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Why New Jersey Doesn’t Let You Pump Your Own Gas

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Lawmakers in New Jersey and Oregon are considering bills that would finally give drivers in those states the option to pump their own gas. But why was that practice banned in the first place?

Let’s start with the case in New Jersey. The Garden State’s ban on self-service gas stations, which are allowed in 48 states, began in 1949 when the New Jersey Legislature passed the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act. That law, enacted over concerns about the safety of consumers pumping petroleum themselves, was later followed by many other states. However, almost every state has since overturned their self-serve bans. (Kell/TIME)

https://time.com/3882801/new-jersey-gas/

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Will N.J. gas pumps go do-it-yourself?

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Will N.J. gas pumps go do-it-yourself?

MAY 17, 2015, 11:14 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2015, 11:20 PM
BY RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Gas station owners who have wielded enough clout in Trenton to keep self-serve gasoline out of New Jersey for 66 years recently reversed their position on the issue, and that could mean the days of full-service-only gas stations, one of the singular features of the Garden State, are numbered.

“Our position is different than it was 30 years ago,” Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline C-Store Automotive Association, an independent gas owners group, said last week. The competitive landscape is different now, he explained, because the small owners’ Big Oil rivals don’t own the gas stations anymore.

The seismic shift by the gas station owners is one of several significant developments that may bring self-serve pumps to New Jersey and end a ban that originated in Bergen County. Gas-station owners in New Jersey have come under increased scrutiny from regulators over underpaid workers. And how transactions are made at the pump is likely to be altered as credit or debit cards are embedded with computer chips. While Governor Christie has been silent on the issue of self-serve recently, two area legislators have introduced a bill to end the prohibition.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/will-n-j-gas-pumps-go-do-it-yourself-1.1336652