# The gas station by my house stopped having free air **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651 "2013-08-08T00:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/21 "2013-08-08T02:23:09Z")
I haven’t seen free compressed air in decades. Around here it disappeared when gas stations stopped being service stations and became convenience stores. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/22 "2013-08-08T03:59:05Z")
Hate to be the sort to [say,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo) but… The first time I saw a gas station charge for air I thought back to when I was a little kid and how many times through chance or negligence I needed air for my tires and I always knew where to get it. I seldom had money in my pocket that didn’t go to candy or comics. My wife works at an inner city school and we live in the area, there are a goodly number of kids around here with third hand bikes and certainly no air pumps at home. Back in my day air was free and the pennies a day in hydro for a compressor were cost of doing business. Now it’s just one more way to get gouged - and we’ll [acquiesce](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7fYBw6PfQ). \<– maybe not safe for work And just to put forward a qualifying perspective - with which I agree - and make this pit-worthy [I give your George Carlin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXd5cMkA5eM) NSFW ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/23 "2013-08-08T04:08:16Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I haven’t seen free compressed air in decades. Around here it disappeared when gas stations stopped being service stations and became convenience stores. Yeah, I remember air being free when I was riding a bike, but when I started driving, the gas stations were switching to self-serve, and they started charging for air. And that’s been like forty years or so ago. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/24 "2013-08-08T04:10:26Z")
In California, at least, gas stations are required to make water and compressed air available free of charge to the people who buy gas. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/25 "2013-08-08T04:39:30Z")
I wouldn’t mind paying for air if they provided decent volume and pressure. But if the cheap ass wheezy compressors powered by a AAA battery that take an hour to fill a fucking beach ball are all that are provided then I’m better off removing the valve, pointing it towards the wind, and waiting for a goose to fart in my direction to fill my tire. Airing up a tire shouldn’t involve a lunch break. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/26 "2013-08-08T04:55:06Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Is this a parody? Are you unaware of the OP? Not a single word he’s ever posted has been sincere. But he’s the kind of troll that aims to amuse instead of enrage, so he’s harmless as far as such things go. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/27 "2013-08-08T05:08:23Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > \*\*The gas station by my house stopped having free air > > \*\*now they charge a dollar for a few seconds You’d think the piles of suffocated corpses would be bad for business. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/28 "2013-08-08T05:27:19Z")
I hear ya, I find it slightly irking at first blush to “pay for the air that we breath” but there seems to be plenty of evidence that keeping tires properly inflated will save the average driver hundreds of dollars in gas every year. So lets say you pay a dollar to inflate your tires every month; more than likely you will make many-fold on that small investment. If the above math is true, a gas station is screwing itself by offering free air, if any air, at all. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/29 "2013-08-08T06:00:07Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > I wouldn’t mind paying for air if they provided decent volume and pressure. But if the cheap ass wheezy compressors powered by a AAA battery that take an hour to fill a fucking beach ball are all that are provided then I’m better off removing the valve, pointing it towards the wind, and waiting for a goose to fart in my direction to fill my tire. Airing up a tire shouldn’t involve a lunch break. Yup. I had to top up a space saver spare and it took me five tries to find a compressor that would get over 40 psi (needed 60) ---
**Author:** ![spotthegerbil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@spotthegerbil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spotthegerbil)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/30 "2013-08-08T09:16:52Z")
It’s hard to find a petrol station round here with a free air line. In the 80’s and 90’s, free air used to be a selling feature of petrol station, but now they have quietly disappeared. So I spent £5 on a basic compressor (from a petrol station) and that now lives in my bike, and more often than not, it’s used to help someone else out who has a flat at the roadside. My pet peeve is cars that don’t come with a spare. I had a hire car recently that had this massive space in the boot taken up by a compressor (which inside was probably no better than my £5 version), a bottle of tyre sealant and the towing eye. This was the same space that would normally hold a jack and a spare tyre. The last time I had a puncture, it was from hitting a rock, and it knocked a hole in the sidewall so large that I would have needed to cram the bottle of sealant into the tyre to fill the hole. So may the fleas of a thousand camels be shared equally between those that took away the free air, and those that took away the spare tyres. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/31 "2013-08-08T09:47:26Z")
There is a gas station not too far from me that offers free air and has attendants to check it for you. They also wash your windows and check your oil, if you ask.They do a lot of business selling tires, batteries and what not. You can get your oil and filter changed at reasonable prices, They even have an indoor lunch counter. They charge a dime more per gallon but their service makes up for it. I hope they never go out of business. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/32 "2013-08-08T09:48:43Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > In California, at least, gas stations are required to make water and compressed air available free of charge to the people who buy gas. :dubious: Somebody should tell the gas station managers around the Pasadena area, then. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/33 "2013-08-08T12:06:52Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Why does **PSXer** have a big nose? Please explain why I should not get all bent out of shape over this comment. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/34 "2013-08-08T13:08:18Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Please explain why I should not get all bent out of shape over this comment. It was meant as a meta-joke, referring (as you apparently realize) to the punchline of an old, fairly well-known, and very stupid anti-Semitic joke. Three IPAs into the evening, it had not occurred to me that the OP might actually _be_ Jewish, which would of course make it merely offensive in a way I hadn’t intended. At any rate, probably best to retract before this goes all Michael Richards. Always make sure the gun isn’t loaded, kids. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/35 "2013-08-08T13:15:23Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > It was meant as a meta-joke, referring (as you apparently realize) to the punchline of an old, fairly well-known, and very stupid anti-Semitic joke. > > Three IPAs into the evening, it had not occurred to me that the OP might actually _be_ Jewish, which would of course make it merely offensive in a way I hadn’t intended. > > At any rate, probably best to retract before this goes all Michael Richards. Always make sure the gun isn’t loaded, kids. I’m sorry, but are you actually concerned about offending the totally-not-trolling OP? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/36 "2013-08-08T13:20:41Z")
Ok, well, yes, the OP has a stupid point. But those of you telling him to get a compressor are pretty crazy, too. I just googled compressors and they run anywhere from $100 to $1000! If he can’t afford 75 cents (or doesn’t want to) for air, I don’t think he’s buying a compressor… and for that matter, I wouldn’t buy one either. Just another tool to keep around the house somewhere. OP, they charge so not anyone can just mess with their hoses. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/37 "2013-08-08T13:54:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Ok, well, yes, the OP has a stupid point. But those of you telling him to get a compressor are pretty crazy, too. I just googled compressors and they run anywhere from $100 to $1000! If he can’t afford 75 cents (or doesn’t want to) for air, I don’t think he’s buying a compressor… This kind of [compressor](http://www.sears.com/craftsman-12v-portable-inflator-w-digital-tire-pressure/p-02875114000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kpid=02875114000P&kispla=02875114000P), not this [kind](http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/pneumatics/air-compressors-tools/compressors-tools/vt6275-air-compressor-32hp-240v-60-gal?utm_source=google_pr&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Air-Compressors-Dryers-google_pr&infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=CIjru9b_7bgCFWQ6QgodpiEAoA). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/38 "2013-08-08T13:55:47Z")
> [@stretch](#): > > This kind of [compressor](http://www.sears.com/craftsman-12v-portable-inflator-w-digital-tire-pressure/p-02875114000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kpid=02875114000P&kispla=02875114000P), not this [kind](http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/pneumatics/air-compressors-tools/compressors-tools/vt6275-air-compressor-32hp-240v-60-gal?utm_source=google_pr&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Air-Compressors-Dryers-google_pr&infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=CIjru9b_7bgCFWQ6QgodpiEAoA). Ah see, the link helps. I was kind of wondering who would keep those gigantor things in their car anyway…thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/39 "2013-08-08T14:09:09Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > You’d think the piles of suffocated corpses would be bad for business. Well, you can’t smell them without air. Besides, they’re good for the gas station’s new side business. Selling compost. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651/40 "2013-08-08T14:14:37Z")
nm - ninja’d by **stretch** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gas-station-by-my-house-stopped-having-free-air/665651.md?page=3)