Oregon governor Tina Kotek says she will sign a gas bill passed by the legislature.
Oregon was one of just two states in the U.S. that didn’t allow you to pump your own gas, in most areas.
The Towne Pump gas station in East Medford’s manager, Richard McMaster said “I get a lot of customers telling me, they don’t want the bill to go through. Then others asking if the prices are going to go down even with the employment being different and all that.”
This bill still requires half of the pumps to be full service, which keeps these workers employed and helps people with mobility problems.
But some workers, like Richard Mcmaster feels like there will be challenges.
McMaster said “these pumps, they’re fairly simple but for the most part, with computers there’s always errors. So, I just expect a few things to be hiccups that we get to deal with for the first six months.”
Gas stations are now figuring out how to handle this major change.
Towne Pump will not have designated pumps for self-serve or full service. Instead, all pumps are available for both options.
McMaster continued “my big thing is my lot is so small and everyone trying to do U-turns and figure out which pump they’re at; it’s not worth the headache. So, I’ll just help them out or let them do it themselves.”
But the bill doesn’t just affect the workers, it also affects Oregonian drivers who might have to soon get used to stepping out of their vehicles and pumping their own gas.
Lileth Andromeda is hesistant for a full self-service station, “I think it’s cool that they’re still going to keep service attendants because people are going to need it. They’re going to be like ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ There are so many people in Oregon that have only lived in Oregon and never left Oregon their whole life. They’re probably going to be like ‘oh I never thought I would have to do this myself.”
Others like Chris Hays are optimistic about the transition.
Chris Hays said “even people who didn’t pump their own gas growing up traveled. So, they’re probably use to that if they just leave the state driving, they’re used to it. I don’t think it’ll affect a big part of the population.”
Most gas stations should start letting you pump your own gas.
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