Here’s why New Jersey gas prices would drop if we pumped our own (Opinion)

How would you feel about pumping your own gas if you could save up to 30 cents a gallon doing so? Despite what my audience thinks, I've long been a proponent of being able to pump our own gas in New Jersey. As we talked about it last night Sal Risalvato, the executive director of the NJ Gasoline and Convenience Automotive Association, called in to say that if we were allowed to pump our own we would save between "7 and 23 cents a gallon and as wages get higher, you could be talking 25-30 cents a gallon just for pumping it into somebody else's car."

Sal says "we want you to have a choice." If you could go to a location and you could save even 10 cents a gallon and a lot of time and you're willing to do so, you should be able to do so.

Would self serve insurance cause gas prices to rise? Risalvato surveys "show that that is not true but let's just say that if the cost went up 10%, that is peanuts compared to the cost of the labor."

And of course, what about the poor gas station worker who could lose his job? "My members are having a very difficult time finding employees right now, they are short at the pumps as well as the convenient stores, if they are able to move the pumpers into the stores, nobody loses their job."

Last but not least, Sal addressed the orange cone. "If you were permitted to pump your own gas, you could save up to 10 cents a gallon and that orange cone will not be laid off or ever collect unemployment".

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