Do Full Service Gas Stations in Oregon Have to Do With the Environment?
If a drive through the state of Oregon, or a recent move to the city of Portland or Eugene, for instance, has ever found you amazed at the return of the quaint and old-tyme gas station attendant, who in many cases, won’t even let you exit your vehicle unless it is to pay inside, then perhaps you’ve been curious about why. Why are all gas stations in the state of Oregon full service? It is true. Only the two states of Oregon and New Jersey have this law in effect, and it is indeed a legislated reality, that all gas stations are full service state-wide. But why? A recent road trip down to California had me wondering, as I realized it’d been a while since I did my own work at the gas station, and I kind of missed it!
I wondered about natives in the state of Oregon. I remembered associating so much pleasure with my first year’s worth of fill-up trips down to the gas station when I finally turned 16 and started driving. It was part of the rite-of-passage element that inevitably goes along with driving a car by yourself.
So did Oregon and New Jersey residents just fore-go the pleasure? Did they literally never realize what it was like to pump your own gas? Had some of them, indeed quite a lot of them, never ever pumped gasoline into their car ever? Ever ever? I wanted to know why you can’t pump your own gasoline in the state of Oregon, and so I did the research. Continue reading
