My favorite take so far:

Some guy on Facebook wrote:

Apparently most people in Oregon assume that in order to pump gas you must first remove all people from the vehicle and stand in the open while thugs attack from all angles, all while being sprayed with gas.

Baywolfe wrote:

Didn't full-service die in most of the rest of the country about 20 years ago?

Oregon's requirement to have attendants pump gas (and prohibit self service) was a strategy to maintain some low-skill, low-wage jobs which, even twenty years ago, were already fast disappearing. It was, in the simplest terms, a minor attempt at income redistribution.

GooberMcNutly wrote:

What amazes me is that the gas stations in Oregon and New Jersey don't charge any more for gas than neighboring states, which just goes to reinforce how big the profit margins are in fuel all through the distribution chain. Washington averages 20 cents more than Oregon and New Jersey is 10 cents less than New York. Those must be some amazingly low paying jobs. I wonder what the skim and short-change percentage amounts to? (Probably nothing in today's plastic payment world...)

I had a friend who used to manage a gas station back in the '70s in Illinois. He had to match the till receipts against the pump fuel counters, and if there was a discrepancy, he had to make it up with his own money. I don't think it was strictly legal for his boss to make him do that, but it was one of those "If you want to keep your job, here's how it works." things.

On your other point, with the price of fuel being what it is, I'll bet a single person can easily pump a couple of thousand bucks worth of gas in an hour -- possibly lots more (at my local station the pump jockey would have a hose in four or five different cars at once).

At eight bucks an hour, the cost of the lackey doesn't amount to much.