Is New Jersey Really that Horrible? (Newark, Bayonne: sales, movers, headhunters)

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

Yes, due to GAS taxes. Apples and oranges.

Is it the most significant issue in the world? No, but it's still wrong. It's just one more example of a state that is completely over-regulated.

Freedom is always better than the alternative.

What are you doing here whining over the way NJ is regulated? You don't see me on the Michigan forum whining about how crappy the cars they put out are. If you don't like how NJ is run then stay out of here. Go do something useful, like fix your own state, it's the most broken state in the North.

[The Michigan Man]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

What are you doing here whining over the way NJ is regulated? You don't see me on the Michigan forum whining about how crappy the cars they put out are. If you don't like how NJ is run then stay out of here. Go do something useful, like fix your own state, it's the most broken state in the North.

I'm from Michigan? Is that so?

Also, it's quite ironic that you JUST made a thread asking about Seattle -- on a NJ messageboard.

[The Michigan Man]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

I know several people who own gas stations, and they don't pay much for employees who pump gas. They tell me it would not be a noticeable difference, maybe one or two cents a gallon, and they probably wouldn't bother passing that savings along to the customer, even if it meant being a couple cents higher than some competitors.

My point remains, not being FORCED to hire attendants would lower costs for those stations.

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

I'm from Michigan? Is that so?

How silly of me to think that "The Michigan Man" is from Michigan. For example, I'm from Bergen County, NJ, so my screen name is "BergenCountyJohnny". See how that works??? Not too complicated a concept.

Anyway, if you are from NJ, then what are you doing remaining in a state that you believe is so over-regulated that it warrants your whining? If you don't like it, LEAVE. New Jersey - LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT, pal.

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

Also, it's quite ironic that you JUST made a thread asking about Seattle -- on a NJ messageboard.

That post was entirely tongue-in-cheek, as I was comparing our overly-rainy June to Seattle weather which is notorious for the miserable, daily rain. June was unusually rainy for NJ.

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

My point remains, not being FORCED to hire attendants would lower costs for those stations.

Who cares if it lowers costs for them? What good is that for anyone except the station owners?

[The Michigan Man]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

How silly of me to think that "The Michigan Man" is from Michigan. For example, I'm from Bergen County, NJ, so my screen name is "BergenCountyJohnny". See how that works??? Not too complicated a concept.

Anyway, if you are from NJ, then what are you doing remaining in a state that you believe is so over-regulated that it warrants your whining? If you don't like it, LEAVE. New Jersey - LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT, pal.

That's how it works? There are rules to creating a screen name? It's complicated, sure. Maybe, don't assume next time. Or at least ask first.

Why should I love it or leave it? Because you said so?

[The Michigan Man]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

Who cares if it lowers costs for them? What good is that for anyone except the station owners?

I care because I would like:

- the freedom to choose between a full and self service station
- the state to not impose silly regulations that add unecessary costs; either the consumer or the business owner is hurt by these regulations, and neither should happen

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

That's how it works? There are rules to creating a screen name? It's complicated, sure. Maybe, don't assume next time. Or at least ask first.

No rules, just logic. I made a logical assumption, but based on your posts in this thread, I probably shouldn't have presumed that there was any logic behind your screen name.

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

Why should I love it or leave it? Because you said so?

No, because you'll be a less angry an uptight person living someplace that you actually like or love. Move to a state that isn't "over-regulated" and you'll be happier. Or, perhaps the reason you stay here is that New Jersey does things right, despite your complaints of "over-regulation", and you know it, but just want to be a malcontent and whine about it.

Nothing worse than the people who stay in NJ but whine about it incessantly. They should all just get out so we don't have to listen to their asinine whining.

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

I care because I would like:

- the freedom to choose between a full and self service station

Oh, I understand now. It makes perfect sense. It's a basic human desire to want to be able to pump your own gas or choose to have someone else do it. Yes, it is a very important thing and definitely can make one's life miserable and unbearable. It's not one of those minor inconveniences, like homelessness, starvation, cancer, etc. but rather it is one of those things that robs every person of dignity and a fair chance at happiness.

Just the other day, I was sitting in my car while my tank was being filled, and I got so MAD that I had to sit in my car, listening to the radio, instead of being outside getting exercise pumping gas, smelling the fumes, maybe spilling a little on my hands and getting it on my clothes...what a horrible experience!

And who cares if old people have a hard time pumping gas? They're OLD! They don't even matter! We should be like the pump-yer-own-gas states, where there is theoretically a choice for "full service" but in reality you have to wait and hunt down the attendant and then wait for him to sell cigarettes and scratch-off lottery cards to a line of rednecks and then refill the coffee pots before he comes out to pump your gas (for a considerably higher price) with a grouchy attitude because you made him come out of his bullet-proof glass enclosed convenience store counter, but who cares? The OLD people can wait! They have nowhere to go anyway! And they're OLD so who really cares if they don't like it? And the wheelchair people - who cares? Let them get out of their cars, wheel over to the office, get the attendant's attention, and then wait like the old people, because hey they're not any better than old people, really. Anything as long as the rest of us can pump our own gas and not save any money and help the gas station owners get rich!

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

- the state to not impose silly regulations that add unecessary costs; either the consumer or the business owner is hurt by these regulations, and neither should happen

Oh, I see, you would rather drive up the unemployment rate by eliminating thousands upon thousands of gas station attendant jobs even though it won't benefit the consumer in any way. Wow, what a visionary.

[Ninjahedge]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

How do you know that removing labor costs wouldn't lower prices?

Because teh labor is there anyway.

It requires so little work to do this, I have rarely seen ANY gas station with more than 2 people no the job.

You have one guy on the job, it won't cost you any more to have him go out and pump gas than to sit in his little booth, start at you and wait for you to go over and pay him (if that is how you are doing it).

It simply does not add any significant notable and attributable cost to the model. So they will take their base price and ADD a charge to it because they will try to convince you that they are giving you more.

These guys are not magnanimous. Are you saying that they will all somehow see it in their hearts to give you something they now know they will be able to charge for?

K.

You can also explain to me why two Exxon stations across the street from each other on Route 3 can charge different prices for the same gas, or how two DIFFERENT stations, like Sonocco, BP, Exxon, Hess or whoever, can get their prices within 1 cent of each other.

You can ALSO tell me why it is so important to have 9/10 of a cent added to your price when gas is now over $250 a gallon for regular (and not 20¢ or so when they first started using it).

You are trying to use logic in an industry that moves with what people FEEL is OK, not what they do or don't know. If they are allowed to charge more, for whatever reason, and they think people will somehow think it is fair, they will.

And their price matching and the like lets you know that this is not a true "free market" model.