Oregon ends its 72-year ban on self-service gasoline

Just in time for electric cars. Brilliant minds at work here.

the majority are unlikely to transition any time soon though, ev's arent cheap & many people never buy new vehicles anyway.
- I don't have the source handy, but I read an article that said the average road life of a vehicle is 14 years.
  Though, that was pre-Covid, which did a real number on the used auto industry.
Progress!
- Maybe if there's a place in OR I can stop on the 5 that doesn't make me scared I'll be shot for not being perfectly American Average, I can not even worrying about stopping there as I cruise through in my electric car I'll buy when Soros pays me all that money he owes me

I didn't even know this was still a thing

Prediction for the future based on how this has gone down elsewhere, in chronological order:

The majority of stations will go 50% full service / 50% self service
2/3rds of station attendants will immediately be fired
Full service will start taking 20 minutes
Fuel companies will petitioned the state saying no one wants full service any longer "for some reason"
The law will change allowing stations without a full service option
99+% of stations will not offer full service any longer
Max volume, unmutable pump ads begin
Spending on gas pump maintenance will drop 50%
New years day 2028

I live in Oregon and I’m split on this. I’m leaning towards it is mostly a good thing; being low on gas at night is always stressful if you don’t know of a station that’s open late/24 hours, so being able to pump your own gas is especially useful in those instances. It’ll also be nice not needing to have to wait a few minutes for an attendant to get to my car when it’s busy and they’re short handed.

However, pumping gas has definitely provided jobs for those who needed them. Hopefully they can find other work that is healthier for the employees - I can’t imagine inhaling gas fumes 8 hours a day is great for the body.

However, pumping gas has definitely provided jobs for those who needed them. Hopefully they can find other work that is healthier for the employees - I can’t imagine inhaling gas fumes 8 hours a day is great for the body.
I realize this is the case, and I definitely don't want to run the risk of (1) making hundreds of other people's lives much harder just to remove a minor inconvenience for me, nor (2) gatekeep what is and isn't a viable job.... but I also don't see it stable (in the long term) to prop up types of work that don't actually need formalized employment to be done.
- Agreed. If you're giving people makework you might as well start implementing UBI, because then you're not paying for injuries on the job, you're not paying for commute, there's no additional expenses and people can study and improve their lives so they can do more useful jobs.

I understand if people have a moderate preference, but I don’t understand why some people have STRONG opinions about pumping their own gas.

When the weather is crappy, I’d rather have someone pump my gas for me than leave the car and do it myself. In New Jersey, pumping your own gas is actually illegal. Gas stations must pay an attendant, yet gas isn’t any more expensive in New Jersey than it is in New York or Pennsylvania. In fact, sometimes it’s cheaper. The overhead doesn’t appear to be passed on to the customer.

If there was a price difference, then okay, but since the prices are just about the same, I just don’t get it. I welcome any explanations or personal opinions.

It's a matter of personal independence and speed. If I'm at a gas station to fill up then I'm not making progress in getting where I want to be going. I know what grade of gas I want put in my car, I know how the pumps operate, and I can generally fuel my car faster than going through the back-and-forth process of dealing with an attendant. Of course, I've also only lived in places where self-service was the norm, so I'm very used to pumping my own gas. Whenever I drive down to visit my sister in Portland I always try to fill up across the river in Washington just so I don't have to deal with the mandatory full-service in Oregon.
I'm actually pretty bummed about the change. It's a luxury (and one of the things that makes Oregon special) to be able to wait in a heated or air conditioned car while someone else pump my gas. I also don't understand why some people are so gung ho to pump their own.
- As an Aussie who has always pumped their own gas, I'd LOVE to be able to rock up and have someone just do it for me. Why is this the case in your state, out of curiosity?
For real! I understand it takes a few minutes longer but it's sooooo nice not having to get out of the car.
I am severely biased though, I drive a VW Golf diesel and Oregon allows drivers to pump their own diesel fuel. If the attendant takes more than two seconds to service me I just do it myself.
It turns a two minute stop into a giant pain in the ass. It's a major inconvenience that serves absolutely zero purpose.
I think it's fine for people to have the service if they want it but either direction shouldn't be mandatory. Beyond accessibility type laws anyway.
I do find it to be quicker to do it myself and like that I don't have to interact with anyone.

My ambivalence about this is how it'll impact folks who can't pump their own gas. I'm disabled so having an attendant to pump is so nice, in states without it's a hassle to call someone out to pump who may not have ever done so or even know that they can do that. Folks even get pissed at having to disrupt work and come out, or even refuse. It's a barrier that impacts disabled folks access to independent travel. Will this be the fate of Oregon, maybe not immediately but eventually? Great for folks who want to pump their own but for disabled folks who've never had this barrier before it's going to suck.

Yeah, I’m firmly in the self-service camp for myself, but if you are unable to refuel on your own, this is gonna be a bummer.
As others have mentioned, we’ll see how well the 50/50 split works.
Tbf, they just removed the law that forbids you from pumping your own gas, gas station attendants will still exist.

I expect the rule that half of the pumps must have an attendant will be repealed eventually, as gas stations* will want to switch more/all their pumps to self serve.

*and when I say gas stations, I mean Costco and Fred Meyer. What share of the market do they hold? More than 50% seems likely.

Costco gas is cheaper and they don't have those annoying ads on the pump. Fuck everyone who was even remotely responsible for bombarding people with even more ads.