FURTHER SELF-SERVICE CONCEPT-R. BILLINGS

Further Self-Service Concept

by R. BILLINGS

Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures City of Plymouth

Since the first self-service petrol station in the U .K. was opened in Plymouth in 19.63 using the original Swedish idea of post-payment techmque, the author has been look-ing into the q~estion. of what might be the next logical step in petrol d1spensmg. Because the main theme in any self-service concept is to avoid or reduce the high costs of labour, the most obvious thoughts became centred on how to eliminate even the one or two employees and yet still be able to sell petrol in quantity at any time. All this seemed to present a paradox, especially difficult to. solve because not ~ll local pet_roleum authorities are convmced that self-service, even with sur-veillance on the spot, is to be encouraged. Attention has been focused on the idea that if at all times the operation of self-service dispensers were under surveillance-not necessarily on the same spot-and all the other established self-service precautions were in force, then a station could operate for 24 hours a day without any person taking a direct part in the selling of petrol. Three years ago only a limited demand was envisaged for the pre-payment system and for assoc.i~ted sales of petrol/oil mixtures in small individual quant1t1es for motor scooters, etc. An acceptable system for an unmanned station was also being sought. Since that time, there has been a remarkable success of the post-payment systems and they have spread into many areas, with. a phenomenal increase in sales and speed of sales, along with a 50 per cent reduction in labour costs. It had become clear that the way might be well prepared for a further step forward in this direction. Whilst the technical and economic feasibility of remote surveillance and an automatic, unmanned station was under consideration in principle, it was perhap~ a rema~kable coincidence that the government proposed its sel~ct1ve employment tax and provided a need to escalate such 1~eas of dispensing petrol without the use of labour. Cer~amly any arrangements that would avoid payment of this tax in a service trade-and at the same time provide a 24-hour service with much potential in heavy traffic focal points or holiday areas like the south-west of England-might indeed recommend itself to the petrol dispensing trade. The system proposed will provide the alternative to the on the spot surveillance and this will be achieved by the contractual use of the services of a remote security authority. Major components of the system and the operation of its various sections will be as follows-Petrol Dispensing Units will be linked, either singly or in other collective groupings, to a coin-operated or banknote acceptance unit. The acceptance unit, when charged, will control the oper-ation and delivery of the dispensing units. The "pump" to be used, together with the brand of petrol required, might be selected from the money acceptance memory unit. The buyer then switches on the dispensing un!t that has been activated by the acceptance memory umt and takes delivery of the quantity of petrol which has alre.ady been pre-determined according to price or gallonage, mto the tank of his motor car. There will be no employees on the station. Instead, a system of remote surveillance will provide the deterre!l~ to those who might act in an irresponsible way. A telev1s10n camera will be sited to overlook the petrol dispensing area, to take in a picture of the petrol dispensing units, money units, etc. A closed circuit will provide a monitor picture in the remote control room of a security organisation, many of which are now being established in cities. They usually possess control rooms which have equipment attached to audible alarm systems and the television monitor described will also be sited in this control room. In the event of any untoward incident, the security watchman can quickly alert the appropriate police or fire authorities.

Facilities available Enquiries have been carried out into the provision of all the necessary equipment and its current availability. The indications are that the total cost of the equipment would not be excessive-little more, in fact, than the cost of two petrol pumps. The fee for the remote surveillance, as checked with a security organization, would be as low as £2 per week for surveillance from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. each day. The attraction of this arrangement in itself is that a station could, if required, go automatic during normal working hours, say from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. without the television link operating. During those hours, surveillanc:e could be provided by others being on the premises, albeit not involved with petrol retailing. The hours of remote surveillance, moreover, could be adjusted to suit individual requirements. Whatever programme arrangements are made, the potential saving in labour costs must be sub-stantial. It could be that development along these lines would only be possible where a good prospect of sales could be achie~ed, .for. example, on good and busy roads and especially m city areas. It might be thought that the cost of equipment and lack of remote control centres would prohibit this concept in country areas. But in these cases, local authorities may accept a less sophisticated arrange-ment and equipment because it may be judged that the risk factor to the area would be so much less. There seems to be no doubt however, that local authori-ties are likely to be faced with' applications for approval of pre-payment systems. If they would otherwise have to turn these applications down due to lack of surveillance, then their objections might be overcome by the system suggested. Where applications might have been already agreed without any surveillance, then such action might set precedents that can later prove unfortunate. O~e object in revealing the system and idea described in this article at the present time is that local authorities might wish to consider the possibility of asking for remote sur-veillance and thus avoid an embarrassing precedent being

94