Originally published at: Oregon motorists can soon pump their own gas, ending decades-long ban | Boing Boing
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Oh my God this will kill thousands!
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it can be good for folks who can drive just fine, but have disability issues that hinder getting out and filling the tank themselves. mandating that there’s always an option for staff to do it is great
( oto, going through oregon at night, and finding no open gas stations, because it’s not cost effective to keep someone there to pump is a significant downside. )
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Every time a politician proposes legislation in New Jersey to end required pump attendants, the politician is does not win their next election.
I do find the “price must be the same” clause nice, but a target for elimination in the future. But saying “half the pumps are closed due to lack of staff” is amazing hyperbole.
When I compare getting at Costco in Michigan vs New Jersey, NJ gets cars through faster. I like full service pumps.
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it can be good for folks who can drive just fine, but have disability issues that hinder getting out and filling the tank themselves. mandating that there’s always an option for staff to do it is great
The ADA always requires that federally, though I’m not sure how well it works in practice (and there’s an exception for gas stations where there is only one person working).
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Half the pumps aren’t manned now—they just block them with cones. I’m looking forward to the change and not having to wait forever.
I’ve never understood why this was the law in the first place. I’ve heard people argue that dedicated gas attendants know how to deal with hazardous materials. But the only two states I’ve been in where people regularly dumped gas on the ground were NJ and OR.
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Looking at you New Jersey.
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Yeah when I first moved to New Jersey 4 years ago, it felt so weird and uncomfortable to let someone pump my gas for me. Now…I kinda like it. And they definitely don’t have any trouble staffing the pumps. The only lines I usually see are at Costco, but they still get people through there pretty quickly.
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First time I drove in Oregon with a rental car I didn’t know that you weren’t allowed to pump your own gas so when I pulled into the station I was approached by a grungy, disheveled looking guy who appeared to be homeless. It took me a few mins to realize he was manning all the pumps. Certainly did not come across as a “trained professional”.
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Artificially creating jobs for the sake of boosting local employment, basically.
Always struck me as a silly thing, akin to making it illegal for civilians to press their own elevator buttons.
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This is why I coast across bridges on fumes to get gas in NJ.
After someone else puts gas in the car, I have struggled to remove the cap at self-service stations. 
It also shifts the health hazards onto a group of workers who probably aren’t well compensated. That is the part that needs to be addressed.
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“Oh my God this will kill thousands!”
It’s funny because it’s true.
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Oregonians who never had to learn how to pump their own gas before be like:
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I am old enough that I remember gas stations with Full Service prices. Being poor in the 80s, we never used those.
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Technology has improved the gas pumps too. Between the auto shut off on the pumps and whatever else is happening in them, It’s pretty rare that I even get a drop of gas outside my tank when I fill my car. Maybe it made more sense years ago… (although I’ve been driving since the early 90s and remember the pumps with analog number dials and no pay-at-pump option and I never had a problem with those)
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I feel a little bit disappointed about this change. One of the charms of visiting Oregon every few years is forgetting about this law and getting out of the car to pump some gas and having somebody come running over to stop you. Then you get back in the car and let them wait on you like you’re in some movie from the genteel olden days.
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Supposedly when the law was created in 1951 there were some legitimate concerns about random, untrained people handling highly explosive liquids in an era before automatic pump-shutoffs. Also I’ll bet that the general public was far less respectful of the “no smoking” signs in 1951. But as far as the safety aspects go the law has been an anachronism for many years.
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