ME TOO!!!!....was living in washington during and shortly after i got out of the army and when i went over to oregon and had to get gas they came out and i was like "oh its cool ive got it" and they looked at me like i was crazy and insisted that they had to pump it and stuff...they were cool about it though but i know how you feel:)
I was driving up from CA to WA and had to fuel up in OR, and when I pulled up to the pump and got out, the attendant told me they didn't have a convenience store, and I told him I know, then asked if I was going to use the bathroom, and I said no while looking at him a bit funny, then he saw the CA plates and it clicked with him so he asked if it was my first time in OR, and when I replied yes, he informed me about the law and politely asked me to get back into my vehicle. Had a similar experience in NJ and we chatted a bit about that as well as him telling me how when he first drove to WA he had the opposite experience where he sat in his car for a few minutes waiting for someone to pump his gas until he realized it was self serve.
Happened to me when I drove there from North Carolina, about 20 years ago. I'd been to New Jersey a lot so I knew the drill there but wasn't aware of Oregon. It was a huge gas station, no other cars there, no attendants in sight, and the station building was pretty far away from the pumps. I already had in about 6 gallons before someone came out to tell me I couldn't pump my own gas. I said, "well, you're clearly wrong because I'm pumping my own gas even as we speak!" By then I was filled up so I just left, and only later realized that the person meant I was not ALLOWED to pump my own gas, which was something else entirely.
@@litigioussociety4249even though you trust yourself, you'd be getting that station and maybe the attendant in trouble because as I understand it the law said that only a trained attendant could operate the pumps.
Back in the mid-70s, I lived in Phoenix and there was a gas station that sold metal tokens. You would buy the tokens and then use them in the gas pump. The advantage was that you could buy extra tokens and when the attendant closed up the station, they would leave the pumps turned on and you could get gas using tokens you had previously bought
@@victorringe9404 Yes. I remember my dad would fill up the staion wagon we had for a few dollars. Some stations would give out glasses and other things with a fill up. Gas stations were open all night.
I was born, raised, and live in NJ. When I got my full drivers license (not my learners permit) I went on a trip to NYC. I drove into the state, I pulled up to the pump, and I sat there for 15 minutes. I was so mad about the poor service until I noticed everyone else was pulling up, getting out, and pumping their own gas. I had no idea the rest of the US was different!
I had the opposite experience. We took a family trip from Texas to NY (and other places). I stopped in NJ for gas..."What do you mean I can't pump my own gas?!?"
A few years ago I was talking to someone from Oregon, and they were horrified to learn that everyone else pumps their own gas. "Isn't that dangerous??".
Don't feel bad, I saw a video of a lady standing in a line behind a bunch of mannequins. She was probably thinking "god this line is slow" while scrolling facebook 🤣
In the summer of 2022 in Sisters Oregon I tried to gas up and was told the one pump attendant was out to lunch for the next 20 mins. The other 2 employees would not gas up myself or any of the other people trying to fill their tanks as it was “not their job”. Then I got a lecture about how the policy was good for Oregon because it created jobs and how it was selfish of myself and others present to expect gas to be available during lunch break.
Disabled and you parents with children are now being targeted for carjacking; of course the want to be safe. And most all reasonable people want them to be safe.
How many jobs are going to be lost ? I bet there's going to be some pissed off people, I live in Washington State and when both the liquor went private and emissions ended people found themselves out of work ! They weren't happy
@@averteddisasterbarely2339 You make some good points. We should pass some laws that mandate businesses be forced to hire even more people to do useless jobs that people don’t want. Oregon should pass a law that all business should be required to have an employee open the door to all public places of business for every customer. It would be a violation if a customer ever opened the door to enter the building themselves.
I grew up in Oregon. First time I left the state I had no idea what was going on. Just sitting in the gas station waiting for service. And no one came.....
I had the exact opposite experience when I moved to Oregon. I'm putting my card in the pump and some hobo runs up and tells me I'm not allowed to do that. I thought he was trying to rob me or something so I pulled out my baseball bat and held him off until a manager came out and finally convinced me that the hobo was actually an employee. I pumped my own gas the whole time I lived there.
I had cops called on me at the NJ gas pumps. This was in the early 2000s. I left ATCO Racetrack and pulled into a gas station to get gas before my trip home to NYC. I knew perfectly well that NJ has no self-serving gas rule. Just a month before someone stole my Credit Card info and racked up charges. That CC was only used for gas. So I tell the attendants, let me swipe my own CARD right at the pump, and he can continue with his duties of filling up my car. Law talks about filling up the car, not having someone use my CC just like you would on any gas pump. I told him it's nothing against him, I'm just being precautions. After back and forth argument, his manager activated the pump shut off remotely and stated that she was notified of the police because I was argumentative. I just said F' it, got into the car, and left. Halfway down on NJ Turnpike, I go to a station, and they allow me to make my own CC transaction.
By me all are full service, and your card never leaves your hand. The attendant brings the speedpoint to the vehicle, and you tap or insert the card right there. No swipe on pump, that does not exist. Or pay cash, though they also have at least a dozen cameras on the forecourt, to catch those who do a runner. You see the pictures by the register of all those who have done this, and if they come back security company will hold them till police arrive.
I'm taking the side of the station on this one. You should have simply taken your business elsewhere immediately rather than staying around and arguing with the attendant, who's just there to do a job. Sticking around to argue and pressure them to operate their business the way you prefer until the manager intervenes is borderline Kevin/Karen behavior. Maybe they shouldn't have called the cops (assuming it wasn't a bluff to get you to leave), but you were at fault for escalating things in the first place. Businesses are free to operate as they see fit, and the solution is to simply walk (drive) away if you don't like it.
@@Gelondilthe station needs to be told of their wrong doing. Being a pussy that runs away without saying will never change the negative actions of others. Imagine if people had stood up against hitler in the early 1930s.
I would have stayed and told the cops they were trying to steal my identity. It's one thing to follow the law but this was insanity on the stations part.
@@DKShoneys-dc2dp lol wireless debit machines, that shit wasnt availible to just anyone back in the early 2000s. if a gas station had wireless transactions in the early 2000s they must be doing VERY well to justify such a rediculous system that was definately proprietary and not ones that we use today that can interface with mobile phones and credit/debit transactions
I can remember when every gas station was full service, including checking the oil, washing the windshield, and checking tire pressure. Many, if not most, had a service bay as well. You also knew the local gas station owner by name in our small town, and our local station owner would leave the pumps on after closing, you'd get your gas, and leave the money in a box on top of the pump. Those days are long gone.
And they had a lobby with soda and cigarette machines. Also usually clean public restrooms and no going in to beg for a key. Then they invented the magic marker and no more restrooms. I know this because in about 1970 the only way I could get smokes was to wait till the attendant went out to service a car and drop a quarter in the machine for a pack of smokes. Yes, that was higher than smokes in the store but I was 12 and could pass for 7. The stores would sell them to me, because I looked so young, but you could not pull that on them very often or they would get suspicious. I think the gas station guy knew also but hey, he was making money off that machine so he looked the other way.
Awe, now my favorite passtime of sittng at the first gas station outside of Oregon and watching the Oregonians try to figure out how to pump gas is gone.
Wow. This video brought me back to an incident I experienced back in the early '80s. I was living in ID and drove over to OR for a vacation. I stopped for gas and got out and started pumping and an employee came running out yelling at me. He was really losing it! I didn't know what the heck was going on. Throughout his meltdown I was able to hear that we're not allowed to pump our own gas. I thought that was so strange. 🤯🤪☺️😄
Apparently, people in Oregon couldn't be trusted to pump their own gas. I hope that there isn't a rash of gas station fires, as people can't figure out that you can't smoke.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Uhmmm, actually a lit cigarette will not ignite gasoline or it's fumes. I think they should be more concerned about people using their phones, or getting back in their vehicle while it's pumping. The static electricity can indeed cause a fire if they fail to touch something metal before retrieving the nozzle from the gas tank.
@@tonymouannes No there was not the credit card reader on the pump. I had planned on going inside to pay after I filled up. They didn't make you prepay back then. 🙂
I drove a VW diesel. While standing in line inside the store to pay, an attendant started pumping 87 octane as soon as the payment was authorized. Fortunately I did not go shopping or use the restroom or I would have had a full tank of gas perhaps without knowing it until after starting and resulting failure of the diesel engine. As it was I came out, noticed the error, got it stopped after only 3 gallons. But it delayed my trip 2-1/2 hours while I was towed several miles to a shop…that “does this job frequently” of pumping tank dry and putting in enough diesel to get to the next town.
It is pretty crazy. You can't pump your own gas in the name of job creation, but if you try to find a checker to check you out at a store, you are out of luck. They are all trying to herd people into self-checkout. I haven't run into closed pumps yet, but I am not up in the Northern part of the state. I usually give them a minute to come and start, but any longer than that, I just start it myself. If they get mad, I just say "oops".
As a native Oregonian, it is very rare to see pumps closed off because of a lack of help. When you do see a line of pumps closed off it is because the station management has not scheduled enough workers because it is a slack time and there are few customers. As a side note, it has been legal to pump your own gas in the 20 (out of 30) sparsely populated counties for a few years now.
This seems right to me. Also native Oregonian. Out of Salem. Showed this to someone here who is older than me. "We always vote it down when they send it to the people but the sneaky politicians did it anyway"
It's about time. I live next door in Washington state. I know we have at least one of what YOU would call a "Mini Serve" in Ellensburg WA. In Oregon, there were too many times when attendants, upon seeing a Washington license plate, would yell at me or us, GET BACK IN YOUR CAR! As we existed the vehicle at the pump. They assumed that we were unaware and were going to try to pump our own gas. They'd always get a response like; I have to use the restroom. Is it a state mandate I do that in my vehicle? Or, I wanted to get some food and drinks. Do you just bring that to the car for us now? I'm pleased to see it gone but agree with Mr. L, that it should be up to the establishment if they want to offer both.
I have to depend on a 'qualified gas technician' to input gas in my Prius. These people forget to put on my gas cap and I get check engine error codes that I have to reset with a device I have to plug in. If I had to go to the dealership I would have to pay $180 for their inspection.
Not only is it true about the lack of employees with at least half the pumps shut down but the lines and wait time are really long. I live in the largest county HARNEY where the next town or gas pump can be over a hundred miles away, we have 5 gas stations with one only open till 4. Only one of the 5 stations has 2 employees, the other 4 only have 1 for gas, and 2 of those the 1 employee is the gas pumper and the inside cashier.
I remember dad driving over the air hose as a kid. I also remember jumping on the air hose, with all my m8ght, trying to make it "ding." I also remember how proud I was, once I was big enough to pull that trick off.
Steve, it's 100% true. It's so incredibly frustrating every time you fill up to pull in to a gas station with 10 lanes of 2 pumps each, but only one or two lanes are open, and there's a line of 40 cars backing up into the street. On top of that, the pump attendants have absolutely no hustle whatsoever. This is such a welcome law change.
@@vegasfordguy Portland is definitely an alternate universe, but at least we don’t have some weird virtue signal about being able to pump our own gas. (FYI, I moved my comment, didn’t delete it. I didn’t intend to respond this comment.)
I got yelled at for trying to pump my own gas in New Jersey. The attendant took offense when I asked if people in Jersey were too incompetent to pump their own gas. There was a Sunoco station in Cincinnati on Section rd at Reinhold dr that offered full service until the early 90s.
I had basically the exact same thing happen in Oregon. I already had my card in the machine and some hobo looking dude ran up yelling at me that I can't do that. I thought I was being mugged or something so I pulled my baseball bat out. The manager was eventually able to convince me that the hobo worked there, but I pumped my own gas anyway.
I'm a life long resident of N.J and tried to pump my own gas once because the attendant was really slow doing something in the store . But could not do it because there was a keylock on the pump and only the attendant could open it.
@@Stop_Gooning my friend and the same thing happening Weymouth Massachusetts of all places. To my knowledge Weymouth Massachusetts is the only place in the state is illegal to pump your own gas.
people here in Oregon have argued against any pushes to remove the ban *CITING* the fact that they were too stupid to do it, so the attendant probably took offense because he knew on some level that it was true.
I worked at a Shell station in the winter when I was farming on shares with the neighbor who leased our farm after my dad quit farming. We were required to ask if you wanted your oil checked and was your windows wether you bought $1.00 worth or a full tank. There were about 6 of us on duty from 06:00 to 19:00 every day,7 days a week.
The first time I got yelled at for trying to pump my own gas outside of Virginia I was genuinely flummoxed. 😂 I had never heard of such a dumb thing. I’ve been pumping gas since I was old enough to work it.
@@Martys-4x4 I feel your pain because this is what the majority of the fill people do! The first time in Oregon I nearly threw hands with a guy who let the gas cap rake along my sports car, then got miffed when I yelled at him!
@@DKShoneys-dc2dp, and not only all of that, they take umbrage and won't listen if you tell them a peculiarity they need to understand. I was passing thru Oregon in the mid-'90s (had to do it multiple times because I was stationed in WA and had to go to CA for training) in my '57 Chevy and told an attendant in Madras he needed to slow down past 12 gallons. Just as he asked "Why should I do that?," about a half gallon of gas shot out all over his hand and forearm.
Cracks me up, I've actually had people from Oregon tell me that it would be too dangerous to let people pump their own gas, and it required a trained technician.
Here in NJ, we can't pump our own gas so that the attendant can leave the cap loose enough that the "Check Engine" light goes on, causing you to come back for the "repair", consisting of tightening the gas cap and charging $75.00 to reset the code so the light will go out. Of coutse, they never TELL you that's what they did, it's more like "corrected leak in evaporative emission system, scanned and abated MIL indication". No, I'm not joking!
That shop is definitely ripping you off. I have a shop and would never charge for that if it really was just a loose gas cap. If you don’t have someone you can trust, you can buy yourself a cheap code reader for $50, and keep it in the glove box and just clear it yourself if/when that happens.
Seems like something that would happen. After you leave, the employees would sit around joking about it too! My van tells me that the gas cap is loose, so there is that.
I'm in the Portland, OR area. I usually stick to one chain/brand of fuel, but they still employ lite-service (not full service). I've never understood it, but at the same time it actually pays well - around $24/hr based on their help-wanted ads when i see them.
I'm in Washington but I've known about this for many years and drive in Oregon now and then. The Oregon ban on self-serve gas has always been a "make work" program.
Oregonian and they build these grand gas stations, 4+ rows, 16+ pumps and then have 2 people for all pumps. Most places always end up closing off a third of their pumps. Fred Meyers (Kroger) Costco, Safeway and the independents. This is a good change to consumers as long as the employees still can keep their jobs. It lets us get in and get out faster, than waiting and this also increases sales to the stations. During Covid, they had made a temporary order that allowed Self Serve to prevent exposure.
@@apparition13 I refuse to use self checkout at the grocery store. I have complained to the manager to get a register opened up so that i could check out. Having a shitty job used to be a right of passage for teenagers, and it gives them a healthy dose of reality about how the world works. There are people out there who went straight to college, and then into the workforce as a "professional," and never worked a retain, fast food, gas station, or grocery store. And let me tell you, the ones like that, that i have met, clueless about a LOT of things. There's more to growing up that school, you need real life experiences, and a shitty, low paying job is part of that. It certainly gives one an appreciation for the better jobs you'll get later in life, and also give one empathy for people in those shitty jobs, because that was YOU at one point. This may explain the rise of the Karens and Chads of the world...
@@apparition13 Yes, I'd expect them to find ways of nudging people over to the self-service pumps even without a discounted rate. I'd wager that they'll cut back on more and more of the auxilary services being offered to try and get the cost of an attendant as low as possible and that eventually enough people will be used to pumping their own gas that the service will only be for the elderly and disabled. Around here, things are self-service because I don't live in NJ or OR, but there is a button to get an attendant out to help pump. (Obviously, assuming there's one there at the time, some gas stations don't have anybody there in the evening or at night.
@@jeromethiel4323so you take up even more of your time to stop and complain? Time is way too precious of a commodity to be using up on complaining about trivial things that are on their way to being extinct anyway.
A few years ago when I lived in Alaska, I encountered a woman standing at a gas pump looking bewildered. She was a tourist on her first trip out of Oregon and didn't know how to operate the pump. I know -- I found it hard to believe too, but it's true. I walked her through using her credit card and pumping the gas. Hopefully the rest of her visit went smoothly.
In Jersey, except for rush hour, it is standard practice for stations to put cones in front of “closed or broken” pumps just because they don’t have staffing or the employees are too lazy to run to the outside pumps. Most stations that have 12 or 16 pumps will have 4 or 6 running with major delays.
I was OR a few years ago and I had to "fill-up" several times.. The stations were a dis-organized mess. the workers did-not wear uniforms and it was impossible to know who worked there. I was very uncomfortable handing my debit card or cash to someone not knowing if they were trying to rip me off. I got out of the car every time to check the pump and verify how much they put in my car...
When I was growing up in Chico California in the early '70's, there was a self-service, coin operated gas station named "Gas-A-Mat". I have vague memories of this. I must have been about 11 or 12 years old. My mom would get out of the car, walk up to the counter and buy special $1 gas "coins" that were ONLY good at THAT gas station (she would buy about 5 of them), then walk out to the gas pump and insert the coins before pumping the gas. Mind you, this was when $5 of coins was too much to fill the 18 gallon tank of our car, so then she would have to walk back to the counter a second time to receive her change from the unused portion of the coins. She didn't complain, but I remember it as kind of a pain in the ass. Today (in my mid '60's), I live in Oregon, and it is selfish of me to say this, but I've gotten a bit spoiled by the gas stations pumping my gas for me. I kinda hope that I won't have to pump my own gas in the future.:)
I live in Oregon. I've seen gas stations have an entire row of pumps closed, but I didn't know why. I thought they were just out of order, but lack of attendants makes sense. The gas station I usually go to almost never has any out of service, but they don't have a lot of pumps, and I expect them to stay mostly full service because the cars on in the inner rows are packed too tightly for drivers to open their doors when there's a rush. I grew up and learned to drive in Nevada, so I'm stoked about this change.
We used to go to a station called "Stinker" where you had to buy tokens from the attendant, then feed them into the pump to get fuel. Just like a car wash.
From Maryland. I avoid getting gas in New Jersey at all costs. Did pull up to a full service station in vermont and was not expecting to get my gas pumped and window cleanned
A few years ago I stopped in a very small town in Nebraska for gas. It was self serve, but you didn't need to pre-pay or use a card. The honor system to go inside and pay later. I was shocked. I kept repeating in my head "you haven't paid, you haven't paid" to remind myself to pay after I'd pumped my gas.
In New Zealand it's reasonably rare for a station to NOT be pump first and pay later. Most stations now seem to need the attendant inside to enable the pump once you lift the nozzle off - I assume it's to check the licence plate reader hasn't flagged you as a drive off without paying offender etc. Stations late at night when there are minimal staff working might switch over to pay first, and some stations in 'dodgy' areas are often only pay first. A lot of stations now are pay at the pump and a lot of discount stations are opening with no attendant or store.
LOL that's how most gas stations operated for a long time! or you'd go give the lady 10$, and it was a great game to try and not hit 10.01 cause you didn't have change
I welcome this because I’ve been shy of those gas pumpers in Oregon ever since they took a chunk out of the paint around the gas door on a 911 Porsche I was driving. 🤬 I drive through Oregon a couple times a year so this is a huge relief for me. Thanks Steve.
I’m so excited for this I grew up for the first 20 years in California then moved to be with my wife since 2010 in Oregon and I hated the fact you could not pump your own gas
Going to be so much better getting gas in Oregon now. Can't pay at the pump because your country hasn't figured out how chip cards with a PIN work and won't let me put in a postal code with lettres in it. Having to wait for the one guy who's running around managing 20 pumps on his own is just adding insult to injury.
Steve, In the old days when gas was .25 a gallon we had a coin operated self serve station near Parker, CO. It took silver dollars and would pump 5 gallons into a glass container for a gravity feed into the tank. When I got my license my Dad bought an Eaton 100 gallon tank and had it put in on the north of our property as we had a tractor also.
My grandmother was in the habit of buying fifty cents worth of gas for a long time... at a certain point, attendants would heckle her and ask "Gee, do you think it'll fit?!?"
A lot of Fred Meyer gas stations in the Portland metro area will shut down pumps due to lack of attendants. They simply put traffic cones by the pumps. This leads to long lines waiting to fuel up. With self serve those unused pumps could help relieve the long waits.
I’ve visited New Jersey and Oregon and “illegally” pumped my own gas in both. In both cases I had already finished pumping my gas before someone came to ‘help’ me. In Oregon, I thought it was a homeless guy coming to ask me for money, so our conversation didn’t go well. In NJ, it was one of the old mechanical pumps (before credit card readers on the pump). I finished pumping and went inside to pay. They just told me I wasn’t supposed to do that and took my money with no drama.
That used to work until a few years ago when they all went pre-pay, with cash being cheaper, and you have to go inside to pre-pay cash. You can still do it faster doing it yourself, but the difference isn't as great as it used to be. The best is when you have a diesel vehicle (which has always been self serv in Oregon, at least as long as I've been in Oregon), you go in to pre-pay, you come back out, and the guy is standing there waiting with the GAS nozzle in his hand, and asks "Regular?".... "UH, NO DIESEL - IT SAYS SO RIGHT ON THE F'ING CAP YOU TOOK OFF - CAN YOU NOT READ??" Good riddance to the illiterate gas monkeys
Living is rural eastern Oregon here. I saw a popular gas station in town cordoned off the other day and didn’t know why or really think much of it, thought maybe they were out of fuel or doing an upgrade or something. There is an “Indian reservation” on the edge of town that has a huge truck stop. It’s always been self serve and a few cents cheaper than in town. They also have a reward card that saves you an extra 5c/gallon. People would literally drive the 5 miles out to fuel up there and come back to town, just for that 10c/g or so in “savings.” Weird news, thanks for the update 😅
Indian reservations are already self serve, and yes my fred Meyer gas station in Newberg OR has had half their pumps coned off due to lack of staff at times. Growing up in England in the 70-80' the petrol station in my little village had a coin operated petrol pump
Steve I live in Oregon and have quite frequently over the last year or so pulled into my local station and several pumps were closed because they didn’t have enough employees. On another note, it’s been legal for a long time in Oregon to pump your own gas if you’re on a motorcycle.
I thought this headline was a joke at first. I'm from Texas and I'm 53 years old and I'd just assumed that full service gas stations extinct. The idea that Oregon or anywhere in the First World had a ban on self-serve gas blows my mind.
6:19 you mention coin operated gas pumps. I actually work with C-Store Point of Sale. While I have never seen a coin operated gas pump; I can confirm that there are cash operated gas pumps out there. The pump will have a cash acceptor built into it, much like a vending machine. Customer inserts the money for their prepay and then pumps the fuel. If they need a refund then they have to come inside.
I have a cash accepting pump in my town. That's all I can imagine these days, unless you had to cash in bills for special coins or dollar coins elsewhere.
Years ago, the New Jersey Gas Dealers Assn (mostly small mom & pop gas stations) had a strong lobbying effort. The major gas producers wanted to open big multi pump stations that would put those mom & pop stations out of business. They knew that if the majors has to provide all the labor necessary to ‘man the pumps’ they wouldn’t be able to build and staff those mega pump stations. So the NJGDA lobbied the state to pass a law requiring all gas had to be pumped by station workers. The power of lobbyists to ‘buy’ the laws they want!!! As Paul Harvey would say….’now you know the rest of the story.’
My first duty station in the Air Force was Germany and the number of people I had to teach to pump gas from Oregon was staggering. I am in Idaho but avoided Oregon just to avoid waiting on somone to get gas.
I hadn't heard of this change until you mentioned it, Steve. We've been 'allowed' to pump our own diesel but not gas until this change. Where I live, in the middle of the Willamette Valley, most stations only have one person at work and all of the islands open. We will see how this changes things once it goes into effect. Thank you!
Just moved from Oregon after living there for 5 years. Indeed, some of the gas stations have closed off pumps because there aren't enough people to staff them, at least in Central Oregon. I have absolutely experienced the frustration of sitting at the pump for (relatively) ridiculous amounts of time while waiting for an attendant to notice that I've pulled up. It can be *very* frustrating when I'm in a hurry and could easily and safely do the task myself. Unfortunately, they generally aren't washing your windows or checking your tire pressure; they're also trained in some places to deliberately not use the hold open feature of the nozzles at full so they can have more time between vehicles... but they swear it's only to prevent the auto shut-off from activating.
In rural Oregon here; in a town with the only gas station within 50 miles in any direction, often there are vehicles waiting for the pumps to open in the early morning because they don't have enough fuel to make it to the next station. It seems to be a consequence of not being allowed to have pumps functioning without an employee on duty. Maybe that will change now.
Rural counties have allowed you to pump your own gas for around 7 years now. That was the compromise the legislature came up with last time they tried to make it legal to pump your own gas. Counties of under 40,000 population allow self serve.
I thought they passed another bill a few years ago allowing rural and late night "self serv" anyway? If it's the only gas station around for 50 miles, it should qualify for that exemption. Most gas stations these days, even when "closed" still allow you to pre-pay with credit card at the pump and get gas. Did that in the Phoenix area just earlier this year - gas prices had suddenly spiked, and one station that was closed still had the old price. I figured "what the hey, stick the card in and see if the pump is still turned on" - and it was, and I got it for the cheaper price. There's really no risk, if you stick your card in and can't actually get gas, the transaction will be for $0 anyway.
I was in the service in the 70s in North Carolina. Some gas stations had pumps that were coin operated, so you could get gas when the gas station was closed.
I moved to Oregon recently and its been driving me nuts to wait for an attendant to do something I could hop out and do much quicker. I'm glad they are keeping it somewhat implemented for those with mobility issues who benefit from it, but I can't wait to get to skip the attendant. Also the "closed pumps for lack of staff" line is BS. I haven't seen a single one closed for that reason.
Finally! The 'Full-Service' in Oregon is one guy pumping gas for 8 cars at once. It's slow and doesn't really feel safe since no one is standing by the pump while the gas is being dispensed. I absolutely hate getting gas in Oregon.
The entire time I lived in the state I never once had a problem with having to wait, generally the more crowded stations were the ones with the cheapest gas, look you go to Costco who is 20 cents less than any other station in town and yeah you are going to be the 4th car in line, boo hoo. You can go to the Chevron a mile away and pay the 20 cents more with zero waiting. I lived there 15 years and never had a single unpleasant experience surrounding gasoline, except that time the developmentally disabled kid put regular in my BMW and it would not run, had to be removed and refilled with premium.
Ah yes, mini serve. Back when I was like 16 or 17 here in Eastern Oregon, I worked briefly at a pair of gas stations under the same owner (His oldest was one of my closest friends throughout school...since 3rd grade) I recall one evening, a customer came in to have his gas can for his lawn power filled. Forgetting the mini and full serve disctinctions, I filled it from one of the full serve pumps, and he paid the full serve price. The manager later reminded me of the differences, and that I should have checked his oil and washed his windows as well. We did have a decent little laugh about that, picturing me washing his glasses, and then putting a dipstick down his throat... Nothing came of it, but it was still an amusing memory.
I have lived in Oregon for the last 12 years, and I am looking forward to it being implemented. Sometimes, it takes forever to get service because of being short-handed or them not paying attention. I was driving in rual Eastern Oregon a few weeks ago, and it is a mixed bag of full or self-service.
For many years, my mother would drive past several gas stations to get her gas at the only full service station in town. She was in her 70's, less than 100 lbs and under 5 ft tall. It was very hard for her to get out and pump her own gas. Then the owner of the full service station retired and closed. I finally convinced her that it was ok to pull into the pumps, push the "Need Assistance" button and have someone come out to pump the gas for her.
A few years back I traveled thru Eastern Oregon and late at night could not find an open gas station. Needing gas to continue thru my miscalculation I filled up at a xxn card lock that commercial drivers use and continued on my way. A few weeks later I got a letter from the State of Oregon. telling me that I did not have the certification to pump my own gas as trained and certified by the State of Oregon and to not do it again! In case I had not used the card lock I would have been stranded in a small town in Oregon until morning when the only staffed station opened. Sometimes you just have to make do regardless of what the law demands... 😁
I can remember back in the early 70's there was a unattended bill-operated gas pump in our town. It only lasted a couple of years as it was repeatedly vandalized.
My city removed all payphones. They were always being vandalized. Then cell phones stated and then they all got removed. I didn't have a cell phone and I was without options to call if downtown.
Service attendants are not needed now because most people pay with a card of some kind. In the old days you needed change and I guess it's more convenient to get your change right from the attendant vs. going inside and having to do the estimate thing. Also it's easier to mug a gas attendant outside just standing there with a bankroll in his pocket, just waiting to get mugged. And what gas station doesn't want to save money by not paying an attendant?? There are lots of moving parts to this gas thing.
Forcing gas stations to pump your gas for you clearly makes the gas more expensive to cover that extra cost. Oregon’s state legislature single-handedly increased the cost of gas to their constituents by at least $.50 per gallon for nearly no benefit except having more gas stations go bankrupt and a majority of pumps being closed
I remember sitting in a long line at the gas station with my dumb liberal uncle arguing it was a good thing because "it provides jobs". But only two employees were pumping gas for everyone creating the huge line. Finally got gas 45 minutes later. Everyday at rush hour gas lines go out to the street!
Here in Ohio there is a push-button on the pump with a label that states “push button if you require assistance.” There’s no need for separate “full-serve” pumps since all pumps are full serve if you push the button. I don’t think those buttons get much use.
In Oregon for a while now, you could pump your own gas in the more rural counties. It was only around Portland, Eugene, and Salem areas that an attendant would be around.
I live in Oregon and did get used to having the attendant. For the most part it was fine. I have never had any of them screw anything up, and usually don’t have to wait long at all. Interestingly, even though we were paying for the additional labor, most of the time the gas prices are lower than across the state border in Washington. The part I dislike about having the attendants is when I pull up it’s expected (understandably) that I immediately have the window rolled down and my credit card pulled out and ready to hand to them. Overall I am looking forward to the change. BTW, Eastern Oregon stations , for a few years now, have been allowed to have self serve.
You’ve never seen the employees screw up pumping gas? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone in the world who’s screwed up pumping their own gas. It’s not a skill lol you don’t need any talents or training.
I worked at one of the last full serve gas stations back in the 80's, my only issue was the people that pull up and say fill it up. so you go fill it up and go back and tell them how much... they say I told you $5 that's all I have and other such nonsense.
Thank you for reminding me of those old rubber hoses used to ring the bell! I haven't thought about those in years. No, I've never heard of coin operated gas pumps. I suspect they may have been used way back in time when change would buy a decent amount of gas. There is only one "full service" gas station that I know of in our state but they only pump gas. They don't check anything , nor wash windows... however they do a thriving business.
There are some yt channels that have the same bell sound with an icon to click on subscribe and it drives me crazy. I realized, I still look up because it was a must when you heard the bell so you didn’t get run over, you knew a car was moving thru the area.
When I drove, I'd lived in Portland and around Seaside/Astoria. I don't remember many times that lanes were closed due to lack of employees. When lanes were closed it was usually because something was broken. Sometimes lines would be longer due to less staff but there was usually someone running around to all of them. Every time I had to get gas in Washington people had to help me because I had no idea how to pump my own gas. I've only pumped gas twice successfully my whole life and now I don't drive anymore, so I guess I won't get to experience this now haha
I live in Oregon and have my entire life, and yes, it is true that they close pumps due to lack of employee's. Super annoying!. I'm glad they changed this law. During the pandemic, we were able to pump our own gas due to the lack of employees at that time as well.
Yesterday, I was at a gas station, after pumping diesel, the person who I first met said that the interior of the station was staying locked because no one else had shown up. Also, while pumping diesel is legal, there are some stations that don’t let people pump their own diesel as a matter of policy. One place once tried to tell me it was against state law to pump my own diesel though it wasn’t.
I live in Washington State and have traveled though Oregon many times. and the reason they let people pump diesel and not gasoline is for safety reasons. gas is much more volatile. and it would be pretty hard to start a fire spilling diesel. and the reason some stations don't allow either. is so they don't have watch every person pumping fuel.
@@musicauthority-kt6zy that's a poor reason I'm glad they started letting people pump their own fuel. It's been long enough of this foolishness. Fires are very rare most stations have stuff to cover spills. Also it's up to the station to keep their pumps in working order that includes the stop feature. 73
@@ronb6182 That's not the issue. they want to prevent fire's before they could happen. that is the whole idea behind the law even if it's not the most brilliant law. but that was the lawmakers point in the first place. this conversation is over.
I remember coin operated gas pumps in Colorado back in the 60's. The one my dad liked to use was the type with the glass reservoir on top. You would put your quarters in (yes I said quarters, gas was cheap back then!) and the pump would fill the reservoir to the correct level, then you could fill your tank. My dad would drive several miles out of the way to use this pump because it was the "cheapest"!
I recall in the 80s, my dad giving me a dollar bill and the gallon fuel can for the mower and sending me across the street to fill the can; the change was my “courier’s fee”. Fun to look back at how pricing changes.
Yes. Many pumps are closed or stations closed because of staffing. Plus I have had to sit and wait to have an attendant coming out to pump the gas. The first time I pumped my own gas was when they briefly allowed it during COVID changes.
The ARCO in our area (CA) used to be cash only until a couple of years ago. There was a machine by the gas pump where you could enter the pump number and insert paper money (not coins). They removed those a while ago, and now, we need to go in to pay. They have added credit card payment and that costs more, and can be done at the pump or inside the store. The gas pumping itself was self-serve.
I live in Washington State, and a few stations had those kind of pump's for a really short time. before card readers came along. they were like coin changer's only they didn't give you coins.
In the early 70's, I worked at a full service Sunoco station a lot of the time by my self have lots of fun stories but the best was during major storms we had a lot of Ladies coming in and asking for .50 or .75 cents of gas to get home. ( it poring rain no roof over the pumps as they have today) after a while as a joke my boss and i put on swim suits, scuba air tanks and diving masks and just stayed at the pumps washing windows and checking oil (as was company policy at the time for full service and do not forget giving out those blasted green stamps) we had a local TV news station stop and video us for a while We just laughed and had fun. heck we were getting wet anyway, so we thought we might as well mess with the minds of the people. Lol
In most cases, self serve works better in my opinion. Only exceptions would be at a Costco gas station where you probably can’t trust customers to be wel organized but that is more for managing lines. But I noticed most Costcos will have an attendant to manage that line- and they will be shorter lines inherently because no one needs to wait for the attendant to come pump.
In Uganda it's still full service only. I don't like pulling up and having to wait for someone to do a thing I can do for myself much faster. From a government perspective, it would seem like a jobs program forced on the station owner. Instead of the cashier and manager on duty, you have to pay someone to loiter around each pump, and those people aren't the typical go getter inspired to work quickly and put in their best efforts 🏃♂️
There was a Hess (now speedway) station that was fairly large and at one time they had gas pumps that had not only coin slots but also had bill readers on the pumps. They also took cards too which when I first saw them as a kid was amazing to me!
Sheetz in PA tried bill readers at the pumps but they were removed in about a year iirc. You could even order food to be made to order from the screen at the pumps.
We have a Speedway gas station in Brockton Massachusetts that has the pump that requires you to fliptop little hanger after you remove the gas nozzle to start the flow of gas. One of the few gas stations in my area has that still.
I was recently in Oregon and was stunned to find that I couldn't pump my own gas. I had 2 thoughts for this. 1) was to prevent drive off's. 2) to prevent people from driving off with the hose still in the tank opening. I asked the attendant why and was surprised to find out that the State of Oregon made this law years ago to "create jobs"
I lived in Portland OR for about 4 years and I pumped my own gas the entire time with only one or two incidents. The very first time I went to fill up in OR I thought the "attendant" was a hobo trying to rob me.
"Drive-offs" disappeared when payment at the pump (or inside) became the norm. Pump won't dispense gas unless your card is approved or you paid cash inside and an employee activated the pump. Then it would shut off automatically at the dollar amount of cash you pre-paid.
Pump jockey and stocking shelves were entry level jobs usually done by high school kids. You learned something about cars, people, and life in general.
@@jasonrodgers9063The local, family owned station was the last holdout. If they knew you you could pump first and pay after. Handy on a motorcycle. I was coming back from New England and had just pumped $100 of gas. When I went to pay for it with a C note he said that he couldn't accept it. I pointed at the pump, and he said ok. Now the station is owned by a different family and it's prepaid only.
I too worked part-time at a service station in the 60’s while in high school. We called them that because we did things besides fueling, such as changing oil and filter, fixing flats, etc. You drove in, ran across the hose that rang the bell inside - ding, ding. We pumped your fuel, washed your windows, checked your oil, and sometimes even got handed your trash to throw in the barrel. Traveling thru Oregon later on the way to Fort Lewis Washington, I experienced their meaning of “full-service”. The guy stuck the nozzle in and walked off to do someone else. It clicked off full and after a couple minutes I decided to pull it out and hang it up. Almost had a fight right then and there. That’s NOT full-service and the legislators trying to keep this need to be thrown out of office long ago, but here we are almost 50 years later I’m finally seeing the change.
I remember the first time I ran into this. I was in Oregon on travel, stopped at a gas station, and some guy walked up to me and asked for my credit card to pump my gas. Now, this guy was dressed, well, somewhat less than professionally, maybe only a step or two up from someone who is homeless. So I said no, and he walked away. It was only later that I found out about this law.
When I got my first tank of gas after moving to Portland OR the "attendant" that yelled at me for pumping my own gas was just CLEARLY a homeless meth addict. I pumped my own gas the whole time I lived there.
3:38-that is absolutely true, but not universal. Gas station in my home town is self serve between midnight and five am...pretty sure illegally...but as the only 24 hr gas station in town, no one says anything.
I'm from California and drove up to Oregon and to say I was shocked was a understatement when I got out to pump my gas and got yelled at lol
ME TOO!!!!....was living in washington during and shortly after i got out of the army and when i went over to oregon and had to get gas they came out and i was like "oh its cool ive got it" and they looked at me like i was crazy and insisted that they had to pump it and stuff...they were cool about it though but i know how you feel:)
I'd refuse to let them pump my gas. I trust an attendant less than myself.
I was driving up from CA to WA and had to fuel up in OR, and when I pulled up to the pump and got out, the attendant told me they didn't have a convenience store, and I told him I know, then asked if I was going to use the bathroom, and I said no while looking at him a bit funny, then he saw the CA plates and it clicked with him so he asked if it was my first time in OR, and when I replied yes, he informed me about the law and politely asked me to get back into my vehicle. Had a similar experience in NJ and we chatted a bit about that as well as him telling me how when he first drove to WA he had the opposite experience where he sat in his car for a few minutes waiting for someone to pump his gas until he realized it was self serve.
Happened to me when I drove there from North Carolina, about 20 years ago. I'd been to New Jersey a lot so I knew the drill there but wasn't aware of Oregon. It was a huge gas station, no other cars there, no attendants in sight, and the station building was pretty far away from the pumps. I already had in about 6 gallons before someone came out to tell me I couldn't pump my own gas. I said, "well, you're clearly wrong because I'm pumping my own gas even as we speak!" By then I was filled up so I just left, and only later realized that the person meant I was not ALLOWED to pump my own gas, which was something else entirely.
@@litigioussociety4249even though you trust yourself, you'd be getting that station and maybe the attendant in trouble because as I understand it the law said that only a trained attendant could operate the pumps.
Back in the mid-70s, I lived in Phoenix and there was a gas station that sold metal tokens. You would buy the tokens and then use them in the gas pump. The advantage was that you could buy extra tokens and when the attendant closed up the station, they would leave the pumps turned on and you could get gas using tokens you had previously bought
Do not remember tokens but do remember gas wars in the mid 60s. 8,9,10 cents a gallon.
I remember these from the early '70s. They were called Gasamat.
@@victorringe9404 Yes. I remember my dad would fill up the staion wagon we had for a few dollars. Some stations would give out glasses and other things with a fill up. Gas stations were open all night.
@@Rhaspun ,Blakeley.
@@Rhaspun You remember regular gas stations that were open all night in the 1970's?
I was born, raised, and live in NJ. When I got my full drivers license (not my learners permit) I went on a trip to NYC. I drove into the state, I pulled up to the pump, and I sat there for 15 minutes. I was so mad about the poor service until I noticed everyone else was pulling up, getting out, and pumping their own gas. I had no idea the rest of the US was different!
I had the opposite experience. We took a family trip from Texas to NY (and other places). I stopped in NJ for gas..."What do you mean I can't pump my own gas?!?"
it took 15 minutes to realize this
Ohhhh this seems like a good scene for a zombie apocalypse movie or something lol
A few years ago I was talking to someone from Oregon, and they were horrified to learn that everyone else pumps their own gas. "Isn't that dangerous??".
Don't feel bad, I saw a video of a lady standing in a line behind a bunch of mannequins. She was probably thinking "god this line is slow" while scrolling facebook 🤣
In the summer of 2022 in Sisters Oregon I tried to gas up and was told the one pump attendant was out to lunch for the next 20 mins. The other 2 employees would not gas up myself or any of the other people trying to fill their tanks as it was “not their job”. Then I got a lecture about how the policy was good for Oregon because it created jobs and how it was selfish of myself and others present to expect gas to be available during lunch break.
Ive told them to piss off and leave me be. Had cops called. They said 'eh, we dont really have a crime, you paid right?'
Disabled and you parents with children are now being targeted for carjacking; of course the want to be safe. And most all reasonable people want them to be safe.
How many jobs are going to be lost ? I bet there's going to be some pissed off people, I live in Washington State and when both the liquor went private and emissions ended people found themselves out of work ! They weren't happy
@@averteddisasterbarely2339 You make some good points. We should pass some laws that mandate businesses be forced to hire even more people to do useless jobs that people don’t want. Oregon should pass a law that all business should be required to have an employee open the door to all public places of business for every customer. It would be a violation if a customer ever opened the door to enter the building themselves.
@@CrazyRFGuy In this particular situation in Sisters, they had killed the power to all the pumps, so self serve wasn’t an option.
I grew up in Oregon. First time I left the state I had no idea what was going on. Just sitting in the gas station waiting for service. And no one came.....
I had the exact opposite experience when I moved to Oregon.
I'm putting my card in the pump and some hobo runs up and tells me I'm not allowed to do that. I thought he was trying to rob me or something so I pulled out my baseball bat and held him off until a manager came out and finally convinced me that the hobo was actually an employee.
I pumped my own gas the whole time I lived there.
I had cops called on me at the NJ gas pumps. This was in the early 2000s. I left ATCO Racetrack and pulled into a gas station to get gas before my trip home to NYC. I knew perfectly well that NJ has no self-serving gas rule. Just a month before someone stole my Credit Card info and racked up charges. That CC was only used for gas. So I tell the attendants, let me swipe my own CARD right at the pump, and he can continue with his duties of filling up my car. Law talks about filling up the car, not having someone use my CC just like you would on any gas pump. I told him it's nothing against him, I'm just being precautions. After back and forth argument, his manager activated the pump shut off remotely and stated that she was notified of the police because I was argumentative. I just said F' it, got into the car, and left. Halfway down on NJ Turnpike, I go to a station, and they allow me to make my own CC transaction.
By me all are full service, and your card never leaves your hand. The attendant brings the speedpoint to the vehicle, and you tap or insert the card right there. No swipe on pump, that does not exist. Or pay cash, though they also have at least a dozen cameras on the forecourt, to catch those who do a runner. You see the pictures by the register of all those who have done this, and if they come back security company will hold them till police arrive.
I'm taking the side of the station on this one. You should have simply taken your business elsewhere immediately rather than staying around and arguing with the attendant, who's just there to do a job. Sticking around to argue and pressure them to operate their business the way you prefer until the manager intervenes is borderline Kevin/Karen behavior. Maybe they shouldn't have called the cops (assuming it wasn't a bluff to get you to leave), but you were at fault for escalating things in the first place. Businesses are free to operate as they see fit, and the solution is to simply walk (drive) away if you don't like it.
@@Gelondilthe station needs to be told of their wrong doing. Being a pussy that runs away without saying will never change the negative actions of others. Imagine if people had stood up against hitler in the early 1930s.
I would have stayed and told the cops they were trying to steal my identity. It's one thing to follow the law but this was insanity on the stations part.
@@DKShoneys-dc2dp lol wireless debit machines, that shit wasnt availible to just anyone back in the early 2000s.
if a gas station had wireless transactions in the early 2000s they must be doing VERY well to justify such a rediculous system that was definately proprietary and not ones that we use today that can interface with mobile phones and credit/debit transactions
I can remember when every gas station was full service, including checking the oil, washing the windshield, and checking tire pressure. Many, if not most, had a service bay as well. You also knew the local gas station owner by name in our small town, and our local station owner would leave the pumps on after closing, you'd get your gas, and leave the money in a box on top of the pump. Those days are long gone.
And they had a lobby with soda and cigarette machines. Also usually clean public restrooms and no going in to beg for a key. Then they invented the magic marker and no more restrooms. I know this because in about 1970 the only way I could get smokes was to wait till the attendant went out to service a car and drop a quarter in the machine for a pack of smokes. Yes, that was higher than smokes in the store but I was 12 and could pass for 7. The stores would sell them to me, because I looked so young, but you could not pull that on them very often or they would get suspicious. I think the gas station guy knew also but hey, he was making money off that machine so he looked the other way.
Awe, now my favorite passtime of sittng at the first gas station outside of Oregon and watching the Oregonians try to figure out how to pump gas is gone.
New Jersey needs to follow suit.
Wow. This video brought me back to an incident I experienced back in the early '80s. I was living in ID and drove over to OR for a vacation. I stopped for gas and got out and started pumping and an employee came running out yelling at me. He was really losing it! I didn't know what the heck was going on. Throughout his meltdown I was able to hear that we're not allowed to pump our own gas. I thought that was so strange. 🤯🤪☺️😄
Apparently, people in Oregon couldn't be trusted to pump their own gas. I hope that there isn't a rash of gas station fires, as people can't figure out that you can't smoke.
Yeah same here, ...then folks in OR are kind of high strung!😁
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Uhmmm, actually a lit cigarette will not ignite gasoline or it's fumes. I think they should be more concerned about people using their phones, or getting back in their vehicle while it's pumping. The static electricity can indeed cause a fire if they fail to touch something metal before retrieving the nozzle from the gas tank.
How did you pay, though? Do full serve pump have the self serve equipement?
@@tonymouannes No there was not the credit card reader on the pump. I had planned on going inside to pay after I filled up. They didn't make you prepay back then. 🙂
I drove a VW diesel. While standing in line inside the store to pay, an attendant started pumping 87 octane as soon as the payment was authorized. Fortunately I did not go shopping or use the restroom or I would have had a full tank of gas perhaps without knowing it until after starting and resulting failure of the diesel engine. As it was I came out, noticed the error, got it stopped after only 3 gallons. But it delayed my trip 2-1/2 hours while I was towed several miles to a shop…that “does this job frequently” of pumping tank dry and putting in enough diesel to get to the next town.
It is pretty crazy. You can't pump your own gas in the name of job creation, but if you try to find a checker to check you out at a store, you are out of luck. They are all trying to herd people into self-checkout.
I haven't run into closed pumps yet, but I am not up in the Northern part of the state. I usually give them a minute to come and start, but any longer than that, I just start it myself. If they get mad, I just say "oops".
EXACTLY! The irony!!!
I'd rather pump my own gas, and have an actual checker at the grocery store. I hate self checkout.
As a native Oregonian, it is very rare to see pumps closed off because of a lack of help. When you do see a line of pumps closed off it is because the station management has not scheduled enough workers because it is a slack time and there are few customers. As a side note, it has been legal to pump your own gas in the 20 (out of 30) sparsely populated counties for a few years now.
This seems right to me. Also native Oregonian. Out of Salem.
Showed this to someone here who is older than me. "We always vote it down when they send it to the people but the sneaky politicians did it anyway"
@@davidburnett5049 It hasn't been on the ballot since 1982.
Not to be picky but Oregon has 36 counties.
@kevinemmrich2530 and only 2 of them make the laws for the rest of us..
@@kevinemmrich2530 You'd think that politicians would take a hint in that time.
It's about time. I live next door in Washington state. I know we have at least one of what YOU would call a "Mini Serve" in Ellensburg WA. In Oregon, there were too many times when attendants, upon seeing a Washington license plate, would yell at me or us, GET BACK IN YOUR CAR! As we existed the vehicle at the pump. They assumed that we were unaware and were going to try to pump our own gas. They'd always get a response like; I have to use the restroom. Is it a state mandate I do that in my vehicle? Or, I wanted to get some food and drinks. Do you just bring that to the car for us now? I'm pleased to see it gone but agree with Mr. L, that it should be up to the establishment if they want to offer both.
I have to depend on a 'qualified gas technician' to input gas in my Prius. These people forget to put on my gas cap and I get check engine error codes that I have to reset with a device I have to plug in. If I had to go to the dealership I would have to pay $180 for their inspection.
Not only is it true about the lack of employees with at least half the pumps shut down but the lines and wait time are really long. I live in the largest county HARNEY where the next town or gas pump can be over a hundred miles away, we have 5 gas stations with one only open till 4. Only one of the 5 stations has 2 employees, the other 4 only have 1 for gas, and 2 of those the 1 employee is the gas pumper and the inside cashier.
I remember dad driving over the air hose as a kid. I also remember jumping on the air hose, with all my m8ght, trying to make it "ding." I also remember how proud I was, once I was big enough to pull that trick off.
Steve, it's 100% true. It's so incredibly frustrating every time you fill up to pull in to a gas station with 10 lanes of 2 pumps each, but only one or two lanes are open, and there's a line of 40 cars backing up into the street. On top of that, the pump attendants have absolutely no hustle whatsoever. This is such a welcome law change.
That is such a foreign word to todays youth. HUSTLE.
I lived in FAR northern California on the state line and then 15 years in Medford and never once saw anything like that.
This is exactly what I've always experienced when visiting Oregon as well. It takes forever to get gas!
@@Lindzeeann2uuu LOL, sounds like you're in some alternative universe.
@@vegasfordguy Portland is definitely an alternate universe, but at least we don’t have some weird virtue signal about being able to pump our own gas. (FYI, I moved my comment, didn’t delete it. I didn’t intend to respond this comment.)
I got yelled at for trying to pump my own gas in New Jersey. The attendant took offense when I asked if people in Jersey were too incompetent to pump their own gas.
There was a Sunoco station in Cincinnati on Section rd at Reinhold dr that offered full service until the early 90s.
I had basically the exact same thing happen in Oregon.
I already had my card in the machine and some hobo looking dude ran up yelling at me that I can't do that. I thought I was being mugged or something so I pulled my baseball bat out.
The manager was eventually able to convince me that the hobo worked there, but I pumped my own gas anyway.
I'm a life long resident of N.J and tried to pump my own gas once because the attendant was really slow doing something in the store . But could not do it because there was a keylock on the pump and only the attendant could open it.
@@Stop_Gooning my friend and the same thing happening Weymouth Massachusetts of all places. To my knowledge Weymouth Massachusetts is the only place in the state is illegal to pump your own gas.
people here in Oregon have argued against any pushes to remove the ban *CITING* the fact that they were too stupid to do it, so the attendant probably took offense because he knew on some level that it was true.
Well no surprise he took offense when you insulted him (and his state) like that.
I worked at a Shell station in the winter when I was farming on shares with the neighbor who leased our farm after my dad quit farming. We were required to ask if you wanted your oil checked and was your windows wether you bought $1.00 worth or a full tank. There were about 6 of us on duty from 06:00 to 19:00 every day,7 days a week.
The first time I got yelled at for trying to pump my own gas outside of Virginia I was genuinely flummoxed. 😂 I had never heard of such a dumb thing. I’ve been pumping gas since I was old enough to work it.
@@Martys-4x4 I feel your pain because this is what the majority of the fill people do! The first time in Oregon I nearly threw hands with a guy who let the gas cap rake along my sports car, then got miffed when I yelled at him!
@@DKShoneys-dc2dp, and not only all of that, they take umbrage and won't listen if you tell them a peculiarity they need to understand. I was passing thru Oregon in the mid-'90s (had to do it multiple times because I was stationed in WA and had to go to CA for training) in my '57 Chevy and told an attendant in Madras he needed to slow down past 12 gallons. Just as he asked "Why should I do that?," about a half gallon of gas shot out all over his hand and forearm.
Thank the local democracy . Many women wanted to keep their kids safe so we get wise protective laws like this
@@Martys-4x4the precious paint omg how can you live with all the stares?
@@johnshields9110ah one of those micro penis sufferer.
Cracks me up, I've actually had people from Oregon tell me that it would be too dangerous to let people pump their own gas, and it required a trained technician.
Here in NJ, we can't pump our own gas so that the attendant can leave the cap loose enough that the "Check Engine" light goes on, causing you to come back for the "repair", consisting of tightening the gas cap and charging $75.00 to reset the code so the light will go out. Of coutse, they never TELL you that's what they did, it's more like "corrected leak in evaporative emission system, scanned and abated MIL indication".
No, I'm not joking!
What a fuckin scam! Time to take video with audio of them putting the cap on, and if you don’t hear three clicks you got’em.
That shop is definitely ripping you off. I have a shop and would never charge for that if it really was just a loose gas cap. If you don’t have someone you can trust, you can buy yourself a cheap code reader for $50, and keep it in the glove box and just clear it yourself if/when that happens.
Seems like something that would happen. After you leave, the employees would sit around joking about it too!
My van tells me that the gas cap is loose, so there is that.
Seems easy to fix yourself and the light goes out all by itself!
He'll meet the that guy one day
I'm in the Portland, OR area. I usually stick to one chain/brand of fuel, but they still employ lite-service (not full service). I've never understood it, but at the same time it actually pays well - around $24/hr based on their help-wanted ads when i see them.
I'm in Washington but I've known about this for many years and drive in Oregon now and then. The Oregon ban on self-serve gas has always been a "make work" program.
I do love in Oregon and it's true to the point some stations are fully closed not just partially because of lack of staff
Oregonian and they build these grand gas stations, 4+ rows, 16+ pumps and then have 2 people for all pumps. Most places always end up closing off a third of their pumps. Fred Meyers (Kroger) Costco, Safeway and the independents. This is a good change to consumers as long as the employees still can keep their jobs. It lets us get in and get out faster, than waiting and this also increases sales to the stations. During Covid, they had made a temporary order that allowed Self Serve to prevent exposure.
The jobs will be gone in no time. Just like checkers in stores that switch to self-checkout.
Similar to Walmart. 28 check out lines and only the self checkout is open with one employee.
@@apparition13 I refuse to use self checkout at the grocery store. I have complained to the manager to get a register opened up so that i could check out. Having a shitty job used to be a right of passage for teenagers, and it gives them a healthy dose of reality about how the world works.
There are people out there who went straight to college, and then into the workforce as a "professional," and never worked a retain, fast food, gas station, or grocery store. And let me tell you, the ones like that, that i have met, clueless about a LOT of things. There's more to growing up that school, you need real life experiences, and a shitty, low paying job is part of that. It certainly gives one an appreciation for the better jobs you'll get later in life, and also give one empathy for people in those shitty jobs, because that was YOU at one point.
This may explain the rise of the Karens and Chads of the world...
@@apparition13 Yes, I'd expect them to find ways of nudging people over to the self-service pumps even without a discounted rate. I'd wager that they'll cut back on more and more of the auxilary services being offered to try and get the cost of an attendant as low as possible and that eventually enough people will be used to pumping their own gas that the service will only be for the elderly and disabled.
Around here, things are self-service because I don't live in NJ or OR, but there is a button to get an attendant out to help pump. (Obviously, assuming there's one there at the time, some gas stations don't have anybody there in the evening or at night.
@@jeromethiel4323so you take up even more of your time to stop and complain?
Time is way too precious of a commodity to be using up on complaining about trivial things that are on their way to being extinct anyway.
I'm in Oregon, and have even for 73 years. I can count on one hand, the number of gas pumps I have seen that are closed due to lack of staff.
You must go to a limited number of them because, based on all the other comments here, it is not uncommon.
Yes. It is true that islands are closed due to lack of employees. Especially Fred Meyer(Kroger) gas stations.
Yes. Pumps unattended at many stations in Oregon.
A few years ago when I lived in Alaska, I encountered a woman standing at a gas pump looking bewildered. She was a tourist on her first trip out of Oregon and didn't know how to operate the pump. I know -- I found it hard to believe too, but it's true. I walked her through using her credit card and pumping the gas. Hopefully the rest of her visit went smoothly.
She was probably fine after that. It's not that a gas pump is hard to use, just that it can be confusing if you've never used one before
Got gas last night. Several lanes were closed. There was no self serve. It hasn't happened yet. We shall see when it does.
Get better real soon, Steve. Thanks for keeping the video's coming. 👏 👏 🎉
Yup. Get well soon.
In Jersey, except for rush hour, it is standard practice for stations to put cones in front of “closed or broken” pumps just because they don’t have staffing or the employees are too lazy to run to the outside pumps. Most stations that have 12 or 16 pumps will have 4 or 6 running with major delays.
I was OR a few years ago and I had to "fill-up" several times.. The stations were a dis-organized mess. the workers did-not wear uniforms and it was impossible to know who worked there. I was very uncomfortable handing my debit card or cash to someone not knowing if they were trying to rip me off. I got out of the car every time to check the pump and verify how much they put in my car...
You should always use a CREDIT Card since you are protected against fraudulent charges.
@@johnp139 thank you
When I was growing up in Chico California in the early '70's, there was a self-service, coin operated gas station named "Gas-A-Mat". I have vague memories of this. I must have been about 11 or 12 years old. My mom would get out of the car, walk up to the counter and buy special $1 gas "coins" that were ONLY good at THAT gas station (she would buy about 5 of them), then walk out to the gas pump and insert the coins before pumping the gas. Mind you, this was when $5 of coins was too much to fill the 18 gallon tank of our car, so then she would have to walk back to the counter a second time to receive her change from the unused portion of the coins. She didn't complain, but I remember it as kind of a pain in the ass.
Today (in my mid '60's), I live in Oregon, and it is selfish of me to say this, but I've gotten a bit spoiled by the gas stations pumping my gas for me. I kinda hope that I won't have to pump my own gas in the future.:)
I live in Oregon. I've seen gas stations have an entire row of pumps closed, but I didn't know why. I thought they were just out of order, but lack of attendants makes sense. The gas station I usually go to almost never has any out of service, but they don't have a lot of pumps, and I expect them to stay mostly full service because the cars on in the inner rows are packed too tightly for drivers to open their doors when there's a rush.
I grew up and learned to drive in Nevada, so I'm stoked about this change.
When you pump your own gas you only need to wait for a bay with the appropriate gas kind to become empty
We used to go to a station called "Stinker" where you had to buy tokens from the attendant, then feed them into the pump to get fuel. Just like a car wash.
Good ol' Fearless Farris. The story behind that company would intrigue a lot of Lehto fans.
Nowadays, people would buy Chinese tokens.
From Maryland. I avoid getting gas in New Jersey at all costs. Did pull up to a full service station in vermont and was not expecting to get my gas pumped and window cleanned
A few years ago I stopped in a very small town in Nebraska for gas. It was self serve, but you didn't need to pre-pay or use a card. The honor system to go inside and pay later. I was shocked. I kept repeating in my head "you haven't paid, you haven't paid" to remind myself to pay after I'd pumped my gas.
wait wait wait they banned self serve gas why are people that stupid they cannot pump their own gas? seriously?
In New Zealand it's reasonably rare for a station to NOT be pump first and pay later. Most stations now seem to need the attendant inside to enable the pump once you lift the nozzle off - I assume it's to check the licence plate reader hasn't flagged you as a drive off without paying offender etc. Stations late at night when there are minimal staff working might switch over to pay first, and some stations in 'dodgy' areas are often only pay first. A lot of stations now are pay at the pump and a lot of discount stations are opening with no attendant or store.
LOL that's how most gas stations operated for a long time! or you'd go give the lady 10$, and it was a great game to try and not hit 10.01 cause you didn't have change
I welcome this because I’ve been shy of those gas pumpers in Oregon ever since they took a chunk out of the paint around the gas door on a 911 Porsche I was driving. 🤬 I drive through Oregon a couple times a year so this is a huge relief for me. Thanks Steve.
Steve didn't change the law... Why thank him?
I’m so excited for this I grew up for the first 20 years in California then moved to be with my wife since 2010 in Oregon and I hated the fact you could not pump your own gas
Going to be so much better getting gas in Oregon now. Can't pay at the pump because your country hasn't figured out how chip cards with a PIN work and won't let me put in a postal code with lettres in it. Having to wait for the one guy who's running around managing 20 pumps on his own is just adding insult to injury.
Steve, In the old days when gas was .25 a gallon we had a coin operated self serve station near Parker, CO. It took silver dollars and would pump 5 gallons into a glass container for a gravity feed into the tank. When I got my license my Dad bought an Eaton 100 gallon tank and had it put in on the north of our property as we had a tractor also.
My grandmother was in the habit of buying fifty cents worth of gas for a long time... at a certain point, attendants would heckle her and ask "Gee, do you think it'll fit?!?"
Many times I put 25 cents worth of gas during high school days
A lot of Fred Meyer gas stations in the Portland metro area will shut down pumps due to lack of attendants. They simply put traffic cones by the pumps. This leads to long lines waiting to fuel up. With self serve those unused pumps could help relieve the long waits.
I’ve visited New Jersey and Oregon and “illegally” pumped my own gas in both. In both cases I had already finished pumping my gas before someone came to ‘help’ me.
In Oregon, I thought it was a homeless guy coming to ask me for money, so our conversation didn’t go well.
In NJ, it was one of the old mechanical pumps (before credit card readers on the pump). I finished pumping and went inside to pay. They just told me I wasn’t supposed to do that and took my money with no drama.
That used to work until a few years ago when they all went pre-pay, with cash being cheaper, and you have to go inside to pre-pay cash. You can still do it faster doing it yourself, but the difference isn't as great as it used to be. The best is when you have a diesel vehicle (which has always been self serv in Oregon, at least as long as I've been in Oregon), you go in to pre-pay, you come back out, and the guy is standing there waiting with the GAS nozzle in his hand, and asks "Regular?".... "UH, NO DIESEL - IT SAYS SO RIGHT ON THE F'ING CAP YOU TOOK OFF - CAN YOU NOT READ??" Good riddance to the illiterate gas monkeys
Living is rural eastern Oregon here. I saw a popular gas station in town cordoned off the other day and didn’t know why or really think much of it, thought maybe they were out of fuel or doing an upgrade or something. There is an “Indian reservation” on the edge of town that has a huge truck stop. It’s always been self serve and a few cents cheaper than in town. They also have a reward card that saves you an extra 5c/gallon. People would literally drive the 5 miles out to fuel up there and come back to town, just for that 10c/g or so in “savings.” Weird news, thanks for the update 😅
We always hit up AH or Loves when heading out that way. Not often enough to get their cards but now one is opening closer by so we should.
Indian reservations are already self serve, and yes my fred Meyer gas station in Newberg OR has had half their pumps coned off due to lack of staff at times. Growing up in England in the 70-80' the petrol station in my little village had a coin operated petrol pump
Steve I live in Oregon and have quite frequently over the last year or so pulled into my local station and several pumps were closed because they didn’t have enough employees. On another note, it’s been legal for a long time in Oregon to pump your own gas if you’re on a motorcycle.
Oregon has always let people pump diesel themselves, but not gasoline until now? Weird!
I haven't seen a full service gas station in Texas for 30 years at least.
I thought this headline was a joke at first. I'm from Texas and I'm 53 years old and I'd just assumed that full service gas stations extinct. The idea that Oregon or anywhere in the First World had a ban on self-serve gas blows my mind.
Gotta travel more. Lots of things will surprise you! Lol
Initially, from what I understand, it was due to a couple different safety concerns. But then it became “what would happen to those jobs?”
it ain't NOWHERE NEAR FULL SERVICE in oregon ... more like full-annoyance from the pump NAZIs.
@@TheRealScooterGuy I got kicked outta Canada, once.😀
In Oregon, the state motto is: There's no need to rush into things.
6:19 you mention coin operated gas pumps. I actually work with C-Store Point of Sale. While I have never seen a coin operated gas pump; I can confirm that there are cash operated gas pumps out there. The pump will have a cash acceptor built into it, much like a vending machine. Customer inserts the money for their prepay and then pumps the fuel. If they need a refund then they have to come inside.
I have a cash accepting pump in my town.
That's all I can imagine these days, unless you had to cash in bills for special coins or dollar coins elsewhere.
Years ago, the New Jersey Gas Dealers Assn (mostly small mom & pop gas stations) had a strong lobbying effort. The major gas producers wanted to open big multi pump stations that would put those mom & pop stations out of business. They knew that if the majors has to provide all the labor necessary to ‘man the pumps’ they wouldn’t be able to build and staff those mega pump stations. So the NJGDA lobbied the state to pass a law requiring all gas had to be pumped by station workers. The power of lobbyists to ‘buy’ the laws they want!!! As Paul Harvey would say….’now you know the rest of the story.’
Thanks for this story. Very interesting!
Now I know the rest of the story! Thanks Paul Harvey Jr.
My first duty station in the Air Force was Germany and the number of people I had to teach to pump gas from Oregon was staggering. I am in Idaho but avoided Oregon just to avoid waiting on somone to get gas.
What a whiner!
I hadn't heard of this change until you mentioned it, Steve. We've been 'allowed' to pump our own diesel but not gas until this change. Where I live, in the middle of the Willamette Valley, most stations only have one person at work and all of the islands open. We will see how this changes things once it goes into effect. Thank you!
Just moved from Oregon after living there for 5 years. Indeed, some of the gas stations have closed off pumps because there aren't enough people to staff them, at least in Central Oregon. I have absolutely experienced the frustration of sitting at the pump for (relatively) ridiculous amounts of time while waiting for an attendant to notice that I've pulled up. It can be *very* frustrating when I'm in a hurry and could easily and safely do the task myself. Unfortunately, they generally aren't washing your windows or checking your tire pressure; they're also trained in some places to deliberately not use the hold open feature of the nozzles at full so they can have more time between vehicles... but they swear it's only to prevent the auto shut-off from activating.
People are paying for a Big Mac to be delivered to them
Full Service would work in todays market.
I live in Nevada and it is always entertaining to watch Oregonians try to figure out how to use the gas pump.
In rural Oregon here; in a town with the only gas station within 50 miles in any direction, often there are vehicles waiting for the pumps to open in the early morning because they don't have enough fuel to make it to the next station.
It seems to be a consequence of not being allowed to have pumps functioning without an employee on duty. Maybe that will change now.
Rural counties have allowed you to pump your own gas for around 7 years now. That was the compromise the legislature came up with last time they tried to make it legal to pump your own gas. Counties of under 40,000 population allow self serve.
Our local station didn't get the memo or something
I thought they passed another bill a few years ago allowing rural and late night "self serv" anyway? If it's the only gas station around for 50 miles, it should qualify for that exemption. Most gas stations these days, even when "closed" still allow you to pre-pay with credit card at the pump and get gas. Did that in the Phoenix area just earlier this year - gas prices had suddenly spiked, and one station that was closed still had the old price. I figured "what the hey, stick the card in and see if the pump is still turned on" - and it was, and I got it for the cheaper price. There's really no risk, if you stick your card in and can't actually get gas, the transaction will be for $0 anyway.
I was in the service in the 70s in North Carolina. Some gas stations had pumps that were coin operated, so you could get gas when the gas station was closed.
Gas station? CLOSED? Whaaa!
I moved to Oregon recently and its been driving me nuts to wait for an attendant to do something I could hop out and do much quicker. I'm glad they are keeping it somewhat implemented for those with mobility issues who benefit from it, but I can't wait to get to skip the attendant. Also the "closed pumps for lack of staff" line is BS. I haven't seen a single one closed for that reason.
Finally! The 'Full-Service' in Oregon is one guy pumping gas for 8 cars at once. It's slow and doesn't really feel safe since no one is standing by the pump while the gas is being dispensed. I absolutely hate getting gas in Oregon.
This is the essence of a nanny state -- it just prevents efficiency for an illusion of safety and turns people into helpless idiots.
The entire time I lived in the state I never once had a problem with having to wait, generally the more crowded stations were the ones with the cheapest gas, look you go to Costco who is 20 cents less than any other station in town and yeah you are going to be the 4th car in line, boo hoo. You can go to the Chevron a mile away and pay the 20 cents more with zero waiting. I lived there 15 years and never had a single unpleasant experience surrounding gasoline, except that time the developmentally disabled kid put regular in my BMW and it would not run, had to be removed and refilled with premium.
Im in Jersey, and I would pay extra to pump my own gas.
Ah yes, mini serve. Back when I was like 16 or 17 here in Eastern Oregon, I worked briefly at a pair of gas stations under the same owner (His oldest was one of my closest friends throughout school...since 3rd grade)
I recall one evening, a customer came in to have his gas can for his lawn power filled. Forgetting the mini and full serve disctinctions, I filled it from one of the full serve pumps, and he paid the full serve price. The manager later reminded me of the differences, and that I should have checked his oil and washed his windows as well. We did have a decent little laugh about that, picturing me washing his glasses, and then putting a dipstick down his throat...
Nothing came of it, but it was still an amusing memory.
Full service stations left here along with green stamps and those sets of drink tumblers
I have lived in Oregon for the last 12 years, and I am looking forward to it being implemented. Sometimes, it takes forever to get service because of being short-handed or them not paying attention. I was driving in rual Eastern Oregon a few weeks ago, and it is a mixed bag of full or self-service.
Lawmakers just can't seem to get out of the way. This should have been a one page bill eliminating all restrictions on self serve gas.
I lived for decades in Oregon and I was still surprised when I was there last and I was like "ohhh, of course." It feels kinda like the end of an era.
Greetings from the Garden State
For many years, my mother would drive past several gas stations to get her gas at the only full service station in town. She was in her 70's, less than 100 lbs and under 5 ft tall. It was very hard for her to get out and pump her own gas. Then the owner of the full service station retired and closed. I finally convinced her that it was ok to pull into the pumps, push the "Need Assistance" button and have someone come out to pump the gas for her.
A few years back I traveled thru Eastern Oregon and late at night could not find an open gas station. Needing gas to continue thru my miscalculation I filled up at a xxn card lock that commercial drivers use and continued on my way. A few weeks later I got a letter from the State of Oregon. telling me that I did not have the certification to pump my own gas as trained and certified by the State of Oregon and to not do it again! In case I had not used the card lock I would have been stranded in a small town in Oregon until morning when the only staffed station opened. Sometimes you just have to make do regardless of what the law demands... 😁
I can remember back in the early 70's there was a unattended bill-operated gas pump in our town. It only lasted a couple of years as it was repeatedly vandalized.
My city removed all payphones. They were always being vandalized.
Then cell phones stated and then they all got removed. I didn't have a cell phone and I was without options to call if downtown.
I always wondered why I couldn't just put dollars into the pump like a soda machine. Thanks for pointing out why that would never work.
Service attendants are not needed now because most people pay with a card of some kind. In the old days you needed change and I guess it's more convenient to get your change right from the attendant vs. going inside and having to do the estimate thing. Also it's easier to mug a gas attendant outside just standing there with a bankroll in his pocket, just waiting to get mugged. And what gas station doesn't want to save money by not paying an attendant?? There are lots of moving parts to this gas thing.
72+ years for Oregon to get it's collective head out of its arse on this one....L o L !
Forcing gas stations to pump your gas for you clearly makes the gas more expensive to cover that extra cost. Oregon’s state legislature single-handedly increased the cost of gas to their constituents by at least $.50 per gallon for nearly no benefit except having more gas stations go bankrupt and a majority of pumps being closed
Then why do we usually see higher gas prices in Vancouver, Washington than in Portland?
I remember sitting in a long line at the gas station with my dumb liberal uncle arguing it was a good thing because "it provides jobs". But only two employees were pumping gas for everyone creating the huge line. Finally got gas 45 minutes later. Everyday at rush hour gas lines go out to the street!
Here in Ohio there is a push-button on the pump with a label that states “push button if you require assistance.” There’s no need for separate “full-serve” pumps since all pumps are full serve if you push the button. I don’t think those buttons get much use.
Those are ADA required for the disabled. It helps if you can get a wheel chair van with the gas cap on the opposite side from the ramp.
In Oregon for a while now, you could pump your own gas in the more rural counties. It was only around Portland, Eugene, and Salem areas that an attendant would be around.
I live in Oregon and did get used to having the attendant. For the most part it was fine. I have never had any of them screw anything up, and usually don’t have to wait long at all. Interestingly, even though we were paying for the additional labor, most of the time the gas prices are lower than across the state border in Washington.
The part I dislike about having the attendants is when I pull up it’s expected (understandably) that I immediately have the window rolled down and my credit card pulled out and ready to hand to them.
Overall I am looking forward to the change. BTW, Eastern Oregon stations , for a few years now, have been allowed to have self serve.
WA more expensive due to taxes. And they added a lot of taxes this year. I think WA is now highest average gasoline prices in mainland USA.
You’ve never seen the employees screw up pumping gas? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone in the world who’s screwed up pumping their own gas. It’s not a skill lol you don’t need any talents or training.
@Mike_Dubayou Agreed, however I saw several comments saying they would be afraid the attendant would screw it up… that’s all.
I worked at one of the last full serve gas stations back in the 80's, my only issue was the people that pull up and say fill it up. so you go fill it up and go back and tell them how much... they say I told you $5 that's all I have and other such nonsense.
Thank you for reminding me of those old rubber hoses used to ring the bell! I haven't thought about those in years. No, I've never heard of coin operated gas pumps. I suspect they may have been used way back in time when change would buy a decent amount of gas.
There is only one "full service" gas station that I know of in our state but they only pump gas. They don't check anything , nor wash windows... however they do a thriving business.
There are some yt channels that have the same bell sound with an icon to click on subscribe and it drives me crazy. I realized, I still look up because it was a must when you heard the bell so you didn’t get run over, you knew a car was moving thru the area.
That fails to be a "full service" then. That's literally what full service is supposed to mean.
They still have those hoses at a lot of oil change places
@@impishrebel5969 maybe so but it came to be defined as gas pump only.
As kids my bother and I would get out of the car and jump up and down on the hose to make the bell ring!🤣🤣🤣
When I drove, I'd lived in Portland and around Seaside/Astoria. I don't remember many times that lanes were closed due to lack of employees. When lanes were closed it was usually because something was broken. Sometimes lines would be longer due to less staff but there was usually someone running around to all of them.
Every time I had to get gas in Washington people had to help me because I had no idea how to pump my own gas.
I've only pumped gas twice successfully my whole life and now I don't drive anymore, so I guess I won't get to experience this now haha
I live in Oregon and have my entire life, and yes, it is true that they close pumps due to lack of employee's. Super annoying!. I'm glad they changed this law. During the pandemic, we were able to pump our own gas due to the lack of employees at that time as well.
Coin-operated pumps? Who carries enough change to pay for a tank of gas today? We'd need a trailer.
Yesterday, I was at a gas station, after pumping diesel, the person who I first met said that the interior of the station was staying locked because no one else had shown up.
Also, while pumping diesel is legal, there are some stations that don’t let people pump their own diesel as a matter of policy. One place once tried to tell me it was against state law to pump my own diesel though it wasn’t.
I live in Washington State and have traveled though Oregon many times. and the reason they let people pump diesel and not gasoline is for safety reasons. gas is much more volatile. and it would be pretty hard to start a fire spilling diesel. and the reason some stations don't allow either. is so they don't have watch every person pumping fuel.
@@musicauthority-kt6zy that's a poor reason I'm glad they started letting people pump their own fuel. It's been long enough of this foolishness. Fires are very rare most stations have stuff to cover spills. Also it's up to the station to keep their pumps in working order that includes the stop feature. 73
@@ronb6182 It isn't a poor reason, it's the actual reason. that's what I was told by a station owner.
@@musicauthority-kt6zy poor excuse fires are rare at service stations compared to other places. Enough said 73
@@ronb6182 That's not the issue. they want to prevent fire's before they could happen. that is the whole idea behind the law even if it's not the most brilliant law. but that was the lawmakers point in the first place.
this conversation is over.
How will I have forced interactions with recently paroled hard drug users with unmediated personality disorders now?
I remember coin operated gas pumps in Colorado back in the 60's. The one my dad liked to use was the type with the glass reservoir on top. You would put your quarters in (yes I said quarters, gas was cheap back then!) and the pump would fill the reservoir to the correct level, then you could fill your tank. My dad would drive several miles out of the way to use this pump because it was the "cheapest"!
I recall in the 80s, my dad giving me a dollar bill and the gallon fuel can for the mower and sending me across the street to fill the can; the change was my “courier’s fee”. Fun to look back at how pricing changes.
Yes. Many pumps are closed or stations closed because of staffing. Plus I have had to sit and wait to have an attendant coming out to pump the gas. The first time I pumped my own gas was when they briefly allowed it during COVID changes.
The ARCO in our area (CA) used to be cash only until a couple of years ago. There was a machine by the gas pump where you could enter the pump number and insert paper money (not coins). They removed those a while ago, and now, we need to go in to pay. They have added credit card payment and that costs more, and can be done at the pump or inside the store. The gas pumping itself was self-serve.
And Arco would scam customers by debiting their cards for $75 above the purchase price for 48 hours.
@@mwngw Fun fact. The money never left your bank. It didn't debit $75 it reserved $75.
@@mwngw Not an ARCO thing. All gas stations do that on a debit card, though the amount varries.
I live in Washington State, and a few stations had those kind of pump's for a really short time. before card readers came along. they were like coin changer's only they didn't give you coins.
@@Rocketsong ...uh, Arco was told by the Attorney General years ago to stop the practice.
In the early 70's, I worked at a full service Sunoco station a lot of the time by my self have lots of fun stories but the best was during major storms we had a lot of Ladies coming in and asking for .50 or .75 cents of gas to get home. ( it poring rain no roof over the pumps as they have today) after a while as a joke my boss and i put on swim suits, scuba air tanks and diving masks and just stayed at the pumps washing windows and checking oil (as was company policy at the time for full service and do not forget giving out those blasted green stamps) we had a local TV news station stop and video us for a while We just laughed and had fun. heck we were getting wet anyway, so we thought we might as well mess with the minds of the people. Lol
Seriously? No self serve til now? Good grief.
…said Charlie Brown
In most cases, self serve works better in my opinion. Only exceptions would be at a Costco gas station where you probably can’t trust customers to be wel organized but that is more for managing lines. But I noticed most Costcos will have an attendant to manage that line- and they will be shorter lines inherently because no one needs to wait for the attendant to come pump.
In Uganda it's still full service only. I don't like pulling up and having to wait for someone to do a thing I can do for myself much faster.
From a government perspective, it would seem like a jobs program forced on the station owner. Instead of the cashier and manager on duty, you have to pay someone to loiter around each pump, and those people aren't the typical go getter inspired to work quickly and put in their best efforts 🏃♂️
In Oregon the attendant is usually a dirty homeless person.
You have always had the option in Oregon. Just pump gas, they don't care.
There was a Hess (now speedway) station that was fairly large and at one time they had gas pumps that had not only coin slots but also had bill readers on the pumps. They also took cards too which when I first saw them as a kid was amazing to me!
In 1975 Pedro's South of the Border featured unattended gas pumps that took dollar bills.
Sheetz in PA tried bill readers at the pumps but they were removed in about a year iirc. You could even order food to be made to order from the screen at the pumps.
We have a Speedway gas station in Brockton Massachusetts that has the pump that requires you to fliptop little hanger after you remove the gas nozzle to start the flow of gas. One of the few gas stations in my area has that still.
@@robertknight4672 the ones on route one in Saugus etc did that too until recently
@@digitald5851 the made to order food is the best part of Sheetz!
I was recently in Oregon and was stunned to find that I couldn't pump my own gas. I had 2 thoughts for this.
1) was to prevent drive off's.
2) to prevent people from driving off with the hose still in the tank opening.
I asked the attendant why and was surprised to find out that the State of Oregon made this law years ago to "create jobs"
That’s called COMMUNISM!!!
I lived in Portland OR for about 4 years and I pumped my own gas the entire time with only one or two incidents.
The very first time I went to fill up in OR I thought the "attendant" was a hobo trying to rob me.
"Drive-offs" disappeared when payment at the pump (or inside) became the norm. Pump won't dispense gas unless your card is approved or you paid cash inside and an employee activated the pump. Then it would shut off automatically at the dollar amount of cash you pre-paid.
Pump jockey and stocking shelves were entry level jobs usually done by high school kids. You learned something about cars, people, and life in general.
@@jasonrodgers9063The local, family owned station was the last holdout. If they knew you you could pump first and pay after. Handy on a motorcycle. I was coming back from New England and had just pumped $100 of gas. When I went to pay for it with a C note he said that he couldn't accept it. I pointed at the pump, and he said ok. Now the station is owned by a different family and it's prepaid only.
Oregon can require assistants to help plug in EVs in at fast chargers.
No self-serve gas is easy to understand when you understand that the government knows that we are too stupid to pump our own gas.
I too worked part-time at a service station in the 60’s while in high school. We called them that because we did things besides fueling, such as changing oil and filter, fixing flats, etc. You drove in, ran across the hose that rang the bell inside - ding, ding. We pumped your fuel, washed your windows, checked your oil, and sometimes even got handed your trash to throw in the barrel. Traveling thru Oregon later on the way to Fort Lewis Washington, I experienced their meaning of “full-service”. The guy stuck the nozzle in and walked off to do someone else. It clicked off full and after a couple minutes I decided to pull it out and hang it up. Almost had a fight right then and there. That’s NOT full-service and the legislators trying to keep this need to be thrown out of office long ago, but here we are almost 50 years later I’m finally seeing the change.
I remember the first time I ran into this. I was in Oregon on travel, stopped at a gas station, and some guy walked up to me and asked for my credit card to pump my gas. Now, this guy was dressed, well, somewhat less than professionally, maybe only a step or two up from someone who is homeless. So I said no, and he walked away. It was only later that I found out about this law.
When I got my first tank of gas after moving to Portland OR the "attendant" that yelled at me for pumping my own gas was just CLEARLY a homeless meth addict.
I pumped my own gas the whole time I lived there.
They don't have to take your card, you can swipe your own card, you just can't pump.
@@pdxyyz4327 I understand that now, but note that this dude wanted me to give him my card, which I was somewhat....hesitant to do...
3:38-that is absolutely true, but not universal. Gas station in my home town is self serve between midnight and five am...pretty sure illegally...but as the only 24 hr gas station in town, no one says anything.