Pumping gas? (taxes, health, areas)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

... If you don't like not being able to pump your gas, don't buy your gas here. Problem solved. ...

or buy a diesel vehicle, You can pump our own diesel in OR (which few attendants know), and that is a good thing! as it is virtually impossible to convince the attendants to not put gas in your diesel car. (even tho it is well marked Cap, Fuel Door, Tank Opening...)

This is the scorn of Canadian diesel drivers who are stranded along I-5 with dead diesels. Happens A LOT.

[pw72]

Wow this thread seems to never die!

I could be mistaken, but I remember hearing that originally the Oregon gas pumping law was about health concerns, but over the years has turned into a job issue. (At 12.1% unemployment it doesn't seem to be helping)

This was mentioned earlier, but most stations will take your cash or credit card right at the pump.

And yes, there can be delays at the busiest stations.

Finally, I find it somewhat ironic that Oregon won't allow you to pump your own gas, but does allow you to walk on the freeway shoulder. Which is more dangerous?

[davefr]

Originally Posted by pw72

Wow this thread seems to never die!

I could be mistaken, but I remember hearing that originally the Oregon gas pumping law was about health concerns, but over the years has turned into a job issue. (At 12.1% unemployment it doesn't seem to be helping)

It was originally a safety issue from 1951.

The jobs issue (along with the handicapped hardship issue) is thrown around because it sounds good but I think the real issue is convienance. It's nice not to have to get out of your car in the cold rain, pump gas and get gas smell on your hands. (that the real reason the public goes nuts when they try and overturn the law)

Self service does not seem to save money either as evidenced by gas prices in the neighboring states or CA and WA.

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by transientemotion

I was originally from California and Nevada so I have pumped my own gas my entire life until I moved to Oregon. It was really strange to me that I couldn't pump my own gas. I remember my first time i said, "don't worry about it I can pump it" and the guy tells me im not allowed to pump gas into my car wtf? I guess I enjoy getting out of the vehicle and doing it myself. It does give a ton of jobs to the lower class though. I wouldn't mind having the choice of self service.

I will reword what I wrote in my previous post that got edited out, much to my dismay.

I would suggest you think twice about calling all people who pump gas "lower class" because that is not very thoughtful. Just because the jobs are minimum wage does not mean that all the people doing that job are "lower class." There are plenty of respectable people out there pumping gas. There are college students and young adults who do that as their first job. There are people who own the gas station who may pump gas from time to time. Just something to consider.

[DreamWeavin]

OMG-people bitchin and moaning because they don't have to get out of their cars to pump their own gas????
I,for one appreciate having someone do it for me. No getting out in hot,cold or rainy weather. No having to go inside to pay. No getting out of my car--period. Love it!
Those complaining must live a pretty cushy life, with nothing else to moan about. How nice.

[hummingbird3]

Originally Posted by gnab gib

Just rediscovered this post after getting a rep point for something I said earlier. I never saw the exchange above, but I find it incredibly presumptuous for someone to speak for an entire state. How do you know every single Oregonian does not want the choice to pump his or her own gas?

This, in fact, is one of a handful of reasons why we are no longer looking at Oregon as a place to relocate. It's not the inability to pump my own gas, per se, but rather the underlying attitude behind it. If a state government takes away my choice to do something that I can freely do in 48 other states around the country, what else is it going to tell me what I can't do? It's the principle of the matter. I don't WANT to be told I have to sit in my car and wait 10 minutes for some minimum-wage pump jockey to stick a nozzle in my tank. I'm kinda partial to that whole "freedom of choice" thing that some of us still embrace in this country. This self-serve ban in Oregon smacks of backwards-thinking, bureaucratic protectionism -- the same kind that's allowing the unions to slowly kill off the auto industry in Detroit.

Just give people the choice. That doesn't seem to be so much to ask.

I've never waited more than a couple minutes for someone to pump my gas. Most of those people really hustle their butts and they don't get tips. It took some getting used to when I first moved here but really it's better. More than half the time it's raining. It's slippery. Etc. It just makes sense.

Oregonians are very independent type people and your insinuation that we allow our government to boss us around is really funny!

[rosecitywanderer]

I have lived in Oregon my whole life and have ALWAYS hated this law. I will list the reasons why.

- 95% of the attendants have a serious chip on their shoulder. You are on their turf and their time. If they want to wait five minutes before getting to you, man up. What are you going to do about it? Pump your own gas? *evil laugh*
- They NEVER use the cap hook on my fuel door and seem to take great pride in letting the cap bang against the car on its tether.
- They also take great pride in spilling fuel down the side of my car and also enjoy getting angry at me when I ask them to top it up.
- Take forever to bring me my change (I try to use my card whenever possible).

I have been out of Oregon for two months now and have pumped my own gas in every state since. Not once have I gotten back in the car smelling like fuel, not once has my car caught fire due to static shock, and not once have I gotten cancer from being around the fumes. And oh yeah...not ONE time has the wrong fuel been put into my car. Amazing!

It's a stupid law and it needs to die.

[rosecitywanderer]

Originally Posted by hummingbird3

I've never waited more than a couple minutes for someone to pump my gas.

Funny...when I travel out of state and get to pump it myself, I don't have to wait at all. AMAZING! In the amount of time you've spent waiting for Mr. Attitude Bad-A$$ Gas Attendant, I've gotten out, pumped it myself, moved on and made it 5 miles down the Interstate. And your pump just started.

[pw72]

Gas pumpers with bad attitudes? Perhaps a few here and there, but for the most part service is pretty good. It's like any business, if you don't serve the customer, they won't come back.

[tmarks11]

Originally Posted by pw72

I could be mistaken, but I remember hearing that originally the Oregon gas pumping law was about health concerns, but over the years has turned into a job issue.

That is frequently stated, but how many gas stations in Oregon have you seen with more then one attendant on duty? Not very many.

I remember working as a gas station attendant when in high school in 1984. All by myself, running my tail off trying to get cars gassed up in a reasonable amount of time. If people were allowed self service, there still would have been the same number of people working at the gas station (1), and maybe then people who wanted full service (yeah, right, not today) might have got it.

Safety? You think me as a "professional" 16yo running around like a chicken with his head cut off was safer then letting people gas their own cars? Not likely.

I doubt self-service would significantly impact the number of people employed at gas stations.