With no end in sight for the rising gas prices, the State of New Jersey has finally decided to go the way of 48 other states and switch over to self serve gas pumps.

Governor Christie addressed the issue saying “We’re going to do whatever the hell we can to bring down these damn gas prices!”

Changing over to self serve will save us an estimated 5 cents per gallon of gas at the expense of 20,000 jobs.

Other states have made the switch in the past and cited cheaper gas as the reason. However studies of those states showed that the price of gas dropped by about 5 cents/gallon for the first 6 months to a year but then went back up as the oil companies stopped passing on the savings to their customers and simply added it to their profits. In the end, the price of gas went back to where it would have been otherwise and the jobs were lost for nothing.

On top of that, New Jersey gasoline prices tend to be among the lowest in the country on a regular basis.

The changeover is expected to go into effect on August 1st, 2012 to allow the stations to make the necessary changes.

After that date, Oregon will be the last state standing with full serve gas stations.

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about the author: Donald Hanson don@youdontknowjersey.com