ng in New Jersey: It's certainly an adventure!

Near the shore, traffic ebbs and flows with the weather, with Shoobies and/or Bennies weaving in and out of traffic, and clogging the passing lanes.

According to the US Department of Transportation, there are 3.6 Million licensed drivers in New Jersey. It's closed to a 50/50 split between males and females.

Here in New Jersey, we're also a state where we don't pump our own gas - it's all full-serve.

(This is where I'd campaign for the opening up of self-serve gas in Jersey, but I'm sure my editor would cut it out, so why bother?)

Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash
Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash
loading...

So, if we're all driving and we're all getting gas, pumped by someone else, there's one thing everyone should start doing immediately:

Tip the gas station attendant.

At least a buck or two.

Yes, they get paid, but not very much. Probably in most cases, it's minimum wage. They are providing a service to you. They're out there in all kinds of weather: heat, cold, wind, rain, snow. They actually deliver in all kinds of weather more than your postal carrier does!

So, how about we make it a practice to tip the guy or girl?

I always have, but that might be because I'm an old gas pumper from way back. My first job when I was 13 was pumping Ethyl. (Ethyl was a higher octane gas "back in the old days.")

I'm always surprised when I have someone in my car and I stop and get gas. "Do you always tip the attendant?"

Yes! I assume everyone does.

If you don't, consider starting. Only a buck. If you can afford to fill up your car for 40 something dollars, an extra dollar won't set you back - but it will help that nice, polite person who's always standing by, ready to help you.

On behalf of attendants everywhere - thank you!

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

17 Things You Likely Don't Know About the Garden State Parkway

You probably drive on the Garden State Parkway all of the time, but how much do you know about one of the busiest roads in New Jersey?

More From SoJO 104.9 FM