Liquor store laws are especially weird to me. Minnesota still has them and any time I went there I was annoyed by the whole process.
I’ll make you a deal. You get me the ability to buy hard liquor at any grocery store than can manage to retain a liquor license which helps us avoid lines hours long at the state liquor stores for holidays and due to early closures, and when that happens, I’ll consider voting yes to self-service gas the next time around.
Until then, I will continue giving orders to my friend’s husbands to pick up what I wan in CA because they’re that much cheaper. Their self-service gas, however, is not.
Still though, why do you not want to pump your own gas?
I mean, why do you not want people to be ALLOWED to pump their own gas?
What’s the rationale here?
I mean… California also has higher taxes on gasoline, which is likely a factor.
It’s about 10 cents more a gallon there. So you’re probably paying an extra 10 cents a gallon in OR for full service.
Washington’s taxes are even higher than CA. So really, you should be paying less for gasoline, but you don’t.
average in OR is 1.99 average in CA is 2.50. It’s not as if we don’t tax gas too. When I went to WA last year, also higher. I paid 2.20 I believe, three days ago. We’re higher in this valley than a good part of the state. So they pay more for… less. Their roads are not better either.
You keep wanting me to explain to you a law that went into affect long before I was born. I certainly cannot explain the entire states mentality, nor should you keep asking me to. All I can say is I am fine paying more for a few minimum wage jobs… which I already said. I also said… the other states have higher prices and they don’t employ anyone.
Also based on the topic this is in, it’s not as if I feel anyone is really going to be open to an opposing opinion anyway.
I don’t know if it’s true or not, but the tale I’ve heard is that the unemployment rate was high enough that these gas pumping jobs were made in order to get more people working, in at least a minimum wage job. It’s certainly not free market, but what the hell is with the corporations having politicians of all stripes and their regulatory pens in their back pockets. If this is how a couple of states want to create some jobs, I’m ok with it, but it does take getting used to when I visit.
I don’t like anyone touching my car, least of all a gas station attendant.
Americans are so fuckin’ weird about cars.
When I moved to Vermont, there were still some full service stations. Don’t think there are any left. Whenever I’ve been anywhere with full service stations–and i remember them being ubiquitous when I was a kid–I’ve felt weird using them, at least since I started driving. In the days before hand-held card readers, too, it was annoying to wait for them to run the gas card and then bring you the carbon paper thing to sign, etc. I’m sure today it’s a lot simpler, but while it wouldn’t skeev me out to do it I can’t really abide being told I have to use full-serve. I too don’t want anyone mucking with my car, as silly as that may seem, but mostly I simply feel that pumping my gas is part of the car ownership thing. I get to do my windows and lights if I want to, eyeball the car for snow or ice or whatnot in places I don’t want it, etc.
I am pretty sure the laws requiring full-serve were put in place to allow gas station owners to charge more and hence make more money. The employment angle was used to sell the law, but it allowed station owners to control the product more closely in a time when gas stations were mostly, well, gas stations, and service stations. In the era of convenience stores, self-serve fits the business model a hell of a lot better, especially with so much of the paying being electronic. What I don’t quite get is why station owners support maintaining the laws these days, unless they are able to charge more across the board.
The roads in Oregon are horrible. I’ve lived in Washington and California and the worst part of a west coast drive (other than the beautiful scenery) is the drive through Oregon.
Bah. I remember some idiot girl once asked me if OR even had pathed roads, as if she thought the entire state was just dirt roads and log trucks. If you think our roads are bad, me thinks you’ve never been to New Jersey or maybe LA.
Pennsylvania has the worst roads in the country. Only place I have been where they are comparable is Washington State, but I haven’t been to Oregon.
Have you been to Chicago?
The only place I’ve seen worse was in Kerala India.
The sad state of our road infrastructure is a national embarassment IMO. Regardless of party, we should be able to have decent roads dammnit.
Chicago’s roads are the worst I’ve driven on in a major city anywhere in the world.
Yeah. Though i can state that south India is objectively worse. Delhi, however, was notably better.
Ha ha – I feel like I’m in the twilight zone. I’ve been pumping my own gas for over 40 years now. I don’t know of any gas station here where anyone will pump for you. I had no idea there were places in the US where you didn’t pump your own gas. Likewise, I had no idea people were afraid to do it. So weird to me.
Back in 2017, we changed it so our liquor stores can be opened on Sunday (The Sabbath Day). So that’s one little positive change. Except way up north in Ely, MN, where they voted to keep em closed on Sunday, so the liquor store owners can fish or whatever.
If gasoline cars were invented today, I think it’s very unlikely that individuals would be allowed to pump their own gas. Flammable, poisonous substances, just pouring freely from a pump? No way, that’s for professionals.
I’m mostly kidding, but a little bit not.
As someone who moved from New Jersey just a few years ago, I kind of miss full service. Mostly in the Winter time though. Okay, only in the winter time, but it was nice.
I have no problem with doing it myself, but I like staying the car. And it’s not like the attendant hangs around. They just put the hose in the car and move on to the next station.
And of course, NJ has cheaper gas than either PA or NY, so no one notices much the added price. Just like people probably wouldn’t notice if Papa Jones raised their prices by .25 in order to pay for health insurance.
Now, NJ does have one thing that does piss me off about the pumps. Many places have different prices for Credit Card and lower prices for cash. I hate that.