Germs, viruses and fuel pump handles and doors

[down_home]

Fuel pump handles, perhaps are the worse for spreading germs and viruses ,maybe with door handles of businesses being first.
Someone who has just finished shoveling out the barn or milking parlor, or has a cold or flu or a virus most usually does/may not wash their hands or use a sanitizer of disinfectant wipe before pumping fuel, or entering a store.
We carry the little packages of disinfectant wipes but don't always think to wipe our hands...and the pump handle with them. We are changing that if we can find more wipes. I always use disposable nitrile gloves to pump diesel as 99% of the tiem they are oily with leaking diesel and you can wash all day and not get the diesel out of your hands except by wiping on the upholstery it seems sometimes.
Maybe I need to sue them to pump gas too and even open doors of gas station.
But for certain wee will wipe the pump handles with disinfectant wipes.
Would be good if fuel stops haad them next to the pumps.

[fj12ryder]

colliehauler wrote:

wnjj wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Do you have any control over where all that food came from, and how it was handled before being placed on the shelves?

I don't, but at least they are handled by commercial employees who at least in theory operate under guidelines and in the case of production, inspections. It's not perfect but better than no control.

There's also a difference between being contaminated by a potential source or two versus every customer who came before me. Some "throwaway" things we do provide a sanitary benefit which seems to not be considered in the debate. Honestly I'm not really sure whether reusable grocery bags will cause more disease spread but I'm not sure anyone really knows.

Reminds me of the video of the person taking ice cream from the freezer licking it and putting it back in the grocer freezer then posting the video on YouTube

Oooh, that's gross.

[2oldman]

I was referring to Riven's question.

[colliehauler]

wnjj wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Do you have any control over where all that food came from, and how it was handled before being placed on the shelves?

I don't, but at least they are handled by commercial employees who at least in theory operate under guidelines and in the case of production, inspections. It's not perfect but better than no control.

There's also a difference between being contaminated by a potential source or two versus every customer who came before me. Some "throwaway" things we do provide a sanitary benefit which seems to not be considered in the debate. Honestly I'm not really sure whether reusable grocery bags will cause more disease spread but I'm not sure anyone really knows.

Reminds me of the video of the person taking ice cream from the freezer licking it and putting it back in the grocer freezer then posting the video on YouTube

[wgriswold]

I do know that I now have to buy plastic bags where before the ban I reused the ones from the grocery store. I am not sure that that is an environmental win.

I am especially annoyed that the CA legislature bribed the grocery industry with my money by requiring them to charge me for paper bags I formerly got for free.

[wnjj]

fj12ryder wrote:
Do you have any control over where all that food came from, and how it was handled before being placed on the shelves?

I don't, but at least they are handled by commercial employees who at least in theory operate under guidelines and in the case of production, inspections. It's not perfect but better than no control.

There's also a difference between being contaminated by a potential source or two versus every customer who came before me. Some "throwaway" things we do provide a sanitary benefit which seems to not be considered in the debate. Honestly I'm not really sure whether reusable grocery bags will cause more disease spread but I'm not sure anyone really knows.

[fj12ryder]

" wonder if there’s any way to know if the rapid spread of Covid19 in Italy had anything to do with cultural habits like bringing your own grocery bags to the store? :)"

Well, I can honestly say my bags have not been to China. 🙂 When you cram that many people into a small area, northern Italy, any kind of infectious outbreak will spread very quickly. Plus, lots and lots of old people. I read that most of the fatalities in Italy were people over 85 and the overwhelming percentage of them also had contributing factors: heart disease, diabetes, respiratory problems.

"I have no control over where everyone else’s bags have been before being placed in the common area where mine will be."

Do you have any control over where all that food came from, and how it was handled before being placed on the shelves?

[wnjj]

I wonder if there’s any way to know if the rapid spread of Covid19 in Italy had anything to do with cultural habits like bringing your own grocery bags to the store? 😉

I have no control over where everyone else’s bags have been before being placed in the common area where mine will be.

Oregon outlawed “single use” plastic bags. The thing is every one we’ve ever brought home was used again and more. Now we have to buy more garbage bags.

[Reisender]

fj12ryder wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Compared to the number of gloves used, every day, by every hospital, doctor's office, dentist office, and many other health facilities, I'm not too worried about my contribution to the glove trash problem.

Now what about the bags?

What about the bags? I hate the plastic bags at the grocery store, plus the fact they feel like they need to double and triple bag stuff. Put the meat in a bag, put that bag into another bag, then the lettuce goes in another bag, which goes in a separate bag. Europe has a few good ideas, and people bringing in their own grocery bags is one of them.

"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)."

Waste on a grand scale.

When we are in Europe we do exactly that. But we also bring our bags in here in Canada. We got those insulated bags from Walmart a year or so ago and haven’t consumed any plastic bags since. It’s just a matter of forming the habit.

[fj12ryder]

2oldman wrote:
Compared to the number of gloves used, every day, by every hospital, doctor's office, dentist office, and many other health facilities, I'm not too worried about my contribution to the glove trash problem.

Now what about the bags?

What about the bags? I hate the plastic bags at the grocery store, plus the fact they feel like they need to double and triple bag stuff. Put the meat in a bag, put that bag into another bag, then the lettuce goes in another bag, which goes in a separate bag. Europe has a few good ideas, and people bringing in their own grocery bags is one of them.

"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)."

Waste on a grand scale.

[2oldman]

Compared to the number of gloves used, every day, by every hospital, doctor's office, dentist office, and many other health facilities, I'm not too worried about my contribution to the glove trash problem.

Now what about the bags?

[fj12ryder]

bucky wrote:
The cashier gal at Wal*Mart wasn't protecting us, she was protecting herself. Smart gal.

That just mostly gives a person the warm fuzzies. Unless she changes gloves for every customer, which is unlikely, she isn't doing anything. She's still going to rub her nose, touch her face, all that stuff, only now she has gloves on. Gloves don't create a magical force field, mostly just more waste. Like wearing a mask if you're not sick.

[bucky]

The cashier gal at Wal*Mart wasn't protecting us, she was protecting herself. Smart gal.

[dieseltruckdriv]

fj12ryder wrote:

riven1950 wrote:
Fj12ryder, those reusable bags are theoretically a good idea. In practice they can be a real source for some nasty bugs unless you wash them after every use, which kind of defeats the save the environment idea...use of more water and chemicals, soap etc. Just a thought.

Well, that as may be, but my hands don't stink of diesel, which is the point of the exercise. Unless I loan them out, I'm the only one who uses them, so anything I pass along will be from me to me. And unless I've got an open sore, the chances of picking up anything strange is vanishingly small. At least it's been that way for the last 20 years or so. Nope, they've never been washed, just stored under the truck's seat. I think I have lost/misplaced a pair over the years. Oh yeah, these are the cloth gloves with the rubber coating over part of the palms and fingers. Not full rubber gloves.

But just look around you at the fuel pumps, now think about how many pairs of disposable gloves you'd be seeing in the trash if everyone used them, or even 50% of the people. It makes no sense so I don't do it.

I only use one nitrile glove per fill, if I don't just use my leather gloves. That cuts the waste in half. Honestly, I have been using leather gloves since I started driving commercially in the 90s, and just keep doing it out of habit.

I hate a dirty steering wheel.

[riven1950]

I was talking about reusable grocery bags not gloves

[fj12ryder]

riven1950 wrote:
Fj12ryder, those reusable bags are theoretically a good idea. In practice they can be a real source for some nasty bugs unless you wash them after every use, which kind of defeats the save the environment idea...use of more water and chemicals, soap etc. Just a thought.

Well, that as may be, but my hands don't stink of diesel, which is the point of the exercise. Unless I loan them out, I'm the only one who uses them, so anything I pass along will be from me to me. And unless I've got an open sore, the chances of picking up anything strange is vanishingly small. At least it's been that way for the last 20 years or so. Nope, they've never been washed, just stored under the truck's seat. I think I have lost/misplaced a pair over the years. Oh yeah, these are the cloth gloves with the rubber coating over part of the palms and fingers. Not full rubber gloves.

But just look around you at the fuel pumps, now think about how many pairs of disposable gloves you'd be seeing in the trash if everyone used them, or even 50% of the people. It makes no sense so I don't do it.