I was born and raised in the great state of New Jersey and lived there until I was about 25 or so. Upon finally moving from the Garden State to warmer climes, there were two unsettling realizations I had to come to terms with about what life outside of ChrisChristieLand had in store.
One, at least at that time, it was just about impossible to get my hands on Taylor Ham, (also sometimes known as Pork Roll). If you are from NJ, and also the greater Philly area, you know what I am talking about.
And two, that I suddenly, regularly, had to pump my own fuel at the gas station.
You see New Jersey back then, as it still is now, is one of only two states in the US (Oregon is the other one), that do not allow for self-service dispensing of Class 1 Flammable Liquids at Retail. In other words, when you roll up to the gas pumps in NJ, an actual living, breathing person has to find out what type of gas you want, how much of it you would like, how you are going to pay for said gas, and then actually operate the gas pump, refuel the car, and finally process your payment.
While at times it is a pain in the neck for a motorist to have to be 'served' in this manner, by a person, (if the station is really busy or if the attendant is not terribly motivated, it can take a longer than desired time to get in and out of the station), there are other times, (in the rain ,the freezing cold, if you want to make a quick call or send a text, or if you just don't like smelling like gas for the next hour or two), that being able to wait in the car while someone else fills up the tank is actually pretty cool.
Well for all those folks in the other 48 states that have to suffer the indignity of pumping your own gas, soon help may be on the way in the form of Husky Corporation's new breakthrough - the Automatic Refueling System.
Check the embedded video below, (Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through):
That is every kind of awesome, right?
Reduces your refueling time by 30%, is cleaner, safer, and lets you stay snuggly warm and dry in your car no matter what is going on outside.
And, in a surprising turn of events in these kinds of 'robots are coming for all our jobs' stories, these refueling robots would not actually disrupt very many jobs, except some in New Jersey and Oregon.
What these robots 'replace' is the hassle of you having to pump your own gas, and activity which, after the 12,498th repetition has mostly lost whatever allure and glamour it once held.
But these automatic refueling robots do make we worried about the long-term fate of my home state, New Jersey. People are already leaving the Garden State in droves. Full-service gas stations are still one of the few reasons to stay. If those vanish by way of the robot, then what other reasons are there to remain in NJ?
And you can now buy Taylor Ham no matter where you live - shipped straight to your door.
Have a great weekend!