[Az-Geocaching] RE: Oregon bureaucrats propose using GPS to track each driver's

Team Tierra Buena listserv@azgeocaching.com
Tue, 7 Jan 2003 10:23:49 -0700


> you can't pump your own GAS in Oregon??? Who pumps it for you? Trisha

Likewise New Jersey, the only other state that prohibits self-service
gas pumping.

Who pumps it for you? Paid attendants, who, in the "olden" days
(pre-1973 and the "Original" gasoline crisis) would also, check your oil
and water while the tank was filling. That's where the now-antiquated
term "service station" came from; they would actually perform routine
service on your car while attending to the filling of your gas tank. Now
I remember why we speak of the "good old days" <sigh>. 

For what it's worth, even with mandatory "full service", New Jersey
consistently ranks as one of the three or four cheapest states in the
country in which to buy gas. Here's a quote from a report dated October
10, 2002, and prepared by AAA Arizona: 

"Across the country, California continues its reign as the state with
the highest gasoline price average of $1.587 per gallon, followed by New
York: $1.552 and Wisconsin: $1.537. While the cheapest average fuel
price was spotted in Georgia at $1.321 per gallon, followed by South
Carolina: $1.353 and New Jersey: $1.355. Locally, the most notable price
dip occurred in Scottsdale where the average cost of fuel decreased 2.4
cents to $1.393 per gallon. The East Valley was a close second, slipping
two cents to $1.363 per gallon."

Prescott wasn't listed, but Flagstaff was at 1.525 and the statewide
average for Arizona was 1.414, while the national average at the time of
the report was 1.447.

Before you accuse me of going way off-topic here, because we're on an
extremely tight budget, I have a pretty good idea of how much geo-gas we
burn and how much it costs. It's a big reason we haven't been too active
of late. So it's important to me caching-wise to pay attention to fuel
costs. Once you've bought the GPSr gas is the single biggest expense,
and in time becomes a larger cost than your GPSr.

Steve
Team Tierra Buena
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness". -- Dave
Barry