🚀 go-pugleaf

~tommy@boole.att.com (Tommy Reingold) says:
[...]
>$ ObWanted:  a self-serve gas station.
>
>That's another topic.  We currently have the lowest gas prices in the
>country.  I doubt self-serve would drop the prices.  (I assume that's
>why you want it.)  I think it would merely raise the price for full
>serve, and there are times when you want full serve.

Self-service would NOT drop the price of gasoline, despite the propaganda
the oil companies spout.  My father has owned a gas station for the past 30+
years.  I having worked there a number of years back, I saw first hand how
the oil companies work things in their favor.

They claim self-service is cheaper, but you are correct we do have the (or 
almost the) lowest prices in the country.  The higher price at the full serve
pumps in self-serve states is artificially high to make folks go to the
self-serve pumps.  Why?  Most of stations are oil company run (as opposed 
to individual stations).  It is much cheaper to hire one guy to pump
the gas occasionally than to let the customers do it themselves.

Last time the oil companies tried to push [sneak would be a better word if
you heard about the behind the scenes stuff that went on with our well paid
off^H^H^Hfor "representatives" in Trenton] self-serve thorough, they really
thought they would get it.  (Notice how many self-serve type pumps suddenly
appeared at NJ gas stations; this was _before_ the bill was voted on, too.
That is how confident they were.)

Eventually the oil companies will probably get self-serve in NJ.  They have
time and money on their side.  Expect to see it tried again in a few years.
Folks who have been brainwashed by self-serve in other states will think it
is "a good idea" because of promised lower prices.  Funny thing is that in
self-serve states the self-serve pump price is pretty close to the
full serve price in NJ.  If self-serve is so much cheaper, why is there not
more of a difference?  Try asking that of a oil company's district rep and
see if he gives you a straight answer.
-- 
  Bob Billson, KC2WZ                          | internet: bob@kc2wz.bubble.org
  $nail:  21 Bates Way,  Westfield, NJ 07090  | uucp:     ...!uunet!kc2wz!bob

  "Professional ear piercing--while you wait!"  --sign in local jewelry store