You can pump your own in parts of Oregon now

babock wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

Here you go.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/USA

You totally miss the point. The prices in OR are higher than they COULD be because of the cost of the attendant. You like paying $0.07/gallon more because you have an attendant?

I'm not any fan of the no self serve, but I wonder how much prices would change if any with self serve. In my travels in oregon and other states I've very often seen stations side by side or within blocks of each other with full islands and a price difference of $0.30/gallon or more for regular. Seems like enough people for one reason or another will gladly pay an extra $.30/gallon for the same gas. So lower expenses wouldn't necessarily lower prices.

Also, comparing the number of pump jockeys vs. help in oregon and elsewhere, the difference isn't all that much. places with only self serve and a small station seem to still have 2 or 3 people on staff to handle inside purchases and watch for drive aways. the same size station in oregon has roughly the same number of staff.
maybe one more.

What I've seen is that there usually 1 pump jockey for each 4 to 6 pumps, and in bigger stations 1 jockey for every 6-8 pumps. and I seldom wait for more than 30 seconds before they are at the car ready to fill even with cars at every pump.

and with pump jockeys, oregon has virtually no loss due to drive offs, and on drive off could easily be $60 or more out of the gross.

But in the end it's a fruitless discussion since in oregon two things will likely never happen.

1) allowing unrestricted self serve of a class one flamable liquid (gas)
2) a state sales tax.