New Jersey will now be the only US state to ban self-service gas after Oregon plans to change a decades-old law.
New Jersey law, in effect since 1949, prohibits residents from pumping their own gas, partly for public safety reasons, but also for economic reasons related to the price of gas.
The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act, which mentions fire risks, among other things, states that it “becomes more difficult to follow safety procedures” when cashiers are engaged in in-store transactions.
“The people of New Jersey are proud that we can always pump our gas for ourselves, so I think it’s going to be a while before we change,” Deptford’s Maura Schwartz told ABC.
“I’m an immigrant to the United States, I’ve been here 22 years, and my first culture shock was that because I live in Pennsylvania, I had to pump my own gas,” Liliana Wardle said.
In Oregon, gas station attendants won’t disappear overnight because regulations require gas stations to have at least half their pumps open.