sure, and convenience. Although the super-discount stations(Arco) usually make you go inside to pay anyway, so the minimum wage gas jockey isn’t tempted by handling cash. I know I enjoy not having to get out in the rain to pump my gas when it’s icky out, although I prefer to do it myself generally (to avoid spills and rental-car-full tanks). Fortunately I drive a diesel so I have the option in Oregon.
Must have been quite a while ago… I haven’t seen a full service station in Portland in years. Although sometimes the full-price stations will wash your windows. And as far as that goes, I’ve never seen a station with no window squeegies. Although I’ve been to discount self-service stations with nothing but a half-inch of nasty black water in the bucket…
Except when it doesn’t, and then you have an unattended flammable liquid firehose.
In LA panhandlers hang out at the pumps and try to get tips for pumping your gas. While visiting LA a few years back I drove up to the pump and saw a scroungy looking guy standing there and nearly handed him my credit card and said “fillerup” before I realized I wasn’t in Oregon anymore… :smack:
I don’t think I’ve seen any lockable pump handles since I moved to NY. Which is really annoying when it’s -13F out. It’s also a crime to jam something in the handle to make it pump, 'round these parts, anyway.
Vapor return hoses are required in metropolitan Houston, now. It greatly reduces the amount of vapor released into the atmosphere, or onto your hands. When I left the Houston area, it took a while to get used to having to endure gas fumes again.
What about card readers? In my little town, none of the gas stations are open all night, but they all have at least one pump that has a pay-at-pump card reader. Therefore, you can get gas any time of the day or night, and even on holidays. While I don’t use that service often, it’s indespensible (ha!) when I do need it. You folks in New Jersey and Oregon don’t have that option?
In upstate NY, almost all gas stations are self-service, and I haven’t seen an attendant in years.
Most gas stations have been removing the locking mechanism on the handles, but others still have them. I wish all handles were so equipped, because the handles are *really * cold in the winter, and one’s hand quickly freezes.
When I was younger, with the option to do it yourself or have an attendent pump it for you, my mom always chose to have us do it, to avoid having to give a tip. Do people in NJ and Oregon give tips to the gas pump gurus?
In my experience growing up in Jersey, it’s true you might have trouble finding a station open in the middle of the night. Yet in my current location of Connecticut, the self-serve stations close at night anyway.
Holidays and such are no problem. There’s always someone open.
Exposure to hazardous vapours = potential for litigation.
People employed to pump gas all day will be at greater risk of exposure to aromatics, such as benzene, in the fuel than motorist who only pump gas occasionally.
Petrol (gas) contains up to 5% benzene, which is a carcinogen.
I wonder if this is just an oversight? I would think that state laws prescribe that someone that’s trained and responsible be at the gas station when pumps are in use, just for safety.
You do understand that the vast majority of states somehow seem to muddle through allowing untrained citizens to pump gas without major problems don’t you?
Several years ago I was listening to the Howard Stern show , on Q-107 out of Toronto and Stern was having a chat with then Govenor Christie Whitman. One of the things that she was mentioning was the issue of the full serve gasoline stations.
Since they had some sort of employment problem , she said she could not fathom why Gas distributors were opening self serve gas stations , so that all gas stations opening would have to be full serve.
Hmm, must be a regional regulation thing. I occaisonally (Washington state) come across a handle where this is removed, but they are usually old out-of-the-way independent gas stations. All of the new mainstream stations and minimarts have locking mechanisms.
I work early in the morning, and in the winter there is nothing that I hate more than getting out of my warm car and being forced to hold a sub-freezing gas handle that won’t lock. Thankfully, most of what we have are lockable now.
Here in New Hampshire, every gas station I’ve seen has pumps that come with the self locking mechanism; however, in roughly two thirds of them, they’ve been removed systematically. Since they’ll be removed from all pumps at one station and no pumps at another, I think it’s more likely that the station owners are removing them on purpose than it is that they are gradually becoming broken or vandalized.
I don’t recall the proportion being terribly different when I lived in Houston.
We do have card-reader pumps, but it’s kinda silly since you just hand your card to the guy who sticks it in the pump for you.
Here in Portland (or along an Interstate) there’s no problem with late-night gas since there are plenty of 24 hour stations around, but when you get out into the boonies (anywhere away from I-5/I-84) it can be a problem. I once spent several dark and cold hours at a cardlock station in Chemult, OR until someone stopped at the cardlock and I was able to buy some gas on his card. I had made the mistake of pulling out of Klamath Falls (where I was going to school) around midnight with about 1/2 tank of gas. Little did I know the next open gas station (not counting the cardlock) was in Eugene, about 3 hours away.
Re: tipping the gas guy, it happens occasionally but I’ve never done it or seen it done.
