Jersey don't know how to pump gas
 

N.J. just says no to pumping gas By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
Wed May 17, 7:01 AM ET

It's a rainy morning at the Thomas A. Edison Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike. Lines of idling cars and trucks stretch through a Sunoco station. But for Ardis De Los Santos, there's at least one thing to smile about - she doesn't have to pump her own gas.

She used to live in New York, where she had no choice. But a move across the Hudson River to Englewood, N.J., freed her from the hassle. She likes it that way. "It's not my cup of tea," she says of filling her tank. "It's the smell."

In New Jersey, motorists who need to fill 'er up haven't pumped their own gas in 57 years. But in the face of soaring gas prices, Gov. Jon Corzine came up with a novel plan last month to try to ease the pain: allow self-service at some stations along the New Jersey Turnpike and see if prices dip. He believed prices could drop 5 to 7 cents a gallon.

Corzine retreated after about 1,400 e-mails and calls poured in from a mostly outraged public. Concern about other state issues paled in comparison. A proposal to raise the sales tax by one cent, for example, received about 200 responses from the public, says Brendan Gilfillan, a spokesman for the governor.

So Corzine isn't going to push it. "He still thinks it's a worthy idea," Gilfillan says. "But with our budget, property taxes and ethics, there are just a number of things that are a bigger priority."

By now, full-serve is as ingrained in New Jersey's culture as the subway is in neighboring New York - though it seldom includes the oil checks and windshield washing of yesteryear.

Oregon is the only other state to bar self-service stations, and there are no plans for change. "The governor has concluded that there's no evidence that throwing thousands of people out of work would have any effect on gasoline prices," says Lonn Hoklin, spokesman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski. "Oregonians just seem to like the way it is now."

As do many lawmakers, station owners and motorists in New Jersey. Critics of a shift to self-service say pumping their own gas would be especially hard on the elderly, could create a safety hazard as inexperienced motorists try to fill their tanks and cost many station attendants their jobs while doing nothing to lower prices.

Assemblyman Francis Bodine, a Republican, says that after stopping at self-service stations in the South recently, he found that gas in New Jersey was the same price or slightly cheaper. "So I don't see any economic savings to having to pump your own gas," he says. "The flip side of it is ... there'd be some job losses." Besides, he says, "If I'm in a tux going to a black tie (event), I don't want to stop and handle a gas pump."

Bill Dressler, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline Retailers Association and Allied Trades, says there are safety concerns. While attendants are trained, many motorists would be novices. "It could be put in the wrong container," says Dressler, whose group represents about 2,200 of the state's 3,800 gas stations. There could be "somebody getting out and smoking and they didn't turn the engine off."

Dressler says that prices also would not drop. "The dealers are not making that much money," he says. "What would happen is the self-service price would reflect what's full-service today, and full-service would escalate 10 to 15 cents a gallon."

Not so, says Jim Benton, executive director of the New Jersey Petroleum Council, which represents the state's major energy suppliers.

"New Jersey has the third-lowest motor fuel tax in the nation," he says. "People don't realize that while New Jersey gasoline is typically cheap, it's not because of a full-service requirement, but because of our low motor-fuel tax. There's no reason to suggest that prices would not be in fact even cheaper" at self-service pumps.

One morning this week, the price for regular at the Sunoco Station at the Thomas A. Edison Service Area, was $2.87 a gallon. Even so, Amanda Darian, 18, didn't think it would be worth pumping her own gas, even if it saved her 5 cents a gallon.

"A nickel? Nah," says Darian, a student at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.

Even though she's going to have to work more this summer to pay her gas tab, she says, "I just don't want to get out" of the car. She has been to other states, and when it came time to fill up, "I didn't even know how."

Louis Rivera, 29, an attendant who has worked at the Sunoco station for three years, says self-service could put "a lot of people ... out of jobs."

Others don't get all the fuss. "Even some men don't want to get that smell on their clothes," says Angela Fields, buying gas at a Delta station in Bloomfield, N.J. "But if it's going to save you a quarter, yeah, I'll pump my own gas."

I'd do it. I almost had a heart attack when I first moved up here and didn't know I wasn't allowed to pump my own gas in NJ. I hopped right out and got yelled at so I drove away to compose myself.

Go self-serve Jersey! It's so much faster.

I feel the exact opposite. Our society is completely eliminating the word "service" from our vocabulary. I hate the U Scans at the grocery store too. These are great high school/college jobs that are quickly disappearing. AND, for handicapped people, it's a real nightmare. In Michigan, they are still supposed to come and pump gas if you have a handicapped sticker/license plate, but they only have to do it if there is more than one person in a store. I've not seen a gas station with more than one employee present at a time in years. When my mom was still able to drive, it was really hard for her.

Service really is disappearing and it's sad. It makes things more cold and impersonal. Used to be that someone brought your groceries to the car and put them in the trunk for you. Someone pumped your gas, while checking your oil (adding some if necessary) and cleaning your windshield. Cashiers didn't talk on cell phones while checking you out at the store. Things were more warm and personal then and it was how you developed a sense of community, by chit chatting with people. Now it's rush, rush, rush, do it yourself.

"Full service" in Jersey doesn't mean checking oil and all that. It's ONLY pumping gas. My problem is that it is ILLEGAL for me to pump my own gas. I would like an option. In other states, you have the choice of full service for a few cents more, plus tip.

Re: Jersey don't know how to pump gas
 

If someone's so frail that they can't pump their own gas, they probably shouldn't be driving a car either. I mean it's not like it requires a lot of physical exertion.

I don't tip in Jersey...I don't know how it is done elsewhere though.

Re: Re: Jersey don't know how to pump gas
 

FOR REAL.

My thinking about it is that it gives me more personal time. So if I spend less time at a gas station or in a store, I can spend more time with friends, family, or just my wonderful self.

-Rudey

See, this was the reason I loved Jersey. I didn't have to get out my car and do a dayum thing but sit there and give somebody my money. They did all the work (not that it's a lot of work, I know). And no, you don't have to tip in NJ. I never did. I miss that laziness. :)

Re: Re: Jersey don't know how to pump gas
 

Not necessarily. Since I live in Chicago, I can attest to the fact that standing outside in the cold for 15 mins. with the wind (or 'Hawk' as we call it) whipping down on you as you fill up your tank can be brutal. While my grandma is more than capable of operating a vechicle, I don't know that it would be wise or healthy for her to be standing out in the cold like that at least once a week from Oct - March.

Plus, not every neighborhood is a safe neighborhood, and some people may choose to pry on an elderly person who is going to be standing out in the open and distracted pumping gas for an extended period of time.

Also, keep in mind that sometimes older people aren't always up on the short cuts that younger folks know. I don't think that my grandma realizes that you don't have to squeeze the handle for the entire time, but rather that you can set the latch to hold the handle in place. Now I know if the latch is broken, then sometimes even I have to switch hands b/c one becomes tired. I can only imagine that it must be more difficult for a woman in her eighties.

But, look on the other side. These people put up with shit for little or nothing. Rude customers and poor working conditions make these types of services unpleasurable.

There's many other jobs/careers where you have to put of with shit, but they are quite different. An example, Teachers and administrators have to put up with shit from students, but they do have at least some authority. Another example, even as a waiter or bartender, you can make a decent amount of cash. Correct me if I'm wrong, you get paid a lot less working at a gas station, fast food restaurant, or grocery store.

As for a sense of community...many of these people chit chat because it's part of their job to be nice and friendly. When I worked as a cashier and a hostess, I couldn't count how many times I've witnessed coworkers smiling at customers' faces, and then trashing them behind their backs. Even when the chit chat is genuine, the relationships are still quite superficial. How many cashiers/clerks/servers/attendants have we actually became close friends with?

Also, there's other types of services that are still in demand such as activism, building, and even inventing. I think we are far from becoming a serviceless society.

HOW can you not know how to pump gas?

Also, unless you are squirting some ON yourself, how are you even getting the smell on you?

AND if you don't like standing out in the cold, why not put the nozzle in, get it started, and go sit back in your nice warm car?

Re: Jersey don't know how to pump gas
 

I love all these complaints about pumping your own gas. Like the rest of the country & world don't put up with this crap. Its something you're taught to do. Geez, its just laziness.

Some people think they are too good to pump gas for themselves, I happen to know a few. :(

I worked as a waitress at a diner in college and there was one group of customers who always took me out for my birthday and invited me out with them for their group's birthdays. I even went to visit one of them when they had a heart attack and went into the hospital.:) But that's a totally rare circumstance.