According to the NFPA from 2004 to 2007 there were 1,200 vehicle fires at gas stations caused by igniting gas per year. There are 14 billion fill ups every years in the country. That means there is less than one fire for every 10 million fill ups. Such a low rate makes it difficult to accurately compare fires by state. The only thing I could find was a report from 1977 from the Consumers Council of Massachusetts that said “‘The fire-safety record of gasoline service stations has traditionally been outstanding. Fire frequency statistics indicate that only firehouses have a better fire safety record than service stations. The advent of self-service has not compromised this record in the least.’’” The NFPA also said that fires at gas stations had fallen by almost half in the period 1980-2008, during that same time period self serve gasoline became ubiquitous. Home fires went down by a similar amount so it is not likely that self service made fires less likely but also unlikely that it made fires more likely.
Most in-staters either don’t care or kinda like it.
I’m an in-stater and don’t like it. Inattentive attendants (or should I call them “inattendants”) seem to be everywhere, dawdling around, or else stations are understaffed. I’ve wasted lots of time at gas stations in OR, and it becomes more apparent when I drive or rent a car in another state and fill up with gas myself.
A couple minutes here and there doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it adds up. Not a fan.
My relatives in California are still mad at me for trying to put gasoline in their radiator …
What happens if you get tired of waiting and just get out and start pumping your own gas? Do they have locks on the pumps or something that only the attendant can open? Would you get a stern talking to, arrested, what?
I’ve never been bold enough to try it. Been tempted, though.
Several years ago I witnessed a woman who got sick of waiting for the attendant to come back after the pump turned off, so she got out of her car and put the pump back in its cradle. That brought the attendant running towards her, yelling. She blew him off and drove away, leaving him incredulous that someone would dare do such a thing.
You see people getting out and pump their own in NJ occasionally. They don’t make separate kind of pumps for NJ, same as newer pumps everywhere else, they just put your card rather than you.
But it’s the gas station that gets cited if caught allowing it, not the driver doing it. Which makes sense actually (specifically on that point, within the obvious stupidity of the law overall) to give stations an incentive to tell people to knock it off. Even if it’s very seldom enforced (which I’m sure it is) gas stations would eventually get citations for routinely allowing motorists to do it, whereas any given driver could probably go for years without getting caught. Also back to ‘big bad oil companies’, which gas stations are associated with in the popular imagination, it’s more politically palatable to fine them than drivers anyway.
The attendant yells at you. I have had this experience in New Jersey when I just got out of the car to give the attendant my credit card with no intention of pumping my own gas.
Also, if the attendant were a little faster, no one would feel compelled to save time by trying to pump their own gas.
Personal experience from the last century.
Around the Newark Airport were (maybe still are?) small signs leading you to a small service/filling station way off on the perimeter of the airport. I didn’t know any better for a long time. You get there and the attendant really acts like you are inconveniencing him. Sometimes he’d just sit inside and stare at your car through the window (hoping you go away?) and finally come out five minutes later to fill your car. One time I was traveling with a cow-orker who hadn’t been to NJ before and he just pops out of the car and starts pumping. I go inside and pay and everyone is happy. The next time I’m there, I just pump, nobody complains.
I eventually learned that you should just take the Route 1/9 South exit from the airport and you get to a business district where there are a bunch of cheaper gas stations where they just come and pump your gas right away.
Then there was another time in the bowels of New Jersey where the attendant started my gas pumping and the started another pickup on the other side. Then he just disappeared. Finally, I just got out of the car, topped off a bit, hung up the gas hose, and replaced the cap to speed things up. The guy in the pick up truck just sat there glaring contemptuously at me.
And, yes, the pumps also have credit card readers just like self-service pumps anywhere. All the attendant does is take your card and slide it through just like you would.
I did this in Oregon a few months ago. Well I do this pretty much every time I’m in Oregon because I forget. But this time I thought the law has changed. Besides, I didn’t see an attendant Not, apparently, in the county I was in.
The attendant had gone in for a snack or piss break or something. He came sprinting out.
You’d think they would have signs or something.
What if you use a debit card that requires a pin number?
Sure there is. I don’t have to get out of my car and my hands don’t stink of gasoline, my windshield gets cleaned, people have jobs, and gasoline costs no more.
No idea. In twenty five years of driving in Oregon, I’ve never had to wait more than about thirty seconds for an attendant to start filling it. They’re sometimes a little slower to take the nozzle OUT of the car (especially if it’s busy and they don’t hear the click), but never so long that I’ve been tempted to get out and do it myself.
Your hands won’t smell like gas unless you spill gas on them, which is just about impossible.
I still feel like this gif is a appropriate whenever I hear an argument against self-serve stations that involves the smell of gas, spilling gas, getting gas on your hands or clothes or blowing something up.
I’m also still willing to bet that if the entire state allowed self-serve, there would still be quite a few full serve stations or stations that had both.
What if I personally don’t mind getting out of my car and know how to use a gas pump without getting gas on my hands? And what if I think I can do a better job cleaning my windshield. And what if I don’t care if someone has a job nor what gasoline costs.
How about a choice of full or self serve?
No, Big Brother Oregon knows what’s best for all of us.
Return with me to the thrilling days of yesteryear, when men were real men, women were real women, and self service gas stations just didn’t exist. I know, because it was always easy for a high school kid to get a job pumping gas while the grown-ups were doing the work I hoped to do - oil changes, tune-ups, mounting a new tire, or, if you were really lucky, a brake job.
Training was extensive at the 3 stations I worked at over the years. None of it had anything to do with actually pumping gas. It was mostly about how to handle the financial side of the transaction. Using the credit card machine, looking up the CC numbers in a book to make sure they were OK, that sort of thing, oh, and making sure, because customers really cared, that windshields were clean.
But the gas pumping part? Anybody with an IQ above room temperature (Celsius) could do that.
In my old age, the biggest complaint I have these days is that at a busy station, the guy in front of me will pull up to the pump, then go in and prepay, and while he’s there use the restroom, grab 3 snacks, a soft drink, come out, pump his gas, then go back in to get his change. Such people should be hung in the public square.
Exact same experience in NJ. I live within 20 minutes from Newark Airport, fill up both my cars about twice a month, and never wait even 15 seconds. I guess outsiders just don’t know where to get gas quickly. It is usually crowded on the highways and rest areas, but I only use those stations in an emergency. I also drive through Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario often. Awful experiences just about every time. Drivers are generally slow and distracted at the pump. These stations would run much more efficiently with attendants. People leave their cars blocking the pumps while they’re inside getting coffee, checking their phones, waiting on line, all at a snail’s pace. I can not, for the life of me, figure out why you people would want to pump your own gas. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. I’d prefer to relax in my climate controlled environment, and with clean hands. Do you also take your own trash to the landfill? Because you’re capable of that too.
This is false. It’s actually rare if your hands don’t smell at least a little like gas. You’re probably just used to the smell. And the pump will certainly be dirty, even if there isn’t actual gasoline on it. Think about all the people you see pick their noses while driving.
It sounds like you were using those crowded gas stations where, as an outsider, you didn’t know where to get gas quickly.
During one of my trips back to South Jersey I stopped for gasoline at a WaWa in Galloway. I got out just to watch the process, not to do it myself. After the nozzle snapped off the attendant-monkey pulled it out and splashed gasoline down the side of the truck. When I bitched loudly at him, he grabbed the windshield squeegee and with the spongy part schmeared the mixture of gasoline and washer fluid over a two foot by two foot section of paint. When I bitched even louder about that, he turned the squeegee around and tried to use the rubber part to wipe the truck. That’s when I got down right nasty and offensive.
There’s the quality of job you pay for with “no self service”.
I only pump gas once or twice a week. Not exactly enough for olfactory fatigue. If they smell like gas, it’s so little I don’t notice, in which case, it doesn’t matter. The only time I ever remember regularly leaving the gas station smelling like gas was before the vapor recovery nozzles were installed and that was 20 some years ago.
Well, everything’s dirty. At my store we have a credit card machine that you sign with your finger and from time to time people flip out because we don’t have a stylus to use. I’ve had to explain more than once that the screen is no dirtier and touched by the same amount of people as the stylus would be.