Believe it or not, it used to be illegal to pump your own gas into your car. This was because of fire laws. Most of the states had fire laws that prohibited “untrained personnel” from dispensing flammable fluids. This, of course, meant gasoline being dispensed at gas stations. Here’s the story.
The early days
The first filling stations began to appear around 1909. From the beginning, an attendant filled the gas tank for the mo¬torist because of the local fire safety codes. The mechanics of buying gas began to change as the curbside hand-cranked pumps gave way to the boxy, stationary versions still in use today. Attendants at gasoline stations also did more than just pump gas too. They performed other compli¬mentary services, such as washing windshields and checking oil levels and tire pressure.
The number of gasoline outlets began to soar as more and more Americans bought cars. By 1933, there were 170,000 gasoline stations, and that number jumped to 231,000 by 1940.
Then self-serve arrives
Then in 1947, an entrepreneur named Frank Urich, working within the local fire codes, opened the first self-service gasoline station in Los Angeles. The big attraction was saving money. Gasoline was selling for 20 cents per gallon back then but because of self-service, customers only paid 15 cents. It was a huge hit.
While some stations switched to this type of self-service gasoline, the idea didn’t really catch on with many retailers at the time. The major oil companies continued to compete with one another via unique gimmicks and giveaways.
A visionary retailer
John Roscoe, a gas station owner in Colorado, at first wanted nothing to do with remote access self-service gaso¬line. Then, one day, Roscoe recalls, a man named Herb Timms stopped by with a box he had invented that would allow an operator inside the store to dispense gasoline at the pumps outside. On June 10, 1964, at a Westminster, Colorado, location, Roscoe flipped the switch activating the first U.S. remote access self-service gasoline pumps. According to Griffis Motors in PA, “sell¬ing gasoline was never the same.”
“What made self-serve so important to the convenience store industry was that we already had the facility,” said Roscoe. “By spending $10,000, we ef¬fectively got the gasoline business from the other stations without their expenses.”
Others wanted in
It wasn’t long before everyone in the gas business wanted in but for remote self-service gasoline to ex¬pand, regulatory changes needed to oc¬cur. Unfortunately, at the time, most state laws had provisions that forbade self-serve dispensers in service stations. However, 48 states (New Jersey and Oregon never did) changed the fire codes to allow for self-service dispens-ers.
Today, of course, self-serve gasoline stations are located throughout the land (except New Jersey and Oregon) and it is a convenience that we take for granted. It seems impossible that at one time, it was actually illegal to pump your own gasoline into your car.
