The self-service pumps at gas stations should be more accommodating. After you place the nozzle into the gas tank, you should be able to press buttons that give you an alternative to manually squeezing the pump. One button would give you a full tank of gas. Another would enable to type in the exact number of gallons of gas that you want, while another would enable you to enter the amount in dollars. You would then be able to walk into the convenience store that all gas stations have, and where incidentally they have much higher profit margins, while your self-service pump fills up your car with the proper amount automatically.

This system is so simple that I'm sure it must be in place somewhere. I've never seen it at a gas station though. Perhaps they are afraid it will eat into the full-service pumps, where they have much higher profit margins. After all, I know a doctor who won't pump his own gas because of health concerns about breathing in the fumes. If this system were available, he would probably choose to use the self-service. It seems though that the timesavings that it would give to the self-service customers, making them far more likely to go inside and buy coffee and donuts, would more than compensate. Besides, it would enable gas stations to better lure customers from competing gas stations. I wonder if there is some sort of outdated legal hurdle to this idea, perhaps based on safety considerations. If there is, with modern technology it should be fairly simple to allay those concerns, so that pumping would only begin after the nozzle is safely locked in place.

What do you think of this idea or comment?
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I disagree