New Jersey is the only state in the US that mandates attendants to pump gas for all customers, a practice that has been in effect for 73 years and is supported by a majority of citizens.

A lot of people wear T-shirts and bumper stickers that say “Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas” as a sign of their pride.

An initiative to allow cars to pump their own gas was resurrected by proponents earlier this month, backed by a gas station industry association that reappears frequently. The concept, which is widely seen as a political third rail, has never gained traction.

However, proponents of the bill, who have presented it as a matter of driver choice at a time when most major grocery and retail businesses provide self-service checkout options, believe that a series of events have given it a greater chance.

As gas prices are so high right now, any savings even close to a dollar can be enticing. During the pandemic, finding workers has gotten more difficult, prompting station owners to shut down fuel pumps on a frequent basis. In a televised news conference, the governor expressed a new willingness to consider the notion as a method to make New Jersey more affordable.

“It’s ridiculous that we actually go out of our way to prohibit something that virtually all the rest of the world allows,” said State Senator Declan O’Scanlon Jr., a Republican from Monmouth County and a longstanding proponent of self-service gasoline.

Voters, particularly Democrats, appear to be divided. According to a recent Rutgers Eagleton poll, 73 percent of those polled prefer to have someone else pump their gas. Full-service was favoured by 82 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans. In addition, nearly 90 percent of women, compared to 55 percent of men, stated they would prefer to have an attendant pump their gas.

Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., proprietors of stations with more than four pumps would be required to provide a full-service alternative. It was introduced in the Assembly, but without Mr. Scutari’s support, it is unlikely to advance in the Senate.

Mr. Scutari stated in a policy statement first reported by the New Jersey Monitor, “The people of New Jersey are very clear in wanting to keep the system we have now.” He also expressed his skepticism about whether the inclusion of self-service lanes will result in cheaper petrol costs.

Nonetheless, he provided a glimmer of optimism for proponents of self-serve fuel.

“If the public sentiment changes or there is in fact data showing that it would dramatically reduce costs,” Mr. Scutari said in a text message. “I would reconsider.”

Chris Christie, a former Republican governor, made a similar case against self-service gas in 2016.

“The last poll we did on this question, 78 percent of New Jersey women said they were opposed to self-service gas. Seventy-eight percent!” he reportedly said at the time. “You can’t find 78 percent of people in New Jersey who agree on anything!”

Mr. Murphy expressed a similar reluctance three years later.

“I will not commit political suicide this morning in East Orange,” the governor said in 2019 when asked about self-service gas.

However, when asked about the proposed law earlier this month, he did not rule out the possibility of allowing self-service gas, albeit he remained cautious.

“I’m not necessarily signing up for that, because I need to understand what impact it would have,” Mr. Murphy said.

Gas prices in New Jersey were the second lowest in the US in 2016, hovering around $2 per gallon. Mr. Christie signed a measure that hiked the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon that year. The additional fee compensated for the repeal of the state’s tax on large estates, a modest reduction in the sales tax, and the creation of a formula-driven funding stream for transportation projects, which has resulted in additional rises in the gas tax, as well as one drop.

The state’s gasoline tax has risen to 42.4 cents per gallon, and there has been little discussion of temporarily suspending it, as some other jurisdictions have done to counteract recent price increases.

According to the American Automotive Association, the average price of a gallon of gas in New Jersey was $4.20 on Wednesday, three cents less than the national average of $4.23 and around 14 cents less than in New York.

Allowing self-service fuel, according to Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store, and Automotive Association, would minimize overhead costs, increase sales, and drive down prices.

Perhaps more importantly, he argued, it would help petrol stations overcome their current hiring difficulties. He claims that a self-service alternative would allow station owners to keep all pumps available rather than closing lanes when there aren’t enough personnel, which can lead to longer gas queues.

“Orange cones blocking pumps in the last two years — it’s not new, it’s just become more commonplace,” Mr. Risalvato said.

The 1949 law prohibiting self-service in New Jersey originates from a time when the activity was uncommon and the main reason for entrusting gas pumping to only station personnel was safety. Except for Oregon, every other state has since liberalized the usage of self-service gas lanes. (Oregon requires many gas station personnel to pump gas for drivers, but makes an exception for rural areas with fewer than 40,000 population.)

The 1949 statute that Mr. Risalvato is attempting to repeal was the result of lobbying by the same organization that he now represents in New Jersey.

When a rival in Hackensack, New Jersey, deviated from the norm and began allowing vehicles to pump their own gas, the owner of a nearby gas station became enraged. According to Mr. Risalvato, this allowed the station to sell petrol for less than the 22 cents per gallon that competitors were charging.

“All of the competing gas stations were up in arms, saying, ‘Hey, he’s going to steal all our customers,’” Mr. Risalvato said.

In Bergen County, New Jersey, Levent Sertbas operates three family-run Exxon stations. His wife, daughters, and brother all work at the stations, but he admitted that he was in severe need of more workers. If anyone showed up to apply for the $14-an-hour employment, he said he could recruit three people on the spot.

“Everybody is looking for employees now,” said Mr. Sertbas, 54. “This is something that people don’t want to do anymore. They’ve got to work outside, deal with the environment — hot, cold.

“How am I going to compete with Amazon or Target?” he said. “There’s no way.”

When he’s short on employees, he turns off specific pumps to make the job easier for a single person to handle. Rather than waiting for a staff to attend to another car, he added, frustrated drivers often step out of their cars and remove the nozzle from their filled tanks.

He stated he had to close a station for many hours three times in the last year due to staff shortages.

“If I close, I’m not making money,” Mr. Sertbas said, who also operates convenience stores next to the filling stations. “And if you’re not coming into the station, you don’t come into the store either.”

Image Credit: Getty

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