, Columnist
Some Types of Make-Work Jobs Won't Survive
Oregon will now let people pump their own gas. That's not great for the attendants.
We shall not look upon his like again.
Photographer: Emile Wamsteker/BloombergI never liked full-service gas stations. There’s something aristocratic about sitting in the warm comfort of your car while someone standing out in the freezing cold fills your tank -- a lord in his carriage being tended to by footmen. So I was relieved to hear that Oregon is relaxing its law against self-service gas stations. In many rural counties in the state, you can now pump gas yourself.
Some Oregonians don’t share my feelings. On a Facebook post asking for people’s reactions to the change, many of the reactions were full of fear, disdain or stubborn resistance: