The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted full-service fueling—as either a tool to differentiate or as an obstacle to staying open. And the end result all depends on a retailer’s location.

In March, social media posts warned of the dangers of catching the coronavirus from touching contaminated dispensers. While health experts have not ruled out the possibility of surface transmission, there are no confirmed cases of someone contracting COVID-19 by touching a gas dispenser.

We didn’t know if 50% of customers would be interested, 75% or 5%.

Retailers have responded by offering disposable gloves and hand sanitizer and stepping up forecourt cleaning regimens. In the 48 states that allow consumers to pump their own gas, some retailers have gone a step further by offering customers the option to have someone else do it and avoid touching the gas pump altogether.

In April, Kum & Go began offering full-service fueling at all 398 stores in 11 states, tapping existing technology: the call button. Signs posted at the fuel island direct customers to press the call button at any pump or phone the store to request fueling. An employee comes out to handle the fill-up and the transaction—both cash and credit are accepted. Full-service fueling is available at all pumps to simplify the customer experience.

“Wayfinding is always challenging, whether it’s inside a supermarket or out of the parking lot of a store,” said Reed Rainey, COO of Des Moines-based Kum & Go, of the decision-making process. “We didn’t know what the take rate would be on this service. We didn’t know if 50% of customers would be interested, 75% or 5%.” Kum & Go chose an approach that could provide the service for as many customers at the same time.

Hy-Vee Inc. added full-service fueling in April to its 169 grocery and Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh stores in eight states. Like Kum & Go, Hy-Vee uses call buttons and a dedicated phone number for assistance and accepts cash and credit cards. “Cash is more steps for us, because if the customer wants to have a receipt, we’ll have to go back and go in the store, and come back out,” said Curt Sills, group vice president of convenience stores for West Des Moines-based Hy-Vee. “But it’s taking care of the customer.”

Both retailers have safety protocols for employees, including masks and gloves that are replaced with each transaction. They limit full-service fueling to daylight hours, or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Rainey said the biggest unknown for Kum & Go was if its current workforce could support full-service fueling. “Where we landed was, let’s stand this up and understand the public’s reception and ultimately the take rate,” said Rainey. “And if we had to add labor to support this business, that’s a good thing.”

As of late June, Kum & Go had seen fewer than 100 full-service fueling transactions per day, which it has been able to manage under its existing payroll. Hy-Vee also has seen a small take rate, or about five transactions per store per day.

Despite the relatively low usage of full-service fueling, the retailers have been pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction from customers. Anecdotally, most who use the service are older customers, Sills said. Hy-Vee plans to continue offering full-service fueling through the end of 2020.

Kum & Go expects to make full-service fueling, along with curbside delivery, regular features as it aims to remove even more contact points. In May, it added the Fuel Better tool to its app, enabling customers to activate the pump and pay for fuel from a smartphone. This could be connected to curbside and the full-service offer. “Done well, combined with retail, potentially delivering this could be a differentiator,” Rainey said. “There isa place post-COVID.”

The Need for Self-Service

Full-service fueling has been a relatively easy way for some operators to address a pandemic stress point. But in the two states that require it—Oregon and New Jersey—it has added to the stress for retailers.

Done well, combined with retail, potentially delivering this could be a differentiator. There is a place post-COVID.

Oregon has outlawed self-service fueling since 1951 over safety concerns about consumers spilling fuel. In 2016, the state loosened restrictions to allow retailers in low-population counties dealing with employee shortages to offer self-service fueling during overnight hours. Then this spring, the pandemic triggered a labor crisis for fuel retailers across the state.

“When the governor issued her stay-at-home order in Oregon, we and the Oregon Fuels Association started receiving just a massive amount of emails from retail stations, gas station owners, across the state saying, ‘My employees are not available; I can’t keep the station open; we’re going to have a fuel availability issue,’” said Danelle Romain, a partner with The Romain Group and a lobbyist for the Oregon Fuels Association (OFA), based in Salem, Oregon. Retailers said employees were either ill or staying home to take care of children or sick relatives.

Star Oilco, a fuel distributor based in Portland, Oregon, has one retail location outside of the city. President Mark Fitz had to man the pumps himself after an employee with a baby at home refused to work. “He was really scared about the disease, so he didn’t show up,” said Fitz, noting that the employee eventually returned to work. While Starco pays above the $12-per-hour state minimum wage and offers bonuses, Fitz also believes generous state and federal unemployment benefits hurt recruitment efforts.

Radwan Akroush, co-owner of two Fastrak Fuel Mart stores in Portland, Oregon, had to temporarily close the sites after employees left and never returned. “A lot of them quit,” said Akroush. “They’re like, ‘I live with my mother, she’s elderly. I don’t want to get her sick.’” One of the stores is located near a hospital; when it closed, it eliminated a fueling option for health workers there, he said.

According to the Oregon Department of Energy, the number of actively employed gas station attendants fell by as much as half as the pandemic flared in March. After getting feedback from Oregon fuel retailers, the state’s fire marshal agreed to temporarily lift the self-service ban. Beginning in late March and extending through late May, Oregon allowed all gas stations to offer self-service as an option if they couldn’t fill job vacancies. Romain said most retailers were able to take advantage of the measure and adopted an attended self-service model. At Starco Oil’s Portland store, an employee would approach a vehicle, maintaining six feet of distance, and offer customers the option of full-service or self-service. Employees cleaned nozzles and pumps with each self-service transaction.

This relaxation of labor requirements allowed Akroush to reopen his stores. “We were able to keep [employees] in the store as opposed to going outside,” said Akroush. “And it was quicker. A lot of the customers actually liked it. They’re like, ‘I always prefer to pump my own gas.’”

New Jersey’s Culture War

While Oregon temporarily lifted its self-service ban, New Jersey stuck to its prohibition, which dates back to 1949. This was even as the pandemic worsened to give the state the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country this past April.

If we had self-serve in New Jersey, we’d be able to lower our price, probably about 15 cents a gallon.

In March, Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store, Automotive Association (NJGCA), based in Wall Township, New Jersey, wrote to Gov. Phil Murphy asking for retailers to have the ability to offer self-service as an option during the pandemic. He cited workers’ health concerns and conflicts with customers, who insisted on handling the transaction themselves. The governor did not budge.