Does anybody else HATE mandatory full-serve gas pumping? (Portland, La Grande: unemployed, construction)

[redguard57]

Advantages:

- Reduce gas station shrink due to drive-offs.
- Increased safety at pumps (I have been solicited at pumps in Vancouver, never on the Oregon side. I don't really care, but for my wife this is a big deal).
- Don't have to get out of the car when it's rainy, cold or snowy.
- Employs approximately 10,000 people statewide.


New Jersey also has it, so I guess NJ is off the OP's relocation list. When I moved here I was annoyed at first, but I'm fine with it now. I made a slight adjustment to when and where I buy gas. I avoid the popular gas stations at peak times... for whatever reason people LOVE to buy gas at Fred Meyer. Yes it does restrict the hours you can buy gasoline in rural Oregon... living in Central Oregon I understand that. However, almost everything closes early here except the Wal-Mart and a few bars, not just the gas stations.

The attendant was probably writing the customer's reward #, not their CC # - especially likely if it was a Fred Meyer.

There was a study done on the price of gas and iirc the gas station attendants do increase Oregon's gas price by 5-6 cents per gallon. That is still a good 50-70 cents cheaper than California and typically less than Washington because we have lower gas taxes than both. We are high nationally but it's not because of the gas attendants, it's because the entire west coast needs more refineries. We are lower than WA and CA. Average Prices By State - Washington Gas Prices

The study also showed that the gas law does have a positive effect on unemployment. That alone is worth the 6 cents a gallon for me. The gas station attendant jobs are EXACTLY the kinds of jobs that Republicans want young and poor people to get instead of taking welfare. And now you want to eliminate that opportunity! I said 7-8 years ago... in the future, there will be people that openly say that HAVING A JOB is a form of welfare. I am sad that I was right about that.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by pikabike

True, but if you get out to remove your gas cap and swipe the card, you might as well pump the gas. (So much for the cold and rain avoidance...) The worst crowding I have ever seen at gas stations has always been in OR, because there are attendants jumping back and forth while customers wait.

Also, the woman who tried to memorize my card number insisted that I hand her the card. I did not know I could have refused that part of it. There WERE some stations where attendants told me I should swipe the card myself because they were not allowed to handle them. I thought it was just a policy at those stations, though.

As the saying goes, if one station is crowded, pick one that isn't, or try to stop at that specific gas station when they are less busy. I rarely have to wait longer than it would take for me to get out and do it myself.

[Nell Plotts]

I love the fact that an attendendent fills my gas tank!

[V8 Vega]

Saying that they provide employment when its a completely unnessary job seems redicolous to me.

[tickyul]

When driving through Oregon, I do my best not to stop for anything.

HAHA, can't pump your own gas....what a JOKE!

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

Saying that they provide employment when its a completely unnessary job seems redicolous to me.

If you were one of the 10,000 people that are employed as a gas station attendant, you wouldn't feel that way.

The bottom line is IF we take away those jobs, we would see a very small price decrease for a very short time. Then it would pop right back up again.

It's kinda like how the prices of everything jumped up a huge amount when we had almost $5 gas and that's what they blamed it on. Now gas is around $2 and yet the prices of everything else didn't come back down.


Here's some questions for you. If you take away those 10,000 jobs, what do you expect those people to do? Go on welfare? Go get more education and take your job? Rob others so that their families get fed?

[Sherwoody]

I think many of us on this forum are older. I've been driving since the mid 70's and if my memory is correct they were referred to as "service stations" then. They sold gas AND did repairs, sold tires and such. Most had a self-service side a full service side. Price on the pumps were different and you could pick which you prefered. The full service included checking/servicing the oil, fluids and air pressure one your tires.

When the self service only stations were introduced people hated them. Times change. Maybe if enough people complain they will offer a choice again. At least it wouldn't change the job numbers as much as doing away with it altogether.

[pikabike]

It was not at a Fred Meyer.

The attendant was copying the other customer's cc number because she visibly looked at the card back and forth several times between writing more numbers down. I was not "hanging over her shoulder"--just standing a few yards away as she did this; it was obvious what she was doing.

There was no management in sight.

The relocation happened years ago, and NJ was never even remotely on the list.

Some stations in other states offer a choice of full-serve or self-serve pumps, priced accordingly. There is no reason why OR cannot do that, since *apparently* so many of the responders in OR are willing to forego pumping their own gas, yet I know not everyone likes it.

Differences in gas prices were never part of our relocation question, because all the west coast states have high gas prices compared with the rest of the country, and it is indeed mainly because of few refineries for such a large area. To spell it out for all the conclusion jumpers, I NEVER said anything about OR gas prices, just the prohibition on pumping gas myself.

There are other jobs that could be "created" to supplement those lost from reducing the number of required full service pumps. Just a thought. It's not as though pumping gas is the only possibility.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by pikabike

It was not at a Fred Meyer.

The attendant was copying the other customer's cc number because she visibly looked at the card back and forth several times between writing more numbers down. I was not "hanging over her shoulder"--just standing a few yards away as she did this; it was obvious what she was doing.

There was no management in sight.

The relocation happened years ago, and NJ was never even remotely on the list.

Some stations in other states offer a choice of full-serve or self-serve pumps, priced accordingly. There is no reason why OR cannot do that, since *apparently* so many of the responders in OR are willing to forego pumping their own gas, yet I know not everyone likes it.

Differences in gas prices were never part of our relocation question, because all the west coast states have high gas prices compared with the rest of the country, and it is indeed mainly because of few refineries for such a large area. To spell it out for all the conclusion jumpers, I NEVER said anything about OR gas prices, just the prohibition on pumping gas myself.

There are other jobs that could be "created" to supplement those lost from reducing the number of required full service pumps. Just a thought. It's not as though pumping gas is the only possibility.

Well if you think they were stealing credit card numbers, you should have done something.

As for pumping gas, you are in the minority on this topic and we will keep voting to keep it around because we like having a gas attendant at our gas stations.

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by pikabike

There are other jobs that could be "created" to supplement those lost from reducing the number of required full service pumps.

Ok, you have my attention.
What jobs will be created by getting rid of gas station attendants?