Posted: 4/1/2007 12:36:02 PM EDT
| Hi everybody. I just got back from a wedding in the Point Pleasant area this weekend. I really enjoyed my trip/New Jersey, I hadn't been there for probably 30 years (when I was still a kid). My question is: why aren't you allowed to pump your own gas? I've never heard of that and first thought it was just that particular gas station policy till I saw the sign that said "State Law". I wanted to ask somebody while I was there but just never got the chance so I figured fellow ARFCOMER's were the guys to go to. |
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The Garden State is one of two states where it's illegal to fill 'er up yourself. Only gas station owners or employees can pump gas in New Jersey and Oregon. The 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. We people of NJ are not citizens, we are subjects!!!! |
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Thank you for your quick reply. I hope my inquiry dosen't fuel the fire of what seems to be a controversial issue. 1949!!!! huh? Has there ever been legislation to repeal this law? If so what are the reasons why they haven't. Do the "trained" pumping people have to go to school and be licenced? I DO NOT intend for the following statement to be taken the wrong way but judging from a purely visual standpoint the pump attendants I saw looked of about average competence, in other words, they looked just like me and I've never had any issues at a gas station. I DID watch, as my brother-in-law was getting gas, an attendant who was not engaged in the act of refuling at the time stand between two pumps and smoke a cigarette. I feel better now though knowing that he was aparently trained. 
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No repeal as far as I know. The subjects of NJ are perfectly happy letting someone else pump their gas. My Son pumped gas at the local Wawa one summer. No offical training was provided. Actually I do enjoy letting someone else pump my gas. I don't have to get out to do it myself in the heat, rain, snow or cold. 
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I was in NJ a few years ago and started pumping my own gas - the attendant came tearing out of the shop like I just kicked his dog. When he finally made it to my car, he calmed down and asked if I needed anything? Umm....yeah, gas.  I didn't know there was a law. So once I realized that I was a "criminal," I promptly turned the nozzle on him, struck a match and lit'em a'blaze!!!! 
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"3. You can't make a left turn in the entire state of Jersey !!" That's funny. My brother in law was using his fathers GPS gizmo and we kept missing turns (I was following him) cause it kept saying turn left but it didn't tell him we had to do it from the right lane. I had no idea what the hell he was doing. I thought he lost his mind and called his cell phone to bitch him out. We felt like morons cause it took us a day and a half to figure it out  . BTW I apologize to everyone I cut off as I raced across a couple of lanes to the left only to have to zip back over to the right  Edit: Oh yea, gas was priced about $.20 cheaper that PA and OH. Full service for Self-serve prices, sweet deal! |