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I stopped at a gas station with no employees

Well I live in New Jersey where it is still illegal to pump your own gas. Gas would be cheaper if we could but for some reason, nope, gotta have a pro do it for you. Except for last week when the one guy couldn't keep up with everyone, we just did it ourselves.
 
Mac'nCheese said:
Well I live in New Jersey where it is still illegal to pump your own gas. Gas would be cheaper if we could but for some reason, nope, gotta have a pro do it for you. Except for last week when the one guy couldn't keep up with everyone, we just did it ourselves.
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It’s for your own safety. I understand New Jerseyans are more flammable than people in the other 49 states due to their diet.
 
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Thomas Veil said:
I cried because I had no gas, until I met a gas station with no employees.
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Yeah I could ID with that even back in the 80s when my traversal of small towns on the way upstate often occurred way past the hour they rolled up their sidewalks and nothing was moving but my car. There was gas but... only in the mañana.

When I noticed I was below the half-mark on fuel after arriving here, I used to get a gallon or two from the pump at a relative's dairy farm (and work it off later weeding insanely long rows of green beans)... and then gratefully drive 15 miles to a gas station to fill up where at least all they wanted there for gas was my money... :D

Then in the 90s, the general stores in nearby villages got gas pumps, since more people from downstate had been buying weekend fixer-uppers and had freaked out realizing on their way up here they'd passed their last chance to drive on more than fumes when it was time to head back.

So then we were all in gas fill heaven, with a pump at every little general store, even if the price was understandably a tad high. The weekenders didn't mind paying extra at village pumps for the convenience of not making a wee hours Saturday morning pit stop back along the thicker lines on the map from NYC to the mountains.

But then little farms began to close or consolidate.... and business for staples and treats at the little village stores dropped off... and then those general stores closed... so now you're really on your own around here if you don't keep your gas tank at least half filled (which of course is good practice anyway).

I don't think we're slated to get any of those no-employee gas stations around here; the underground tanks are long gone by watershed mandates about unattended fuel reservoirs. Nor are we likely to warrant any electric car charging stations either. We're gonna be back to riding horseback or taking the shoe leather express pretty quick here :rolleyes: but we still have nice scenery even though largely inedible: trees and mountains. If you come for the autumn leaf peeping scene, plan your refueling stops with a good map and search engine. ;)
 
Where I live gas stations are manned largely because they are attached to convenience stores. But if you just get gas there is no interaction with an employee.

When I go on road trips throughout the USA I do see unmanned gas stations here and there.

The worst though are manned gas stations where they close down for the night. So I'm low on gas, and there's a gas station, and there's a credit card reader right on the pump, but everything is shut off and so I'm screwed.
 
In Taiwan almost all gas stations do not allow you to pump your own gas. An attendant has to do it for you. I could picture half the gas stations on fire if they let the local women there try and fill up their tanks lol..
 
There's a gas station affiliated with the local grocery store that, while open 24/7, isn't always staffed. They have a couple coolers, lottery tickets, and cigarettes, but that stuff is locked up at night. A couple other gas stations around the area are open and staffed around the clock, though.
 
Most gas stations these days seem to be part of a Quick Stop or 7-11 type story. From what I’ve read typical stations make little from the gas alone.
 
I've never had my gas (or petrol as we say in the civilised part of the world) pumped for me.
I've also never pre paid. You pull up, fill up, pay up. Easy.

A large supermarket near where I work has a prepay unattended petrol station. But I've never used it.
 
Huntn said:
Most gas stations these days seem to be part of a Quick Stop or 7-11 type story. From what I’ve read typical stations make little from the gas alone.
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Hard to make money off of fuel. They make pennies on the gallon then a customer pulls out his/her credit card to pay for fuel. Gas stations have all these permit fees and miscellaneous expenses that they have to pay the government. Government has its hand in every business in America
 
Only gripe I have with pre pay stations in the UK is the block they put on the card at £99 until the nozzle is replaced and receipt produced. You hope there is no hiccup in the system and I check my statements after every filling. Though only gain is when there is a large queue at the pay desk and some person is after a Coasta and many tons of snacks and sandwiches and flowers causing chaos with one till staffed.

Edit. Oh yeah, meal deal with that sir? Save 10p? Person nips off to get the packet of crisps to complete the deal thus much huffing from the queue that is constantly extending.....

Asda (UK supermarket chain) has had the non staffed filling stations for some time.
 
Baldilocks said:
Was it JUST a gas station?
I mean, we pump our own gas anyway. (At least in my State).

Those prices though. I think 87 is $2.78 a gallon here.
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Looks like an ATM machine with gas prices. But i guess automated gas stations could also mean more drive-by's

At the moment the pumps are locked until employee "inside" unlocks them otherwise you can't use them, plus sometimes you even pay up front.. (at least here in OZ)

If gas /(or petrol as we call down down under) stations, were automated, more users would fill up and leave without paying, unless that too requires a payment up front from the card.

I've also seen employees asleep "at the switch" so culdn't get the pump to unlock either, so what if their were technical issues, unable to get charged for fuel ? .. "help"..i'm stuck"
 
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Gutwrench said:
It’s for your own safety. I understand New Jerseyans are more flammable than people in the other 49 states due to their diet.
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Nah. Don't Pennsylvanians eat that pork roll crap called scrapple? That should block them up and induce gas relatively quickly. NJ and NY just stuff their face with ****** hot dogs and awful pizza.
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Mac'nCheese said:
It’s all the hair products, too.
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It's the abuse of dry shampoo since they don't understand the simple concept of showering. :p Dry matter like corn starch or even powdered sugar is highly combustible when concentrated but apart from one another or as a cloud. Really though, any dry product in powdered form will explode if ignited whilst in a cloud. Very dangerous situation.
 
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Tech198 said:
If gas /(or petrol as we call down down under) stations, were automated, more users would fill up and leave without paying, unless that too requires a payment up front from the card.
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Insert card and it takes a pre payment before pump is activated.
 
If they started doing this with a lot of retail establishments in America the unemployment numbers will be looking pretty bad soon. Add those to Trump’s trade war and the unemployment numbers will be changing pretty quickly I reckon.
 
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Expect to see more of this, as states force businesses to pay people $15/hr to take money for gas they pumped. I'm surprised everyone hasn't done this.
 
We had a local chain here for a while that wasn't "full service" but did pump the gas for you if you wanted them to(I'm defining "full service" as checking your oil, tire pressure, washing your windshield, etc). IIRC, the price difference was around 10¢(the last full service station we had in town was 25¢ extra).

That was also pretty much a true gas station-even at the self-serve pumps you would pay attendants who were standing outside. They did sell cigarettes, but that was the extent of their "convenience store" service.

The chain operated for 25 years, and the story I heard was that after the owner died, no one wanted to take over the operation.
 
The gas station at Sam's Club that I go to pretty much is without an employee present most of the time, or if one is there, you'd never know it.
 
I know a gas station (with attendants) that not only has credit card readers in the pump but also bill acceptors, which is bizarre. They also have mobile payment. They also sell 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 octane levels- very specific.

Things are changing. But I suppose there’s still places like NJ and some suburbs of Boston where it’s illegal to pump your own gas at a gas station. In 2018 it’s pretty ridiculous.
 
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A.Goldberg said:
I know a gas station (with attendants) that not only has credit card readers in the pump but also bill acceptors, which is bizarre. They also have mobile payment. They also sell 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 octane levels- very specific.

Things are changing. But I suppose there’s still places like NJ and some suburbs of Boston where it’s illegal to pump your own gas at a gas station. In 2018 it’s pretty ridiculous.
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Oregon also bans self service, like NJ. It's ludicrous, but considering the two states that ban it, I'm not surprised. I love the idea of a gas station with no personnel. I buy my gas at Sam's Club (because they have the best prices, bar none) and there's a guy there in the little hut they have, but he doesn't do anything but supervise the gas tankers and occasionally helping the elderly with card issues.
 
On a similar note I don’t like the self service checkouts in the supermarket. I refuse to use them, even if by the fact that there are very few manned tills it’s sometimes quicker.

Vote with your feet!
 
Apple fanboy said:
On a similar note I don’t like the self service checkouts in the supermarket. I refuse to use them, even if by the fact that there are very few manned tills it’s sometimes quicker.

Vote with your feet!
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That's actually my preferred method of checkout. I don't care for having a person messing with my groceries. Most checkout people have no idea how to bag things and I don't want to have a conversation with them. If they did away with checkout clerks tomorrow, I'd be a happy shopper!
 
RootBeerMan said:
That's actually my preferred method of checkout. I don't care for having a person messing with my groceries. Most checkout people have no idea how to bag things and I don't want to have a conversation with them. If they did away with checkout clerks tomorrow, I'd be a happy shopper!
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We don't get our shopping bagged in the UK. We do that ourselves.
 
And we pay for the bags.... not to put petrol in, that would be silly. It would pour out the safety holes.
 
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