Why is this? And do you have to pay substantially higher prices because of it?
I’m not from Oregon, but I used to go there when I was a kid. I remember once I was getting fuel for my Enduro (too young to ride on the road, but it was in the sticks, so why not?). I paid for it, then went outside to fuel it. The woman at the general store came running out and told me to stop it. This was around 1974 or 1975. The law was in effect back then.
About a year ago I drove to Washington. I found out again that it’s illegal to pump your own fuel in OR.
I used to think it was because the Oregon legislature decided that people were too stupid to work a machine as complicated as a fuel pump. But someone told me (or I read) that the people of Oregon voted for the law. This person or article told me that in the late '60s/early '70s gas station workers were worried about losing their jobs when “pump it yourself” stations started to become common. The law was meant to keep these people employed.
I have no cites to back this up; just repeating what I was told or read. Makes some sense to me (and it’s less insulting that what I had originally thought); but maybe someone with The Straight Dope on the subject can answer with more than hearsay.
You can read the text of the law here. If you ask me, it reads like a pretty good parody of bad logic.
Gas in Oregon is pretty expensive compared to other places, but is not outrageous. I don’t have a car so I can’t quote you recent prices, but I’m sure somebody will come along and do so. I would not be surprised if we had a high gas tax though, so a direct comparison with other prices may not be valid.
New Jersey offers no self serve either. Freaked my girlfriend out when she tries to pump her own and the attendant about yelled at her!
I lived and worked in Portland,OR for about six months. Having family and friends in Seattle, I always tried to purchase my gas in Washington State on my way home as I would rather pump my own gas than sit and wonder whether I should tip the guy at the pumps.
The real reason I am writing this is because I used to bitch about this no self-service issue at work and was approached by a woman who claimed:
A: I don’t know how to pump gas.
B: When I travel to Washington State I always bring my boyfriend with me so he can pump the gas.
How many others in Oregon have no clue how to pump their own gas? During these debates at work I also learned that:
A: It is dangerous to pump your own gas.
B: It doesn’t cost more.
Uh-huh, and this explained why I could drive 10 miles north into Vancouver,WA and pump my own gas for less money.
Javaman, once you figure out the situation at the pumps, take a minute and explain to me why Oregon State still collects deposits on aluminum cans and forces you to return the cans in their original shape (no crushing allowed) in order to get your refund.
Sincerely,
IBBen
Washington State resident (again)
Wow, that is truly pathetic. (although I once drove off with the nozzle still in my tank… kerrrr POP.) 
I was in Oregon this August, but I didn’t know about the gas pumping law before that.
Incidentally, gas there was still cheaper than gas here (California’s Bay Area).
well here in so cal I find it difficult to find a full serve station and even if I found one gas prices are high enough as is
Any other states other than OR and NJ that have no self serve?
I’m an old pump jockey but wouldn’t have lifted a finger to save my job.No skilled labor there.Also not much money.
The town of Huntington on Long Island, New York, prohibits self-serv stations. I have no idea why.
My town 
And as a further bit of info, the prices in Huntington are no higher than any of the surronding towns. I think the places that charge more for full-serve are doing it more cuz they can, not cuz it actually costs anymore.
When I visitied Oregon a few years ago, the gas was no more expensive than in Texas.
I think it’s actually a pretty good idea. It provides work for people who don’t have any real skills.
Are the gas stations staffed around the clock? I have a crazy schedule, so I love being able to buy gas in the middle of the night with my debit card even when the station is closed.
Once, when I was in Oregon, the guy who was appointed to do the gas pumping was completing some kind of maintenance when I went in to pay for my gas. So the guy at the counter told me I could do it myself, and he said it real conspiratorially, like I was getting away with something COOL.
I lived in OR for several years, before I moved here… and as I recall, the reason for the law against self-pump gas was this: “Uh… because!”
BTW, this does not mean that places OR can not charge you more for “full service”. Places in OR may have “full serve” and “mini serve”. The latter means they pump your gas, but do nothing else. You still have to pay extra to get them to clean your windshield and check your oil.
New Jersey’s prices, even at all full-serve, are usually lower than the surrounding states, even on the New Jersey Turnpike. (The NJTP prices are slightly higher, but you don’t have to pay to leave the turnpike nor get back on.)
At least for NJ, I imagine there was union pressure to keep pumps full-serve to keep the gas jockeys employed.
On the latest incarnation of Candid Camera, they set up at a gas station in Oregon and offered people lower prices if they’d drive around the corner of the station and use the pump there to pump their own gas.
Nobody took them up on it. Not because it was illegal. Those that explained their reasons said it was because they didn’t know how.
Could it be that they didn’t know how because they never got a chance to do it?