill feature, but it’s not because I fear the handle lock will fail. Mostly, I just want to get my car filled and on the way. If I need to get a snack or use the ladies’ room, I park at the convenience store itself and go in. When it is busy at the pumps, it pisses me off to see people parked at the pump mosey back to their car with their cigarettes, food, and drink and ONLY THEN swipe their card and pump their gas. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/75 "2016-11-25T06:58:15Z")
I set the thingie and walk away only long enough to empty my trash can. It never takes as long as the gas takes so I guess in effect I stay by the pump. I would never go into the store or anything like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647.md?page=3)