The "low oil" scam was common on the highways. Many years ago, it was far less harmful because cars used more oil and chances are if it was overfilled a bit the level would be back to normal in 500 miles. Two hundred on my '53 Mercury. The last four cars I've owned have not needed any added oil in all the years I've owned them and I change at 7500 miles on my primary, 5000 miles on my secondary and they've gone over 150,000 miles on a couple of them.
The other side though, was my daughter that managed to get 3 quarts low. That was costly.
Then realize this Paul - almost everything you've posted that reflects life in Oregon, is pretty unique to Oregon. Leave town and head out to the world around you and you'll quickly see why so many people are telling you that things aren't the way you think, once you get beyond the boundaries of your world.
In Virginia, service stations will not refuse service to someone because they live in fear of getting slapped with a discrimination lawsuit unless the person refused service happens to be white. They will flat out tell you that if, say, you ask them to refuse service to customers who pull in and leave their car stereos blasting the whole neighborhood. And local law enforcement will concur and say that, because the way the laws are written in VA, they disuade station owners from refusing service for that very reason - that the station owner will in fact run a great risk of getting sued on discrimination charges. Personally - I think thy're both FOS - just avoiding conflict to make their days go smoother. But it is a shame that our legal system has allowed this oppression to prevail in the name of "equality".
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
Self service isn't necessarily a scam. But the money to pay the pumpers and their benefits and taxes has to come from *somewhere* - either out of the owner's profits, or in his buying cheaper gas, or otherwise cutting costs somewhere (non-compliance with certain regulations?). Perhaps if you find out where the money comes from to pay the extra unavoidable costs, you'd find that *THAT'S* where the real scam is. But self-service in and of itself is certainly not a scam. Find out how and why the non-self-service stations are able to charge less. You can't just hand-wave those real costs away.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
IMO, as long as one station can pump gas for the same price as the self serve across the street, touting self service as a money saver is a scam. I don't know how, now do I care how they do it, stations did not lower the self serve price, they raised the full serve price.
When you back out the tax differences, the typical NJ stations pumps the gas for you at about the same price at the self serve in CT. Zone pricing makes apples to apples comparison difficult though. Just as the Shell station in my town is always12¢ less than the one 6 miles down the highway.
If you go back maybe 15 years, they tried to charge more for credit card purchases instead of cash. What happened to that deal? Now that you can pay at the pump they will take your cards at the same price. I've not figured out the benefit of the seller to have you pay at the pump. Convenient for the driver, but I'd have thought the sales of coffee and candy bars at the counter would be hurt by the reduced traffic.
Some stations, like a couple of local ones here in CT offer both. They inflate the full service by 30¢ a gallon to discourage people using it. Even more pathetic is the person that pulls up to the full serve pump and gets out and pumps it him or her self and pays the higher price. They don't look at the pump price.
The station I was buying all my fuel from mounted speakers to the pumps blaring commercials at you while you pump your fuel. I now buy all my fuel from the station down the street that does not blast me with that crap. Fuel is same price, major brand.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
They're probably at truck stops. There are some. It was on car talk, when someone pulled into a self-serve station. They believe truckers, who have to maintain their own trucks, know more about filling up tanks than people who don't drive for a living.
Please show me a link where it says it is illegal for me to pump my own gas.
The reason for not top posting is to make it easier for other people to follow the thread. It's not about you, but respect for others.
hours of training is required of gas station attendants, Dressler said. Among their responsibilities are knowing which type of containers cannot store gasoline, such as glass. "It's a dangerous product and they are trained in the correct procedures," he said.Eight hours of training is required of gas station attendants, Dressler said. Among their responsibilities are knowing which type of containers cannot store gasoline, such as glass. "It's a dangerous product and they are trained in the correct procedures," he said.
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ban on self-service gas stations is a highly combustible issue and makes for some heated debates. New Jersey passed the law making it illegal to pump your own gas in 1949. At the time, legislators felt it was too dangerous to have untrained people dispensing such a flammable liquid.
The actual law is that it is illegal for the owner or operator of a gas station to let someone who is not a trained gas station attendant to operate a gas pump. If they don't stop me, that's their problem and their fine.
In situations where someone would need to back into a gas station, especially given that they're usually one-way operations, someone backing in would be cutting in front of someone who probably has been waiting for some time to get gas. I, for one, have about as much compassion for people who are that big of an impatient asshole as I do for a mosquito biting me.
I'd still chap his ass for providing minimum service at a full service island, even get a manager involved if I had to. If I'm stopping at a full service island, it's because I don't want to do *any* of that myself that day.
I know there was a full service island at the Arco at Glenoaks(?) and the northbound I-5 freeway onramp by the cemetary in San Fernando as recently as the 1990s.
That's one thing we don't miss about retail self-service: Getting stuck in line behind Jonny Cripple who takes five times longer than mini-serve to pump and spill gasoline on the tarmac...
Too bad Oregon seems to grow (or is it cultivate?) such a miserable crop of human beings. We don't suffer the things you seem to, in other parts of the country.
Arco mini-serve stations piss me off for that reason and I'll go to any other station nearby if it's an option. Part of minimum service is not making me get out of the car to pay...
If New Jersey handles diesel self service like they do in Oregon, then a Public Utilities Commission number and commercial driver's license is required for self service. I never understood why self-service is so popular for truckers, though, although some of the Oregon and Washington based owner-operators are starting to get wise to the fact that if they don't jump through all the hoops to pump for themselves, they get 20 or 30 minutes free to go grab a meal or a shower while someone else refuels their truck at no extra charge.
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