# New Fucking Jersey **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374 "2006-03-07T14:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/81 "2006-03-09T15:07:53Z")
Actually, just as a personal impression, I remember when I first got here I thought I’d gone back twenty years in time. There were all kinds of things on this side of the Hudson that had long ago disappeared on the other side, to wit: [ul] [li]Polite drivers (although they’re much rarer now).[/li][li]S&H Green Stamps at the supermarket.[/li][li]Chicken Delite (still here, too)[/li][li]and, of course, that you didn’t have to pump your own gas[/li][/ul] Very odd, the first couple of years I spent here. But of the first two items, one is almost gone, as noted, and the other is in fact gone completely. So, we’re almost there. Not sure I want to be there, though. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/82 "2006-03-09T15:20:23Z")
> [@GWVet](#): > > Blue laws are up top the local jurisdiction and the reason for them, in addition to the restrictions themselves vary widely. In my experience, most of NJ’s silly laws don’t have to do with religion, they have to do with money. Paramus has 2 of the state’s hugest malls and also has blue laws which requires merchants to close on Sundays. Has nothing to do with religion, it has to do with congestion. Go to Garden State Plaza or Paramus Park mall on a Saturday and you’ll see why. Because of their proximity to NYC and NYC’s sales tax laws, Paramus gets inundated with New Yorkers doing their shopping. The locals wanted to have one day per weekend to go to the supermarket and not have to wait in 2 hours of mall traffic to do so. > > Another of NJs silly laws is that we can’t pump our own gas. Want some cheap entertainment? Take a road trip with a lifelong Jerseyite and ask them to pump the gas while you use the bathroom. Many folks from Jersey have never pumped gas. The reason for the law? NJ sales tax laws. One of the hitches in determining to what extent taxes apply is whether there is a service involved with “essential items”. For example, you get a cup of coffee at Starbucks and it’s taxed because someone poured it for you. You go the gas station on the corner and pour your own coffee and there’s no sales tax. So if you pumped your own gas, the tax would have to be much lower (and by the way, the New Yorkers also come over here by the hundreds to buy gas too because it’s so much cheaper). I live just about on the state line. If I buy gas a half mile south of my house, it’s $2.09 a gallon and full service. I go a mile north to the Warwick, NY station and it’s $2.79 a gallon self serve. > > Religious blue laws? Nope - it’s all about taxes. The first argument doesn’t really tie to your conclusion. Keeping the malls closed on Sundays should hurt NJ sales tax revenue (can’t speak on the gas thing, but I also fill up whenever I find myself on the mainland - loves me some cheap Fuckin’ Joisey\* gas). Personally, I think you’ve put the cart before the horse. IMNSHO, blue laws are based on religious - specifically, Christian - ideals, and the reasoning you put forth is used to justify and protect them from potential Establishment clause attacks. \*Thanks, **pantom** , for clearing that up. What does it say about F.J. when Little Stevie (Van Zandt; aka Silvio Dante, Consiliegre) is now a Manhattanite? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/83 "2006-03-09T15:44:03Z")
I think there’s a limit you can purchase and bring over state lines. Some folks drive up to the reservation in Wisconsin to get smokes, but I think they can only get maybe half a dozen cartons per trip. For us, it wouldn’t be worth it because it’s a long haul from Northeastern Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/84 "2006-03-09T15:46:03Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > …snip… > \*Thanks, **pantom** , for clearing that up. What does it say about F.J. when Little Stevie (Van Zandt; aka Silvio Dante, Consiliegre) is now a Manhattanite? 🆒 It says NJ is a good place to raise a family for the middle Class but if you are past that stage or Rich, Manhattan is the greatest place to live. I get to raise my kids on a 2-acre property in a town that still has farms. Yet it is easy for us to visit the City. Therefore, I still get the Museums, Broadway, the Zoos, and the Yankees. I will be at about 8 games this year in the Right Field Bleachers. I like the idea of living in the city, I enjoy being able to walk to stores and restaurants and bars and take the subway but driving in the city sucks and raising kids in the city is not something I wish to do. My parents fled the Bronx back in 1970 for this reason. Jim ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/85 "2006-03-09T16:21:15Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > It says NJ is a good place to raise a family for the middle Class but if you are past that stage or Rich, Manhattan is the greatest place to live. > I get to raise my kids on a 2-acre property in a town that still has farms. Yet it is easy for us to visit the City. Therefore, I still get the Museums, Broadway, the Zoos, and the Yankees. I will be at about 8 games this year in the Right Field Bleachers. I like the idea of living in the city, I enjoy being able to walk to stores and restaurants and bars and take the subway but driving in the city sucks and raising kids in the city is not something I wish to do. My parents fled the Bronx back in 1970 for this reason. > > Jim Heh. Personally, I prefer the city, even for raising kids. It teaches diversity in a way that no suburb (that I know of) can (although, this can depend on neighborhood). My parents fled Queens (a pretty bad neighborhood) back in the 70s also, for the wilds of Long Island. I came back. It is not for everyone, but 'burbs life (and the commute) is not for me. ---
**Author:** ![GWVet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@GWVet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWVet)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/86 "2006-03-10T01:02:12Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > The first argument doesn’t really tie to your conclusion. Keeping the malls closed on Sundays should hurt NJ sales tax revenue (can’t speak on the gas thing, but I also fill up whenever I find myself on the mainland - loves me some cheap Fuckin’ Joisey\* gas). The final conclusion was about the gas-pumping law, not Paramus. It was not worded clearly (I was at work) and I apologize for the confusion. My overall premise is the connection to money. The only reason Paramus’ blue laws haven’t been repealed is because of the malls. Since essential items like clothing are taxed in NY (although that is changing), when the NYers trek over here to get their DKNY & Victoria’s Secret there is no tax benefit to NJ because clothing is not taxed. The local retailers are certainly not complaining about the blue laws, because despite the Sunday closure Paramus retailers rack up over $5 billion in sales each year, according to [this real estate site](http://www.globest.com/retail/advisor/1_54/advisor/16788-1.html). > [@D\_Odds](#): > > Personally, I think you’ve put the cart before the horse. IMNSHO, blue laws are based on religious - specifically, Christian - ideals, and the reasoning you put forth is used to justify and protect them from potential Establishment clause attacks. The religious connection and the establishment clause is merely a canard. The law remains on the books because it is popular and it works. I can’t find a reference, but according to my wife (who grew up in Bergen County) the laws were put into effect within the past few decades, after the malls were built. I’m not defending the law - I really don’t care. I don’t live there and I don’t shop there, but IMNSHO I think you are making an assumption because it’s easy to associate blue laws with Christianity. If that were truly the reason, I have no doubt the significant Jewish and Muslim population of Bergen county would have gotten the law repealed by now. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/87 "2006-03-10T08:19:57Z")
> [@Waverly](#): > > . A sale is a sale. The legal loophole, for the time being, is to head to a reservation. No, that loophole is not legal. Legally, you are supposed to report & pay taxes on cigarettes that you import from a reservation into the US. Smokers usually don’t. Here in Minnesota, the state sometimes does enforce this. They put state officers on the roads to the reservation, stop cars, and check for large quantities of cigarettes. There were allegations that the state had someone posted in the reservation parking lots watching for people carrying out cartons to their cars, and who then radioed the license plate number to the waiting cops. Never proved, and I would think the reservation would take steps to stop this. And I’ve heard that some states are considering going after their sales taxes on big online purchases, when they can. Specifically, purchases of cars. Since you have to register the car and list the seller, they can catch this. And it’s a big enough purchase to be worth going after. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/88 "2006-03-10T11:59:43Z")
Heh. You outsiders can make fun of us for our full serve gas all you want. Me, I pull up to the pump, hand my credit card to one of the very cute guys who work there, run into the Dunkin Donuts and get a coffee, and come back to find the guy just finishing up. He hands me the card and my receipt with a flirtatious smile and thank you. Sometimes, he has already finished, and my card and receipt are sitting on my seat. I still get the flirtatious smile and thank you. It’s a nice way to start a day. Maybe you all would complain less if your gas was pumped by hot Jersey girls in bikinis. Hey, now there’s an idea. Excuse me while I go execute my plan to get rich quick… ---
**Author:** ![GWVet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@GWVet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWVet)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/89 "2006-03-10T13:00:06Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Heh. You outsiders can make fun of us for our full serve gas all you want. Me, I pull up to the pump, hand my credit card to one of the very cute guys who work there, run into the Dunkin Donuts and get a coffee, and come back to find the guy just finishing up. He hands me the card and my receipt with a flirtatious smile and thank you. Sometimes, he has already finished, and my card and receipt are sitting on my seat. I still get the flirtatious smile and thank you. It’s a nice way to start a day. > > Maybe you all would complain less if your gas was pumped by hot Jersey girls in bikinis. Hey, now there’s an idea. Excuse me while I go execute my plan to get rich quick… Exit 135? I grew up in Westfield. Let me know when your station opens up and I’ll start visiting my mother more 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/90 "2006-03-10T15:31:02Z")
> [@GWVet](#): > > The religious connection and the establishment clause is merely a canard. The law remains on the books because it is popular and it works. I can’t find a reference, but according to my wife (who grew up in Bergen County) the laws were put into effect within the past few decades, after the malls were built. I’m not defending the law - I really don’t care. I don’t live there and I don’t shop there, but IMNSHO I think you are making an assumption because it’s easy to associate blue laws with Christianity. If that were truly the reason, I have no doubt the significant Jewish and Muslim population of Bergen county would have gotten the law repealed by now. Seems that Bergen County’s blue laws trace back [to the 19th century](http://www.capitalcentury.com/1921.html). New Jersey has changed to allow each county to opt out of the blue laws; Bergen has chosen not to for the reason you [cite.](http://www.answers.com/topic/blue-law) > [@](#): > > Bergen County, New Jersey > > One of the last remaining blue laws in the United States that covers virtually all selling is found in Bergen County, New Jersey. It has produced the ironic situation that one of the largest and most popular commercial shopping cores of the New York metropolitan area is almost completely closed on Sunday (grocery stores are allowed to operate). The county is not considered a particularly religious area of the U.S.; it also has significant Jewish and Muslim populations whose observant members would not be celebrating the Sabbath on Sunday. However, repeated attempts to lift the law have failed as many locals either see keeping the law on the books as a protest against the growing trend toward increasing hours and days of commercial activity in American society or like the lack of traffic on major local roads on Sunday that is normally seen the other days of the week. In fact, a large part of the reason for maintaining the laws has been a desire for relative peace and quiet one day of the week by many Bergen County residents, particularly those of Paramus, New Jersey, where many of the shopping malls of Bergen County are located. (It’s hard to find objective information on NJ’s blue laws. Most of the google links are pushing an agenda. When sites are pushing an agenda, I don’t want to cite them, as agenda-pushers have been known to be a little loose with facts.) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/91 "2006-03-10T15:31:18Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > (referring to laws against Sunday liquor sales) > > Mostly because no one cares enough to push for them to be struck down. It wouldn’t be a good proposition for the liquor stores–they’d have to be open an extra day, and people aren’t going to buy more booze just because the stores are open six days instead of seven, or at least not enough more to justify the extra operating cost. > > Meanwhile, we consumers faced with the horrifying proposition of sobriety on a Sunday find it far easier to maintain a Sunday Stash than to fight city hall. Here in blue-lawed Massachusetts, Sunday sots could get their fix by driving up to New Hampshire, which has flocks of state liquor stores nestled along the border. The booze purveyors in bordering Bay State communities protested, the legislature contemplated the revenue loss, and a compromise was reached: Liquor stores within X (I think it’s ten) miles of the NH border were allowed to be open on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/92 "2006-03-10T16:56:28Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Here in blue-lawed Massachusetts, I could be wrong on this, but I think this has changed. For a number of years, packies have been open on Sundays from noon until 6pm between Thanksgiving and New Years. And now I think it’s year-round. At least in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/93 "2006-03-10T20:24:04Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I could be wrong on this, but I think this has changed. For a number of years, packies have been open on Sundays from noon until 6pm between Thanksgiving and New Years. And now I think it’s year-round. At least in Boston. They have been lifted and it is statewide for towns that allow it. Liquor stores can open at noon on Sunday and they generally close before 6. The rare non-liquor store that sells beer and wine can sell until 10:00 Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/94 "2006-03-11T01:59:58Z")
> [@GWVet](#): > > Exit 135? I grew up in Westfield. Let me know when your station opens up and I’ll start visiting my mother more 🙂 Huh? I didn’t know our station was closed! BTW, the gas station that I described above is the Exxon on the corner of South and Central. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/95 "2006-03-11T03:24:28Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I could be wrong on this, but I think this has changed. For a number of years, packies have been open on Sundays from noon until 6pm between Thanksgiving and New Years. And now I think it’s year-round. At least in Boston. In Tioga, NY, on US 15, there used to be a little Come’N’Go whose sole purpose appeared to be selling beer to Pennsylvanians, as an alternative to The Glorious People’s Beer Store of the People’s Glorious Victory Over Cheap and Readily Available Beer. I understand they’ve eased up on that recently, too, though. ---
**Author:** ![GWVet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@GWVet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWVet)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/96 "2006-03-11T05:27:03Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Huh? I didn’t know our station was closed! > > BTW, the gas station that I described above is the Exxon on the corner of South and Central. I was referring to the one with the bikini clad girls pumping gas 😉 If that Exxon has girls in bikinis, a lot has changed in 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/97 "2006-03-11T07:13:49Z")
> [@GWVet](#): > > I was referring to the one with the bikini clad girls pumping gas 😉 If that Exxon has girls in bikinis, a lot has changed in 20 years. I thought you meant the TRAIN station! :smack: Well, maybe NJTransit can adopt the idea. Could you imagine? A conductor wearing nothing but a Speedo, a belt with a change dispenser, and an official NJTransit hat. Might make the whole “change in Newark” thing more tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/98 "2006-03-11T14:22:20Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > …BTW, the gas station that I described above is the Exxon on the corner of South and Central. Be careful going through that intersection late night. The gas station across from the Exxon is a cop “rest area”. Damn, the internets connect ya to the whole world, and everybody in your neighborhood. 😃 CMC around the corner from Tiffany Drugs and Jax Auto Parts. ---
**Author:** ![GWVet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@GWVet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWVet)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374/99 "2006-03-12T01:21:56Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Be careful going through that intersection late night. The gas station across from the Exxon is a cop “rest area”. > Damn, the internets connect ya to the whole world, and everybody in your neighborhood. 😃 > > CMC around the corner from Tiffany Drugs and Jax Auto Parts. Oh dear. I used to work at Tiffany Drugs when I was in high school. As a boy I would ride my bike to Jax to get STP stickers for my bike seat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fucking-jersey/347374.md?page=4)