I had forgotten that many of the gas stations in Central New York require that you hold onto the pump handle for the duration of putting fuel into the vehicle. There’s no little flippy thing to hold the handle in the on position until the pump senses it’s time to turn it off.
I do not enjoy this, especially in the frigid cold weather of Central New York.
I found an article from 2014 in Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle that indicates there are two states in the nation that don’t allow the hold and close clips, and that’s New York and Massachusetts. There’s a petition on change.org that is petitioning to allow these mechanisms to be used in New York. Whether the hold and close clips are allowed isn’t the issue in the law, the issue is that New York requires a person present to dispense gasoline into their vehicle and this is how the filling stations follow the law. There’s stickers that say things like “don’t wedge your gas cap into the pump nozzle”. One sticker had a user added advisory note, “use a screwdriver”.
Many years ago there was an overzealous cashier at a Wawa in the Poconos that would turn the pump off every time someone stepped away from the pump while filling up. This was occurring in the middle of a torrential rain storm, and even with the presence of hold and close clips on the pumps, she felt the need to end the transaction if you got yourself out of the rain while the pump dispensed gasoline into the vehicle. I went in and complained several times, along with every other customer at the station at the time, and she was adamant. There was talk of forcing her and her cash register out into the rain but we just paid the $1 she allowed to be pumped into the tank and went across the street to the filling station where folks were friendlier.
I miss friendly folks.
