In this recent thread, I was a bit shocked to learn that people in the state of New Jersey do not pump their own gas. Apparently this phenomenon also occurs in Oregon and NYC. Why? I can’t imagine. It seems a bit strange to me having lived in the U.S. all my life (but obviously never in these areas) and never hearing about this before. So what’s the dope?
In some places you’re required to be serviced. The only reason I can think of is that it provides more jobs.
It’s the law. Of course, if you care to debate the merits of the law, the GD is the best place for that.
Unions. It’s as simple as that. Of course you pay for it. Another example of a special interest getting benefits that are paid for by legal force by everyone else.
Not only do we not pump our own gas, we generally pay lower then the national average per gallon then the lot of you. $1.92 a gallon last time at the pump.
Although when my friend first got his lisense, and we went on a trip to PA, I had to explain for 5 minutes that they pay extra to get gas pumped for them there, and then had to show him how to pump it.
Not true. Generally speaking all the gas station attendents you’ll meet in NJ are either High Schoolers or recent immigrants. Two groups that aren’t eager to unionize. I’ve known several guys who work at/have worked at gas stations, none of them have belonged to a union.
Thank you Duckster: I realize it’s the law, and no I’m not interested in debating it, I’m interested in finding out why this law exists.
Seems odd that the prices would be lower when you have more employees to pay. According to thissite, prices are $1.63 - $1.89 here. According to the Trenton site, you’re on target about your prices: $1.85 - $2.09.
Looks like NJ may be the cheapest in the New England states, however.
I used www.gasbuddy.com for this information.
Members can’t edit their posts either.
In Richmond, BC they’ve only got full serve as well, but I’ve been told that it has to do with fire regulations only allowing trained people to pump gas. A friend who works for a major gas company told me that mishaps at gas stations happen more often than you’d think.
Where on earth is there a unionized gas station attendent?? In Oregon they get minimum wage with no benifits. Some union. :rolleyes:
Just FYI, it IS a fire code law in Oregon at least. It is illegal for consumers to dispense “Class I flammable liquids”, which includes gasoline but not diesel. Just another one of many reasons why diesels are superior. 
http://www.leg.state.or.us/01orlaws/sess0300.dir/0328ses.html
Jeeez. I’ve heard of people trying to place New York in New England, but Jersey? :o
New England is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachussets and Connecticut.
They sure do. 78 of the reported incidents are known to have been caused by static discharges, often due to the driver getting back in the vehicle while fueling is in progress.
Unions? I don’ tink so! (bad attempt at rendering an accent in type.)
Deadly: One of the reasons that our prices are so low is that we have a lot of refineries here and we have major seaports that can handle gigunda ships.
And we’re not in New England. No way. No how. Fugeddaboutit! Say something like that again, and I’m sending the Toxic Avenger after you!
But to address the question–I don’t know where the law came from, but I do know that there isn’t much of an urge to change it. Various analyses have concluded that switching to self-serve wouldn’t substantially bring down the price of gas. You wouldn’t even necessarily save that much labor. The little gas station that I go to usually has only one guy pumping gas and taking money. If the garage is closed, it’s only the one guy manning the whole place. Even if the pumps were self-serve, they’d still have to pay that one guy to sit on his duff. And they might well have to make some changes to the pumps themselves, costing money.
So, it may seem weird to you, but we have cheap gas, we don’t have to pump it ourselves, and there are more jobs out there. So we keep things the way they are.
Matt Barry: Welcome to the boards. No, we can’t edit our posts. Gotta keep us honest somehow…
Gas station owner from Greece here!
In Greece, all gas stations have employees to pump gas.
Recently, some self-service stations with significantly cheaper gas (0.07 euros/liter) have opened, but it has been a disaster. People still prefer stations that offer that service.
From the link you gave I see some strange things
-Chocked the nozzle open with the gas cap.
-Blocked nozzle open to “on” position with a rock.
All nozzles as far back as I remember (some 20 years) have a self locking mechanism. In the cases above, either that mechanism wasn’t working (it is simply a little piece of metal that can easily break) or the customer didn’t know how to use it. It is not too bad, because even if you wedge the nozzle with an object, the nozzle will still cut-off the fuel when the tank is full. But it certainly shows sloppiness from the customer.
Also it seems that many of the accidents were due to gas accidentally spilled when pulling the nozzle out. :rolleyes: I certainly wouldn’t like that type of customer filling up himself.
That’s probably due to the many costs reflected in the price of gas other than the labor to pump it. Things like taxes, transportation costs, etc.
For the last several years here in the US, this mechanism has been removed on most self-serve nozzles, because they don’t want people wandering off while refueling–a safety issue, I gather. If I’m not mistaken, it’s a response to the type of static-ignited fire , where the driver gets back in the car while refueling and gets out (generating a static charge on himself) to pull out the nozzle and touches off a spark when his hand nears the nozzle handle’s metal parts.
:o Can you tell I’ve never been up north?
Well, then! You must come up for a visit! You can tour our lovely full-serve gas stations, oil refineries, toxic waste dumps, and the Port of Elizabeth! Then we’ll go out for some Manhattan clam chowder, made with Jersey tomatoes of course, and laugh at all those stuck-up stickybeaks up there in New England.
Do you talk funny?