Oregonians Horrified That Others May Now Choose To Pump Own Gas

[oldbike54]

 Yeah , those drive offs do happen , I've known of a couple .

 Dusty

[Kev m]

Sorry but I can't access search engines, but I did ask a station owner one time that had a sign on his business to "please don't drive off with the nozzle in the tank filler". I was surprised that he had several incidences where this had happened over the years.

I believe he told me in LA county alone the number was in the 1000s per year. I'm afraid this is "hear say" and I never looked it up  but saw it on a USAA publication (insurance co) and the number was very large nation wide.(insurance claims.)

All I could find is mostly anecdotal stories.


http://www.businessinsider.com/drove-away-with-gas-pump-attached-2012-10

With 41 million fill-ups a day nationwide, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), it's not all that surprising that something goes awry occasionally. No one keeps a tally on hose breakaways, but the mistake is common enough that every gas station owner has a story or two about it, and the industry builds gas pumps with the mishap in mind.

The cost of doing something dumb
Car insurance -- specifically your property damage liability insurance -- would cover the cost of repairs.

Rick Ward, spokesperson for MetLife Auto & Home, says claims of this type are infrequent these days.

"We probably see less than a dozen a year."

They used to be more common before self-service became the norm at gas stations, he says. Customers would pay for the gas and drive off, not realizing the attendant hadn't taken the nozzle out of the tank.

But I see their point, at 41 million fill-ups a day a few are going to happen. But I suspect the numbers are pretty small in the big picture. Though maybe not so small if you own a station and see it with any frequency.

[Lannis]

Sorry but I can't access search engines, but I did ask a station owner one time that had a sign on his business to "please don't drive off with the nozzle in the tank filler". I was surprised that he had several incidences where this had happened over the years.

I believe he told me in LA county alone the number was in the 1000s per year. I'm afraid this is "hear say" and I never looked it up  but saw it on a USAA publication (insurance co) and the number was very large nation wide.(insurance claims.)

Our fuel lines all have quick disconnects on them to minimize the damage during drive-offs with the nozzle still in the car.    According to local station managers I've talked to, it happens several times a year at each station.    You can find not just "occasional" but very many youtube videos of it happening, and that's only from the stations that have cameras pointed at the pumps and choose to publicize them.

We have 8 gas stations/convenience stores in our little town.   One of them has always had a guy standing there to pump your gas for you.   They charge a few cents more for gas (it's a Shell franchise), but the little old ladies who simply don't want to pump their own gas in the cold are perfectly willing to pay a dollar or two on a tank to have someone do it for them.    And it's easy with the wireless card readers, to pay ...   

People line up at those pumps all the time.   Let the people decide.

Lannis

[Rough Edge racing]

 Around here there are no break away hoses...Many dispenser handles have the auto on feature removed so you have to stand there and hold the handle on while refueling. Some stations have signs about remaining at the pump while refueling and will bitch over the PA system in you sit in the vehicle ..Locally I have seen or heard of reports of drivers crashing into the pumps

[PJPR01]

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.

Funny story...this reminds me of last year's trip to John Day.  At the first gas station I needed to stop at in Oregon, the attendant comes up and stands right next to me.  I'm looking at him wondering what he's doing. I flip the visor and ask him if I can help him with something.  He proceeds to tell me that he's there to pump the gas.  WTF??  Really??  OK...odd, but go ahead.  First time I experienced the issue on a motorcycle!

[Kiwi_Roy]

In Canada we use debit cards for everything, pumping gas South of the border is usually a pain, the pumps don't accept a Canadian debit card and often won't accept a credit card unless you enter a zip code in the US format.
It usually results in two trips inside to pre-pay with a card or leave your card with the cashier then a trip back to get your change.
The main problem is you never know what the procedure is going to be from one station to the next.

[blackcat]

Regular gas prices in NJ are currently anywhere from $2.29 to $2.37 compared to where I'm at in Florida with self serve gas costing $2.35 to $2.38. Personally, I have no interest in pumping my own gas as it's not a particularly interesting part of driving, and if time wasn't an issue I'd be more than happy to have someone else pump the gas into my car. 

[oldbike54]

 Any story that leads with the words "horrified" basically loses all credibility .

 Dusty

[Kev m]

Regular gas prices in NJ are currently anywhere from $2.29 to $2.37 compared to where I'm at in Florida with self serve gas costing $2.35 to $2.38. Personally, I have no interest in pumping my own gas as it's not a particularly interesting part of driving, and if time wasn't an issue I'd be more than happy to have someone else pump the gas into my car.

We got screwed with a $0.20/gal tax hike last year. Till then we enjoyed one of the lowest gas prices in the north east.

[screamday]

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

[emoji33] [emoji36] [emoji49]

I have experienced that on many customer service calls. Pretty stupid.

As far as self service check-out is concerned, I don't use them either. Not convenient at all.  The Walmarts by me usually have about 30 check-out lanes and most of the time only 3 or 4 are operating......with lines backed out into the store. I only go to Walmart if the wife forces me to. 

[JACoH]

At least the pump attendants let us pump our own gas into our motorcycles, they just have to hand the nozzle to us. I've wished we could have self serve for cars for years, but no go.

[Arizona Wayne]

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!

Any alcohol you buy in Walmart in Az. an attendant needs to put in a special code for you to get it.   Some times there are glitches and that's why attendants are there to help you if needed.  A new system does take a customer a little time to understand it's ins & outs.   Still overall I like it better this way.  As far as employees needing to find a different job/skill to work, I've had to do that a  number of times in my life too.

[Tom]

Being able to multi-task will ensure employment.  We have a lot of transplanted trades people stuck here because of their unwillingness to do other work than their chosen profession.  Rough/framing Carpenters comes to mind.

[brider]

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

True that, when I was driving from New Haven to Philly every week a few years back, I LOVED the low gas prices in NJ, but was PO'd every time I'd have to fill on the NJ Turnpike because of the (1) attendant moving like molasses between 5 pumps.

[Rainrider]

At least the pump attendants let us pump our own gas into our motorcycles, they just have to hand the nozzle to us. I've wished we could have self serve for cars for years, but no go.

You can pump your own gas if your car/truck is a diesel. I had a Jetta TDI for a few years, and the thing I realized was that most of the time I was pretty comfortable sitting in the car and I wasn’t in a tearing hurry and it didn’t cost anything to let the attendant work the pump.

[jas67]

We got screwed with a $0.20/gal tax hike last year. Till then we enjoyed one of the lowest gas prices in the north east.

It's still $0.20-$0.60 cheaper than PA.
I think that Delaware now has the cheapest, esp. Diesel.

When PA's gas tax went up $0.28 (which they phased in a little at a time over a few years so no one would notice), Diesel tax went up $0.42.

[Orange Guzzi]

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 ... )

Do  what I do, throw it in the bag and keep scanning.  I plead ignorance if questioned.  Never been questioned yet. 

[Lannis]

Do  what I do, throw it in the bag and keep scanning.  I plead ignorance if questioned.  Never been questioned yet.

Sounds a little dodgy, that.   

If a guy found that if he pushed the coin dropper on one of your Speed Queens in just right, the washer would run without any money, and he told his friends, and you checked on Saturday and the machine had run 102 cycles and there was no money in it,  that wouldn't be very good.   

On the other hand, maybe you'd consider it your fault for having a defective machine that would run without paying ... ?

I think I'll stick with the cashier!   And if any store goes to "all automated checkout", I'll vote against that with my feet ....

Lannis

[M0T0Geezer]

TRIGGER ALERT !!!   POLITICAL CONTENT HERE...   LOOK AWAY... 

[Lannis]

TRIGGER ALERT !!!   POLITICAL CONTENT HERE...   LOOK AWAY... 

Post must have been taken down already, like the last ones ... ?

[Aaron D.]

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.

Well, with unemployment being what it is, hard to see that it's putting people out of work.

[Lannis]

Well, with unemployment being what it is, hard to see that it's putting people out of work.

Depends where you are ... here in Virginia, unemployment is as low as it can get ... once it gets to 3.5% or so (measured the 'traditional' way), everyone who wants a job has one ....

Although standing around getting paid while people pump their own gas isn't much of a "job".   I wonder how long they had horse grooms standing around after cars got popular ... ?

Lannis

[Ncdan]

IN NC I don’t know the last time I saw a full service gas station. They went extinct here decades ago. Fun story, wife and I did a trip there a few years back through southern jersey, she’s from there. I got out of the car and commenced to put gas in my car. Out of the station charges this little grease monkey bitching me out. Wife was not paying attention too what I was doing and exited the car and came Back to save me from what was a quickly developing bad situation. She told him I was a foreigner and to excuse me. Lol, she also told me not to feed the pigeons on the boardwalk in cape may:(

[Murray]

It's still $0.20-$0.60 cheaper than PA.
I think that Delaware now has the cheapest, esp. Diesel.

When PA's gas tax went up $0.28 (which they phased in a little at a time over a few years so no one would notice), Diesel tax went up $0.42.

I just filled my car yesterday at 1.48 (just over 1USD) a litre now admittedly it was 98 premium because the station only has 91 or 98 and my car needs a min of 95. Around 110 south pacific paso's later I was done for 75 odd litres worth, I don't think you got screwed too badly on anything, fortunately it takes about three weeks to go through that lot. Something something about death and taxes, someone from the UK will now chime in with what they get charged.

[JoeB]

It's hard on the Oregon trail.




upload a pic on the internet

[webmost]

I generally stay out of Jersey. Last time I was there was a year and a half ago, day I fetched the Jackal home from Rutland VT. Stopped for gas at a turnpike rest stop. Ignorant twit there absolutely INSISTED he had to fill me up cause it was ILLEGAL for me to pump. Okay big deal. So he stuck the pump in, walked away, and in a trice two-three gallons overflowed all over the place. Q: Did he offer to clean it up? A: "FU". Nice to have a trained professional. Joisey.

[Howard R]

About 30 years ago, I lived in NJ.  One lovely winter's day I pulled my car into a station, and the attendant proceeded to somehow both strip the threads AND jam the gas cap trying to get it off.  I had to pull over to the side of the lot and get a pair of pliers out of my tool kit to break most of the (plastic) cap apart to get the remnants out so I could get enough gas to get home.  One of many reasons I will never again be in New Jersey.

Howard

[Green1000S]

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

They traveled only to New Jersey.

[Lannis]

They traveled only to New Jersey.

Must have had a hell of an auxiliary gas tank!

I remember on our Renault R8, in Nebraska somewhere, going across country, we stopped in a little station and a woman attendant came out to pump our gas.   

The gas filler cap was under the rear-engine "hood", so you had to raise the hood to get to the filler.

But the first thing you saw when you opened the hood was the air-cleaner intake horn, just the right size for a gas nozzle.   So guess where the first gallon of gas went?

I remember my Dad driving down the road with the air cleaner in his hand, sticking it out the window to get the gas out.   Took a LONG time to start the car.   This being 1963, you can imagine the comments about "women pump jockeys" after that ....

Lannis

[TimmyTheHog]

It's hard on the Oregon trail.




upload a pic on the internet

you just made me spit my coffee out...