Supermarket Rant…well not really a rant.😁

[ronandannette]

When I’m in NJ with less than half a tank of gas I usually fill up at the mandatory full service stations.

It’s my understanding that once every five years or so some NJ legislator floats the idea of self service gas and practically gets tarred and feathered over it.

Those opposed give all sorts of reasons, such as safety or employment but the real reason is convenience or laziness.

Question: How do you pay for gas when they pump it? Do you have to go into the store? Back in the day when cash was much more common, I remember just giving the guy the money and he’d run the change and receipt back. Now everything is pre-pay (mostly right at the pump) and I only use debit. It doesn’t seem like total convenience if you have to get out and go in, anyway. There are still stations that serve here (for basically the same price) but I don’t go out of my way to find them.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Question: How do you pay for gas when they pump it? Do you have to go into the store? Back in the day when cash was much more common, I remember just giving the guy the money and he’d run the change and receipt back. Now everything is pre-pay (mostly right at the pump) and I only use debit. It doesn’t seem like total convenience if you have to get out and go in, anyway. There are still stations that serve here (for basically the same price) but I don’t go out of my way to find them.

You just hand your card or cash to the attendant. They run the card at the pump or make change for you right there.

As a matter of fact, at WaWa (convenience store) I pay through the app and it automatically activates the pump for the attendant. I just let them know I'm paying through the app.

*** I live in Philly, but am NJ quite often....like I will be today!

 

[AurumPunzel]

NJ is so weird. They have this controversial bag ban, yet there's still so much squabbling over adopting self-service fuel. I do often wonder why it's persisted for too long.

 

[RedAngie]

Question: How do you pay for gas when they pump it? Do you have to go into the store? Back in the day when cash was much more common, I remember just giving the guy the money and he’d run the change and receipt back. Now everything is pre-pay (mostly right at the pump) and I only use debit. It doesn’t seem like total convenience if you have to get out and go in, anyway. There are still stations that serve here (for basically the same price) but I don’t go out of my way to find them.

I believe you only need to go inside if you’re paying cash at a self service station. In NJ, you give the attendant your card before they pump or cash after they pump and they’ll go to their little kiosk and make change for you if necessary.

Many stations accept various apps for payment too.

 

[ronandannette]

I believe you only need to go inside if you’re paying cash at a self service station. In NJ, you give the attendant your card before they pump or cash after they pump and they’ll go to their little kiosk and make change for you if necessary.

Many stations accept various apps for payment too.

Give them your card?!? That wouldn't work here with our chip-and-pin systems. No way am I giving anybody my card and pin number. At restaurants now, it's always pay through the hand-held machines so cards never leave your presence. I do remember the days though, when servers would carry your card away on an elegant little tray and come back with a physical slip for you to sign. I'm old.

 

[disneychrista]

I do remember the days though, when servers would carry your card away on an elegant little tray and come back with a physical slip for you to sign. I'm old.

This still happens at some locations around here.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I do remember the days though, when servers would carry your card away on an elegant little tray and come back with a physical slip for you to sign. I'm old.

Almost all restaurants here still do this.

As far as I know, PINs are only used for debit cards, which I have never had. I only use credit cards, or sometimes still use cash, especially when they charge more for credit. (I too am old.)

 

[RedAngie]

Give them your card?!? That wouldn't work here with our chip-and-pin systems. No way am I giving anybody my card and pin number. At restaurants now, it's always pay through the hand-held machines so cards never leave your presence. I do remember the days though, when servers would carry your card away on an elegant little tray and come back with a physical slip for you to sign. I'm old.

1. I THINK, but not 100% sure, that all debit cards in the US can be used as a credit card. No PIN necessary.

2. In NJ, the attendant takes your card, inserts or taps it at the pump 3 feet away from you, then returns it promptly. It’s out of your possession for maybe 15 seconds tops all the while within your view. No time or opportunity for any funny business.

3. In other types of stores when using a PIN, you enter it on a terminal either permanently affixed or passed to you by the cashier. You don’t reveal your PIN to anybody.

4. I’d say more than half of restaurants in the US without a payment register at the exit take your card out of view, but more and more are installing tablets at tables or the server leaves a portable one for you to use.

 

[amcnj]

When I was younger, stores gave out paper bags. And we later used those bigger ones from grocery stores to line the kitchen trash receptacle.

Then plastic took over. Some of those ended up lining smaller trash receptacles. Now plastic is banned and the retailers demanded that the law include a charge for any paper bags provided. If I remember correctly, it was because they cost more than the plastic ones did.

As far as gasoline in NJ, the story I always heard was that most stations were independently owned and their association fought self-serve as it would give a cost advantage to the larger corporate locations. A large station would need one attendant for say 20 pumps, while Joe’s gas station also needed to pay one person for their two pumps. Same cost but much different volume of sales.

But many independent gas stations have closed up over the years, I think due at least in part to lack of garage work, which is where some made much of their money. So there may be a greater chance of self-serve becoming a reality one day, unless there is a strong outcry from the public to keep it.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Give them your card?!? That wouldn't work here with our chip-and-pin systems. No way am I giving anybody my card and pin number. At restaurants now, it's always pay through the hand-held machines so cards never leave your presence. I do remember the days though, when servers would carry your card away on an elegant little tray and come back with a physical slip for you to sign. I'm old.

Yes you watch them swipe. This is so low on my list of concerns I can't even tell you.

 

[mjkacmom]

Minneapolis put a 5 cent mandatory fee per bag in place a couple years ago. My mother works in an elementary school and takes as many plastic bags as she can home when she visits. The schools need the bags for dirty clothes and the like. They never have enough now that everyone has to pay for them.

I'd rather pay the 20 cents less a gallon and pump my own. If there is a market for it, someone will provide the service, but there is no good reason why it should be mandated by law.

It's mainly a political persuasion thing.

Um, we don’t pay extra for pumped gas here in NJ, up until a few years ago we also had the cheapest gas in the US. The majority of people here love not having to pump gas.

 

[mjkacmom]

When I was younger, stores gave out paper bags. And we later used those bigger ones from grocery stores to line the kitchen trash receptacle.

Then plastic took over. Some of those ended up lining smaller trash receptacles. Now plastic is banned and the retailers demanded that the law include a charge for any paper bags provided. If I remember correctly, it was because they cost more than the plastic ones did.

As far as gasoline in NJ, the story I always heard was that most stations were independently owned and their association fought self-serve as it would give a cost advantage to the larger corporate locations. A large station would need one attendant for say 20 pumps, while Joe’s gas station also needed to pay one person for their two pumps. Same cost but much different volume of sales.

But many independent gas stations have closed up over the years, I think due at least in part to lack of garage work, which is where some made much of their money. So there may be a greater chance of self-serve becoming a reality one day, unless there is a strong outcry from the public to keep it.

Every gas station in my area has a service station.

 

[mjkacmom]

Question: How do you pay for gas when they pump it? Do you have to go into the store? Back in the day when cash was much more common, I remember just giving the guy the money and he’d run the change and receipt back. Now everything is pre-pay (mostly right at the pump) and I only use debit. It doesn’t seem like total convenience if you have to get out and go in, anyway. There are still stations that serve here (for basically the same price) but I don’t go out of my way to find them.

There isn’t a store at my local gas stations, just cigarettes in the small enclosed area where the cash register/credit card reader is.

 

[mjkacmom]

Australia has had charges for shopping bags for quite a while. There are a few outliers that don’t charge but they are more boutique type shops where the cost is probably built into the purchase prices. We have a stack of reusable bags stacked neatly into a Buc-Ees cooler bag ready for shopping in need.

We haven’t had petrol pumped for us since well before 1990 (when I got my licence, before then I didn’t pay attention however I’m thinking it was well before then). My husband was a bit taken aback when we were in Portland in August when he was starting to pump petrol into the rental car and an older man in his 60-70’s walked over and told him that whilst it was fine to pump his own, he could wait for him. I had to tell him that the laws had just been lifted in that state re pumping your own gas.

I would hate to have to wait for someone to do a job that I am perfectly able to do myself. Then again I also dislike the having to pay for fuel before filling up that is the norm in USA - here in Australia you pump first then pay, unless you are at Costco.

Well, here in NJ, we pay after we get gas.

 

[amcnj]

Every gas station in my area has a service station.

I guess some of the survivors do. But a lot of independent gas stations have closed. The town I grew up in had five gas stations within a quarter mile stretch of the downtown area, all with garages. Now there is only one station still in business. And newer stations elsewhere in the general area seem to be either no-name brands that lack garages, or bigger stations with many pumps, think Wawa or gas/oil company owned ones, which also don’t have garages.

Two other towns I have lived in were in population growth areas. The new stations added to meet the additional demand for gasoline seemed to mainly be chains that had convenience stores, but not garages.

Interesting that your area seems to have developed differently.

 

[mjkacmom]

I guess some of the survivors do. But a lot of independent gas stations have closed. The town I grew up in had five gas stations within a quarter mile stretch of the downtown area, all with garages. Now there is only one station still in business. And newer stations elsewhere in the general area seem to be either no-name brands that lack garages, or bigger stations with many pumps, think Wawa or gas/oil company owned ones, which also don’t have garages.

Two other towns I have lived in were in population growth areas. The new stations added to meet the additional demand for gasoline seemed to mainly be chains that had convenience stores, but not garages.

Interesting that your area seems to have developed differently.

We did have several gas stations close down, I think there are about 6 in my 3 square mile town all with service stations, plus there are free standing service stations. My town is old, and all available land is taken. A 7/11 did replace one station.