Do you know how to pump gas?

[Junie]

I know how to pump gas, but I prefer for dh to do it, especially in the winter.

[Ginevra]

2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I am pretty sure my grandma never learned how to pump gas.  There was a full service station around for awhile that I remember when I was kid.  And then either her kids or grandkids would pump gas for her after my grandpa died.

My grandma never learned to *drive*. My mother was the first woman in her family to have a driver’s license. 

[Corraleno]

I know how to pump gas and so do my kids, because we lived in NM before moving to Oregon. Self-service has been legal in rural areas of Oregon for a few years, but it just changed for the rest of the state last Friday. I was caught off guard when I was at Costco yesterday and didn't realize until I was already trapped in a self-service line that they only have one full service line now.  I love not having to get out of my car and pump gas when it's cold and rainy and windy, and I'll probably use the full service line at Costco from now on, unless it's really long. There's no difference in price.

[prairiewindmomma]

I know how to pump gas, but until a few days ago, I didn’t have to. I much prefer full service. At busier stations like Costco it’s more efficient because people are sent through each bay efficiently by the workers. (I have lived in other states, and truly, this is my experience.)

In rural counties, a lot of smaller stations don’t want to pay for gas attendants. We have decent minimum wage minimums (around $15/hr depending on if you are PDX metro or not) and where corporate overlords can grind, they do. So, a lot of jobs with healthcare benefits that don’t require a lot of cognitive skill have just gone away. Our local Costco lineup included two people with limb differences (missing hands), a few with cognitive disabilities, and some retirees wanting some spending money. Our pumps are now half self-serve.

[EKS]

3 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

They don't know how.

Yes, well, I remember not knowing how back when they first had self serve.  They'll learn fast. 

I think I just dated myself.

[73349]

3 hours ago, Catwoman said:

rain, sleet, or snow

All our gas stations are covered. I don't go out from under the cover, because I pay at the pump. I'm not getting rained on.

1 hour ago, Ginevra said:

My grandma never learned to *drive*. My mother was the first woman in her family to have a driver’s license. 

My great-grandmother was allowed to try when she was about 9, because there were no laws to the contrary. She decided it was too hard. Her little brother was allowed to try, but had trouble seeing out the windshield and reaching the pedals. (Yes, on a public road, but out in the country.)

[kathyl]

Yes, I can pump my own gas and my kids began pumping the gas for our cars as soon as I could get them out there doing it.  

I also remember full-service gas stations.  That was a looong time ago.

We used to have to drive through a tiny piece of NJ going up and down the East coast.  Dh got gas there because it was cheaper.  The first time we stopped we weren't sure what was going on because the guy wouldn't let dh pump the gas.  It was a combination of deja vu and 'what the heck!??'  lol But we grew to love that in the winter.  

[AmandaVT]

I've always lived in states that have self-serve, but we do have some full-serve stations still. The one near my house has the same prices as self-serve, and they will also clean your windshield, refill windshield wiper fluid and check oil and tire pressure. So I can pump my own just fine, but, especially on cold days, it's nice to go to a full-serve station!

[Kidlit]

I didn't even know this was a thing!  I've been pumping gas for 30+ years, though to be fair my dh did pump it for me most of the time for the first couple of decades of our marriage.  (Changing schedules made this hard for the past 4-5 years).  

[freesia]

Yes, all the drivers do. I actually prefer it to full serve. I have some kind of weird gas attendant phobia so it’s anxiety producing for me. I used to have to drive from NY to DC often and tried hard to avoid stopping for gas in NJ. It was harder when the gas prices were a lot lower than NY but that changed at some point. 

[GoVanGogh]

My parents bought a full service gas station the year before I was born and sold it when I was a teenager. I pumped (leaded) gas from the time I was old enough to reach the pump handle. We always checked the air in the tires, checked the oil and washed the windows. To date myself: I remember the oil embargo in 1979. Oh. I have photos of my grandpa, who worked at the station, smoking while pumping gas. While I do very much know how to pump gas, I do try to avoid it at all costs! 

[Catwoman]

5 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I am sure it is great.  I would LOVE it in the Winter. 

is gas more expensive?

It blows my mind that this is still going on when almost the entire country is pumping their own gas.

I guess when it comes up for a vote people don't want to get rid of the luxury of not having to pump gas.  Honestly I forgot this was a thing in Oregon and didn't ever know it was thing in New Jersey. 

 

4 hours ago, City Mouse said:

I haven’t even seen a full service gas station in I-don’t-know how many years. There used to be one near the River Oaks section of Houston that I remember using probably in the early 1990’s. That one may still be there as that is where the very, very rich live. - like that is where former president George H.W. Bush lived.

 

This does make me wonder. - When I hear stuff on the news about National averages for gasoline, are price averages adjusted for the extra cost of full service, or is that why the national average always is much higher than where I live?

 

Gas prices are generally cheaper in NJ than in most other states, so there is no extra cost for getting full service. 

[Catwoman]

4 minutes ago, freesia said:

Yes, all the drivers do. I actually prefer it to full serve. I have some kind of weird gas attendant phobia so it’s anxiety producing for me. I used to have to drive from NY to DC often and tried hard to avoid stopping for gas in NJ. It was harder when the gas prices were a lot lower than NY but that changed at some point. 

That's interesting, because I feel so much safer having an attendant pump gas for me, especially when it's late at night or I'm in an unfamiliar area that seems kind of sketchy. I feel a lot more vulnerable having to get out of the car and pump my own gas.

[freesia]

1 minute ago, Catwoman said:

That's interesting, because I feel so much safer having an attendant pump gas for me, especially when it's late at night or I'm in an unfamiliar area that seems kind of sketchy. I feel a lot more vulnerable having to get out of the car and pump my own gas.

You are probably right. I have no idea why I have this phobia. I’ve had it since I started driving—back when it was only full service. It drove my mother crazy bc I’d avoid filling the car up. 

[Catwoman]

Just now, freesia said:

You are probably right. I have no idea why I have this phobia. I’ve had it since I started driving—back when it was only full service. It drove my mother crazy bc I’d avoid filling the car up. 

Maybe back when you were a kid, some gas station attendant seemed particularly creepy to you and there has always been a vague memory of being scared of him. You could have been in the back seat of your mom's car and had an attendant leer at you or something. 

I'm not saying none of the attendants are ever creepy now, either... but at least I'm inside my car instead of standing outside while some equally creepy guy might be filling up his tank right next to me. 

[marbel]

Funny, I've never found it to take longer to get the gas pumped at a station in NJ or OR, as opposed to any state where I have pumped it myself.  Like any other retail situation, sometimes there is a bit of a wait, and sometimes not. I've never experienced such long lines and waits as I have when getting gas at a Sam's Club (here in PA, so no attendants). People move so slowly!

I also can't remember a time when an attendant was rude or really anything but appropriately friendly, especially in NJ. I would always get gas at Wawa, so I had a chance to use a (almost always) clean bathroom, and get road snacks too!  😄 It's also never seemed awkward - I would just hand the attendant my card, which they would run and give back immediately, then they'd go pump the gas; while they did that I'd go on talking to my companion, or listening to whatever, or just waiting, and then they'd be back in a couple minutes with my receipt and a "thanks, have a good day" or some variation on that. 

 

[Mona]

We pump our own gas in PA, so my kids learn how around the same time they get their learner’s permit to drive. I grew up in NJ, but I had to pump my own gas if I bought it on the military base. My dad retired army and gas was cheaper on base, but you had to pump it yourself. 

I always wondered why NJ gas was cheaper than PA since NJ offered full service and we had to pump our own in PA.

Oregon will get used to it. It’s easy to do once someone shows you how, and it’s a good idea to keep wipes in the car to clean your hands afterwards.

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, Catwoman said:

 

 

Gas prices are generally cheaper in NJ than in most other states, so there is no extra cost for getting full service. 

Curious, how much is it right now?

[ScoutTN]

Yes and yes! 
I made my kids learn when they were about 12.

[katilac]

Holy moly, leaded gas didn't become illegal until 1996 (1992 in California). I would have guessed much earlier than that. 

7 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

 
That man would come out, pump your gas, check your tires, wash your windshield, etc. He’d patch a tire on the spot if needed. They were put under by regulations which had never before been acknowledged or enforced: that their underground lines and tanks were too close to the road.  

It's a shame they had to close, but also that seems like a pretty good regulation, lol. 

Around here, when there's a serious car crash on the road in front of a gas station, it seems like the entire fire brigade comes out just as a precautionary measure. 

1 hour ago, Catwoman said:

That's interesting, because I feel so much safer having an attendant pump gas for me, especially when it's late at night or I'm in an unfamiliar area that seems kind of sketchy. I feel a lot more vulnerable having to get out of the car and pump my own gas.

When you've always pumped your own gas, your brain automatically accommodates for this, lol. I can probably count the times I've stopped at a sketchy gas station on one hand. 

[Wheres Toto]

38 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Curious, how much is it right now?

I got gas yesterday and it was $3.25 a gallon.

[Lecka]

I think gasoline has changed to where it’s not as gross and dirty, or maybe gas stations have changed.  
 

Many of my family members used to keep gloves in the car to wear when they pumped gas, and it just isn’t necessary now, once in a blue moon I will feel like I’m using a dirty pump that will leave residue on my hands — like, it’s happened in my lifetime for me to understand why they would have worn gloves when I was a child.  
 

They have also stopped now and I think it’s because it’s generally not as dirty.  
 

I typically am at very clean, well-lit gas stations.  
 

Sometimes we stop at places in rural areas that are just pumps and there’s no one around at all, and I would not want to go by myself at night.  In the daytime I have felt fine.  

[mommyoffive]

3 minutes ago, Wheres Toto said:

I got gas yesterday and it was $3.25 a gallon.

I filled up for 3.29 today, so about as same as here.

[Lecka]

Oh by the way, I do chat sometimes while at the pump — complaining about the price of gas or talking about some kind of discount card for gas seem to be the topic.  
 

It’s not all the time at all, but once in a while I will pass the time of day.  

[Lecka]

Oh, I don’t like to pump gas when it’s cold out, I’m not a fan.  
 

I also try not to get too low so that I won’t have to stop if it’s raining or something.  
 

There are some gas stations that have very generous awnings to where you would not get wet at all.  
 

At other places rain can blow onto you if it’s windy.  
 

Once in a while also there are pumps that are pumping so slow, and I usually will just get bored and leave without a full tank, and never go back to that gas station.  
 

It’s also not uncommon at all for me to find I can’t pay at the pump because the card reader is not working well.  It’s no big deal to go inside to pay at the register.  

[Lecka]

Also green handles are for diesel!!!!!!!!!  

[Lecka]

Another thing is the parking lot.  I usually go to gas stations I think/know aren’t going to have a dirty parking lot.

 

Sometimes I will feel like “yuck why am I wearing sandals here.”  
 

This is a reason I am more likely to go to a known chain, they are more likely to have a cleaner parking lot, in general, I think.  

[Faith-manor]

Yes. My dad taught me when I was 15 and got my learners permit. My brother, four years older, was trained to do it when he was twelve because my grandfather still owned a gas station at that time. It was sol by the time I began driving.

That year we lived in Oregon 30 years ago it just seemed weird not to do it ourselves.

[Ellie]

Yes, of course. I've been doing that for, gosh, most of my adult life. And yes, my dc learned to do it, too.

[Shoeless]

I've pumped my own gas ever since I had a license. I remember when stations had full service; my uncle worked as a gas station attendant during college. I remember leaded gas, too. 

It's not a big deal to pump your own? I'm surprised by how strongly some people dislike it. 

[wintermom]

8 hours ago, dsmith said:

I know how to do it, but I don't have to, living in NJ. I'm very happy to let someone else do it for me.😁.... Most people I know feel the same. 

Unless the attentant put gas in a diesel car. This happened to my mil in NJ. No one is ever going to do that in their own car. The self-serve pumps have different sized nozzles so it can't physically be done. 

I like having control over who touches my car.

[KidsHappen]

I am old enough to remember when all gas stations were full service, then they changed to full service and self service lanes, then there were just a few full service stations left and then I finally had to learn to pump my own gas. I was a grown ass adult woman with several children when this happened. All of my girls have had to know how to pump their own gas since about 15 and my grandson has been doing it since he was about 12. I no longer need to worry about it though because I haven't been able to drive in over two years now.

Edited August 10, 2023 by KidsHappen

[TexasProud]

13 hours ago, Ginevra said:

My grandma never learned to *drive*. My mother was the first woman in her family to have a driver’s license. 

Yes, one of my grandmothers never drove either. She grew up in the horse and buggy age, though. 

[DawnM]

I used to hate stopping for gas in Oregon, it was annoying to not be able to pump my own gas.   

I have a lot of relatives in Oregon (including my grandparents when they were alive) so I have been often.   I lived in WA and CA too, so traveling back and forth, I had to go through Oregon.

[sassenach]

It’s not hard. I’m sure the people of Oregon can figure it out. Funny because every time we go up there, our Californian selves are so thrown by having to wait on the one 18yo running the pumps. 

[Condessa]

18 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Saw in the news that Oregon is getting rid of the rule that you can't pump your own gas.  On another board people that live in Oregon are flipping out that they have to do this.  They don't know how.  I didn't even know this was a thing in New Jersey still??   This seems so crazy to me.  I mean I guess I get it if you lived in Oregon and just never in your life left the state?  But it blows my mind because these are not young people, they have kids over 18.  

Ok so can you pump your own gas?  Can your kids pump gas?

 

And not just never left the state, but never left the Portland to Salem stretch that is the state’s metropolitan area, as this already changed in rural areas years ago.

 

18 hours ago, Brittany1116 said:

This came up on another board like 6 or 7 years ago and I thought it had already changed in Oregon. 

They changed it in rural counties only (but that is actually most of the state).  Before the change, you could not get gas at all in places and times without enough business to offset the cost of keeping an employee there.  I once made the mistake of forgetting that, and rolled into a gas station in a small town at 5:15 pm only to realize that I was too late and there would be no working gas stations for the next 63 miles.  It was just me with four little kids in the car.  I prayed all the way there while my dh prepared to make a three-hour trip to come bring me gas, but we actually made it!

I expect that the gas station owners in the high population strip in the center of the state don’t appreciate having to foot the higher employee costs that their competition in neighboring counties don’t have, and that is driving the change.

 

14 hours ago, 73349 said:

All our gas stations are covered. I don't go out from under the cover, because I pay at the pump. I'm not getting rained on.

My great-grandmother was allowed to try when she was about 9, because there were no laws to the contrary. She decided it was too hard. Her little brother was allowed to try, but had trouble seeing out the windshield and reaching the pedals. (Yes, on a public road, but out in the country.)

Gas stations in OR are covered just the same, but that doesn’t make much difference when the rain is coming down almost like water pouring from a bucket and the wind is blowing at 40 miles an hour.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Condessa

[kokotg]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned (unless I missed it, which is entirely possible) the biggest introvert reason for not liking full serve: I don't want to talk to a stranger to get my gas. My marriage nearly ended almost as soon as it began when we visited in my in-laws who had just moved to New Jersey and I realized my husband thought, "fill it up with the cheap stuff!" was the appropriate way to talk to the attendant. So much cringe! 

[mom2scouts]

20 hours ago, kokotg said:

My grandmother never learned to pump her own gas and would go out of her way to the only full service station in the area all the time. I was always mystified; she was not generally the incompetent sort, and pumping gas is just...easy. 

It's often embarrassing to try something new in public though, especially when others have been doing it for a long time and think it's easy. Last year I was filling up my gas tank when an older man asked the guy working if he could show him how to fill up his tank using a credit card. The poor man couldn't remember his zip code for some reason and that became a big problem, the man got embarrassed, and ended up just paying with cash. Sometimes you go to different gas stations and their pumps work differently than the ones you're used to and you have to pause for a minute to figure it out. It is easy once you've done it a few times, but for someone who's lived their whole life in a state where they've never had to do it, I can see it being intimidating at first and many people aren't patient with someone learning something new.

[Lady Florida.]

20 hours ago, kirstenhill said:

In my state, it is only legal for licensed drivers to pump gas

You have to be 16 to pump gas in my state but I don't think you have to have a driver's license.

20 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I am pretty sure my grandma never learned how to pump gas.  

My great grandparents owned a gas station on Staten Island* that was literally in front of their house. My great grandmother used to help out and pump gas. My grandparents lived with them on and off when my mother was a child and my grandmother also helped work in the gas station and pumped gas. Neither one ever learned to drive.

*For anyone familiar with Staten Island (I'm not) their house was one of the ones torn down to build the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge.

[catz]

I’ve been pumping my own gas for over 30 some years.   Not a big deal to me at all.  I live urban so i do use urban smarts about when and where I fill up.    I do keep hand sanitizer in my car.   I wash hands when I get home consistently.  Yay for immune systems.   
 

Our signs say you need to be 16+ to pump, I wouldn’t think of having a younger kid do it.  I have had pumps fail on me a few times over the years so being driving age makes sense to me.   

[SKL]

I do understand not wanting to get out and pump gas in sucky weather.

Which is why we train our kids to do it.  😛

It's obvious that self-serve would add cost some way or other.  It's  nice that NJ spreads it around to all the drivers, but y'all are paying those wages one way or the other.

Where I live, you can ask for assistance if you need it.  Like I think you are supposed to go to the pump and honk or something.  They do have people who will come out and pump your gas if you are handicapped or whatever, at no extra charge.  For the rest of us, we can suck it up.  If we can walk to and from the car to drive, wrangle our kids, load up our stuff, etc., then we can pump gas.  🙂

[Pawz4me]

Umm . . am I the only one here who plans ahead for bad weather? Like if my tank is anywhere near low (which for me is half a tank or less) and I know the weather is supposed to be bad in the coming days I go ahead and fill up. I detest *having* to stop for gas, so I try to always do it when it's an option rather than a necessity.

(And yes, I'm old and my kids are grown and I usually have all the time in the world. I'm almost never truly rushing from Point A to Point B anymore. But when the boys were younger and we frequently were rushing I was even more anal about filling up pro-actively. It's just a thing for me. Yes, it means over time I stop for gas more than people who drive until the low fuel light comes on. But it's less stressful to me.)

[Shelydon]

I had no idea people did not know how to pump gas. 

[marbel]

11 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Umm . . am I the only one here who plans ahead for bad weather? Like if my tank is anywhere near low (which for me is half a tank or less) and I know the weather is supposed to be bad in the coming days I go ahead and fill up. I detest *having* to stop for gas, so I try to always do it when it's an option rather than a necessity.

(And yes, I'm old and my kids are grown and I usually have all the time in the world. I'm almost never truly rushing from Point A to Point B anymore. But when the boys were younger and we frequently were rushing I was even more anal about filling up pro-actively. It's just a thing for me. Yes, it means over time I stop for gas more than people who drive until the low fuel light comes on. But it's less stressful to me.)

Well, I am old too but I am the same. But I was taught not to let my tank get below 1/4 and I pretty much have followed that for the 50 years I've been driving! I sometimes go out early to beat the crowds at Sam's Club just so I don't have to wait in line. Sometimes those Sam's Club lines give me flashbacks to the '70s gas crisis! 🤣  I do annoy my husband when we're traveling as I start to get itchy to stop for gas before he's ready. 

I guess this is one of those areas where being old has its advantages. I've encountered full-serve, mini-serve, and self-serve gas stations and have been able to switch back and forth as needed. And, I guess, having lived in or traveled to states with different setups so it's not a been a big change for me. 

[SKL]

I tend to be proactive about keeping my gas tank at least 1/4 full, but I'm not always the one driving, nor is it always my car I'm driving.  I have a housemate who regularly waits until it's crisis-low to refill, because she's always "too busy."  We also like to take long road trips, which don't give a lot of leeway in terms of waiting to fill gas in better weather.

And of course, where I live, the weather is basically sucky for 6 consecutive months of the year.  So there's that.

[mommyoffive]

I keep my gas tank totally full.  It stresses me out way to much to not have a totally full tank.  So yes when life is busy with kid stuff I am filling it everyday, but I like it like that.  And yes I live somewhere that has bad weather for half the year. 

[Clarita]

53 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Umm . . am I the only one here who plans ahead for bad weather? Like if my tank is anywhere near low (which for me is half a tank or less) and I know the weather is supposed to be bad in the coming days I go ahead and fill up. I detest *having* to stop for gas, so I try to always do it when it's an option rather than a necessity.

I wasn't going to say this because where I live I don't have many bad weather days. We have wildfire days but then we don't drive as much during those. 

I also changed my keep a 1/4 tank of gas and fill it all up mentality when I got my mini-van. It's hybrid where it either runs the electric engine or the gas engine so, if I don't use up the gas in my tank within 6 months the car will force me to run on gas to deplete the tank. So I try to have it filled, so I can run down the gas every few months.

[Pawz4me]

15 minutes ago, Clarita said:

 

It's hybrid where it either runs the electric engine or the gas engine so, if I don't use up the gas in my tank within 6 months the car will force me to run on gas to deplete the tank. So I try to have it filled, so I can run down the gas every few months.

That's interesting. I always wondered how people with plug-in hybrids dealt with the "old gas" issue. I assumed it would be handled by adding a fuel stabilizer (Sta-Bil or similar). I had no idea the vehicles were smart enough to force the occasional use of gas.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Pawz4me
clarity

[KSera]

6 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

That's interesting. I always wondered how people with plug-in hybrids dealt with the "old gas" issue. I assumed it would be handled by adding a fuel stabilizer (Sta-Bil or similar). I had no idea the vehicles were smart enough to force the occasional use of gas.

What happens when gas gets old? We have a gas powered car we very rarely use. A tank of gas easily lasts 6 months. Sounds like  this could be an issue?

[mom2scouts]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

Umm . . am I the only one here who plans ahead for bad weather? Like if my tank is anywhere near low (which for me is half a tank or less) and I know the weather is supposed to be bad in the coming days I go ahead and fill up. I detest *having* to stop for gas, so I try to always do it when it's an option rather than a necessity.

(And yes, I'm old and my kids are grown and I usually have all the time in the world. I'm almost never truly rushing from Point A to Point B anymore. But when the boys were younger and we frequently were rushing I was even more anal about filling up pro-actively. It's just a thing for me. Yes, it means over time I stop for gas more than people who drive until the low fuel light comes on. But it's less stressful to me.)

Umm, where I live bad weather can last days or weeks. Honestly, many people would consider it "bad" for months. I do try to fill up whenever I see that it's below half a tank, but other people drive my car and they don't always do that.