Self Serve Gas in Oregon

[Ben]

As many know, OR and NJ are the only states where self-serve gas is not allowed. Oregon has tried to change this in the past, but their (I believe) reasoning for not doing so is keeping low wage jobs available.

So they are trying to get rid of it again, and for an interesting reason this time: Not enough low wage workers to fill the slots. Apparently gas stations are scrambling to find employees and to service long lines of customers who are getting sick of long wait times just to get gas. I'm guessing that given the current situation, that the legislation will pass this time.

I've never seen any of this near me. I don't fuel up when I'm in OR just because their gas prices are higher than in ID, but from what I have seen, the "full service required" rule is completely ignored everywhere that I have been in Eastern OR. In fact I think most of Eastern OR already is self-serve allowed via statute.

https://idahonews.com/news/local/bipartisan-bill-would-allow-oregon-drivers-to-choose-self-serve-at-the-pump-statewide

Oh, actually I found a map that shows where you can and can't pump gas there:

https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=fe6b92d4da52481483898a871928588c

[MechAg94]

So overbearing laws that theoretically help one year end up screwing something up another year?  Surprise. 

My bet is they will only make an exception to the rule if not enough employees are available. 


So do those gas stations have pay-at-the-pump systems?  Does the employee do all that or does the driver still have to get out and pay? 

[Ben]

So do those gas stations have pay-at-the-pump systems?  Does the employee do all that or does the driver still have to get out and pay?

It has been some years since I was on the West side of OR, but I handed my card to the pump monkey to run through the pump pay pad.

[WLJ]

There are or were one or two places in town (Louisville) that would pump your gas and every once in a while someone at one of the local news stations would rediscover their existence and run a story on one of them. The reporter would usually act like they just dug up some previously unknown dinosaur. Not sure if any are still around or not.

[Declaration Day]

Full-service fuel fill-up used to be widely available here in Michigan. Most gas stations had one or two pumps labeled for just that.  I just realized after reading this that I haven't seen it in at least ten years.

[WLJ]

Union trying to get the new law allowing self serve gas overturned

Mere months after drivers in Oregon got the green light to pump their own gas, one of the state's biggest labor unions is trying to ban self-service again.

"For decades, Oregon stood shoulder to shoulder with New Jersey as the last bastions of resistance to self-serve gas," reads the petition promoted by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555. "The Beaver State should restore its historic alliance with the Garden State in defense of jobs and accessibility."

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill in July allowing drivers across the state to choose between filling their own gas tank or having an attendant do it for them. Gas stations are still required to staff at least half their pumps under the new law for drivers who want an attendant to fill their tank.

The law took effect immediately and left New Jersey as the only state prohibiting drivers from pumping their own gas.

But UFCW Local 555 recently launched a state initiative petition that would repeal the law and ban all self-serve gas, including in rural Oregon counties where drivers have been allowed to fuel up on their own at night for nearly a decade.

Motorcyclists would still be allowed to pump their own gas under the proposed measure, but an attendant would have to hand them the nozzle.

Pumped up: Who's leading the effort to stop blue state drivers from pumping their own gas
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pumped-leading-effort-stop-blue-state-drivers-pumping-gas

[AZRedhawk44]

Motorcyclists would still be allowed to pump their own gas under the proposed measure, but an attendant would have to hand them the nozzle.

Yeah... I about had a fit when I was last in Oregon on my motorcycle.

The bike I was on at the time was a 2013 Triumph Tiger 800XC, and on that bike the fuel pump is visible through the fuel port.  There's a little plastic baffle that stops you from shoving the gas nozzle deep into the tank, like one would do on a car.

Fuel monkey bashed the nozzle hard into the plastic baffle like he was trying to drive it deep into the tank, and I took the pump out of his hands before he tried again.

[Angel Eyes]

Union trying to get the new law allowing self serve gas overturned

https://youtu.be/uTmfwklFM-M?t=6

[BobR]

The first time I went through OR and pulled in to buy gas there was no one there so I hopped out and started doing it myself, holy cow, you would have thought I kicked the guys dog the way he was carrying on. After that I made sure I had enough gas to get through OR without stopping for gas.

bob

[Ben]

The first time I went through OR and pulled in to buy gas there was no one there so I hopped out and started doing it myself, holy cow, you would have thought I kicked the guys dog the way he was carrying on. After that I made sure I had enough gas to get through OR without stopping for gas.

bob

Ha, I always did the same thing when I passed through Western Oregon. I mean, they still had full serve everywhere when I was a little kid and I remember the "filler' up, clean the windshield, and check the oil and tires" as a regular service. By the time I started driving though, everything in CA was self-serve, and it just feels weird to me to have someone else do it. Especially the untrained jackasses OR generally saves those jobs for.

Eastern Oregon has been self-serve for a long time - well before this latest law. I don't get gas there because it's too expensive, but gas stations are the same as the rest of America (sans NJ). I wonder if this new law would kibosh Eastern Oregon? I suspect people there won't be happy if it does.

[Kingcreek]

As a former owner of antique cars and a couple performance machines and even my every day drivers,
HELL NO.
 Don’t touch my gas door, my gas cap, my credit card, or my wife.
We still have a dinosaur family owned full service station in town, possibly the last within 50 miles. I will occasionally let them wash the windshield.

[French G.]

Maybe I now support laws to require pump monkeys. I watched  guy fuel his audi crossover from a plastic jug. He had the spout removed and attempting to pour the gas in. Going as you might expect. We were in a grocery store parking lot and it was unlikely the thing ran out of fuel as it was neatly parked. Grocery store also had fuel island. 200 glorious downhill feet away.  Newish audi so not the local run of the mill methican American. They are among us, vote and procreate without a permit.

[Regolith]

Yeah... I about had a fit when I was last in Oregon on my motorcycle.

The bike I was on at the time was a 2013 Triumph Tiger 800XC, and on that bike the fuel pump is visible through the fuel port.  There's a little plastic baffle that stops you from shoving the gas nozzle deep into the tank, like one would do on a car.

Fuel monkey bashed the nozzle hard into the plastic baffle like he was trying to drive it deep into the tank, and I took the pump out of his hands before he tried again.

IIIRC there was an exception for motorcyclists long before the self-serve law was passed for just such reasons.

There was also an exception for diesel pumps, I believe because it's less volatile and also because it would interfere too much with commercial drivers.

[bedlamite]

Maybe I now support laws to require pump monkeys. I watched  guy fuel his audi crossover from a plastic jug. He had the spout removed and attempting to pour the gas in. Going as you might expect. We were in a grocery store parking lot and it was unlikely the thing ran out of fuel as it was neatly parked. Grocery store also had fuel island. 200 glorious downhill feet away.  Newish audi so not the local run of the mill methican American. They are among us, vote and procreate without a permit.

No. We need to let the stupid take care of itself.

[RocketMan]

No. We need to let the stupid take care of itself.

The problem with that is they sometimes take a few of us with them.  It can be hard to stay completely out of their way at times.