New Jersey, Bordering Bucks County, Becomes Last State to Prohibit Self-Service Gas Stations

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A hand pumping gasoline into a car
Image via iStock.
The state is the last one to still have assisted gas pumps.

With Oregon revoking its 72-year-old ban last week, New Jersey became the last state in the country to prohibit self-service gas stations, writes Ginger Adams Otis for The Wall Street Journal.

Many Garden State residents are proud of that fact and hope it never changes.

“It is one of the big perks of living here,” said New Jersey resident Nyoami Winterburn. “I don’t like to pump my own gas, especially when it’s cold.”

New Jersey banned self-service stations for fire safety and other concerns in 1949. That decision remains popular among residents to this day. Some drivers choose to reiterate this publicly by putting a bumper sticker on their car that reads “Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas.”

“I can pump my own gas but I like to talk to the workers and give them a tip,” said Eddie Valle.

One of those workers at Exxon station in Englewood on Route 4 is Juan Hernandez.

“Many people here know me, they always come in and say hello,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 18 years.”

And despite being a full-service state, New Jersey’s gas prices are often lower than its neighbors.

Read more about the issue in The Wall Street Journal.

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