You should try moving to Free California, where I filled up for just $2.499 / gallon just two days ago (April 15, 2016).
My records also show gas for $2.119/gal. on March 4, and a whopping $1.859 in mid-February!
Pre-authorization is redundant. I’m sure I’m being pedantic, but in my personal experience as a credit card merchant, there is no such thing. I can authorize or I can capture. I cannot pre-authorize.
Love this thread as I get about 1/2 of my gas in NJ
95% of my experiences have been good. Cheaper gas, quick and courteous service, etc etc while I check my emails on the iPhone. I also love sneaking into WAWA while my gas is being pumped.
However, last year my company issued a Gas Card, so now, whenever I get gas in NJ, I have to shout my odometer reading and ID number out the window if I want to get gas in NJ. VERY annoying to have to do this.
I also heard a funny story from a fellow NJ coworker; he for the first time ever drive out of NJ into NY, and sat at the gas pump. After a while no one came out, so he went into the office to ask if someone could pump his gas for him. “OH, your from New Jersey, aren’t you?” said the cashier.
Here is another problem: if NJ moved to all self service, 3378 gas stations x lets say 4 employees each at $20,000 a year=$270,000,000+ taxable income lost plus unemployment compensation plus having to support—lets be honest----difficult to employee people-----in an already financially challenged state . . . . .
On the topic, I also had a very pushy “gas station attendant” insist on pumping my gas at a gas station on the corner of 119th street and 1st avenue in Harlem last year. Lets just say whoever he was, I gave him a tip. 
Maybe they could become elevator operators?
Or make buggy whips.
How is it that in NJ gas prices are cheaper, given personal pumping services by rocket scientist pump jockeys?
Mostly much lower gas taxes, but also proximity to refineries.
Then let me reiterate the part where everything you listed in your post never shows up on my account, ever. So if this is a requirement issued by somebody, and it has to happen, then my credit union is taking this part upon itself and not putting any restrictions or changes on my account. Because nothing ever shows up on my account in any section visible to me, and they’ve never had a problem when I had a low account balance. I guess people are just so used to shitty bank stuff like “the gas company wants to make sure you have $100 and we won’t finalize the sale for a few days, so tough luck but that’s how it is” that they can’t fathom a bank that says “don’t worry about that stuff, we’ll take care of it and we know you have the money. We won’t hold any portion of your assets past an exact amount you purchased”.
Let me reiterate, again: I’ve used both debit and credit cards at gas pumps and never once, ever, had any authorization or hold on my account past the exact amount of gas I purchased. Same for hotels. Same for car rentals. Not once has my bank shown any sort of hold/authorization/whatever-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it to my account. If you can’t wrap your head around a bank that is actually in service to their customers, well…
It’s adorable that you’re so thrilled with your credit union, but I think it’s worth pointing out that (a) authorization holds are a universal and necessary practice in the credit card business, and (b) you won’t necessarily see it because as a customer, there is a ton of information pertinent to your account that you aren’t able to see. Also, a CC client with a good behavior score will be allowed to temporarily exceed their credit limit so you may still be able to get transactions authorized even with authorization holds taking up all your credit, and guess what, you can’t see that information, either.
USE gasoline;
SELECT rank, name FROM cost ORDER BY price ASCENDING;
13 New Jersey
40 Oregon
(From Gas Buddy)