Oregon law against pumping your own gas.

I just returned from a trip to Oregon and Washington. One of my last details was filling up on gas before returning my rental car at the Portland airport (damned if I'm going to pay $12 a gallon for returning less than full). So, I found a 7-11 gas station conveniently near the airport and without thinking started to pump. As I was standing there waiting an attendant approached me and in a very angry and frustrated tone of voice said, "You have got to be kidding me!" I replied, "What did I do?" He then pointed to a sign indicating that it is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon. I refused to apologize and just said "I'm not from around here."

Oops. To be honest, I now recall this law from driving through Oregon last year. However, at 50 I guess I'm starting to get more forgetful.

While I normally am very respectful of rules, this was one time I didn't feel guilty about being a law breaker. In my opinion this is a ridiculous and outdated law and worthy of a little civil disobedience.

The question for the poll is if you lived in Oregon and a proposition was on the ballot to allow for pumping your own gas, how would you vote? As an aside, do you think I should feel guilty? Should I owe the state of Oregon any push-ups? Should I have apologized to the attendant?

I don't want some jerk putting gas in my
car. What a stupid law.

Quote: Wizard

I just returned from a trip to Oregon and Washington. One of my last details was filling up on gas before returning my rental car at the Portland airport (damned if I'm going to pay $12 a gallon for returning less than full). So, I found a 7-11 gas station conveniently near the airport and without thinking started to pump. As I was standing there waiting an attendant approached me and in a very angry and frustrated tone of voice said, "You have got to be kidding me!" I replied, "What did I do?" He then pointed to a sign indicating that it is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon. I refused to apologize and just said "I'm not from around here."

Oops. To be honest, I now recall this law from driving through Oregon last year. However, at 50 I guess I'm starting to get more forgetful.

While I normally am very respectful of rules, this was one time I didn't feel guilty about being a law breaker. In my opinion this is a ridiculous and outdated law and worthy of a little civil disobedience.

The question for the poll is if you lived in Oregon and a proposition was on the ballot to allow for pumping your own gas, how would you vote? As an aside, do you think I should feel guilty? Should I owe the state of Oregon any push-ups? Should I have apologized to the attendant?

Naw. You owe them not another thought. They're way too PC there; biggest drawback of living up there.

New Jersey is the same way. My guess is the law is a holdover from when a 3 pump station was viable and that lobby is trying to hold on to those days. Like many laws like this, the group that wants it is small but motivated while the consumer is large but unmotivated.

IMHO though, skip the civil disobedience as the station proprietor will probably be the one to get any fine, hurting the little guy.

Must make the cost of gas higher if
the have to pay pump jockeys.

I was born in Portland and raised across the bridge in Wa.

When I was in high school, [early 70's] it seems everyone I knew had at least one job, and one of the good ones a guy could get [in high school] was pumping gas.

It taught many of us, work skills and we all made our own money. As the world progressed more and more states went the way of Wa, where there were no more "service station attendants". In Wa, you had a choice to either pump your own or pay up to .03 more and have an attendant not only pump your fuel, but wash your window and check your oil and the air in the tires if need be.

With that basic bit of car care, even those with next to no knowledge of car maintenance can drive to and fro without blowing the motor or riding around on a half inflated tire.

I felt sorry for the kids coming up behind me as labor laws made work rules more stringent and age requirements eliminated a lot of paying jobs for young people.

Many states [all but two] Ore. and NJ have eliminated those jobs and everyone that wants fuel has to figure out how to get it in their vehicle. Here in Havasu there are many really old people and until recently there was not a filling station in town that would fill the tanks for the elderly and the infirm. There is now one that I am aware of, you pull up and honk and someone will come out.

I do my level best to make sure that my wife doesn't have to pump fuel, [she hates it], but she has had to at least 4 times in the last ten years.

I have taken care of my own vehicles for a long time and have no problem pumping fuel. But to old geezers and invalids it is an arduous task.

I will gladly for the rest of my life pay an extra .03 per gallon if it gives someone a job, and all the skills and knowledge that come with making your own bank.

Right now in every Mickey D's in the country there are college grads working the counter. But still because of those that would save .50 per tank, there is nowhere to get fuel for those that would prefer not to get the smell on themselves, etc. This is just an extension of work and trade policy that has decimated the working class in this country.

For me personally I don't buy that it is safer [for me] to have some low paid worker put fuel in for me, but I surely wish it were available.

Quote: petroglyph

I was born in Portland and raised across the bridge in Wa...

I agree with you in the likely origin of the law. I can remember when a trip to the gas station meant a choice between self- and full-service. As you said, at the full service price they cleaned your windows at checked the oil at a minimum. I wouldn't know much about it as my father never once paid for full service. I could see that in a time when cars were less dependable that it would serve the public interest to have a professional do a quick safety check each visit to the pump.

However, cars are more reliable these days. I would hazard to guess that all the attendants do in Oregon is pump the gas.

If your argument in favor of the law is because some people are unable to pump their own gas, then I would have to disagree. I sympathize with the problem but it seems to me that some stations still have a "full service" option. Even if there isn't such a formal option, I could see a little old lady getting somebody else to help, especially if a tip were offered.

If your argument that it gives people a job, how about we create a new government agency that literally does nothing. People just show up and sit at a desk all day. That would be creating jobs too. Would you support that?

Quote: Wizard

I agree with you in the likely origin of the law. I can remember when a trip to the gas station meant a choice between self- and full-service. As you said, at the full service price they cleaned your windows at checked the oil at a minimum. I wouldn't know much about it as my father never once paid for full service. I could see that in a time when cars were less dependable that it would serve the public interest to have a professional do a quick safety check each visit to the pump.

It wasn't about "safety" it was about "service." Pre-1973 there were probably 2-3 times as many gas stations serving half as many cars. Competition was keen. They gave away free road maps and trinkets of all kinds. Service mattered. Today many people will go to a place with easy in-out and easier to use pumps. Back then, it was getting the air pressure and oil checked plus windows cleaned.

In 1973 it all started to change. I will wager that the first self-serve was a way around the wage and price controls of the era. I remember in the 1970s some Turnpike stations had "Full" and "Mini" service, mini being fuel only, no window cleaning.

Quote:

If your argument that it gives people a job, how about we create a new government agency that literally does nothing. People just show up and sit at a desk all day. That would be creating jobs too. Would you support that?

Might already be a few out there.

When I was in HS, a friend had a 30 hour
a week factory job after school. At 16 you
could get a job anywhere. He always had
money, and hot car.

Quote:

Wizard...However, cars are more reliable these days.

The absolute majority of cars towed are less than 3 years old. I would argue that tires are less reliable and durable, mostly do to country of origin. They still leak, lights and blinkers burn out. When was the last time you checked your tire pressure or did a vehicle walk around to see if all your lights worked? Batteries still dry up and die, belts self destruct, radiators leak, simple stuff that generally few check. Cars may last longer, they may be safer, but I don't think they are more reliable then when they could be repaired with duct tape and bailing wire.

Quote:

If your argument in favor of the law is because some people are unable to pump their own gas, then I would have to disagree.

It really isn't so much that they are unable, but many suffer to do so. If you suggest that they could just tip some person to put fuel in their car, I haven't noticed people being that sympathetic to the old and the infirm lately. Look around and see how many full service stations you see there where you live.

Certainly it is upon the old and infirm to take care of their own needs and no one else's responsibility. Everyone has a right to keep everything they have to themselves and not help another soul. After all, it is a free country.

Quote:

... I could see a little old lady getting somebody else to help, especially if a tip were offered.

When did you last pump some lil ole lady's gas, or check her tire pressure? I can see it now, "Wizard's gas" will pump for tips.

Quote:

If your argument that it gives people a job, how about we create a new government agency that literally does nothing. People just show up and sit at a desk all day. That would be creating jobs too. Would you support that?

I said "I" would be willing to pay .03 more for every gallon of fuel I will ever buy if it helped create jobs and safety could just be a side benefit. I pay a lot more for less. As do you.

Do you prefer 50 million people on food stamps, because they can't find jobs? Do you support the trade agreements, that destroyed our manufacturing base? I would rather everyone that doesn't have the wherewithal to stay home get up off their ass if possible, and go to work someplace. I have always said " a job provides a lot more than just a paycheck".

If it were a poll question, "do I support another parasitic gov. agency that sits at their desk and does nothing but create red tape, and watches porn all day [like the sec]", I would have to check the no box.