Expensive fuel reinforces pressure for self-service at gas station pumps

The rise in fuel prices in 2021 intensified pressures for the release of self-service at gas stations, a model widespread in the United States and Europe in which the consumer himself supplies his vehicle.

The change is the subject of proposals in Congress and is defended by the resale segment. Proponents claim that the reduction in labor costs will lead to a drop in the final price of fuel.

The change is rejected by unions of gas station attendants and seen with little enthusiasm by Fecombustíveis (National Federation of Retail Trade of Fuels and Lubricants).

Self-service at gas stations was banned in 2000, with the approval of a bill that alleged risks for the consumer. “The handling of fuels directly by the consuming public may entail high risks for people not trained to work as gas station attendants”, stated the justification for the project.

For now, the proposal has faced resistance in Congress, but there are a number of initiatives to try to implement self-service. One of the bills is by federal deputy Vinícius Poit (Novo-SP), who was evaluated earlier this month in a committee at the Chamber.

In addition, it was included in two amendments to the MP (provisional measure) for Fuels, in progress in the Senate, which authorizes the direct sale of ethanol from production plants to service stations. One is by Congressman Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP) and the other by Congresswoman Adriana Ventura (Novo-SP).

In both cases, lawmakers allege that allowing self-service would help lower prices. Ventura recalls that Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) suggested the measure as one of the alternatives to reduce concentration in the fuel sector in a 2018 opinion.

“This restriction does not make sense from an economic point of view, nor from a consumer’s point of view,” says the deputy. “By way of comparison, in supermarkets, banks, restaurants, cinemas, airlines, etc., self-service is possible. Why would it be any different with the fuel sector?”

The comparison is also used by the part of the reseller that defends the measure. “Ours is the only activity that prohibits self-service,” says Luiz Antônio Amin, president of Sincopetro-SC (Union of Retail Trade of Petroleum Derivatives of Santa Catarina).

The president of Paranapetro (Union of stations in Paraná), Rui Cichella, says that the reduction in labor costs could represent a cut of up to 5% in the final price of fuel.

“But that depends on the size of the post and the region”, he emphasizes. “Brazil needs to develop. We cannot wait with our arms folded, hoping that the cost will naturally decrease”, he defends.

The two representatives claim that Brazil will start in 2022 a process of mandatory change in fuel pumps to install equipment with greater security against fraud and the ideal would be to approve the release of self-service before, so that stations can take the opportunity to buy adequate pumps, already with payment methods.

Time to fill the tank is longer

For Fecombustíveis, however, the simple implementation of self-service would have little effect on prices. First, because most Brazilian service stations are located on small plots of land, which makes it difficult to refuel several vehicles at the same time. And the longer the supply takes, the greater the risk of a drop in sales.

“The attendant takes 2 minutes and 40 seconds, on average, to fill a tank in the reserve. In self-service, it takes an average of ten minutes”, says the organization’s president, Paulo Miranda. “To sell the same amount [com o autoatendimento], a post would have to triple the number of bombs.”

Second, says Miranda, the cost of labor represents between 40% and 55% of the margin of the posts. Even without any gas station attendant, the savings would be, therefore, half the margin. In Curitiba, he says, the average margin is R$0.30 per liter. The end of gas station attendants would thus represent savings of R$ 0.15 per liter.

Miranda also recalls the risk of unemployment among gas station attendants, at a time when the job market is going through a serious crisis. The sector currently employs around 500 thousand people in the country.

“Multiplying the size of an average family by four, gives two million people who live directly from this work. It is a very large impact”, argues the first vice president of Fenepospetro (National Federation of Gas Station attendants), Francisco Soares de Souza .

The entity defends that the release of self-service would only reduce the final price by 1.72%.

Dealers in Paraná and Santa Catarina propose a qualification program so that fired gas station attendants can be replaced in other activities, citing civil construction as an example. “It is able to pay better than the dealer station,” says Amin.

Cichello adds that the layoffs would take place “over years”, since the adaptation of posts to the new model takes time.

“Those who are in a service station when they are 20 or 30 years old will not find a job elsewhere. They are not prepared for another profession”, counters Souza, from the gas station federation.