Oregonians Horrified That Others May Now Choose To Pump Own Gas

[redhawk47]

https://www.theadvocates.org/oregonians-horrified-others-may-now-choose-pump-gas/

It's about time!

[TimmyTheHog]

I had to check if this is a joke news or not when I first heard about it...

There are just so many trolling comments too LOL...

[pyoungbl]

I love the comments like "I don't know how to pump gas."  This issue has always been about jobs.  Now NJ, with it's strong union influence, is the only state where it is illegal to pump your own gas.  I'm not against unions.  At some point we have to recognize featherbedding for what it is, waste. 

[oldbike54]

 Don't live in Oregon , don't care what they do .

 Dusty

[guzzibob]

Been optional for bikers in Oregon for quite some time. Always struck me as stupid.

[Kev m]

It's downright annoying in NJ because it takes twice as long.

If you're on a bike they always hand you the pump to do it yourself. And if you swipe your card and start the pump before they get there then they generally leave you alone.

But in a car it's more likely you'd get a sideways glance if you do it yourself. Of course if it's busy and you're not a jerk they are usually thankful you "helped" them out.

But generally I think it's stupid.

Besides, with cars it always made sense to me to clean the windshield and wipers at each fill so I'd rather get out each time anyway.

[Mark111]

Morons, how dare the rest of the world be wrong

[Guzzistajohn]

First time I filled up in Joisey (Nerk) I thought the dude was just being nice, then I found out I was defiantly WRONG! 

[Tusayan]

The point of the article, which is that people rapidly lose confidence in their own ability when the option to exercise it removed, is absolutely true.  I guess some Oregonians will now go into shock until they relearn one of the basics 

[Arizona Wayne]

As a biker I have never let or had a gas station attendant fill or want to on my MCs in Oregon.  So this is the joke of the law. But if you appear to want to pump your own gas for any of your vehicles other than a MC the attendants get panicky.  I've asked some of the attendants why they have this stupid law and they just say "because we can."  Glad to hear it's finally going away.

Now @ Walmart at least@ our local 1 customers are being allowed to check out their own  items @ a register.  This is saving WM a lot of payroll (boring job).  Instead of being replaced by a robot you are replaced by a customer since the register(computerized) & credit card/or cash use are the norm nowadays.

[Lannis]

  Instead of being replaced by a robot you are replaced by a customer since the register(computerized) & credit card use are the norm nowadays.

I use lots of credit cards, and I swipe my own card at the pump, but I draw the line at checking out my own items from a store.   

The last thing I need in my life is one more electronic tart telling me "I - I'm sorry, I didn't get that last item" or "Please begin again" !

So there'll always be a checkout person for me ....

Lannis (and yes, I do remember people telling me that the AutoMat food dispenser would replace servers forever, and I might as well get used to it ... )

[Arizona Wayne]

I use lots of credit cards, and I swipe my own card at the pump, but I draw the line at checking out my own items from a store.   

The last thing I need in my life is one more electronic tart telling me "I - I'm sorry, I didn't get that last item" or "Please begin again" !

So there'll always be a checkout person for me ....

Lannis (and yes, I do remember people telling me that the AutoMat food dispenser would replace servers forever, and I might as well get used to it ... )

Well for your information, Lannis, WM has this new setup where there are a bunch of registers w/wands (if your item is too big to cross the eye of the register) set up like a corral(13) and 2 assistants if you need them, which means no more standing in line waiting your turn.   I find this method GREAT!!!     But there are always some customers who don't like change. 

[Testarossa]

WM has this new setup where there are a bunch of registers w/wands (if your item is too big to cross the eye of the register) set up like a corral(13) and 2 assistants if you need them,

How is this different from the self-service checkouts at Kroger's and Safeway etc? We've had those for three or four years, or maybe longer. My memory ain't so good. 

[wirespokes]

Wow - that's news to me!!! Always in the past it came up to a vote of whether to allow us to pump our own in Oregon. There was a lobby that worked really hard to prevent it going into law - and I don't know why that was. I recall two or three times it came up and each time was defeated. One of the arguments was that some people who really wanted their gas pumped for them would be out of luck or have to pay more - a ridiculous thought, but it bit. Yeah, they'd have to pay more than the pump-your-own, but probably comparable to current prices. I'm sure there were other scare tactics involved to turn the vote against it.

There wasn't a vote this time - so I wonder why it had to be voted on in the past? Government... :-(

Now, if only they'd do the same with lane splitting!

[Guzzi Gal]

What did Oregonians do when they travelled out of state, run out of gas for fear of pumping their own? 

[Arizona Wayne]

How is this different from the self-service checkouts at Kroger's and Safeway etc? We've had those for three or four years, or maybe longer. My memory ain't so good.

The difference is there are a lot more of them at 1 store.   My local WM isn't that big compared to some others I've seen. I 1st got introduced to this setup @ my  local Sam's Club a couple years ago.  WM probably has more stores than any other chain.   Maybe other parts of USA got this feature before we have. 

[Arizona Wayne]

Wow - that's news to me!!! Always in the past it came up to a vote of whether to allow us to pump our own in Oregon. There was a lobby that worked really hard to prevent it going into law - and I don't know why that was. I recall two or three times it came up and each time was defeated. One of the arguments was that some people who really wanted their gas pumped for them would be out of luck or have to pay more - a ridiculous thought, but it bit. Yeah, they'd have to pay more than the pump-your-own, but probably comparable to current prices. I'm sure there were other scare tactics involved to turn the vote against it.

There wasn't a vote this time - so I wonder why it had to be voted on in the past? Government... :-(

Now, if only they'd do the same with lane splitting!

Haven't lived in Kalifornia for 8.5 years but when there some gas stations would pump your gas for you and yes it cost you more if they did.  Don't know if it's still that way there.

[Mr Revhead]

Crazy.... I never let a pump monkey near my car! If they tried to fill my bike? I'd probably fill them!
However here in NZ, forecourt attendants went out the window a while ago.

[Rainrider]

Since the original link didn’t bother to explain anything, the law has basically been changed so that gas stations in rural counties are exempt. Most Oregonians aren’t impacted, and very very very few people are even close to freaking out over it.

And yeah, it’s a dumb law. I actually read the text of it a while back, and it’s filled with so many half-assed rationalizations (one was that it rains a lot here and you could slip and fall; lightning, I think was another) that it’s clear the sponsors knew it was dumb. Motorcycles (and diesels) are exempt, but different gas stations have different ideas of what exempt means. Usually I can get off the bike and run my card before an attendant gets in my space, but a lot of the time some dude is hovering there with a paper towel I don’t need before I even get off the bike. The law is written to say that the attendant needs to prepare the pump and hand the nozzle to the motorcyclist for fueling, but I know of only one place that insists on doing it that way (and I don’t go there because of that).

90% of attendants feel compelled to hand you a paper towel, for some reason.

[Kev m]

The last thing I need in my life is one more electronic tart telling me "I - I'm sorry, I didn't get that last item" or "Please begin again" !

Oh I got a good one for you.

So today I call Allstate to make a change to something. I get an obvious automated CSR system with actually a pretty decent voice component.

It asks me to enter some info, which I do.

Then it says "let me look that up" and I hear FAKE KEYSTROKES ON THE OTHER END!!!

[emoji33] [emoji36] [emoji49]


That's it, give me a live person "how patronizing is that crap?!? How stupid do your bosses think their customers are?!?"

I'm still pissed.

[Tom H]

I did not read the OP link. I was in Oregon once about 20 years ago and they pumped my gas in my F100 like a Full Service station.

Now in Cali, I'm not sure if there is a Full Service station anymore. At least at the Mobil, Shell, Chevron, Valero that I stop at, there is no one coming out to help me. There is a button on the pump at least at the Valero for assistance, but I don't know what that assistance is.

Many many moons ago in Cali, somewhere around/after the gas shortage and the around the block lines, stations added self serve. The price for self serve was about 10 cents lower. But with full serve, they cleaned the windows and checked the oil and tires just like they had before the option of self serve.

Heck, I remember my mom would go to the full serve station that had blue or green chip stamps or had "free with fill up" give aways like drinking glasses or the like. Then when self serve started, as a 6ish year old I learned to pump gas. Proud moment!

I understand the idea that Oregon had to help keep people employed. Not necessarily a bad idea.

In Cali supermarkets. We had self checkout at Albertsons, could even buy booze at it, but a cashier would have to come over to verify age. Then they stopped the booze per Cali law supposedly. Then they realized that it was taking a cashier too much time to help the self checkout. Now, no more self checkout. Sorta a bummer when I just need a pack of soda quick.

On the same note I was at a Home Depot. Walked up to a cashier at a empty register. Didn't notice it was a self serve/ She had nothing to do at the moment and helped me through. Could have done it myself, done it before. But, one of the items would not scan, she tried a few times and finally had to go to her register and enter the P/N manually. so much for self checkout always being quicker.

Just my 2 cants. YMMV. Rant over!
Tom

[JeffOlson]

Where have I been? I did not even know I can now pump my own gas in Oregon, and I was just there. (They have always allowed me to fill my motorcycles, just not my cars and trucks.) What an interesting new day!

[Two Checks]

When our local grocer installed self checkout lanes they put up signs stating they were for "your convenience". I axed the manager which is more convenient-having someone do it for me or having to do it and bag it myself. Before long the signs changed to "for faster checkout".
I asked how the checkers took to the implication the customer was better than the employees.
The signs now read "self service checkout". And they still have the "checkerless checkout checker". I must not have been the only one to say something.

[Mr Pootle]

Most UK supermarkets have self service tills now. I won’t use them. They’re not significantly quicker. There may be more of them than there are manned tills, but given the way some customers frame, they can take twice as long. They’re just a way for supermarkets to cut staff and thus increase their profits.
But on the original point, forecourt attendants disappeared in the 1970s, but a local Shell station has recently started employing someone to offer assistance. Maybe customer service is making a comeback.

[Aaron D.]

It's harder to do self checkout properly than many thought, but the latest iterations are good-so much so that I use them in preference over a cashier.

[Rough Edge racing]

  1967-68 I drove back and forth several times between my parents home in NJ and Ft Carson Colorado...I don't remember ever once pumping my own fuel... "Filler up with high test please, no need to check the oil"  .

[Darren Williams]

What did Oregonians do when they travelled out of state, run out of gas for fear of pumping their own?

OK, I'm a little late to this party, but can't believe that the above question hasn't spurred a quite bit of comments.  I would have suspected it would have been jumped on quick. Obviously folks in Oregon and NJ that travel out of state can pump their own gas, but the interwebs are pretty full right now of Oregonians gas pumping failure.

[Vagrant]

as far as the gas goes, if they are too stupid and uncoordinated to pump gas how can they operate a car?
As for Walmart, first all they are doing is putting more Americans out of work!
Back in Nov. I tried to use one, I clicked through a few items before the bell went of on a can of brake cleaner. the (help?) girl had to come and check my ID. Not happy, couple more items then a case of shotgun shells brought the girl back again, now pissed, couple more items and then off goes the alarm on a bottle of wine. I canceled the sale and walked away. what a bunch of BS. faster and more convenient my AZZ!
Personally I think one of Kmarts biggest downfalls was a lack of check out humans and it might be Walmarts too.
Rant over return to your regularly scheduled program.

[Sheepdog]

We have full serve and self serve around here, though most are self serve. We also have a great deal of non-ethanol stations...many with premium. Our local town of Abita Springs has a station with full service and only sells non-ethanol! We seem to have sufficient choices to meet the needs of a variety of customers. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

[Kev m]

Look up the statistics for people driving off with the hose still on the filler. It is so bad that in CA (and most states) they have quick disconnects on the hoses so fuel doesn't get sprayed all over the ramp.

You have these numbers? Please provide?

I mean, I'm sure it happens. But aside from the occasional you-tube video I've never even heard of such a thing.

I guess it wouldn't take many in the history of gas stations for a requirement of quick-disconnects to be added to local codes. But we do spend an awful lot of time as a society attempting to protect the dumbest of us from themselves.

Still, it seems like some 48 states function pretty well without people burning themselves to death every day due to self-service filler stations right?