Self-Service Gas

It looks like New Jersey is going to end their ban on self-service gas, which will leave Oregon as the only state that still does not allow drivers to pump their own gas.

When I moved to Oregon a little over ten years ago, I thought that the ban on self service had to be the dumbest thing in the world. What made Oregon different than the rest of the country?

Are Oregonians so dumb that they can't pump their own gas without blowing something up? Well, there have been some issues about education funding, but I'm pretty sure that the mix of smart and stupid people isn't that different than the rest of the country. So that couldn't be it.

Someone mentioned that the weather is so bad in Oregon that it's not practical for ordinary people to get out of their cars to pump their own gas. Well, that line might work on someone from sunny Southern California, but I come from Wisconsin where it's winter seven months of the year, and no one thought twice about pumping their own gas. So that couldn't be it.

Someone mentioned that it created jobs. Lots of jobs for people who would otherwise not be able to find employment. That almost sounded like as good of arguement as any -- until I saw how many people were begging for money at the expressway off-ramps, and noted that it didn't seem to have any measurable affect on the unemployment rate.

So I thought back to the '70s, when Wisconsin dropped their ban on self-service. Even back then, Wisconsin and Oregon were both on the short-list of states that banned self-service. Wisconsin dropped their ban during a gas shortage that choaked the country. (Say... Anyone notice these gas problems only come when Republicans are in control?) So the idea was that we could save money by pumping our own gas.

And you know what? We did. Or at least we thought we did. Gas stations were still required to offer an option to have them pump the gas, and the cost of full service gas was 10-cents a gallon higher than self service. But who's to say that the full service price would have been that high if there wasn't self service available? Gas stations were pricing their self service gas to attract customers, but they were pricing full service to discourage anyone from requesting it. There's no way to know for sure if we were really saving money.

The reality is that we probably would save a little bit of money, but the entire savings of eliminating the gas pumpers would not be passed on to the consumer. The service station owner would keep some. And perhaps the wholesale price that the service station owner pays would go up, too, just because the oil companies could do it.

But ten years ago, what bothered me most wasn't the idea that I might be paying a penny or two extra per gallon. What bothered me is how long it took to get gas in Oregon. There were and are far fewer gas stations than any other part of the country I've been to. (That probably has more to do with higher prices than no self service does.) And once I found a station, I'd have to sit and wait for the guy to finally get over to me to start pumping. Then I'd have to wait for him to come back when the pump shut-off. And quite often, I couldn't just stay in my car and pay him, I had to go into the station to pay.

In Wisconsin, and most of the rest of the country, pay-at-the-pump for credit and debit cards had been a reality for a number of years. I was used to not having to wait for anyone when getting gas. It wasn't quite as fast as a pit stop in NASCAR, but it was quick. In and out in three minutes was common. In Oregon, I had to plan to get gas because sometimes it took me 15 minutes!

So you're probably thinking that I'm in favor of ending the ban on self service. Well, you'd be wrong. After a decade of sitting on my butt while someone else fills my tank, I'm spoiled. I know I'm not going to save as much as some people claim. The weather isn't that bad, either. And these days most Oregon stations also have pay at the pump, and that has sped things up, too. I'm also not in as much of a hurry as I was ten years ago.

So I don't want to see the ban on self service go away. Yes, I know I'd probably still have the option to get someone else to pump my gas, but I'd be paying not only the cost associated with it. I'd have to pay a penalty just like Wisconsin drivers did in the '70s.

So how do I justify the ban? I justify it by saying I don't care if the rest of the world pumps their own gas. I live in Oregon, and I don't have to. It's one of the reasons I like living in Oregon. You don't like it? Well, move to Washington.

That's how I see things.