Motorists in Oregon are expressing excitement and confusion after a 72-year ban on self-serve gasoline pumps was lifted on Friday.

Across the Beaver State, drivers took to social media to boast of pumping their own gas, while local new outlets published step-by-step instructions to help bewildered first-timers. 

The change came after Governor Tina Kotek signed a bill allowing people across the state to choose between having an attendant pump gas or doing it themselves. The law took immediate effect.

That leaves New Jersey as the only US state that prohibits motorists from pumping their own gas. A few countries also ban it, including South Africa, where attendants offer to check fluid levels and clean the windshield, and expect to be tipped.

‘Today was day one where we were allowed to pump our own gas, I was super excited to go and do this myself,’ said TikTok user @pnw.bethany in a video on Friday.

However, she was disappointed to discover that she had accidentally pulled into a ‘full service’ lane at the gas station, where attendants still do the pumping, and vowed to return to the ‘self-service’ lane for the next fill-up. 

Oregon resident Patrick Coffin fills up his car with gasoline at a gas station in Portland on Friday, after the state lifted a 72-year ban on self-service pumps

A TikTok user expressed excitement over the change, but was disappointed to discover she had accidentally pulled into a ‘full service’ lane where attendants still man the pumps

Oregon residents were divided on the change, with some expressing support, and others skepticism. 

‘It’s about time. It’s long overdue,’ said Karen Cooper, who lives in Salem, said shortly before the bill was signed.

‘I’ve spent a lot of time in California,’ Cooper said. ‘I know how to pump my own. Everybody should know how to pump their own gas.’

Kacy Willson, 32, who has lived in Oregon her whole life, said she doesn’t have much interest in pumping her own gas. She’s only tried it a few times in her life.

‘It’s kind of nice to have someone do that,’ she said at a Portland gas station Friday. ‘I don´t really leave Oregon very much, and when I do, I have to ask someone how to pump gas, and I feel weird.’

When Oregon prohibited self-service in 1951, lawmakers cited safety concerns, including motorists slipping on the slick surfaces at filling stations subject to Oregon’s notoriously rainy weather. 

In recent years legislators relaxed the rule and allowed rural counties to have self-serve gas available at night. 

Then they extended it to all hours in eastern Oregon’s sparsely populated areas, where motorists low on gas could be stranded when there’s no attendant on duty.

The COVID-19 pandemic labor shortage helped drive a renewed push to allow self-serve across the state.

‘We live in a small town in a large county and can´t find employees to pump fuel,’ Steve Rodgers, whose community is at the base of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains, complained to lawmakers. ‘We are paying top dollar and also offering insurance, paid time off and retirement benefits, and still cannot fully staff.’

A gas station attendant shows a driver how to fill up her tank at a gas station in Portland, after Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill allowing people across the state to pump their own gas

Motorists in Oregon are expressing excitement and confusion after a 72-year ban on self-serve gas stations was lifted on Friday

Local new outlets published step-by-step instructions to help bewildered first-timers

Haseeb Shojai, who immigrated from Afghanistan in 2004 and owns gas stations in central Oregon’s high desert, also lamented the labor shortage and described how wildfires, with increased intensity and frequency due to climate change, are having a major effect. 

The state fire marshal lifted the self-serve ban during dangerous heat waves the past couple of summers.

‘Wildfires have been a factor in operating our business in the summer months, when it is hard for our gas attendants to stay for long periods outside in smoke and in heat,’ Shojai said. ‘We don’t know if we can stay open tomorrow or the next day or even next week due to the labor shortage.’

A union representing workers at grocery store fuel stations in Oregon predicted job losses and called the new law a ‘blatant cash grab for large corporations.’

‘With over 2,000 gas stations in Oregon, laying off just one employee per location represents millions of dollars a year that giant corporations are not paying in wages, benefits and public payroll taxes,’ said Sandy Humphrey, the secretary-treasurer of UFCW Local 555.

Under the new law, there can’t be more self-service pumps at a gas station than full-service ones. And prices for motorists must be the same at both types.

Gas prices in Oregon averaged $4.66 on Saturday, according to AAA, and the state has the fifth-highest gas prices among the US states.

Some residents grumbled that there would be no discount for self-service gas, questioning why they should want to pump gas themselves without a break on prices.

‘It’s bad enough we are expected to check out our own groceries now in most stores, but now gas too. We keep getting jobs we aren’t getting paid for and never applied for,’ resident Micky Garus wrote in a Facebook post. 

People shared their views on the change on social media, as well as jokes referencing the ‘gas fight’ scene from Zoolander, seen above

A man pumps his own gas Friday in Eugene. Oregon drivers can now pump their own gas for the first time since the 1950s

A customer fills up on Friday in Portland. Under the new law, there can’t be more self-service pumps at a gas station than full-service ones

Some residents grumbled that there would be no discount for self-service gas, questioning why they should want to pump gas themselves without a break on prices

Other opponents of the measure worry that it could lead to the demise of full-service pumps, depriving older adults and people with disabilities of that option.

‘I have some real concerns that we are progressively getting closer and closer to eliminating Oregon’s fuel service law entirely,’ Democratic state Sen. Lew Frederick said on the Senate floor in June before voting against the bill.

Brandon Venable, a service station manager, had urged lawmakers to reject the bill, saying some customers are careless and that attendants keep people safe.

‘I deal with many dangerous situations daily created by people smoking, leaving their engines running, getting in and out of their vehicles creating static electricity, trying to fill up random bottles and jugs, and driving off with the pump still in the vehicle,’ Venable said.

Others wonder if motorists who are now clamoring to pump their own gas might be less keen on doing so when they have to stand out in the rain, cold and snow instead of remaining in their warm, dry cars.

Republican state Sen. Tim Knopp, who leads the minority GOP caucus, downplayed safety concerns as he described being allowed to pump his own gas because he belongs to a commercial fueling cooperative.

‘I have yet to light myself on fire. I have yet to cause any problems whatsoever as it relates to self-serve gas,’ Knopp said during debate on the bill. ‘So, colleagues, let´s make New Jersey the only state in the country that has a law against self-serve gas.’

The state Senate then approved the bill on a 16-9 vote. The House earlier passed it 47-10.

New Jersey’s 1949 ban on self-service pumps remains a source of pride for some in a state where bumper stickers declare ‘Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas.’

Since New Jersey has lower gas prices than New York and Pennsylvania, many drivers from neighboring states cross the state line to fuel up.

In 2015, lawmakers proposed ending the New Jersey ban, but the measure died because of opposition from the powerful state Senate president.

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The bans on single-use items in British Columbia come as the Canadian federal government is pushing to enact similar legislation countrywide. | Courtesy of Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

The British Columbia government will institute bans and other restrictions on single-use bags and food service items. A food retailers group says it’s the first province to implement such a regulation. 

British Columbia’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy on July 14 published the regulations, which will go into effect in December. A press release notes that various local governments have already enacted their own single-use plastics restrictions, and the Canadian federal government is soon implementing its own bans. 

“Focusing on hard-to-recycle single-use and plastic items will help move B.C. to a circular economy where waste and pollution are eliminated, products and materials are kept in the economy through re-use, and natural systems are regenerated,” George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, stated in the release. 

The Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation does the following: 

Ban oxo-degradables: These plastics contain an additive that leads to decomposition or fragmentation of the plastics into smaller pieces. The regulations ban them for single-use plastic products or packaging. 

Regulate bags: The regulations ban single-use plastic bags and require a 25-cent charge for paper bags, which must contain at least 40% recycled fiber, and a $2 charge for reusable bags, which must be capable of being used and washed at least 100 times. Restaurants are allowed to provide the paper bags free of charge, however. 

Food service ware prohibited: B.C. will prohibit food businesses from providing food service ware (bowls, boxes or cartons, cups, hinged or lidded containers, plates, platters, trays and film wraps) if it’s made of any of the following materials: biodegradable plastic, compostable plastic, polystyrene (PS) foam, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyvinylidene chloride. An exception is made for the above items if they are made of paper or other plant fibers but have a compostable plastic lining. Also, businesses may use foam PS trays to hold raw meat, poultry and fish until July 1, 2030, at which point those trays will be banned. 

Food service accessories: The regulations limit the distribution of food service accessories, defined as beverage cup lids and sleeves, condiments, straws, garnishes, napkins, utensils and wet wipes. Essentially, these items can’t be automatically handed to a customer. But they’re OK to provide if a customer specifically asks for them, if a customer is offered them and agrees, or if the items are provided in a self-service manner. That being said, plastic utensils are flat-out banned. There are other exceptions for plastic cup lids: Lids can be provided if they’re for a drink that’s being delivered or handed to a customer in the drive-through. 

The Retail Council of Canada, which commented and pushed back on some of the requirements, said B.C. is the first province in the country to pursue such regulations on single-use plastics.

Overlapping pushes in Canada

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy press release noted that 21 municipalities in the province have already established local laws limiting single-use plastics. 

And in neighboring Alberta, the mountain resort town of Banff will begin to impose its own single-use plastic regulations in stages, with the first stage going into effect July 1, 2023.  

In some ways, the provincial regulations overlap with federal restrictions that are already coming down the pike. Federal law bans the sale of plastic checkout bags, drinking straws, cutlery, stir sticks, ring carriers and food service ware made from plastic starting Dec. 20, 2023. 

“B.C.’s regulation improves on these measures to limit the use of many single-use items, promote reusables and eliminate the use of additional items,” according to the release. “Over their life cycle, reusable products generally produce fewer emissions, consume less water, and decrease waste, litter and pollution compared to disposable alternatives.”

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