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Backward people of Oregon complain about self-serve gas stations.

radcen said:
My first job, at age 15, was at a full-service gas station.

My kids can't relate. :lol:
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I worked for a Mobile station and a Rotten Robbies.
 
radcen said:
Why would you tip them? That's their job, and they don't get reduced wages.
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Prior to the Jimmy Carter years and gas price inflation, gas jockeys were the low guy on the totem poll. Both in status and pay. Gas jockeys would check your oil, wash your windshield, put air in your tires, give you a free map provided by the oil companies with ads for its gas brand, and most customer were known and knew the jockeys on a first name basis. Giving a gratuity was the right thing to do.

When your kids went to the gas station with a flat tire or just in need of air for their bicycles, it was the gas jockeys who helped them, gratis. I can recall doing that when I was 12, and the local gas jockey wouldn't take a quarter from for his help. I gave him a free copy of the newspapers I was delivering, he just asked if I had enough to cover my route? It was the way things were. I still tip gas jockeys.
 
jet57 said:
I worked for a Mobile station and a Rotten Robbies.
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For me it was Arco... a couple years before they started converting to Am/Pm. They still had their own gas credit card, too... which they discontinued shortly thereafter.
 
OldFatGuy said:
Prior to the Jimmy Carter years and gas price inflation, gas jockeys were the low guy on the totem poll. Both in status and pay. Gas jockeys would check your oil, wash your windshield, put air in your tires, give you a free map provided by the oil companies with ads for its gas brand, and most customer were known and knew the jockeys on a first name basis. Giving a gratuity was the right thing to do.

When your kids went to the gas station with a flat tire or just in need of air for their bicycles, it was the gas jockeys who helped them, gratis. I can recall doing that when I was 12, and the local gas jockey wouldn't take a quarter from for his help. I gave him a free copy of the newspapers I was delivering, he just asked if I had enough to cover my route? It was the way things were. I still tip gas jockeys.
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Having been a "gas jockey" in my first job, I never expected a tip... though I think I did get one occasionally. I always appreciated it, but I never expected it.

I also was not paid below minimum wage, which is the case with restaurant servers in most states.
 
My first job in high school was working at a Richfield station in Grants Pass, Oregon, then the name changed to ARCO. I don't see the big deal in having someone pump my gas or pumping my own gas. Living in Oregon, I do pump my own gas when filling up my motorcycle.
 
You are waiting too long in Oregon for someone to come out and pump your gas?

Easy fix: Get out and start pumping your own. They're outside in a shot!

Personal experience. More than once. Worked every time.
 
Ray9 said:
Social media sites are on fire with ridicule for the people of Oregon complaining about self-serve gas stations allowed in the state under a new law that had prohibited them.

The other day it was -3 in New Hampshire with a 17-mile-an-hour wind on the highway where a busy convenience store is located. I got out of my car and quickly zipped up my jacket while I cursed myself for not wearing gloves. My numb fingers fumbled to get my wallet and choose a credit card. I stood in the biting gale facing a gas pump with a small screen on its face that began barking advertisements for everything from winter gadgets to TV programs.

I slid the credit card into a slot and then just as my eyes were starting to freeze shut I had to answer several questions about how I wanted to use the card by operating a touch screen with my now frostbitten fingers.As my nose started turning blue I had to take an IQ test and remember the pin number that went with card I chose to use. At this point the biological phenomenon of shivering had begun to set in while the miracle of modern technology worked its magic telling me my card was approved. The ordeal was just beginning.

Now I had to choose which grade of fuel I wanted by aiming my blood-drained hand at one of the buttons and watching a light come on. At this worrying moment the pure white digits on the ends of my hands had become sausages and it was a struggle to get the little door open on the side of the car to get to the gas cap. In the extreme chill my wrists had lost the ability to swivel and I had to use two hands to unscrew it.

Now at long last I reached for the gas nozzle and with my last bit of strength, slid it into the car. I fantasized about the olden days while the gas was pumping. As I began to freeze like a statue I thought about the 1950’s in the passenger seat of my dad’s car.

He’d pull into a gas station and an attendant would come right out. Dad never asked for more than three-dollars-worth and the attendant would always wash the windshield and ask if he wanted the oil checked. Dad never had to get out of the car to brave the wind.

Those people in Oregon are living in the past.

They’re idiots-right?
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Why are you using gasoline when its responsible for all that heat you were subjected to at the pump
 
radcen said:
Having been a "gas jockey" in my first job, I never expected a tip... though I think I did get one occasionally. I always appreciated it, but I never expected it.

I also was not paid below minimum wage, which is the case with restaurant servers in most states.
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Tipping customs vary place to place. Tho you weren't paid below minimum wage, unless it was at a fuel only station, I'd guess you were among the lower paid employees working at the same station. Gas jockeys are outside working in all kinds of weather, mechanics are usually working indoors protected from the weather. I admit, I tip the mechanics also. Even for an annual inspection.
 
OldFatGuy said:
Tipping customs vary place to place. Tho you weren't paid below minimum wage, unless it was at a fuel only station, I'd guess you were among the lower paid employees working at the same station. Gas jockeys are outside working in all kinds of weather, mechanics are usually working indoors protected from the weather. I admit, I tip the mechanics also. Even for an annual inspection.
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Do you also tip the person who takes your money at the bridge toll booth?

Sorry, couldn't resist. :2razz:

The station I worked was fuel and repair only. No convenience store of any kind. Full service only, no self-serve at all. (Last one in town.) The owner was old and in ailing health, so the repair was winding down and at that point was most simple stuff and tire repair only, but it used to be more involved.
 
radcen said:
Do you also tip the person who takes your money at the bridge toll booth?

Sorry, couldn't resist. :2razz:

The station I worked was fuel and repair only. No convenience store of any kind. Full service only, no self-serve at all. (Last one in town.) The owner was old and in ailing health, so the repair was winding down and at that point was most simple stuff and tire repair only, but it used to be more involved.
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Easy Pass, no toll takers. And after the hit on Sonny in the Godfather, toll takers have been on my s**t list.")

Stations here don't have convenience stores. But some are fuel only, some repairs only.
 
Those were the good old days. I started when I was 14 at $2.00 hr. cash no taxes. Child labor laws wouldn't allow me to work 4 hrs. a day on school days and with Sat/Sun I was way over the weekly limit as well. So the only solution was to have no record of me working. I was making 40 cents over minimum plus I got bonuses for fixing tires, selling oil, and other fluids. Little town and we were never really very busy. But everyone filled up and loved the services. I was a professional at setting the pump slow and getting those windows right off the bat. Then it was pop the hood and see what I could sell. At 14 I was running a gas station myself and closing at 9:00 pm. Could you imagine the law suits today.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
Those were the good old days. I started when I was 14 at $2.00 hr. cash no taxes. Child labor laws wouldn't allow me to work 4 hrs. a day on school days and with Sat/Sun I was way over the weekly limit as well. So the only solution was to have no record of me working. I was making 40 cents over minimum plus I got bonuses for fixing tires, selling oil, and other fluids. Little town and we were never really very busy. But everyone filled up and loved the services. I was a professional at setting the pump slow and getting those windows right off the bat. Then it was pop the hood and see what I could sell. At 14 I was running a gas station myself and closing at 9:00 pm. Could you imagine the law suits today.
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Many kids are far more responsible, than we give them credit for.

I too was raised in a similar environment, working since I was 10.

I believe in giving a kid all the incremental responsibility they want, if they are handling it. That's what I did with my kids, and they are way better-off than many of their peers. Early in life they learned the value of a dollar, and personal responsibility. They also learned to interact in a responsible manner outside the house, at an early age. It built their confidence in interacting with greater society at-large, and gave then a distinct head-up on their friends in terms of societal functionality. They also grew in independence.

Kids are each unique in their ability to accept & handle responsibility. It's our job as parents, to provide them with the best environment to allow them to grow in their own unique manner. We owe them that. So I say, "Let them run, if they show they are ready!"
 
Ray9 said:
Social media sites are on fire with ridicule for the people of Oregon complaining about self-serve gas stations allowed in the state under a new law that had prohibited them.

The other day it was -3 in New Hampshire with a 17-mile-an-hour wind on the highway where a busy convenience store is located. I got out of my car and quickly zipped up my jacket while I cursed myself for not wearing gloves. My numb fingers fumbled to get my wallet and choose a credit card. I stood in the biting gale facing a gas pump with a small screen on its face that began barking advertisements for everything from winter gadgets to TV programs.

I slid the credit card into a slot and then just as my eyes were starting to freeze shut I had to answer several questions about how I wanted to use the card by operating a touch screen with my now frostbitten fingers.As my nose started turning blue I had to take an IQ test and remember the pin number that went with card I chose to use. At this point the biological phenomenon of shivering had begun to set in while the miracle of modern technology worked its magic telling me my card was approved. The ordeal was just beginning.

Now I had to choose which grade of fuel I wanted by aiming my blood-drained hand at one of the buttons and watching a light come on. At this worrying moment the pure white digits on the ends of my hands had become sausages and it was a struggle to get the little door open on the side of the car to get to the gas cap. In the extreme chill my wrists had lost the ability to swivel and I had to use two hands to unscrew it.

Now at long last I reached for the gas nozzle and with my last bit of strength, slid it into the car. I fantasized about the olden days while the gas was pumping. As I began to freeze like a statue I thought about the 1950’s in the passenger seat of my dad’s car.

He’d pull into a gas station and an attendant would come right out. Dad never asked for more than three-dollars-worth and the attendant would always wash the windshield and ask if he wanted the oil checked. Dad never had to get out of the car to brave the wind.

Those people in Oregon are living in the past.

They’re idiots-right?
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You can't use a handful of idiots to demonize the whole bunch. Grant it people on both sides of the isle do this. CNN and other liberal networks do this by interviewing ALex Jones to make all conservatives look like crazy loons,And Fox News does this by interviewing some leftist crackpot from some university to make all leftists look like tards.Or someone will interview a **** load of people some simple questions and use the handful of idiots who didn't know those questions to demonize the whole bunch.
 
Anyone that harkens back to the old days of gas attendants, also has to remember the less than optimal side of the equation.

You often had to wait for an attendant, and those windows sometimes weren't cleaned the best either.

I have no problem leaving the past in the past ...
 
Ray9 said:
Well, I guess my humor is lost here. Maybe it's my age. I still remember full service gas stations where there were actually people inside that knew something about cars. I wouldn't mind paying five cents more to have an attendant brave the elements.
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I believe you are in the minority. I remember when I first encountered self service. Then, like now, self service is a choice. You sit in your car doing your nails for doing nothing, or you get out and save 3 bucks pumping your own. Full service went away, so people made their choice. This will happen in Oregon.
 
jet57 said:
Gas always goes up. I've a family member who knows an oil executive and he and the exec were chatting about pricing. The exec told him that prices are based on whatever the market will bear, nothing more than that really.
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This is hearsay evidence twice removed for me- unacceptable.

But even if this "exec" is for real, he is mistaken not to factor a gas-pumping attendant's additional labor cost into the the amount it takes to get the gas into your tank.

And absent collusion between your "exec" and his competitors some of the savings realized from lower labor cost should wind up being passed on to the customer.



jet57 said:
You'll note that in depressed areas the prices are lower, in richer areas the prices are higher. Oregon had a real good thing goin in my view and the stations were really great: old school customer service. Now their [sic-viz "they are" or they're"] just going to be "profit centers".
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All successful businesses are "profit centers", whether they are "new" or "old". If there is more money in keeping gas-pumpers then they will be kept, and this might be the case if full service is deeply enough ingrained in the local culture.
 
USViking said:
This is hearsay evidence twice removed for me- unacceptable.

But even if this "exec" is for real, he is mistaken not to factor a gas-pumping attendant's additional labor cost into the the amount it takes to get the gas into your tank.

And absent collusion between your "exec" and his competitors some of the savings realized from lower labor cost should wind up being passed on to the customer.




All successful businesses are "profit centers", whether they are "new" or "old". If there is more money in keeping gas-pumpers then they will be kept, and this might be the case if full service is deeply enough ingrained in the local culture.
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Sorry, but i have absolutely no reason to disbelieve what I was told, and knowing "capitalism" as we do, it only makes sense. If you're old enough to remember full service stations, after all them were converted to "get your own gas and pay us for the privilege of doing it" GAS STILL WENT SKY HIGH! and continues to do so. They're not saving anything on labor, they're gouging and people go to it like lambs to the slaughter.
 
jet57 said:
Sorry, but i have absolutely no reason to disbelieve what I was told, and knowing "capitalism" as we do, it only makes sense. If you're old enough to remember full service stations, after all them were converted to "get your own gas and pay us for the privilege of doing it" GAS STILL WENT SKY HIGH! and continues to do so. They're not saving anything on labor, they're gouging and people go to it like lambs to the slaughter.
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You do realize that the federal excise tax on a gallon of motor fuel far exceeds the retailer's profit by selling it.

The pattern of retail profitability is the opposite of what most consumers think. Due to the volatility in the wholesale price of gasoline and the competitive structure of the market, fuel retailers typically see profitability decrease as prices rise, and increase when prices fall. On average, it costs a retailer about 12 to 16 cents to sell a gallon of gasoline. Using the five-year average markup of 18.9 cents, the typical retailer averages about 3 to 5 cents per gallon in profit. (Retailer costs to sell fuel include credit card fees, utilities, rent and amortization of equipment.)
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http://www.convenience.org/YourBusiness/FuelsReports/2015/Documents/2015-NACS-Fuels-Report_full.pdf
 
jet57 said:
Sorry, but i have absolutely no reason to disbelieve what I was told,
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Previously addressed.

jet57 said:
and knowing "capitalism" as we do, it only makes sense. If you're old enough to remember full service stations, after all them were converted to "get your own gas and pay us for the privilege of doing it" GAS STILL WENT SKY HIGH! and continues to do so. They're not saving anything on labor, they're gouging and people go to it like lambs to the slaughter.
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You are mistaken about historical gas prices, see link:

Inflation Adjusted Gasoline Prices 1918-2015

Self-serve gas took off in the 1970s.

The inflation-adjusted price of gas went up into the 1980s, but that was solely because of OPEC manipulating supply.

After that distortion of the market was weathered, gas prices declined to an all-time low in 1998.

Then they rose to new near all-time highs in about 2010, from which they have since declined by more than a dollar a gallon.

Prices are now at about their 1918-present historical average. They would be higher if self-service had the inflationary effect that you claim.
 
jet57 said:
That has nothing to do with the price that the companies set. The taxes are percentages of the price per gallon.
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Nope the federal excise tax is a fixed amount per gallon (not at all retail price dependent).

Fuel taxes in the United States. The United States federal excise tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. The federal tax was last raised in 1993 and is not indexed to inflation, which increased by a total of 64.6 percent from 1993 until 2015.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States

The point is that retail profits on a gallon of gasoline are small so you are not being "gouged" at all. Think before you drink - even your Kool-Aid. If you want to see real price gouging then go inside and buy some milk.

https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/average-milk-profit-margin-29349.html
 
Chomsky said:
Anyone that harkens back to the old days of gas attendants, also has to remember the less than optimal side of the equation.

You often had to wait for an attendant, and those windows sometimes weren't cleaned the best either.

I have no problem leaving the past in the past ...
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I had a guy come in driving a nice Corvette. He was obviously very proud of his care. He would not allow me or anyone else in the station to touch it. At all. He insisted in pumping his own gas and cleaning his own windshield.

We weren't in Oregon, so it wasn't a law, so we let him. Then after he left we ridiculed him for going to the only full-serve station in town when he could have gone to a self-serve station and done the same thing and saved some money.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Nope the federal excise tax is a fixed amount per gallon (not at all price dependent). The point is that retail profits on a gallon of gasoline are small so you are not being "gouged" at all. Think before you drink - even your Kool-Aid. If you want to see real price gouging then go inside and buy some milk.

https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/average-milk-profit-margin-29349.html
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Gas profits are thin, yes. but when the same brand had three station in town, and all three have different prices, and one is drastically higher then the others, then profits may still be relatively thin, but they're not equal.
 
radcen said:
Gas profits are thin, yes. but when the same brand had three station in town, and all three have different prices, and one is drastically higher then the others, then profits may still be relatively thin, but they're not equal.
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You have no idea what variations in overhead are involved or how profitable other items sold by that retailer are. Many retail outlets sell "loss leaders" (products near, at or even below wholesale cost) knowing that few will limit their purchases to only that item.
 
jet57 said:
Sorry, but i have absolutely no reason to disbelieve what I was told, and knowing "capitalism" as we do, it only makes sense. If you're old enough to remember full service stations, after all them were converted to "get your own gas and pay us for the privilege of doing it" GAS STILL WENT SKY HIGH! and continues to do so. They're not saving anything on labor, they're gouging and people go to it like lambs to the slaughter.
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I think you are confusing a couple issues. It's true that if you can make widgets for a dime and sell all the widgets you can make for a dollar, you will not be selling eleven cent widgets. It's also true that if the consumer will only pay nine cents you will not find widgets on the shelf.

Gas didn't go sky high because labor cost less, Gas went sky high because crude went from $2 to $15 and beyond. I'm old enough to remember full service. Gas cost less at the self service. Some stations had both alternatives. People chose the savings. Full service
closed down. With a dozen or so brands and hundreds of individual owners of stations in Richmond, there is little chance of collusion.
I go where the price is lowest. .
 
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