Gas Pumping Law Changes in Oregon

[Michael Weber]

My daughter lives in Oregon and she always told me the justification was jobs.

[Mike Henderson]

... And 1.50 would have been a raise.

Yeah, me too. The summer after high school before I started college, I worked in a hamburger joint for $1/hr. 10 hours/day, 7 days a week - $70 for a weeks work. I actually didn't have to work 7 days but I wanted the money.

I did work my way up to short order cook. I could flip an egg (or two) with wrist motion for an order of "over easy". The grease from the cooking made the skin on my face break out.

Of course, that was a lot of years ago.

Mike

[Ronald Blue]

I'm sure Oregon will be burning shortly. The good old days. Pull into a station across the hose and the bell dings to alert the attendant of your presence. Most stations in those days also did service work and had one or two bays. Often a sign out front stating "mechanic on duty". Many people these days have never experienced full service stations.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

About 30 years ago, my grandfather gave me a bunch of his old work shirts. They said Sinclair on the back and on the front pocket with a picture of a dinosaur. So I wore them as I would any old shirt. They were quite comfortable and I wore one one day when I was driving to the beach to go fishing. I stopped at a gas station and pumped my own gas and then went to the attendant in the building and paid him. As I was going back out to me car a guy comes up and hands me a $20 bill. I stood there holding it and asked, what is this for., just as another guy hands me money. I really had no clue that Sinclair was a gas station. Apparently, all the Sinclair stations on the east coast closed when i was about 4 yrs old in the 1950's. The attendant came running out and started screaming about a second after I handed the money back to the guys. Heck it was a Chevron station on the south side of Dover Del., not even the same company.

[Jim Koepke]

Many stations in other states provide equipment for drivers to wash their own windshields. Is that also the custom in Oregon? - or do Oregon attendants wash windshields and check oil like atendants in the rest of the US did in the Old Days?

No, they only pump the gasoline.

They will usually gladly accept tips. One of the problems is a gas jockey is likely not going to get more than minimum wage. With a tight job market it might be very difficult to find employees wanting to work outside in all kinds of weather.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

In New Jersey you can't pump your own gas at any station. They will yell at you if you even touch the nozzle.

Had this happen a couple of decades ago in Oregon. I pulled up in my rent-a-car, hoped out and grabbed the nozzle, the attendant raced out of his little hut yelling like a banshee. Who knew!?! Proceeded to tell me of the potential for economic shock to the state if bonafide Petroleum Relocation Engineers were not mandated for the restoration of depleted fuel systems on personal transport devices operated within the Oregon borders.

[Jim Koepke]

On another note, today was the first time for me when pumping gasoline the nozzle didn't shut itself off, resulting in a spilling of gasoline.

The attendants were ready for it, blocking the lane and spraying down the spill with some blue liquid.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

I started buying gas around 1990. Only once have I ever bought gas full serve. I pulled into a small gas station in the south some place and got out to pump my gas. The attendant came out and explained it was full serve only. It was the most expensive gas I had ever purchased to date at around $1.65 a gallon.

[David Helm]

Oregon has had this no self service law for as long as gas has been pumped. It is about jobs. They also do not have a state sales tax. Sounds pretty progressive to me.

[Jim Koepke]

Oregon has had this no self service law for as long as gas has been pumped. It is about jobs. They also do not have a state sales tax. Sounds pretty progressive to me.

Here in Washington we are always getting asked if we are Oregon or Washington. Oregon people shopping in Washington are not charged sales tax. Though one Oregonian who works in Washington told me she still has to pay Oregon income tax on her Washington earnings. Washington doesn't have an income tax. California has both. But in California services are not subject to sales tax. That caught me off guard when performing service for pay here in Washington, since there is a sales tax on services in Washington. Oregon has a somewhat strange estate tax and their property taxes are higher. Some folks in Oregon feel they should charge a sales tax because a lot of people from Southern Washington shop there and do not support the infrastructure via taxes.

Th moral of the story seems to be no matter how they are figured, someone somewhere is going to complain about taxes.

jtk