Brian Diaz wrote:

You're assuming that if a full service gas station has 12 pumps, it needs 3 employees at all time.  That's not how they work.  During slow times, they close the pumps a single employee can't cover.  During times of low demand, a gas station with 20 pumps at 5 islands will likely have 1 employee covering 4 pumps.

They would also sell a lot less gas at the off peak times and possibly need more employees at the peak times.  It's an estimate.  An estimate that is far more realistic than the one you provided.

kickfight wrote:
I don't mind having some kid pump my gas. He has a job, which provides him an income, which he'll then spend, which stimulates the economy. Better than being some entitled bum living off his parents in perpetuity.

Lightcraft Studio wrote:
Forcing drivers to get out of their cars now and then to fill the gas tank forces them to stand, stretch their legs a bit and saves lives by reducing the risk of thrombophlebitis (blood clots due to sitting too long).

Huh? It's not against the law to get out of your car at the gas station while an attendant is filling your tank. I do it all the time. The only thing you can't do at the gas station is pump your own gas. You are free to choose to get out of your car and stand and stretch your legs all you want.

And if I ever really wanted to pump my own gas for some strange reason, I could always enjoy a lovely and scenic 12-minute drive to the Fred Meyer in Vancouver WA and do so there.

Of course, many people might actually enjoy being forced by the free market to behave in precisely the way it demands of them, and we should honor that too.

Lightcraft Studio wrote:
So, it's a public service to make you pump your own gas and it reduces healthcare costs for the entire country.

Tell ya what. Get behind closing most fast food drive-thru windows FIRST---since doing so would far greatly reduce healthcare costs for the entire country in this specific regard--- and we'll move to the less-significant stuff later. Y'know... as a public service.

Lightcraft Studio wrote:
On the other hand, it may increase the risk that some idiot may drive off with the nozzle still in the gas tank, which can lead to the gas station blowing up which can kill everyone within a 50 yard radius.

In California, where you can pump your own gas, that's apparently quite the thing

Lightcraft Studio wrote:
Perhaps we should have the government commission a blue ribbon panel of experts to study the options and come up with a solution to this complex problem.

Oh, no... we should TOTALLY let the free market decide. That's always guaranteed to be the best approach to anything because the free market always empowers consumers to make the best possible decisions.

Lightcraft Studio wrote:
On the other hand, it may increase the risk that some idiot may drive off with the nozzle still in the gas tank, which can lead to the gas station blowing up which can kill everyone within a 50 yard radius.

This happens anyway. I worked at a gas station in 1988.  A person might not believe all the stupid things people do when they say they want gas.

For instance, they pull up to the pump not knowing what side of the car their gas door is on (I understand if it's a rental car, but for most people it's not). They get to the pump and don't realize they have to release the door from inside the car. They'd usually get mad when I'd remind them.

I developed a routine with one woman. She had a gas cap that locked with a key. The first time she came, she handed me the key. I opened the gas cap and started the gas to pumping before I gave her the key back. She immediately started her car and drove off. Fortunately I was standing there and grabbed the gas nozzle out of her car before she snapped it off.  5 minutes later, she was back and irate because I "ripped her off". I charged her money but didn't put any gas in her car.

When I reminded her that she didn't pay me a cent and she drove off before her gas was pumped, what was I to do? I yelled to her but her windows were up and she had her radio blasting away. I still have her gas cap. If I hadn't moved the nozzle, she'd have to pay for the damage to the pump, too.  I think she knew she was wrong but was irate, anyway. She opted to come back, though. When she did, I took her keys and didn't give them back until her gas was finished pumping.

Justin wrote:
The last time I was in Portland (sorry I didn't do our single malt pact, kick, but I had no time), I actually waited till I was across the Washington border to fill the rental tank (it took two tries, because I didn't know where the gas cap door was), because I've filled my own tank for the last 30 or 40 years, and I didn't understand why I should be forced to have someone else do it.

No worries, Justin. We'll catch up at some point.

Justin wrote:
It's not a job, any more than cooking or cleaning or getting myself around town or doing my own keyboarding. It's just part of Life.

Well, the thing is, pumping gas used to be someone's job (the historical record confirms this as a fact), and yet it's a job that has been mostly transferred 100% onto the consumer. The consumer rationalizes it as an advantage because it's all about the perception of efficiency, and that's because the consumer has already rationalized an ever-more-(often-self-)micromanaged life in general.

It's one of the other reasons I kinda dig having this task delegated to someone else... it reinforces the fact that I don't have to be anywhere at any particular time. There's just no rush and I got nowhere else to be but right here, right now. The attendant's sauntering on over? Let him or her saunter. I'll just sit here and listen to my tunes and daydream or come up with ideas for stories. It's all good...

Lightcraft Studio wrote:
On the other hand, it may increase the risk that some idiot may drive off with the nozzle still in the gas tank, which can lead to the gas station blowing up which can kill everyone within a 50 yard radius.

I recently witnessed a car drive away with the nozzle still in the tank filler.  The break-away coupler did it's job, the car dragged the hose down the street.  The pump was not damaged and very little (there were only three or four little drips on the concrete) fuel leaked.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Well, in Oregon, it's illegal to pump your own gas.  That's a start.

Wow I thought that was just a Jersey thing.