The law banning New Jersey motorists from pumping their own gas is as deeply ingrained in the Garden State as reverence for Bruce Springsteen and summers at the Shore.
Now the stubborn law, originally meant to guard drivers from handling flammable fuel, is facing off with its latest formidable foes: labor shortages and soaring gasoline prices.
New Jersey lawmakers earlier this week took another swing at giving customers a choice. State legislators introduced the bill Monday that would allow gas stations to offer the option of self-service, full-service, or a combination of the two. A station with more than four pumps would be required to maintain a full-service option.
In the 73 years that the full-service restriction has been in place, opponents, ranging from gas station operators looking to undercut competitors to lawmakers hoping to save consumers money, have periodically challenged the measure to no avail. Eventually, Oregon and New Jersey alone maintained the restriction, before the Western state relaxed the rule in 2015.
"I've lived in New Jersey for 20 years, and I'm very used to being served at the car," said Darcy Watson, a Mount Laurel resident and lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "In bad weather, in cold weather, it's a convenience."
But now the specter of $4 for a gallon of regular unleaded is all but inevitable as rising prices are compounded by the geopolitical turmoil stemming from Russia's attack on Ukraine.
Allowing self-service at the pump would let motorists shave off the premium paid for being waited on. Drivers who pump their own gas can save 15¢ or more a gallon, according to estimates of the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store, Automotive Association, or NJGCA.
And beyond consumer concerns, gas station owners also complain of being unable to find the workers needed to keep from running into trouble with the full-service mandate. The tight labor market has helped mute perennial concerns that relaxing the full-service law would cost jobs.
"When I got into the business years ago, it was a great way to make a living, a pathway to the American dream," said Joe Ocello, NJGCA president and a gas station owner. "But increasing prices and labor shortages are making it more and more difficult to run a gas station."
Gov. Phil Murphy's office declined to comment.
Station owners sign on
The new bill, dubbed the "Motorist Fueling Choice and Convenience Act," was introduced by main sponsor Carol Murphy, D-Burlington, a member of the New Jersey Assembly.
Murphy said the bill addresses another frequent argument raised to defeat previous challenges to the full-service law: that motorists with disabilities would struggle to fuel their own vehicles. Murphy's proposal includes provisions that call for any station that is only self-service to offer assistance to disabled drivers.
"I have many friends with disabilities, and I want them to understand gas stations would still provide both self-serve and full-service," she said.
Hearings haven't yet been scheduled, but about a dozen co-sponsors from both parties have signed on to the bill, Murphy said. Bill A3105 was introduced by Murphy, Ned Thomson, R-Wall Township, and Annette Chaparro, D-Hoboken.
A similar bill was shot down in 2015. Supporters of the most recent proposal say that the backing of gas-station owners this time around is near universal.
Gas station owners say that if they cannot find the needed workers, they will be forced to curtail their station hours. The NJGCA has nearly 1,000 small-business motor fuel retailers who support the latest self-service bill. And they're proving to be an influential bloc, launching a campaign called Fuel Your Way.
Offering full-service only "is crippling my small business," NJGCA's Ocello said.
Severe labor shortages
Under current New Jersey law, said Levent Sertbas, an NJGCA member and fuel station owner in Paramus, he has to close in the middle of the day "because I can't find attendants to work the gas pumps."
"We're in the middle of the labor shortage, so sometimes that makes it difficult to have your station open," said Jeff Lenard, vice president, strategic industry initiatives, at the National Association of Convenience Stores.
In 1978, there were about 5,000 gas stations in New Jersey, said Sal Risalvato, executive director of the NJGCA.
Just before the pandemic, there were 2,300 stations. That number has fallen to 2,200 today, he said. Profit margins on a gallon of gas vary from 10 to 30 cents a gallon after expenses.
And self-serve is now the norm at many supermarkets and other retail stores. "We survey consumers all the time. The number-one technology they want right now is self-checkout inside the store. So if they're looking for self-checkout inside the store," Risalvato said, "why wouldn't they get self checkout at the pump?"
Prices rocket higher
Meanwhile, prices at the pump are climbing.
AAA said Wednesday the average retail gasoline price in the five-county Philadelphia area increased 5 cents per gallon overnight to $3.84. Prices went up 4 cents a gallon in South Jersey to $3.63 a gallon and 10 cents in Delaware, to $3.70.
The national gas average for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $3.65 on Wednesday, up 4 cents overnight and up 12 cents in the last week, according to AAA.
The national average was $2.72 a gallon a year ago.
