To Tip Or Not To Tip: Full-Service Gas Station Attendants

Last week’s poll on tipping the pizza delivery guy certainly riled a lot of feathers, with over 300 comments on the topic and more than 12,000 votes tallied. It’s also brought up some good questions about tipping from Consumerist readers, like this one from Chad, who has just been introduced to mandatory full-service gas stations in New Jersey.

See, Chad and his wife just moved to the Garden State, where it’s required by law that all gas be pumped by an attendant.

Here’s Chad speaking for himself:

Right away we noticed the law in NJ that makes it illegal to pump your own gas. There are signs that state a fine of “up to $3000” can be given. That leads me to wonder, what is the practice of tipping the gas attendant?

Since it is forced on you, is it good practice to tip the gas pump guy? I say no. If the guy goes out and does stuff that is above and beyond, I will throw some bucks along the way. With gas climbing again, a lot of people are not willing to give extra money to fill up the tank. What do you think? Am I a prude, or do I have logic in my corner?

What do you think:

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