Did you know that California Law requires stations to offer free air to motorists? Yet, virtually every station also has a coin box at the air filling hose. Most likely this coin box is present because so many stations are national chains, and no station operator wants to be stuck offering free air when their competitor down the road does not. But in California the coin box is kind of silly… the only people who would ever need to deposit money are motorists who don’t know the law, and bicyclists.
The law is California BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE SECTION 13650-13702, which reads “On and after January 1, 2000, every service station in this state shall provide… at no cost to customers who purchase motor vehicle fuel… water, compressed air, and a gauge for measuring air pressure for use in servicing any passenger vehicle, as defined in Section 465 of the Vehicle Code…“.
I rather suspect that the savings of not maintaining a coin box would just about cover the cost of offering every passing cyclist some free air. Don’t you?