# We can pump our own gas in Oregon (soon) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2023, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951 "2023-06-22T17:27:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/21 "2023-06-23T00:44:42Z")
Sideways rain. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/22 "2023-06-23T01:08:25Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > If memory serves, I believe this law mandates 50% of the pumps remain full-service, with the other 50% being self-serve. Yup. Which I’m guessing means self serve won’t be any cheaper because we’ll still be paying for a staffed station. At least we’ll save time. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/23 "2023-06-23T01:10:34Z")
I believe the legislation says both must be priced the same. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/24 "2023-06-23T01:44:04Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > Also when wearing expensive shoes If like in Pennsylvania, you will have to walk into the convenience store to ask for full service. Honking? Might work, if the rain is quiet and gentle, and they are well-staffed. In many states, there is a law that says full service has to be available. But if there is only one convenience employee on duty, as is common, it’s a problem. So after the first year or so of self-service, I think your shoes will be safer if you pump yourself. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/25 "2023-06-23T03:02:21Z")
Live in the Seattle area. I always try to fill up on the non-Oregon side of the border every time I have to drive to the state. And it’s usually some slack jawed good ol boy taking his sweet as time to come over and pump. Sheesh, if i have to wait for full service, at least make the pump a hand job. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/26 "2023-06-23T10:59:55Z")
> [@Redcanoe](#): > > It’s fine if someone has to do it all day long for minimum wage Translation: it provides employment. Doesn’t bother me at all to pump my own gas, and now that I live in MN, that’s the only option rain, shine, or 10F. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2023, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/27 "2023-06-23T11:14:30Z")
I’ve been driving for forty-nine years and in Oregon for only one of those. I’ve gotten used to letting the Costco attendant do it, and I think I’ll keep on keeping on (even though I’m probably one of the more qualified self-servers, just on the strength of my forty-eight years of doing it). Fun fact: motorcyclists already pump their own gas here. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/28 "2023-06-23T11:47:08Z")
I’ve been pumping my own gas in Oregon for a long time now and I miss having full serve. And I’ve never had anything but polite, competent service. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/29 "2023-06-23T23:45:12Z")
One of the things I like about the Dope is the insight into how other places work. 😀 I’m in the UK, I passed my test in 1995 and I’ve literally never encountered a non-self-serve petrol (gas) station. These days most places have card payment terminals on the pumps so that you can fill your car without any human contact whatsoever. A quick Google suggests that we converted from attended petrol stations in the 70s and 80s. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/30 "2023-06-23T23:55:14Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > A quick Google suggests that we converted from attended petrol stations in the 70s and 80s. Same here in Ontario, Canada. We still have attended stations (I think) but they’re so rare that if I wanted one I’d have no idea where to find one. > [@Omniscient](#): > > Just in time for the EV takeover. > > Do they require attendants at Superchargers? Presumably Oregon legislators would require them in order to prevent Oregonians from electrocuting themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/31 "2023-06-23T23:57:06Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > A quick Google suggests that we converted from attended petrol stations in the 70s and 80s. Were people told back then that they would still have a choice, and that the level of service wouldn’t change? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/32 "2023-06-23T23:59:31Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > I’m in the UK, I passed my test in 1995 and I’ve literally never encountered a non-self-serve petrol (gas) station. These days most places have card payment terminals on the pumps so that you can fill your car without any human contact whatsoever. Many in the US can say the same. I got my license in 1984, and since then I have never had (or even had the opportunity to have) an attendant pump my gas—though I do remember full-service gas stations from when I was a kid in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/33 "2023-06-24T00:05:52Z")
I really, really doubt there will be an epidemic of fires and self-immolations at Oregon gas stations once self-serve comes into use. Somehow, drivers in virtually all other states have sufficiently mastered the skills involved in filling one’s gas tank without constant disasters. And for those Oregonians nostalgic for full-service gas stations everywhere and all the time, they can vacation in New Jersey. The only downside for new self-servers is they’ll probably be treated to those unavoidable, asinine gas chain promotional videos playing at the pumps. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/34 "2023-06-24T00:06:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Were people told back then that they would still have a choice, and that the level of service wouldn’t change? I’m trying to figure out what this question even means. What happened at that distant time many decades ago was that gas stations moved to self-service as a cost-saving measure – or more accurately, as a way to greatly boost sales volume with minimal staffing. I’m not sure what, if any, laws we even had against self-serve, but if we did they were just abolished from the books. It was just a change in how gas stations did business. Why would the government have any duty to dictate “choice” or “level of service”? And level of service of course wouldn’t be the same because, like, you had to get out of the car and pump your own gas. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > The only downside for new self-servers is they’ll probably be treated to those unavoidable, asinine gas chain promotional videos playing at the pumps. Around here the only stations that had that idiocy for a while were the Esso ones (“Exxon” to youse 'Murricans). I haven’t been subjected to it in years. But at the time it relegated Esso stations (in my estimation) to the status of “emergency use only”. They probably discontinued it after noticing that nobody ever showed up at their stations. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/35 "2023-06-24T00:13:42Z")
The bill pending signature states that at least half of the pumps must be kept full service, so evidently the government does get to dictate choice, even if it’s not strictly a duty. And no one actually thinks there will be fires or explosions. That was sometimes trotted out as an excuse, but everyone knew it was a (wink wink) excuse. The reason it persisted so long was 1) to keep jobs, 2) because older people and (others who are the type that write to their representatives) didn’t want to get out of their car in the wind and rain, and 3) because Oregonians like to imagine that we’re different from everyone else. And even 1 and 3 were mostly excuses. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/36 "2023-06-24T00:25:14Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Doesn’t bother me at all to pump my own gas, and now that I live in MN, that’s the only option rain, shine, or 10F. Not correct. Every MN station is required to provide an employee to pump the gas, when requested by a customer. And usually no problem, except that you may have to wait a bit. My mother used to do this occasionally, usually when she needed them to unscrew the gas cap if it had been put on too tightly (when she was in her 80’s, she no longer had as much strength in her hands). But she preferred to fill the tank herself, and especially to put the gas cap back on herself. She’d been putting gas into farm equipment for decades. And lately, many stations don’t even charge “full service” rates for this – seems like it happens so seldom they don’t have the registers set for it, or employees aren’t trained in it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/37 "2023-06-24T00:36:58Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > The bill pending signature states that at least half of the pumps must be kept full service, so evidently the government does get to dictate choice, even if it’s not strictly a duty. The government gets to dictate whatever asinine thing it wants. I’m talking about what has reasonable justification. In terms of gas station regulation, I’m not sure I’d look at a state that introduces self-serve gas more than half a century later than everybody else as a leading example of what is “reasonable”. 😉 I have to add here that I’m all in favour of governments protecting consumer rights against corporations whose only interest is profit. But the laws against self-service or mandating certain levels of attendant service seem in many cases to be way, way beyond anything that would be considered reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/38 "2023-06-24T00:44:30Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Every MN station is required to provide an employee to pump the gas, when requested by a customer. Huh, didn’t know that. Must not have been on the test. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/39 "2023-06-24T00:49:41Z")
Jokes notwithstanding, most Oregonians have, in fact, pumped their own fuel outside the state now and then. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951/40 "2023-06-24T08:50:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Were people told back then that they would still have a choice, and that the level of service wouldn’t change? I have no idea. I was born in 1977 and wasn’t really paying attention. By the time I was old enough to drive self serve was simply the way the world worked. I’ve never heard anyone lamenting attended petrol stations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-can-pump-our-own-gas-in-oregon-soon/985951.md?page=3)