beavheart
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Post by beavheart on Aug 15, 2023 21:49:58 GMT -8
Maybe the quietest sweeping elimination of an entire workforce ever. I suppose just about everybody knew this was going to happen eventually.
By the way, anybody notice any change in the price of gas lately? I mean, since each station just slashed it's operating costs, you would think, maybe something?
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beaver94
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Post by beaver94 on Aug 16, 2023 6:13:31 GMT -8
From what I understand, stations still must offer full service at a certain amount of their pumps. Many places weren’t opening a lot of their pumps already because of being understaffed. They also aren’t allowed to charge a different price for self service. I also heard that stations aren’t required to offer self service if they don’t want to. This really just gives people a choice in being able to pump their own gas if they choose. Honestly, you probably won’t notice much of a change at most places except you’ll see some intrepid folks pumping their own gas.
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Post by Judge Smails on Aug 16, 2023 6:54:30 GMT -8
From what I understand, stations still must offer full service at a certain amount of their pumps. Many places weren’t opening a lot of their pumps already because of being understaffed. They also aren’t allowed to charge a different price for self service. I also heard that stations aren’t required to offer self service if they don’t want to. This really just gives people a choice in being able to pump their own gas if they choose. Honestly, you probably won’t notice much of a change at most places except you’ll see some intrepid folks pumping their own gas. They still have to offer half of their pumps at full service except in the rural communities. In addition, some of the smaller stations only had 2 rows of pumps anyway and they only had 1 employee working them. That employee will just have half the workload now. And yes, a lot of the stations are just not switching any pumps to full service. |
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Post by irimi on Aug 16, 2023 7:50:53 GMT -8
Maybe the quietest sweeping elimination of an entire workforce ever. I suppose just about everybody knew this was going to happen eventually. By the way, anybody notice any change in the price of gas lately? I mean, since each station just slashed it's operating costs, you would think, maybe something? I never felt strongly about the debate anyway. Or rather, there were days when I wanted to be able to pump it myself and days when I was happy to be in my warm car. I sort of like the quaintness that came with being one of two states where pumping your own gas wasn't allowed. However, I don't think anyone expected the gas prices to drop. Politics, war, and other world events affect the price of gas more. And in the end, they always get their money. |
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Post by rgeorge on Aug 16, 2023 8:55:32 GMT -8
From what I understand, stations still must offer full service at a certain amount of their pumps. Many places weren’t opening a lot of their pumps already because of being understaffed. They also aren’t allowed to charge a different price for self service. I also heard that stations aren’t required to offer self service if they don’t want to. This really just gives people a choice in being able to pump their own gas if they choose. Honestly, you probably won’t notice much of a change at most places except you’ll see some intrepid folks pumping their own gas. They still have to offer half of their pumps at full service except in the rural communities. In addition, some of the smaller stations only had 2 rows of pumps anyway and they only had 1 employee working them. That employee will just have half the workload now. And yes, a lot of the stations are just not switching any pumps to full service. The supposed massive loss of jobs was nothing more than political BS by the opposition. There are large stations still trying to hire help even after they offer self pump. Workers were dealing with 5, 6+ pumps and in some cases belligerent customers. Workers in larger stations with self pump options are now dealing with being "tech assistants". Surprisingly folks don't seem to be able to read and follow fairly basic directions!? |
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rob85
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Post by rob85 on Aug 16, 2023 8:56:36 GMT -8
As a person born and raised in Oregon, but who has lived in Washington for 25 years, I truly don't understand the resistance to self serve gas. It is a simple, mundane, quickly completed task. Not a big deal at all. And yet, the laments....
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Post by Werebeaver on Aug 16, 2023 10:48:44 GMT -8
As a person born and raised in Oregon, but who has lived in Washington for 25 years, I truly don't understand the resistance to self serve gas. It is a simple, mundane, quickly completed task. Not a big deal at all. And yet, the laments.... Me too. Born and raised in Oregon but have lived in a few places and traveled around a bit. I’m only surprised that the self-service ban hung in as long as it did. I’m glad we have the option now. |
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Aug 16, 2023 13:17:23 GMT -8
Maybe the quietest sweeping elimination of an entire workforce ever. I suppose just about everybody knew this was going to happen eventually. By the way, anybody notice any change in the price of gas lately? I mean, since each station just slashed it's operating costs, you would think, maybe something? I never felt strongly about the debate anyway. Or rather, there were days when I wanted to be able to pump it myself and days when I was happy to be in my warm car. I sort of like the quaintness that came with being one of two states where pumping your own gas wasn't allowed. However, I don't think anyone expected the gas prices to drop. Politics, war, and other world events affect the price of gas more. And in the end, they always get their money. Supply also affects the price of gas more. Who is "they?" |
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beavheart
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Post by beavheart on Aug 16, 2023 18:57:00 GMT -8
As a person born and raised in Oregon, but who has lived in Washington for 25 years, I truly don't understand the resistance to self serve gas. It is a simple, mundane, quickly completed task. Not a big deal at all. And yet, the laments.... Me too. Born and raised in Oregon but have lived in a few places and traveled around a bit. I’m only surprised that the self-service ban hung in as long as it did. I’m glad we have the option now. I'm pretty sure it was always about the jobs. Not the convenience or lack thereof of pumping your own gas. For some people, pumping gas is one of the best jobs they are able to get. I actually prefer to pump my own gas too, but for my own specific reason. Our service truck has issues being able to take the gas, and/or working with the new style of spigot with the spring loaded cover. Fact is, I've never had a truck with a service body that didn't click the pump off if you tried to fill it at normal, wide open speed. Every single time I get gas in that thing I have to explain this to the attendant, and then they have to sit there and hold the handle the entire time it takes to fill the truck, and it's a looooong time. 34 gallon tank, and you have to go about 1/2 speed. Some of the more experienced one's would let me hold the handle after they had gotten it started so they could serve other customers. To say this was an inconvenience would be a huge understatement. Indeed, I'm personally better off pumping my own gas. What I'm just little concerned about is the people that did lose their jobs, and where they are now (Unemployment). So now all us taxpayers are paying for them to find a new job, or not. Meanwhile their previous employers just got to downsize their payroll thanks to legislation by our "representative government" and of course NONE of the savings go to the tax paying consumer. No, we just get to pay the expenses of the people who now have no work so they don't end up living under the bridge. |
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beavheart
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Post by beavheart on Aug 16, 2023 19:18:57 GMT -8
They still have to offer half of their pumps at full service except in the rural communities. In addition, some of the smaller stations only had 2 rows of pumps anyway and they only had 1 employee working them. That employee will just have half the workload now. And yes, a lot of the stations are just not switching any pumps to full service. The supposed massive loss of jobs was nothing more than political BS by the opposition. There are large stations still trying to hire help even after they offer self pump. Workers were dealing with 5, 6+ pumps and in some cases belligerent customers. Workers in larger stations with self pump options are now dealing with being "tech assistants". Surprisingly folks don't seem to be able to read and follow fairly basic directions!? One of the first articles I saw, right after Kotek let the law lapse on this, showed a picture of a woman standing next to her car with the gas nozzle in her hand about a foot from her car and the gas pouring out on the car and the ground. Anyone who thinks this is going to go smoothly is kidding themselves. You may be right about the smaller stations still having roughly the same number of attendants, but what about the larger ones? The 15 people running around the Costco stations are gone. Sure, some went to other positions in the company, but not all of them. The large Chevron at 213 and I-205 is like a ghost town from before. The job loss might have been an exaggeration, for now, but I don't see anything gained in exaggerating in the other direction. People ARE losing jobs. I guess I have a problem with it because during a time when we desperately need positions that provide upward mobility in the job market to help counter the homeless problem, this seems like the last thing we should be doing. |
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Aug 16, 2023 19:32:29 GMT -8
The supposed massive loss of jobs was nothing more than political BS by the opposition. There are large stations still trying to hire help even after they offer self pump. Workers were dealing with 5, 6+ pumps and in some cases belligerent customers. Workers in larger stations with self pump options are now dealing with being "tech assistants". Surprisingly folks don't seem to be able to read and follow fairly basic directions!? You may be right about the smaller stations still having roughly the same number of attendants, but what about the larger ones? The 15 people running around the Costco stations are gone. Sure, some went to other positions in the company, but not all of them. The large Chevron at 213 and I-205 is like a ghost town from before. The job loss might have been an exaggeration, for now, but I don't see anything gained in exaggerating in the other direction. People ARE losing jobs. I guess I have a problem with it because during a time when we desperately need positions that provide upward mobility in the job market to help counter the homeless problem, this seems like the last thing we should be doing. Reminds me of that time that the plane ran out of gas, when Canada switched to metric. How many kilos of gas did you put in? Pounds? And that is how several hundred people almost died. Fortunately, the pilot was able to successfully crash land on a dragstrip without any severe injuries. In a not completely unrelated diatribe, the United States of America can never go metric and should work to get as many other nations off metric as humanly possibly. |
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Post by billthebeav on Aug 16, 2023 19:43:37 GMT -8
Maybe the quietest sweeping elimination of an entire workforce ever. I suppose just about everybody knew this was going to happen eventually. By the way, anybody notice any change in the price of gas lately? I mean, since each station just slashed its operating costs, you would think, maybe something? I’m still miffed about the thousands of elevator operators who lost their jobs when self service elevators were invented. |
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beavheart
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Post by beavheart on Aug 16, 2023 20:30:29 GMT -8
Maybe the quietest sweeping elimination of an entire workforce ever. I suppose just about everybody knew this was going to happen eventually. By the way, anybody notice any change in the price of gas lately? I mean, since each station just slashed its operating costs, you would think, maybe something? I’m still miffed about the thousands of elevator operators who lost their jobs when self service elevators were invented. touche' |
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