OT: I don't want to pump my own gas

[Southern Gentleman]

Ok. I have remained on the sidelines and not spoken a word here in over 6 months. I needed a break and Y'all needed a break from me as well.

Other than "London Broil" vs. "skirt steak" or "Taylor ham" vs "Pork roll", THIS IS THE DUMBEST THING EVER!

You guys are pathetic! You cannot pump your own damn gas? What a bunch of lazy bastards with no skills. Open the freaking gas cap, insert your credit card, or debit card, pump your own gas, and go on with your life! You guys are ridiculous! Get over yourselves! Oregon sucks at this as well. You will survive!

Join the 21st freaking century! Learn how to cook BBQ. Open doors for women. Be nice to one another. And learn how to pump your own damn gasoline! How in the hell do you expect to dominate the B1G when you are such wimps that you get pissed off when the attendant doesn't tighten your gas cap properly?

Y'all embarrass the hell out of me! My Rutgers shirts are going to the back of my closet until you learn basic human skills!

 

[FanuSanu52]

I, for one, like the new, improved angry Southern Gentleman.

Tell these lazy, over privileged northern folk how it is!

 

[Caliknight]

You should have both options. Pumping your own gas isn't really a big deal. Sounds pretty wimpy to have another man do it, IMO.

 

[fezo]

You should indeed have both options. I prefer o pump my own gas. Gives me a couple of minutes to check on the car the way they use to do when service stations were actually service stations.

With all the electronics in gas pumps it should be easy enough to arrange that seniors or disabled people get full serve at the self serve price if that's a concern. You could also put a cap on how much more full serve can cost vs self serve. My bet is that pretty much any objections, other than the loss of minimum wage jobs could be massaged into a law.

A local station down here (Manahawkin) used to let me pump my own all the time. Someone must have said something because they suddenly went to "no no no!"

I'm sure if they ever convict me for three strikes and you're out it will be for pumping gas....

 

[mildone]

Ok. I have remained on the sidelines and not spoken a word here in over 6 months. I needed a break and Y'all needed a break from me as well.

Other than "London Broil" vs. "skirt steak" or "Taylor ham" vs "Pork roll", THIS IS THE DUMBEST THING EVER!

You guys are pathetic! You cannot pump your own damn gas? What a bunch of lazy bastards with no skills. Open the freaking gas cap, insert your credit card, or debit card, pump your own gas, and go on with your life! You guys are ridiculous! Get over yourselves! Oregon sucks at this as well. You will survive!

Join the 21st freaking century! Learn how to cook BBQ. Open doors for women. Be nice to one another. And learn how to pump your own damn gasoline! How in the hell do you expect to dominate the B1G when you are such wimps that you get pissed off when the attendant doesn't tighten your gas cap properly?

Y'all embarrass the hell out of me! My Rutgers shirts are going to the back of my closet until you learn basic human skills!

Hey now! Wasamattaforyou? I can't be pumping my own gas. I could spill and mess up my perfect bottle tan. Or heaven forbid that I get a little gas on my hand then run my hand though my carefully coiffed well-styled $1500 haircut. And what about my gold jewelry? You want I should get gasoline on that?

I didn't think so. I'm glad we have come to this understanding.

 

[Knight Shift]

Who exactly is making a living by working as a gas station attendant? These people adapt and find other employment. Can't believe this is actually a debate.

 

[rutgersdave]

Want a laugh? Paid $101 for 12 gallons of Regular gas on Sunday at Budget car rental "return" outlet at EWR airport. Fill up transacted by a professional attendant. Wow-eeee. This included a $20 "security fee." Say what? That’s the price of convenience, I guess, Jersey-style. Of course, I could have filled up at one of the many conveniently located, easily accessible service stations surrounding the airport. Hehehe....

You're complaining about your stupidity for not filling up before returning a rental car and blaming New Jersey. Rental car companies charge outrageous amount for gas in any state. You are an idiot and you probably have the wrong amount since you paid over $8.4 a gallon.

 

[garyrc70]

Why not pump your own gas, increase the taxes 2-3 cents per gallon to keep things the same price and raise a ton of cash for a state that needs money.

That's easy for you to say as being in FLA you wouldn't have to pay the added tax!!!

 

[derleider]

Shouldn't they allow gas stations to include self serve and full service then? I personally prefer pumping my own gas. Supposedly Sweeney said the rule is a matter of convenience, not safey...... but if that's the case, why are their rules enforcing what they believe to be convenient for the public instead of letting the public decide for themselves?


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20150519_ap_d4305ed5873d422e9160d519bddcaa89.html

If they allow stations to provide both, they will allow, in a relatively short time, decide that they dont get enough extra business from full service to justify paying an attendant.

CERU - I doubt anyone is making their living pumping gas. But its still a job. Basically you are paying a couple of cents extra per gallon to keep low skill or young people in work.

Will other jobs pop up? Its not a given that there will be other low skill jobs to fill the gap. Teenage unemployment is already pretty high.

 

[knightfan7]

I heard on the news our buddy Steve Sweeney said the proposed bill will go nowhere in the state senate..

 

[ag67]

I love pumping my own gas too. I can't think of anything that is more pleasurable than stepping out of your warm car during a howling wind on a very cold winter's day and then standing there for 5 minutes, feeling the wind blow through your hair. How invigorating! I bet it is especially nice for those people who have some difficulty even getting in and out of a car.

Am I too soft? Last winter I was out hiking most of the mornings when it was close to zero degrees. It is a different situation, as I was fully prepared for it.

 

[rutgersdave]

When I lived in Maryland, I would fill up in NJ since it was cheaper than Maryland, Delaware, and Pa even with gas attendants.

 

[jiggscasey]

When I lived in Maryland, I would fill up in NJ since it was cheaper than Maryland, Delaware, and Pa even with gas attendants.

Taxes dude. It's all about taxes.

 

[RU85inFla]

If they allow stations to provide both, they will allow, in a relatively short time, decide that they dont get enough extra business from full service to justify paying an attendant.

CERU - I doubt anyone is making their living pumping gas. But its still a job. Basically you are paying a couple of cents extra per gallon to keep low skill or young people in work.

Will other jobs pop up? Its not a given that there will be other low skill jobs to fill the gap. Teenage unemployment is already pretty high.

Maybe the low skilled people that lose their jobs pumping gas can go work at the super markets. They can collect the carts from the parking lot rather than having people deposit $.50 for a cart to make sure they return it. Or how about the actually have somebody in NJ pack your groceries. You can get real crazy and have some of the people actually carry the bags to the customers car like they do in other places. Lots of opportunity in supermarkets alone.

 

[derleider]

Maybe the low skilled people that lose their jobs pumping gas can go work at the super markets. They can collect the carts from the parking lot rather than having people deposit $.50 for a cart to make sure they return it. Or how about the actually have somebody in NJ pack your groceries. You can get real crazy and have some of the people actually carry the bags to the customers car like they do in other places. Lots of opportunity in supermarkets alone.

Thats a weird thing to say. There is no shortage of unskilled labor, so if supermarkets felt that they needed people for those jobs, they would already be hiring for them.

The way it SHOULD work is that NJans will save a little on gas, then spend it elsewhere, and cumulatively, that money will add up to extra hiring. That might be low skill labor, it might not. It might end up that the extra money doesnt get spent in a cumulative enough fashion to require as many replacement jobs as were lost, or most likely, station owners won't reduce prices (they vary so much anyway that you wouldt notice a 3 cent drop or not) and wont do much at all for replacement hiring.

 

[RUinPinehurst]

You're complaining about your stupidity for not filling up before returning a rental car and blaming New Jersey. Rental car companies charge outrageous amount for gas in any state. You are an idiot and you probably have the wrong amount since you paid over $8.4 a gallon.

__________________

Don't take it personal, sport. I didn't. And I wasn't complaining. I was sharing a somewhat related, self-inflicted, self-deprecating "gas" incident involving a rental-car fill-up at the merciless hands of Budget at EWR. I found humor in it, in the same way I find humor in your comment.

My bill total was $101.04, for twelve gallons of gas, inclusive of a $20 "security fee" as well as a "energy recovery fee" and a "transport fee." Must admit: it does seem like a state-sanctioned racket (airport authority?), perhaps indicative of the same sort of "pressures" that result in NJ remaining the lone holdout against "self-service" gas.

For what it's worth, in contrast, on the RDU airport property in NC there sits a sparkling clean Sheetz self-service gas facility, allowing anyone to drive up--conveniently--and fuel up for $2.47/gallon, 24 hours-a-day.

 

[Scarlet16E]

If they allow stations to provide both, they will allow, in a relatively short time, decide that they dont get enough extra business from full service to justify paying an attendant.

What I see in 48 other states and other countries is this:
High-traffic gas stations have self-serve and often offer a full-service option.
Especially true in places like highway service plazas.
Here you will pay a few cents more for full service.

Most larger gas stations multiple pump islands and a convenience-mart are self service only.

Most small gas stations with a single pump island and often a mechanic/garage are full service only.
Here the price is the same or sometimes even less than at the large self-service station down the street.

Everyone has options.

 

[Caliknight]

I love pumping my own gas too. I can't think of anything that is more pleasurable than stepping out of your warm car during a howling wind on a very cold winter's day and then standing there for 5 minutes, feeling the wind blow through your hair. How invigorating! I bet it is especially nice for those people who have some difficulty even getting in and out of a car.

Am I too soft? Last winter I was out hiking most of the mornings when it was close to zero degrees. It is a different situation, as I was fully prepared for it.

Yea, you sound soft. Toughen up, NJ people are supposed to be tough guys.

 

[jtung230]

Self service is not faster if you want to pay cash. You don't save money if you are forced to pay by credit. It's not that people can't pump their own gas but just don't see the benefit of doing so.

 

[Scarlet16E]

Self service is not faster if you want to pay cash. You don't save money if you are forced to pay by credit. It's not that people can't pump their own gas but just don't see the benefit of doing so.

No one forces you to use credit. Use a debit card (same as cash). Or use a credit card and pay the balance off each month. Or choose to use a full service gas station.

 

[RU85inFla]

Thats a weird thing to say. There is no shortage of unskilled labor, so if supermarkets felt that they needed people for those jobs, they would already be hiring for them.

The way it SHOULD work is that NJans will save a little on gas, then spend it elsewhere, and cumulatively, that money will add up to extra hiring. That might be low skill labor, it might not. It might end up that the extra money doesnt get spent in a cumulative enough fashion to require as many replacement jobs as were lost, or most likely, station owners won't reduce prices (they vary so much anyway that you wouldt notice a 3 cent drop or not) and wont do much at all for replacement hiring.

So you are cool with supermarkets pawning off their menial responsibilities - like packing groceries - to their customers but not gas stations - i.e. pumping gas.

 

[jtung230]

No one forces you to use credit. Use a debit card (same as cash). Or use a credit card and pay the balance off each month. Or choose to use a full service gas station.

Most stations charge a prem for credit vs cash. if I don't want to leave my car and go inside to pay in cash I am forced to use credit.

 

[Scarlet16E]

Most stations charge a prem for credit vs cash. if I don't want to leave my car and go inside to pay in cash I am forced to use credit.

What's your objection to a debit card?

 

[jtung230]

The banks charges the vendor and it's passed on to the consumer just like credit cards.

 

[j10oreo]

wait... how does a debit card get processed as debit if you're at a full service gas station? i'm pretty sure it gets processed as credit by default, along with the extra cents attached to it.

 

[RC1991]

Aside from the gas stations like WaWa the attendants at most of the stations are generally the owner. Let the attendants at the WaWa like places either continue to pump gas if they can offer both full and self serve or stock shelves or something. It's not like there aren't other similar jobs they can find....considering as another poster pointed out that these people manage to find jobs in the other 48 states that offered self serve. Having lived in 3 other states aside from NJ - including winters in Maine/Massachusetts and summers in Florida I would trade any weather related advantage of not having to get out of my car for the convenience of shorter lines/quicker exit and having the ability to run my own credit card.....given that Steve Sweeney has at best a HS diploma I guess he wants to preserve full serve so he has a job when he is finally out of office.

 

[J.L. Gotrocks]

Thats a weird thing to say. There is no shortage of unskilled labor, so if supermarkets felt that they needed people for those jobs, they would already be hiring for them.

The way it SHOULD work is that NJans will save a little on gas, then spend it elsewhere, and cumulatively, that money will add up to extra hiring. That might be low skill labor, it might not. It might end up that the extra money doesnt get spent in a cumulative enough fashion to require as many replacement jobs as were lost, or most likely, station owners won't reduce prices (they vary so much anyway that you wouldt notice a 3 cent drop or not) and wont do much at all for replacement hiring.

Actually RU85inFla offered a pretty solid analogy. What if for the last 50+ years NJ had (inexplicably) mandated that supermarket employees handle all the packing and delivering of groceries to a customer's car. Would there be concern about the loss of low-level jobs if NJ decided to end this practice in 2015? If so, why not just mandate that supermarkets have to do this starting now so that NJ can add more (unproductive) low-level jobs?

As for what would happen to the few extra cents/gal that a station owner could make by going self-serve (let's assume prices stay the same) it is not like the station owner will flush that money down the toilet or hide it in the mattress. Perhaps he'll decide to upgrade his station and hire contractors, or maybe use it towards a new car, or new clothes, or restaurant meals, or invest it, etc. Chances are that the utility of those few cents/gal won't be diminished and may even increase.

 

[derleider]

So you are cool with supermarkets pawning off their menial responsibilities - like packing groceries - to their customers but not gas stations - i.e. pumping gas.

Well its alot easier to regulate the gas stations - since a) they are already regulated in this way, and b) its a very specific task that is relatively easily policed.

But I really could care less. Just pointing out the obvious result. Right now NJ enjoys slightly higher youth/low skill employment than it would otherwise have, at the expense of drivers or gas station owners. It will lose some jobs that it will likely not recover, but its station owners will make a little more money than they do now.

Of course all of this is moot in the long run. Electric cars are coming, and they will get here faster than most people anticipate and all of these guys will be out of business.

 

[B1GOSU]

I can't imagine having to wait in a line for someone to pump my gas! I also can't imagine having to pay a 50 cent security deposit to use a shopping cart at a grocery store! What other quirky laws does NJ have?

 

[Scarlet16E]

wait... how does a debit card get processed as debit if you're at a full service gas station? i'm pretty sure it gets processed as credit by default, along with the extra cents attached to it.

um, after you swipe/dip the card you have to press a button for "credit" or a different button for "debit".

 

[j10oreo]

um, after you swipe/dip the card you have to press a button for "credit" or a different button for "debit".

The machines will allow you to process debit without a pin?

 

[Scarlet16E]

The machines will allow you to process debit without a pin?

I think you enter the pin next. Not sure as I always use credit and I don't use stations that charge more for it.
I often have to enter my zip code.

 

[derleider]

I can't imagine having to wait in a line for someone to pump my gas! I also can't imagine having to pay a 50 cent security deposit to use a shopping cart at a grocery store! What other quirky laws does NJ have?

Is that a law. I thought it was just policy of some stores to avoid stolen cars.

 

[Upstream]

Maybe the low skilled people that lose their jobs pumping gas can go work at the super markets. They can collect the carts from the parking lot rather than having people deposit $.50 for a cart to make sure they return it. Or how about the actually have somebody in NJ pack your groceries. You can get real crazy and have some of the people actually carry the bags to the customers car like they do in other places. Lots of opportunity in supermarkets alone.

You pay a 50 cent deposit to use a shopping cart? Florida is weird.

 

[j10oreo]

I think you enter the pin next. Not sure as I always use credit and I don't use stations that charge more for it.
I often have to enter my zip code.

Not trying to sound clueless. I don't live in NJ anymore, and I just don't remember having my card processed as debit whenever I went to the gas station. I believe it was always just processed as credit by default.

 

[jtung230]

Also forget to mention if you want to fill up at night and paying cash you have to prepay first. You rather wait in line to pay than wait for some to pump your gas? Don't get it.

 

[FanuSanu52]

For those citing jobs - would you also pay a couple cents extra for a vending machine attendant? Maybe someone to flush the urinal for you? That's about how useful the gas station attendant is in a world without a law keeping him artificially in business.

 

[RU4Real]

Want a laugh? Paid $101 for 12 gallons of Regular gas on Sunday at Budget car rental "return" outlet at EWR airport. Fill up transacted by a professional attendant. Wow-eeee. This included a $20 "security fee." Say what? That’s the price of convenience, I guess, Jersey-style. Of course, I could have filled up at one of the many conveniently located, easily accessible service stations surrounding the airport. Hehehe....

Here's your sign...

 

[Caliknight]

Fair point.

Like bathroom attendants, those gas station guys should work on tips if you choose to use their service. NJ needs to get with the rest of the country. It is silly to force people to use a guy to do something almost anyone can do themselves.

 

[miketd1]

How many people enjoy the benefit of a bathroom attendant vs. how many people enjoy the benefit of having their gas pumped?

I would guess <50% for the former and >50% (in NJ) for the latter.