Pumping Gas in New Jersey

The other day I pulled up to a gas station. The attendant was having an animated cell phone conversation, which apparently was more important to him than giving service like the young men who darted over to the car in Back to the Future when Marty first hits downtown Hill Valley in 1955. Anyway, I waited for a little while patiently, and finally said to myself something like, "I'll count to 20 and then I'll get out of the car and say something." Fortunately, he promptly hung up, jogged over and apologized (at least I think he did, his English was a bit unclear) and then we proceeded with our transaction ("Fill it, regular, cash." "Ok, boss.")

But, it got me thinking: it's silly that I can't just get out of the car and start pumping my own gas. As I'm sure you know, it is legal to pump your own gas in other states. I've filled my own gas before while travelling, as I'm sure we all have, and I seem to have the hang of the whole process. Must be some insurance thing, I wondered. If somehow I was to injure myself while pumping the gas, the gas station must be liable.

So later, our of curiousity, I consulted Google. Turns out, NJ is one of just two states where it is *illegal* to pump your own gas. Yahoo! Answers, umm... answers below:

The Garden State is one of two states where it's illegal to fill 'er up yourself. Only gas station owners or employees can pump gas in New Jersey and Oregon -- "the only two states atavistic, sadistic, and masochistic enough to still require thousands of 'professionals' to waste time, money, and inconvenience customers," according to one columnist.

The ban on self-service gas stations is a highly combustible issue and makes for some heated debates. New Jersey passed the law making it illegal to pump your own gas in 1949. At the time, legislators felt it was too dangerous to have untrained people dispensing such a flammable liquid.

That may have been sensible at the time, but pumping gas is much safer today, and some motorists feel the ban is outdated and needs to go. Opponents of the law argue that removing it would lower the cost of gas and make refueling much quicker and more convenient. Proponents of the ban argue that it creates jobs and customers like full service.

Ahh. So it creates jobs. But wait, doesn't that cost the gas companies money to have people manning the pumps? And if it does, would they just charge the higher amount anyway and pocket the profits? Or would it be cheaper for us? This article from three years ago addressed these issues (as well as containing the awesome Beavis-and-Butthead-esque line "Fear of putting it in the wrong hole?"), pointing out that elderly or less mobile motorists rely on not having to get out of their cars. Maybe true, but how do they manage in the other 48 states where they must pump themselves? Why don't New Jersey gas station offer two lanes, "pump your own" and "full service" and charge people like 3 cents more per gallon for "full service"?

I wonder what the real deal is, and why this has not been rectified yet.