Study: Jersey Girls' Refusal To Pump Gas Is Costing Everyone a Lot of Money

[Kamaji]

Study:  Jersey Girls' Refusal To Pump Gas Is Costing Everyone a Lot of Money

Research on the effects of Oregon's loosening of its self-service gas ban finds that allowing adults to pump their own gas increases supply and lowers prices.

CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI
5.24.2022

Bills that would have ended the last state-level bans on adults pumping their own gas in Oregon and New Jersey both flamed out this year. A new study purports to show how much the failure of reform is costing drivers.

In March, the Oregon Legislature adjourned without passing a bill allowing gas stations all over the Beaver State to make some of their pumps self-service. Self-service pumps are currently only allowed in smaller rural counties.

Over in New Jersey, another bill similarly allowing gas stations to have some self-service pumps stalled after legislative leaders came out against it in March, reports NJ.com.

On the local level, voters in Arlington, Massachusetts, rejected a proposal to end the community's self-service ban at the annual town meeting earlier this month.

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By not wanting to take on the political and regulatory costs of reform, politicians from both states are forcing the costs of higher gas prices onto motorists. That's according to a new study from Clemson University's Vitor Melo which finds that bans on self-service gas stations reduce supply and drive up prices.

In 2018, Oregon implemented a slight reform of its full-service mandate by allowing gas stations in counties of 40,000 or fewer people to have self-service pumps. Melo's study used daily gas prices for all gas stations in the state reported to the website Gas Buddy between 2016 and 2019 to tease out what impact the repeal of self-service had on gas prices.

After controlling for counties' levels of unemployment, poverty, and median income, Melo finds that allowing self-service saw gas prices drop in the affected counties by 4.4 cents per gallon. The price decline nets out to $90 a year for a household with three drivers.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2022/05/24/study-jersey-girls-refusal-to-pump-gas-is-costing-everyone-a-lot-of-money/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

When I worked in New York, I was always grateful to get gas in New Jersey as it was always cheaper and I never had to pump.

Perhaps things have changed.

Sure enough, I looked it up and NJ taxes are now 4th highest in country and even higher than NY's.

[Hoodat]

Nine of the top ten gas tax states have Democrat governors.  I don't think it's Jersey girls that are costing everyone a lot of money.  I think it's Democrats that are doing that.

[Gefn]

 

[massadvj]

i buy gas in New Jersey all the time. Many times I have jumped out of the car only to be confronted by a guy like that "No gas, no squeegy" guy on tv.  he tells me to get back in my car.

I have never noticed any difference between gas priced in NJ and PA where I live.  I assume the added labor contributes to the cost, but probably not as much as people think.

[rustynail]

If all the nation's pumps were full service there would be millions of new jobs and opportunities.  All the pump personnel would have to be trained and licensed.   Many would be in unions.  Federal and State bureaucracies would have to be created to oversee the training and safety of the workers.  It's a Win Win!

[IsailedawayfromFR]

If all the nation's pumps were full service there would be millions of new jobs and opportunities.  All the pump personnel would have to be trained and licensed.   Many would be in unions.  Federal and State bureaucracies would have to be created to oversee the training and safety of the workers.  It's a Win Win!

[Hoodat]

If all the nation's pumps were full service there would be millions of new jobs and opportunities.  All the pump personnel would have to be trained and licensed.   Many would be in unions.  Federal and State bureaucracies would have to be created to oversee the training and safety of the workers.  It's a Win Win!

It's not a win-win for States who want to determine for themselves how gas is to be pumped.  I don't stand in the way of New Jersey or Oregon implementing their stupid laws.  And I expect the same courtesy from them.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Women have no problem pumping gas, especially if it saves them money.

This has more to do with corrupt political special interests and political cowardice.