4 ms·
They would be better off paying people to dig ditches and refill them. Making idiotic middle-man positions like gas pumpers just slows down innovation in indust
by hueving 9y ago
They would be better off paying people to dig ditches and refill them. Making idiotic middle-man positions like gas pumpers just slows down innovation in industries and pisses off people who don't like to be restricted from performing their own trivial tasks.
- throwaway7645 9y agoOregon does this I believe, them or Washington. While on vacation I was always irate at the pump because I had to wait for someone that started the pump then ran off, so if it stopped prematurely and early we had to wait for that person to run back.
- CydeWeys 9y agoThe canonical example of a state that does this is New Jersey. I don't live there, but I've driven through it on occasion, and it's always jarring to suddenly not be allowed to do so something so basic (and that you've done thousands of times) as inserting a gas nozzle into a fueling port and depress the trigger.
- rusanu 9y agoIs Oregon. I still remember my shock at the pump station after being told that I'm not qualified to handle explosive substances (gas)...
- nmcfarl 9y agoOregon. But we just loosened the rules a teny tiny bit, so if it's after hours, in a rural area you can do it yourself: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2015/12/29/drivers-rural-oregon-start-pumping-their-own-gas/78010610/ http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2015/12/29/driver...
- ylem 9y agoNJ does this--though the prices at the pump are still lower than in a number of nearby states. I think there have been occasional attempts to change the law so that people can pump their own gas, but it has always failed.
- lostlogin 9y agoInnovation at petrol pumps stopped about 50 years ago - paying at the pump briefly looked like a brave new frontier but it's actually quicker to go in and pay.
- anoonmoose 9y agoI have never once in my life thought going in to pay was quicker and I'm interested to know why you think that.
- jesse_m 9y agoI don't think it's quicker, but I go in and pay because I'm paranoid about the card skimmers
- arthurcolle 9y agoYou're not even OP!
- Naritai 9y agoEspecially now that some pumps accept NFC (Apple Pay etc), I have no idea how it could be faster to go inside.
- lostlogin 9y agoThis is clearly a better part of the petrol pump world than mine.
- Naritai 9y agoIt's rare here too (Bay area), but one day my wife forgot her wallet at home, and had to find a station that took Apple Pay in order to fill up to get home again. She found one and is now an Apple Pay convert.
- lostlogin 9y ago
- ehnto 9y agoPutting more money into infrastructure both fixes the ailing infrastructure, of which there is a lot, and creates new jobs. I feel like this is a no brainer so perhaps I am missing something. I would gladly be enlightened if anyone has more insight!
- knz 9y agoYou're missing the fact that one political party believes that government spending is inherently wrong and that any government debt is unacceptable (until they are in power). There were endless political debates over this after the Great Recession when money and bonds were cheap and unemployment was high. Significant investments are needed in infrastructure (I think that was even a Trump campaign promise?) across the US but the issue has become unnecessarily politicized.