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I worked delivering fuel in singles and truck and trailer tankers for about 4 years back in the late 70's early 80's. You always wore heavy rubber gloves when handling nozzles and connections. Only cretins did not wear gloves. I had fuel tanks at my business and pickup tanks in our trucks. I have pumped millions of gallons of fuel over the years. Just throw on a pair of gloves.

I keep a couple of pairs of work gloves each in all three of my vehicles. Winter time I also have a couple sets of driving gloves. Pump the fuel, hit the gloves with a can of deicer and put them away.

To be one of two states in the US that prohibits self serve is beyond ludicrous.
 
OMG!!
In The News...........OREGON RESIDENTS NOW NEED TO PUMP THEIR OWN FUEL INTO THEIR VEHICLES
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In general I'm in agreement I think. Coming from a self service state all those years ago I've got used to having it pumped for me. I haven't run into issues I always hear during these discussions, chipped paint, waiting too long, surly attendants. My issue if Oregon went self service is, and you know it, you ain't going to get NOTHIN' back on prices from the savings the stations get from booting pump jocky's. And something else, when pump you're own comes that's going to mean you are going to have to go in, or up to a plexiglas window, and make arrangements for payment before you can pump at some places. I ran into that at a station outside of Pendlton early one morning. I flipped the bird at the window person, after I'm fumbling around with the pump for awhile with no help from inside. I then went on to the next exit where the price was the same, and the pump jockey was friendly and attentive.
Fair assessment, I see what you're saying. Currently I find Im waiting three times as long on said pump jockeys. Sometimes they are swamped and I dont mind that.. its more the kind that act as if its a Sunday afternoon and we're on Hawaiian time. However..Some work truly hard and excel at their jobs. Pinging over from pump to pump, remembering frequent gas buyers.. those ones I obviously have no complaints about. Often they move on or move up (as they should) so a new crew comes in and its the slow process all over again.
Id like the "pump your own" policy to at least be optional. Especially if we simply run a card at the pump. But you're right, zero savings if we switched. I just dislike the service dependence they've created.
 
We've been pumping our own gas for decades and will continue to do so.

If you're frightened, wear gloves, dummy!

Sheesh!!
You assume much in the name of everyone, nothing to do with fear for me, nor do I consider myself a dummy.
Advocating for the continued loss of jobs, especially for those needing a start place or not able to do much better is rather uncaring and selfish to me. Not to mention the near total disappearance of service for the customer spending good money.
Removing all incentive and ability to earn for oneself is a good way to get them on the tax rolls.
 
Living most of my life in a state we're you pumped your own gas.

I'm cool with this being a permanent thing.

Nothing dumber than a gas station with one attendant and 40 cars.

Or...

A Costco or Fred Meyer has station with 3-4 lanes cones off because an attendant called in sick.
 
I can pump my own gas any time I want to - literally. I have a hand pump and a 55 gallon drum of gas in my shop.

I buy gas at Costco. They stand back while I put my CC card into the machine (had my numbers stolen a couple years ago, I suspect it was at Costco gas - probably high turnover there), then tell them what I want (premium fill, low pressure please) and they do it. Minimal contact.
 
Not a problem here ... I've been using gasoline as hand sanitizer for a week now. Just grab the nozzle when your done filling and your clean.

I always loved the smell of gasoline, Diesel! The smell of the Greyhound Bus Depot, and riding the bus, where my mom worked all 47 years of her career. The smell of most petroleum based chemicals. Mmmm Somehow always knew not to stick my nose in the gas can and keep smelling though.
 
I know foreigners from Kali and WA like to rag on us for having someone pump our gas but I consider it a luxury in Oregon. I don't want to have to deal with getting out of my car and pumping my own gas and those guys need jobs too.
 
Living most of my life in a state we're you pumped your own gas.

I'm cool with this being a permanent thing.

Nothing dumber than a gas station with one attendant and 40 cars.

Or...

A Costco or Fred Meyer has station with 3-4 lanes cones off because an attendant called in sick.
Call their manager! ;)
 
When I moved to Oregon I was astounded that people couldn't pump their own gas. In my mind at the time, it was like enforcing a law to disallow people from gathering their own groceries or check the pressure of their own car tires and put air in them.

The first thing my buddy in Texas asked after I moved is, "Is it really true you can't pump your own gas?!" Yup.
 
Isn't this more people touching the same objects...passing the virus easier?

This was my first thought. Kinda cancels out the idea of exposure to another person face to face.

If you're frightened, wear gloves,

(disparaging word dummy left out of quote). Wearing gloves doesn't necessarily block the transfer of germs. You wear gloves to pump gas, then get back in the car and touch control surfaces there. Or you have a big supply of gloves and change them every time you touch a new surface. Changing gloves itself might introduce an avenue of transmission.

OH NO!!!! I've been in Oregon for 38 years. How am I supposed to know HOW to pump my own gas?

Is it like riding a bicycle?

I loath having to wait for some guy/kid to unenthusiastically shlep his way from the store counter on outside as if Im inconveniencing him. Drives me nuts. Its an unnecessary job that actually slows everything down. I

Being from Wash., having my gas pumped has been a novelty we've encountered on trips south. My experience as a driver goes back to 1965, so used to be gas was pumped on every purchase. When the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 came along, so did self service. Which might've been just a way for the industry to save money on labor. Oregon requiring the pumping of gas, that was about safety issues, wasn't it? At least ostensibly. Personally, if it gives jobs to low income people I don't mind the practice.

In the 60's, the attendant often was wearing some kind of uniform. Sometimes the little white, paper fore and aft cap that mechanics sometimes wore. There were the pneumatic bells activated by rubber hoses so that when a customer drove in, the guy could snap-a$$ out to the pumps. When I was a fledgling driver, I ran into the cash register stand on a pump island, the register flew off and hit the ground, coins went rolling all around. Kinda embarrassing.
 
I've pumped gas once or twice in my life, I think I could figure it out.
I'd prefer the same guys touching their nozzles instead of everyone having to go through and touch the same nozzle.
 
I no longer want to pump my own fuel. I did it for a living many years ago. So, Mr. Texan, that doesn't make me a dummy, or at least I didn't think so.

I remember when an attendant had to pump gas for us in Washington, too. When they passed the law for self serve, one of the incentives was, gas would be cheaper. How long did that last? Now gas costs more there, and the gas pumping jobs are gone. Don't be so quick to sell out your neighbor. They're not doing it for us, but for themselves, no matter how much we're fooled by smoke and mirrors.

I appreciate the jobs gas pumping provides. I also like not having to deal with leaky nozzles and hoses, or nozzles that don't shut off, blasting gas all over, or wading thru all the spilled gas, diesel, and oil at the gas pump island. I dunno...Maybe that does make me a dummy.

But I'm old. The boomer-remover killer virus will soon get me. Then I'll be out of everyone's hair.



Seriously...I would prefer a compromise. Gas jockeys to pump your gas, but allowing you to pump your own when you'd prefer. As now, it's legal to self-pump gas into my motorcycle.









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