Am I the only one? (Portland: fingerprints, sales tax, live in)

[robin from Oregon]

Originally Posted by klove1228

Well I guess I am the only one in Oregon to think we should have the choice to pump our own gas. Don't cut any jobs at gas stations, just let me have the CHOICE to pump my own gas. I really don't like felons handling my credit card and smiling at my daughter in the back seat of my car. Yes one of the few jobs you could get in Oregon with a felony on your record but deals with everyone in the public.

If they gave you the choice, in other words there was no law forbidding pumping your own gas, then the next logical step is that the gas stations, given the option, would become self-serve to save $$, and the gas station attendants would lose their jobs. I know it is different from everywhere else - I've lived here 10 years now and have gotten spoiled - I love having my gas pumped for me. In other states, if there is a full serve pump, you pay thru the teeth for the privilege. And the prices here are nowhere near what they are in S. Cal. where my mom lives. My vote is to keep it like it is! One more little difference that sets Oregon apart from the crowd.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by klove1228

Well I guess I am the only one in Oregon to think we should have the choice to pump our own gas. Don't cut any jobs at gas stations, just let me have the CHOICE to pump my own gas. I really don't like felons handling my credit card and smiling at my daughter in the back seat of my car. Yes one of the few jobs you could get in Oregon with a felony on your record but deals with everyone in the public.

I can see a legal argument here: is government placing unneccessary restrictions on free enterprise by dictating the manner of commerce and limiting consumer choice? Why shouldn't Oregonians have access to the manner of fueling their cars to which 96% of Americans currently do? I don't think the Oregon statute would hold up in the U.S. Supreme Court; it's not really a states' rights issue.

-My previous car was a Toyota that had an unusual gas tank that would be almost completely full before it would trip the automatic fill switch on the gas pump trigger. Despite my verbal instructions to NOT TOP IT OFF, attendants would habitually squeeze the handle and an extra pint or so of gasoline would go dribbling down the side of my car. "Whoops". But time after time, I had to pay for that wastage because it registered on the pump. Shouldn't people in my situation have the option to fuel their own car? I also lost two gas caps over a 5-year period to absent-minded attendants.

-The jobs argument holds no water. Why do we allow ATM machines? Doesn't self-service banking take jobs away from bank tellers? Why do we allow on-line services like Orbitz and Travelocity? Doesn't self-service ticketing take jobs away from travel agents? Why do we allow U-Scan checkouts at grocery stores? Don't they take jobs away from cashiers? Yet they don't deprive you of the choice to go to a human bank teller, travel agent, or cashier if that is what you want to do; you have the choice.

-Some parts of the country already have AFDs -- Automated Fuel Dispensers. They are the ATM version of gas pumps -- unstaffed and available 24 hours. There is a machine and a security camera. You swipe your credit card and fuel your vehicle. As these become more and more common, the Oregon law will have a problem. There are already a few AFDs in Oregon for biofuel, which isn't covered under the statute. I like 'em and I think they are the wave of the future.

-Another flaw in the statute is that there needs to be a provision in the law that requires the attendant to complete the financial transaction at your window. So many fuel stations are just convenience stores with gas pumps, and they make you get out of your car in the rain and go inside to pay so you'll be exposed to their impulse-buying displays while you wait behind six other people to pay. "Mini-serve"...right...what a stupid idea!

-Social justice. I've seen female gas attendants who were six months pregnant pumping gas (an Oregon does not require fume recovery hoods on the pump dispenser handles). Gas fumes are a known carcinogen and possible teratogen. If you can smell gas fumes at a gas station, that means that aerosolized gasoline is going into your lungs. The brief exposure that any one self-service fueler experiences for 5 minutes two or three times a month is probably harmless. Putting workers in a position where they have to breathe that poison for eight hours a day, five days a week isn't job opportunity. It's the exploitation of an underclass of citizens that jeopardizes their welfare by making them work prolonged hours in a hazardous environment. The law is unjust as well as unreasonable.

[aptsuper]

I wouldn't want to pump my own gas...but if it will get the gas prices down. We are paying way more than alot of other towns on the I-5. Right now it's $2.60 for regular!!

[Clear2land]

Southern California usually ranks right up there with some of the most expensive gas in the nation. The primary reason is because we have a summer formula and winter formula. Regular was $2.49 when we left for Oregon. We paid as much as $2.759 in Brookings for regular. Ashland was $2.619 for regular. In Grants Pass it was $2.639 with a second fill-up at Chevron for $2.669. We filled up in Lebanon at $2.499 for regular. In Cottage Grove it was $2.479. In Escondido, we paid $2.389 upon our return.

I think Oregonians are paying about 10 cents a gallon to have their gas pumped. I never hear anyone in California complain about having to pump his or hers own gas. I prefer it because I can do the windows with my own glass cleaner and rags.

[Waterlily]

Well I believe prices are coming down. I paid $2.39 yesterday when I filled up the tank. No I don't want to pump my own gas either. I like it the way it is.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by Clear2land

I think Oregonians are paying about 10 cents a gallon to have their gas pumped.

That's probably about right...maybe even more. People often forget how much gas taxes vary from one state to another. A gallon of gas in Oregon (which has relatively low taxes...and the road conditions to prove it) costs as much or more than a gallon of gas in a state with high taxes. So the notion that attendant labor figures into the price somewhere makes sense. These people don't donate their time for free.

[Clear2land]

There is no such thing as complimentary gasoline, refined by a charitable organization, and pumped into your car by a group of volunteers.

[mgonsior]

I just returned from a trip to Oregon and, like most who visit there, I found the absence of choice unpleasant. The delays were frustrating, and I still had to check my own oil and wash my own windows.

I've read and heard all the arguments, and doubt that few are open to consider changing their minds. It's true that, given the choice, most will pump their own gas, especially if they can save money; and this means that "full serve" islands become rare or disappear when stations offer the choice.

Here in my small Wyoming town, the station owners and attendants get to know which local customers need or want help (usually elderly or handicapped) and gladly pump the gas for them at no extra charge. Strangers can get the same service by asking for it, usually by honking their horn or asking another nearby customer to get help for them. (In fact, some stations now have intercom systems that let their customers talk to the attendant without leaving their cars.) I don't know of anyone who has been stranded here because they were unable to pump their own gas.

The solution seems simple to me. Just as some gas stations offer discounts to customers who pay in cash, so could they charge extra for full service to those who request it. By charging extra, I don't mean via under-utilized full-service islands with higher priced gas, but simply by charging a flat service fee to customers who request the extra service. Stations could compete for the business of those who want or need help -- some might even offer such service at no extra charge. Stations could also refuse to offer such assistance. But at least those who don't want or need help wouldn't have to endure the frustration and inconvenience of the current system in Oregon.

By the way, gasoline prices are affected by so many factors that it's difficult to determine just how much extra Oregonians pay for their gasoline (apart from delays while waiting for service and difficulty finding open stations when traveling late at night). However, for the record, of the states through which I traveled a couple days ago, the average prices I paid per gallon were: $2.45 in OR, $2.39 in WA, $2.35 in ID, $2.28 in MT, and $2.20 in WY. Current state excise taxes per gallon are: $0.24 in OR, $0.34 in WA, $0.25 in ID, $0.28 in MT, and $0.14 in WY. So the prices per gallon excluding state excise taxes were: $2.21 in OR, $2.05 in WA, $2.10 in ID, $2.00 in MT, and $2.06 in WY. Therefore, outside Oregon, the average price minus state excise tax was about $2.05 per gallon, suggesting that Oregonians may be paying a penalty of about $0.16 extra per gallon because they can't pump their own gas.

As for safety, I imagine more injuries and property losses are caused by carelessness in preparing meals at home. Just imagine the jobs that could be created if home-prepared meals were outlawed and people had to either eat in restaurants or hire so-called cooking experts to enter their homes for meal preparation. And regarding the gasoline smell often on your hand after pumping gas, an easy remedy is a glove -- either your own or disposable plastic hand protectors often dispensed near the gas pumps. In short, none of the arguments defending Oregon's law have any merit.

[OREGONRAIN]

I never got comfortable or for whatever the reason with not being able to pump my own gas, but thats me, people can do what they want. I live right next to Vancouver so I seem to get gas over there, and just pump it myself. I think the not pumping your own gas thing in Oregon, just like the 9 times the no sales tax has been voted on, is a way of saying this state is different, and that fine, but I will still pump my own gas

[klove1228]

Well after months of wondering it's good to know that I am not the only one who feels this way. It's not the reason I'm moving but I will be very happy when I again have the choice to pump my own gas when I move out of Oregon.