Oregon is one of the last two states (maybe now the last one altogether) that prohibits motorists from pumping their own gasoline. Advocates of self-service gasoline say that gas will be cheaper if we can pump it ourselves.
It was gratifying to see the Oregonian report on Monday that the average price for gasoline in Oregon, which has no retail self-service, is four cents lower than the price in Washington and sixteen cents lower than the price in California, even though our northern and southern neighbors have self-service gasoline stations and we don’t. Banning self-service gasoline is a cheap and efficient way to increase employment: if an attendant can pump gas into 20 cars an hour on average at a cost of $10 per hour, then the driver of each car pays an extra 50 cents per tank of gas for the service. At one tank a week that’s about $25 per year per car. That $25 per year produces employment, with little overhead cost and no government establishment to administer it. The next step is to bring back elevator operators.
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Gassed up at my favorite station (the 76 on N Interstate next to the Taco Time) for $2.75 tonight. Came back north of the river. The 76 at 39th and Main here in The Couv is $2.89. AND I got to listen to Phil Hendrie announce his retirement without interruption. ‘Nuff said.
Regarding: “Oregon is one of the last two states (maybe now the last one altogether) that prohibits motorists from pumping their own gasoline.”
Not the last one altogether. New Jersey is still full serve only. Even for motorcycles, which I believe are now permitted to serve themselves in Oregon.