this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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Pacific Northwest - OR,WA,BC
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I live in Oregon and I’m split on this. I’m leaning towards it is mostly a good thing; being low on gas at night is always stressful if you don’t know of a station that’s open late/24 hours, so being able to pump your own gas is especially useful in those instances. It’ll also be nice not needing to have to wait a few minutes for an attendant to get to my car when it’s busy and they’re short handed.
However, pumping gas has definitely provided jobs for those who needed them. Hopefully they can find other work that is healthier for the employees - I can’t imagine inhaling gas fumes 8 hours a day is great for the body.
I realize this is the case, and I definitely don't want to run the risk of (1) making hundreds of other people's lives much harder just to remove a minor inconvenience for me, nor (2) gatekeep what is and isn't a viable job.... but I also don't see it stable (in the long term) to prop up types of work that don't actually need formalized employment to be done.
Agreed. If you're giving people makework you might as well start implementing UBI, because then you're not paying for injuries on the job, you're not paying for commute, there's no additional expenses and people can study and improve their lives so they can do more useful jobs.
My sentiment as well. Preserving unnecessary jobs for the sole purpose of delivering a paycheck is just a cruel version of welfare. If we're going to pay people to contribute nothing or next to nothing because they need an income and that's their only option, can't we just write the check without obliterating the hours they could be using to improve themselves in some way?
Preserve and support people, not jobs.