That type of quote always amuses me, simply because NOBODY has ever been arrested or charged with a violation of that statute in NJ. Oregon may be different, of course.
I have been pumping my own gas in NJ since the '70s, and nobody has ever attempted to stop me from doing it. In fact, most gas attendants thank me for doing it.
That being said, I have stopped pumping my own gas for the duration of the Pandemic. I hand my credit card to the attendant, let him take care of the gas pumping, and then–of course–I sanitize my card with a Lysol wipe after he hands the card back to me.
Here in Oregon same… but different:
No one ever gets arrested or seriously Harassed for pumping their own gas. But the pump jockeys will nearly always if they see you come quickly over and politely stop you
Humm. I didn’t think of that. That’s true in many places it would not help coins change issue.
Here in Oregon it would, we don’t have any sales tax.
Regardless, I still think it’s an insult to our intelligence to believe we’re so dumb than we’d scratch a car off our short list of possible purchases if MSRP was stated as $17,000 instead of $16,950.
Or It’s OK to buy that bottle of wine for $7.98 but not at $8.
The concession stands price their items so that the prices with sales tax come out to full dollars, no coin change needed. If the price for merchandise were rounded up or down to the quarter of a dollar with tax we wouldn’t need cents, nickles or dimes.
Often the sales tax is required to be calculated on the subtotal of all taxable items. Due to rounding, this might not end up as an exact dollar amount when more than one item is purchased.
In parts of Europe the posted price is the total cost of item plus its tax which can be quite high with the VAT (value added tax) that can be 20% or more. Some of Europe also has gone mostly cashless from what a friend who travels there often on business has told me. Apparently most people load money to a virtual account on their cell phone and pay for things via their phone similar to using a debit card. Even laundromats require electronic virtual payment with no cash, coins, or even credit cards accepted. In several countries if you lack a phone you are remarkably shut out of even the simplest of transactions from what I’ve been told.
Auto manufacturers are extremely interested in the cost of parts, and will cheap out if it saves a very few dollars. A good example is the 1974 Mercury Capri GT that I owned. It shuddered about 35 mph, Moreno when braking. I mentioned this to a couple of friends that owned Capri GTs, and they both said that Ford put cheap struts on. If they were replaced with quality struts, the problem would go away.
In 78 made a round trip to FL in my girlfiends Gremlin on coins from the coin jar, remembering if you can’t afford everything, take your change ad go on vacation, so we did!
At Menards today (got some water damage to repair) they had a sign at the cashier to please use a debit card or exact change due to the shortage. I guess the lobby is open now at the bank so maybe should turn my jar in.
My neighbor tried to turn her jar of coins in as a deposit to her account at the bank yesterday only to be told they aren’t accepting any coins at this time. A friend elsewhere tried turning in already rolled coins at another bank only to be told they aren’t allowed to accept any cash deposits at present.
That’s interesting. They must be afraid to touch the stuff. I let mine sit for a few days anyway before using it. They have the machine in the bank lobby and then you get a slip and take it to the cashier for payment so wonder if that’s restricted too. ATMs still dispense the money though. Interesting that it was always best to have some cash cash around in times of disaster but guess that doesn’t work with this one.
My credit union is the same. But not all branches have the machine.
I rarely pay cash anymore. I might have $20 in my wallet. When I had teenagers living at home I always tried to have at least $100 - they always needed something.
I prefer ApplePay - just easier. I hate the store like WalMart that doesn’t have ApplePay. Instead you have to use their app to use your phone to pay. That is so inconvenient. Just another reason why I try not to shop at WalMart.
How did she feel about checks? Or was it ‘cash-only’?
This would be a bit maddening, but I suppose if she had some very bad spending habits/impulse control, this could be one way to contain them. At the very least, maybe she should’ve carried an ATM card so she didn’t have to physically go to the bank…
I have used a credit card more since this pandemic began than I ever used it previously. About the only thing I used to use my credit card was at the gas pump. I paid for everything else in cash.
I admit to being a geezer and a hick. I often shop at a Walmart within walking distance of my house. I have a couple of friends that work there that play.in a band where I also play. I often see them when I go to Walmart. I don’t care for the automated self scan check-out system. It always insults me. The mechanical voice yells at me and says “Put that item you just scanned in the bagging area,” or “hurry it up old geezer, others are waiting to check out”. I hate being yelled at by a machine. I much prefer a check out lane with a person. I like the personal interaction.
It’s hard for me to get used to a cashless society. A couple of years ago when we were in Oregon, I enjoyed talking to the service station employees.who pumped the gas. I know I am showing my age.
Penny’s minted before 1982 used 95% copper. Penny’s minted 1982 and later now only have about 5% copper. So it depends on what year penny you’re talking about.
