OR: self service fueling enforcement suspended

[RicInOR]

"New Mexico Court Rules Gas Stations Liable for Selling Fuel to Drunk Drivers."

If you don't have an attendant, how can you be liable?

No matter.

New Mexico Court Rules Gas Stations Liable for Selling Fuel to Drunk Drivers

The court's ruling says, "Providing gasoline to an intoxicated driver is like providing car keys to an intoxicated driver."

www.thedrive.com

 

[Catfishmoon]

I don't believe gas will be cheaper if we pump it ourselves.

I feel the same way about self-checkout lanes at grocery stores or Lowes / Home Depot... I do not think the money the business saves in not paying an employee to bag the items and receive payment is returned to the customer via lower prices, it just increases the profit margin for the business to have the customer do the work.

 

[Barefootdog]

Like I said prior I have no issue with staffed pump service. I prefer to pump my own diesel, bike and sports car fuel. They let me. Sometimes I let them pump. I don't like smelling like diesel on my way to a meal....

I don't think it adds that much cost...at most pennies per gallon.
The argument about pump jockey wages taking money away from more productive usages is contrived at best and requires a remarkable degree of tunnel vision to support.

Since Jan 2021 diesel fuel went up 67%+ or roughly $1.35/gallon.
State, federal and Eugene fuel taxes total $.65 per gallon.
That's $2 per gallon.
My 35 gallon tank takes take an extra $47.25 to fill compared to Jan 2021 fuel pricing.
Between the increase and taxes that's $2 per gallon or $70.00 every time I fill my tank.

I don't want to get into politics but that price increase is due to the actions of one individual with an entirely arbitray stroke of a pen. I'll end that there.

Multiply those figures by the total gallons of fuel pumped in the state and the effect of pump jockey wages doesn't even register.

If you're really concerned with living wage jobs performed by real men doing real work bring back all the timber jobs destroyed in the 70's/80's with a similar stroke of a pen...and the mill jobs and the supporting business jobs in 100's of healthy mill towns up and down the slopes of the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains from California north into Canada.

Wood comes out of the woods as logs and lumber or water vapor, smoke and fire by products.
How much money are we wasting due to a policy of letting wood fiber build up in dead trees, over crowed trees and forest debris on the forest floor. In the Mckenzie Valley they destroyed a number of access roads including pulling out culverts. Wonder if that figured into the fires that tore through the area and destroyed hundreds of homes in last falls fires........All of that is what i call waste.

Paying a guy or gal to pump fuel doesn't bother me a bit.

 

[Cavedweller]

Like I said prior I have no issue with staffed pump service.

I don't have an issue with it either. I can live with it or without it. But there's no harm in pointing out the flawed reasoning that leads to the conclusion that mandating those jobs is helpful to the economy. I've already made my argument in post 16 so there no point in rehashing that.

The argument about pump jockey wages taking money away from more productive usages is contrived at best and requires a remarkable degree of tunnel vision to support.

If you're really concerned with living wage jobs performed by real men doing real work bring back all the timber jobs destroyed in the 70's/80's with a similar stroke of a pen...and the mill jobs and the supporting business jobs in 100's of healthy mill towns up and down the slopes of the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains from California north into Canada.

That would be great. I could get behind that. Not just timber, but all natural resources jobs. That's how real wealth is created. Unfortunately, it would take an act of the legislature (probably several) and whether little old me (or you) is concerned about it or not makes no difference.

 

[Hop Sing]

Ave. annual wages of $29,350 (will increase this year due to minimum wage hike) X 3,285 employees = $96,414,750. That is $96 million each year that would otherwise be available for investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the economy.

Ah, but whoever wrote this didn't see that the wages from the pump jockeys go back into the economy, so it's not like the money stops being in circulation.

I, for one, enjoy Oregon's full service gas stations. Don't have to get out of your rig, don't have to handle gas nozzles with other people's snot on them, don't stand in a puddle of diesel from the idiot who let the fuel puke out, don't have to be in the weather, etc.

Also, whether a dead end job or not, I'd rather see someone working than on welfare. And let's face it, chances are pumping gas is pretty much all some people can do for handling a job.

 

[Cavedweller]

Ah, but whoever wrote this didn't see that the wages from the pump jockeys go back into the economy, so it's not like the money stops being in circulation.

But so would the wages from the jobs created by investment of the money in other areas. So the downstream effects are a wash, at worst, and perhaps better.

I, for one, enjoy Oregon's full service gas stations. Don't have to get out of your rig, don't have to handle gas nozzles with other people's snot on them, don't stand in a puddle of diesel from the idiot who let the fuel puke out, don't have to be in the weather, etc.

And as I said in another post, that is a better argument for the present system than "these jobs help the economy", IMO.

Also, whether a dead end job or not, I'd rather see someone working than on welfare. And let's face it, chances are pumping gas is pretty much all some people can do for handling a job.

There are plenty of minimum wage jobs available now. It's not like they couldn't find something else to do. To paraphrase Joe Biden, "If you can pump gas you can learn to wash dishes or bus tables." I'm not saying they should learn to code. And I think most cou;ld probably do better if given the opportunity.

 

[Hop Sing]

But so would the wages from the jobs created by investment of the money in other areas. So the downstream effects are a wash, at worst, and perhaps better.

And as I said in another post, that is a better argument for the present system than "these jobs help the economy", IMO.

There are plenty of minimum wage jobs available now. It's not like they couldn't find something else to do. To paraphrase Joe Biden, "If you can pump gas you can learn to wash dishes or bus tables." I'm not saying they should learn to code. And I think most cou;ld probably do better if given the opportunity.

All good points!

 

[arakboss]

Don't bartenders get heat stroke. I am waiting to be able to pump my own beer behind the bar counter.

 

[Mikej]

There are plenty of minimum wage jobs available now. It's not like they couldn't find something else to do. To paraphrase Joe Biden, "If you can pump gas you can learn to wash dishes or bus tables." I'm not saying they should learn to code. And I think most cou;ld probably do better if given the opportunity.

Did he really say that? Geezus, these elites are so effing far away from reality! I don't know what a bunch of these people do for money, but it sure isn't being on time, working hard and working all the hours they can get. That's for damned sure!

Don't bartenders get heat stroke. I am waiting to be able to pump my own beer behind the bar counter.

Oh heck ya!

 

[Cavedweller]

Did he really say that? Geezus, these elites are so effing far away from reality!

No he didn't. What he said was, "If you can shovel coal you can learn to code." Or something close to that. I was paraphrasing.

Biden tells coal miners to “learn to code”

The 2020 presidential hopeful advises coal miners to move into new industries — but it’s not that simple.

thehill.com

 

[Mikej]

No he didn't. What he said was, "If you can shovel coal you can learn to code." Or something close to that. I was paraphrasing.

Sounds like the same thing, pretty much. "I'm ending your job, you'll have to get another one. And learn to like it, dammit!"

 

[RicInOR]

"New Mexico Court Rules Gas Stations Liable for Selling Fuel to Drunk Drivers."

If you don't have an attendant, how can you be liable?

No matter.

New Mexico Court Rules Gas Stations Liable for Selling Fuel to Drunk Drivers

The court's ruling says, "Providing gasoline to an intoxicated driver is like providing car keys to an intoxicated driver."

www.thedrive.com

Follow up on that New Mexico court ruling

Brickbat: Fill 'Er Up

New Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled that gas stations can be held liable if they sell fuel to a driver...

reason.com

 

[arakboss]

Easy solution install a breathalyzer on every gas pump handle. Just don't blow in the wrong pipe.

 

[DeanfromOregon]

Because the legislature says so. We can't pump our own gas because exposure to toxic fumes is dangerous to customers (according to the legislature), but it's OK for a minimum wage worker to do so all day long. No contradiction there, right? ????

Maybe we could require them to wear a paper mask over their face to protect themselves?