Why are we allowed to pump our own gas?

[shraby]

There are warnings on everything because we are too inept to use them without the warnings..even hair dryers have warnings (do not use in the bathtub). BUT we can go to the gas station and grab the hose, flip the lever and pump gas which is a highly volatile substance.
Also, why do the oil companies get all that free labor? They own the stations that are leased to people who run them.

[file83]

1. It's not because gas is cheaper for pumping your own - Oregon has

cheaper prices than California and in Oregon it's illegal to pump your own gas.

Just sayin' - so don't let anyone tell you that you pump your own gas because "it's cheaper".

[Kire]

2. It's not illegal to pump your own gas in OR or NJ

It's just required that the gas station provide someone to do it for you. When I was pumping gas in high school (NJ), lots of people beat me to the pumps and I wasn't going to take the pump out of their hands.

Also, it is illegal for gas stations to have different prices for full than for self serve in NJ and OR, because there is no self serve. That's where it makes a difference.

That's my understanding, anyway.

[file83]

4. In Oregon, it's illegal - trust me - ask anyone who lives here.

[Kire]

11. It's been fifteen years since I worked there.

I could have been young and had it wrong even then.

[Up2Late]

3. But go to California, and if you can still find a "Full Service" pump...

...it's usually 10%-20% more expensive, or at least it was 20 years ago when I lived there (I even worked at a Gas Station for about a week too).

But to answer the OP question, the answer is Oil Corp Profits.

[Syrinx]

5. Allowed? I don't remember when I had an option. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Because we can read warnings on gas pumps too?

There is a minimum age to be allowed to operate the pump in England - I can't remember what it is, maybe 14. The point is you can't leave your 8 year old operating the thing while you go inside to pay. But they recognise that there is a point in life where you can basically be trusted to be careful.

Now we have self service gas stations, are there more accidents in the stations, or on the road? Wouldn't it make more sense to call for the reintroduction of chauffeurs?

It's also quicker to pump your own. Free labour? In one sense - do you also bemoan the disappearance of grocery stores where everything was behind a counter, and you got to sit down while they fetched things off the shelves? Or elevator operators?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Why are 18 y.o. allowed to kill but not drink?

Why are 18 year old soldiers allowed to kill but are not allowed to drink? (Nobody is suggesting the do both simultaneously).

[coda]

8. Because we're not helpless

and it's cheaper too.

[Kire]

10. Gas stations have to provide somebody for the disabled and the elderly.

That's what it said in the local paper yesterday. NJ is flirting with dropping the self serve ban.

[mahina]

9. In order to externalise the costs, as usual,

in this case the costs of treating cancer in those who inhale the (very, very) carcinogenic fumes.
But I'm ok with it since I pump my gas in a windy place and avoid inhalation, while anyone doing it all day every day for years would have a much greater exposure. I'm happy to do it to keep some kid healthy, assuming that choosing not to use the full serve has probably cost a lot of jobs pumping gas. I hope there are other jobs out there for these kids.
I used to pump gas on weekends when I was a teenager by the way.