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Why aren't we griping about gas prices?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Inky_Wretch, Apr 13, 2010.

  1. Wenders

    Wenders Well-Known Member

    It's $2.85 here and it has been for about a month.

    I also have had a lot of away games this year, so I've put 10,000 miles on my car in the first four months of this year. Not really much I can do about that because there's nothing within walking distance of me, so I just limit what I drive outside of work, claim a bunch of mileage and pray that it eventually gets better.
     
  2. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    I didn't even know the gas jockey still exists. What is this, 1975?

    Pump your own gas.
     
  3. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    In New Jersey and, I think, Oregon, you can't pump your own.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  4. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Why?

    Edit: a quick google search shows that you are, in fact, correct. Makes no sense. Here's a quote from an online story about self-serve gas pumps being rejected in Jersey in 2006...

    ***

    "I'm not against a lot of things, but I don't want to pump my own gas. It's part of the Jersey identity. It's our thing," said Rose Maurice, who operates a tourism office at a turnpike rest stop.

    ***

    I mean....I'm not even sure how to respond to that.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  5. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It's the law in New Jersey. Has been since 1949.
     
  6. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    I know this is a different "gripe" than the thread-starter intended, but that is the dumbest law ever.
     
  7. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    And yet gas is way less expensive there than it is across the river in NY.

    I'm curious as to why you think it's a privilege to pump your own.
     
  8. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    From what I read -- and it could be wrong -- gas prices would drop slightly if they went to self-serve, at least in Jersey. Not sure about Oregon.

    Seems like a waste of money to pay someone to pump your gas. Pump your own gas. It ain't that hard. I swear.
     
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    And gas would be even cheaper if NJ didn't have the law. There is a reason why self-service pumps exist at 99 percent of stations outside of NJ and Oregon.

    Pumping your own gas shouldn't be a special privilege that a state government lords over in order to create a special favor for a small group of beneficiaries. The rationale for the law in the first place was that average Joe couldn't be trusted to handle a flammable liquid. It was more believable when the typical person still smoked, I suppose, although gas station explosions have never been a problem -- pre-self service or after. Nowadays? There is absolutely no believable safety reason or social benefit for the regulation. It creates a dollar cost and a time cost, as anyone who has ever filled up in NJ can attest to. The fact that gas is relatively cheap in NJ (for reasons that have nothing to do with the law) has nothing to do with the law. The law itself adds a cost.
     
  10. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    States have the right to do business as they see fit. Residents of New Jersey clearly don't feel that they're being "lorded" over in some special way - otherwise they'd end that practice by voting it out of existence.

    And while the full-service thing adds a cost, the fact that NJ gas taxes are among the lowest in the country offset it.

    Sort of a wash all the way around.
     
  11. Dirk Legume

    Dirk Legume Active Member

    We're paying around 2.90 here (Norcal) and they are expecting 3.50 before it starts to flatten out and maybe drop some. The frustrating thing for me is when I see it at one price when I leave for work, another, higher price when I get home, and then a still higher price before the day is over. Two raises a day is the most I have seen and I have never quite understood it. The standard answer is that they have to anticipate what the next truckload will cost.

    Funny though, I have never seen it go down twice in one day ;)

    I commute 60 miles or so a day and while I drive the same minivan I have driven since '02 and, by changing my driving habits, have managed to increase my MPG from 17-18 to 22-23.

    Best I can do...Can't buy a new car.
     
  12. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    They've periodically experimented with it in the past, and it never makes the prices cheaper.

    Here in the U.K., prices just rose to an all-time record average of £1.20 a litre, thanks in part to a planned but reduced 1p per litre rise in fuel duty.

    At $1.50 to the pound and 3.78 litres to the gallon, that works out to $6.84 a gallon. And makes me glad I found a job where I take the train to work.

    I've seen reports of £1.30 a litre at scattered stations. That would be $7.37 a gallon. And I've seen reports that it may rise to £1.50 -- which would be $8.50 a gallon.
     
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