Oregon legalizes self service gas. Epidemic of drivers on fire expected at any moment.
And now this brings back a memory from when I was around 18. I got a job for the summer in upstate NY. I was driving up one night, and needed to get gas. I pulled into a gas station somewhere along a country road... and started looking for instructions on the pump. Another car was there with a weathered-looking woman and her son (or possibly grandson), probably about 10 years old. She asked me (with a very country NY accent) if I was have trouble. I mentioned I was from NJ and hadn't pumped my own gas before. She very condescendingly sent the 10 year old over to teach me how.
What I do if the attendant is taking too long to come back after the pump shuts off is just come out and put the nozzle back and close the lid on the car… that gets them running over quickly.
I have all the time I need to allow someone to pump my gas for me. Anything else is uncivilized 
We don't have "Full Serve" and haven't in the nearly 40 years I've lived here. An attendant filling your tank, even if they also clean your windshield (which is increasingly rare) is not full serve. When I was growing up (before self-serve anywhere), full serve included checking oil, tire pressure, cleaning all windows and maybe a few other things. (I was a kid so I didn't pay close attention.) For a time, after we got self-serve, some stations had something called "mini-serve" which was more like what we have here almost everywhere.
Jaytee said:
Jersey still has the cheapest gas around even though we have an attendant pump it for us. Most people passing through Jersey will likely fill their tank up before leaving the state. I kinda like it like that.
I looked it up and NJ is pretty much in the very middle in terms of gas prices. About 20 states are cheaper, 30 are more expensive.
Other than the ten years that I lived in NJ, I have spent my entire life in self service states and provinces. I think I have gotten gas on my hands twice. I have never gotten gas on my clothes.
In don't believe that this is a real problem with modern gas station technology.
GoSlugs said:
Jaytee said:
Jersey still has the cheapest gas around even though we have an attendant pump it for us. Most people passing through Jersey will likely fill their tank up before leaving the state. I kinda like it like that.
I looked it up and NJ is pretty much in the very middle in terms of gas prices. About 20 states are cheaper, 30 are more expensive.
Among the “around” states, only Delaware is cheaper, by a penny.
GoSlugs said:
Jaytee said:
Jersey still has the cheapest gas around even though we have an attendant pump it for us. Most people passing through Jersey will likely fill their tank up before leaving the state. I kinda like it like that.
I looked it up and NJ is pretty much in the very middle in terms of gas prices. About 20 states are cheaper, 30 are more expensive.
NJ used to have the second-lowest gas tax in the U.S.
In 2016, it was raised from 14.5 cents per gallon to 37.5 cents per gallon. Prior to the increase, NJ definitely had the cheapest gas in the tri-state area. I used to fill up whenever I passed through.
Once the tax was raised it put NJ more on par with our neighbors.
DaveSchmidt said:
Among the “around” states, only Delaware is cheaper, by a penny.
Hmmm... I was thinking of a different meaning for "the cheapest blank around". Strictly speaking, you are probably right.
It is interesting, part of the reason they legalized self serve in Oregon was that station owners were having a hard time finding enough workers to man the pumps. Of course, stations in Oregon were usually better staffed than the ones I visited in NJ. Friendlier too.
GoSlugs said:
Jaytee said:
Jersey still has the cheapest gas around even though we have an attendant pump it for us. Most people passing through Jersey will likely fill their tank up before leaving the state. I kinda like it like that.
I looked it up and NJ is pretty much in the very middle in terms of gas prices. About 20 states are cheaper, 30 are more expensive.
that's what I was thinking too. NJ seems to have lost the price advantage it had a few years ago.
Until recently, I had a 2005 Altima with a kink in the gas entry line. The pump nozzle would shut off even though the tank wasn't full yet. Very frustrating. It took not a little bit of finesse to turn the nozzle on its side or upside down to defeat the problem. Most pump jockeys couldn't or wouldn't do it, so I always had to get out and pump myself. Every time. What a pain.
Now I am the owner of a new car and it is such pleasure to hand off my credit card and have the attendant pump the gas. It feels luxurious.
GoSlugs said:
Hmmm... I was thinking of a different meaning for "the cheapest blank around". Strictly speaking, you are probably right.
I was looking at the states where, if you left N.J. with roughly a full tank (or, as Jaytee put it, were passing through), you might want to gas up. Pretty much the Northeast, from Maryland to Massachusetts.
In a peer reviewed article in the prestigious journal Annoying Stuff about New Jersey, scientists were able to conclusively prove that the average New Jersey driver spends a cumulative average of 14.3 months of their life waiting for gas station attendants. It’s true, you can look it up.
I’m flying out of PDX this morning and, in the week I spent in OR, I only saw three gas soaked motorists light themselves on fire.
Honestly, it was a bit of a disappointment.
As a pt cyclist, I dislike electric cars because they sneak up on you like a snake.
I spoke too soon. The following picture was taken yesterday at a gas station in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Jaytee said:
Why would there be an epidemic of drivers on fire if they are pumping their own gas? It should be happening all across America…. The nozzles on gas pump hoses are not metal anymore.
Wrong. The liquid path is made of metal, so it can dissipate static electricity.
What you see is a plastic cover over the metal core.
tomcat said:
Jaytee said:
Why would there be an epidemic of drivers on fire if they are pumping their own gas? It should be happening all across America…. The nozzles on gas pump hoses are not metal anymore.
Wrong. The liquid path is made of metal, so it can dissipate static electricity.
What you see is a plastic cover over the metal core.
Wrong, perhaps, with regards to the construction of the nozzle but correct that gas pumps no statistically significant threat to their users.
Actually, the correct term is 'dispensers'. A 'pump' has an internal pumping unit (discontinued in the 1960-70s), modern dispensers do not - the submersible pump is sitting just off the bottom inside the tank (to prevent vapor lock, which plagued the old pumps on hot days).
The reason that dispensers are statistically insignificant is all the safety features built into the system:
The automatic nozzle shuts off if it falls out of the fill pipe. Most brands have an internal device, which prevents the nozzle from opening, till the spout is pointing downwards.
There is a shut-off/break-away valve on the hose, so the dispenser is not pulled off the island in a premature drive-away. I have seen this happen on route 23; the driver was oblivious and kept going with the hose dragging behind the car. If the break-away valve fails, so the dispenser is pulled off, there is another shut-off valve under the dispenser, so gasoline doesn't gush when the dispenser is pulled off.
In other words, it takes a really creative individual to cause an accident or soaking incident.
I think James Earl Jones (as the King of Zamunda) once said, "Believe me, I pumped my own gas once. It is an overrated experience. "
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Meh... my hyper spouse just gets the pump started himself if he's waiting for an employee. Figures it's the same legal big deal as everyone driving 75+ on the Parkway.
No one's ever said anything... And if they did, you can just pretend you used to live in a neighboring state and forgot you can't pump your own here.