Mandating prepay gas idea getting cool reaction
July 19th, 2008 at 08:12pm Chuck Sweeny
In Thursday’s column I wrote about a proposal to make everyone pre-pay when they get gas. Read it here:
I was of two minds about this government intrusion into private business, and surprised that the lawmaker proposing mandatory prepay was Sen. Dave Syverson, who positions himself as a conservative Republican. He’s usually for less government.
He insisted that “business wanted this.”
One of those businesses is RoadRanger, where Chief Ranger Dan Arnold made a good argument in favor of prepay — cops spend too much time on gas drive-off calls that could be better spent, and stations that go prepay voluntarily lose business to those that don’t.
So, I sided with Ranger Dan, although I didn’t really care one way or another because I always pay at the pump with plastic.
Well, the reaction, both to my column and to a news story in Thursday’s paper about a plan to enact a county prepay ordinance, was totally negative. Our own editorial board, of which I’m a member, was dead set against it, as were e-mailers. Calls to Ken DeCoster and Doug McDuff on WNTA were universally opposed, too.
So, I told Dave Syverson , there’s no support for this in the public. I suggested an alternative plan: If there are too many calls (we’d have to set a number) to police about drive-offs from a certain station, the owners would be charged for additional calls above the limit.
We do the same for malfunctioning fire alarms.
Not perfect, I know, but it does provide an incentive to go pre-pay.
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
9 Comments Add your own
1. hokumboy | July 19th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
As one who always pays with cash I wouldn’t mind the pre-pay. I wouldn’t like it, but I’d go along with it if my local station changed it’s policy. But,,,, I really don’t think it should be a law just because Dan Arnold is afraid of losing a sale if his competition doesn’t require it.
Doesn’t Severson have more important things to do in Springfield than silly stuff like this and his working so diligently to get “Cheap Trick Day”?
Oh yeah, I forgot, he enters dance contests.
2. joe daly | July 20th, 2008 at 8:12 am
We all know Dan Arnold is out for him self, I worked for a company who was a vendor, are company didnt want to pay him over a$100,000.00. to be in his stores and help pay for the adds in his stores. So he threw us out. So nobody should ever feel sorry for a drive off on a Road Ranger location, he screws everybody eles, its about time he gets whats coming to him.
3. gowader | July 20th, 2008 at 9:03 am
What a bunch of idiots we have in springfield. Syverson! dont we have enough to worry about like balancing the budget. Your a putts.
4. madghost | July 21st, 2008 at 10:29 am
In most areas of the country this would be debated very little if at all. If stealing as is a problem, you solve the problem. But Noooo, not here in Rockford. We have to have an arguement over it, like everything else in this City I know, let’s form a citizens committee, then hire consultants, then ….you get the idea.
5. George Washington | July 21st, 2008 at 11:54 am
Chuckles! You are exhibiting your supremely advanced leadership skills with this alternative proposal! (Though I don’t quite understand it - the gas station owner gets punished because he gets too many criminals coming to his station?)
However, I thought you told us you were not someone who panders - a few phone calls to the radio station and the newspaper, the editorial board is against it, and whooosh! There goes your principled stand!
Disappointing, sir. I thought you would stand tall in your beliefs.
6. Leatherneck | July 21st, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Chuck you are right. And to quote pro-business conservatives: “let the free market take care of the problem” . In other words, prepay should be voluntary. They can chase their own drive-offs.
With the money Dan Arnold gives to politicians, he could easily afford to hire a rent-a-cop to stand out by the gas pumps.
7. hokumboy | July 22nd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Now I see why Severson was so quick to jump for Dan Arnold’s mandatory pre-pay request. This was in this morning’s RRStar:
Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford
Raised: $74,146.31
Spent: $46,753.13
Cash on hand: $30,642.68
Top donor:
$7,500 from First Ranger Petroleum
8. Jim Coffey | July 22nd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Chuck,
You mentioned that most of the comments you got were against the prepay proposal. Did it ever occur to you that those of us who use credit cards or speedpass (I don’t go to Road Ranger for personal reasons) don’t really care if there is a prepay law or not. We pay with credit cards and we are off, no walking to the counter, no lines, no hassle.
9. Milton Waddams | July 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
If the stations are worried about drive-offs, there is nothing preventing them from instituting prepay on their own and let the free market do its magic. I find it ironic that the people calling for a mandatory prepay law are the same ones who are big talkers about government staying out of the free market.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed