[SoothingDave]

If everybody is pumping their own gas, things move much quicker than when you have to wait for some overworked, underpaid guy named Habib to ask for your money, pump your gas, process your credit card if you don't pay with cash, then on to the next car then the next etc. That helped keep the lines REALLY long.

Really, try studying economics and the 1970s energy crisis. Really. We'll still be here when you are done.

The method of payment and the identity of the pump operator are trivial. The lines were brought about by scarcity and rising prices leading to people topping off their tanks with gas before the prices went up again.

SD