Important to Service Station Attendants (1942), seven checks before a gallon is sold

A 1942 Office of Price Administration notice for gas stations lists seven checks an attendant must make before selling gasoline, from asking for the ration book to detaching the coupons himself, warns that skipping them violates the rationing regulations, and tells the public not to ask dealers to break them (NAID 514612).

The notice

It is type only, in red and blue. There is no picture, no slogan and no soldier. The sheet speaks to one reader, the person at the pump, and adds a line at the bottom for everyone else.

IMPORTANT

to

SERVICE STATION ATTENDANTS

BEFORE YOU SELL GASOLINE TO A CUSTOMER

Be sure to do this FIRST:

1. Ask for the Gasoline Ration Book.

2. Check sticker on windshield with book.

3. Check description on front cover with vehicle for which gasoline is being purchased.

4. Be sure the expiration date on front cover of ration book has not passed.

5. Be sure there are enough coupons good for current period to cover purchase.

6. Accept no coupons unless You detach them.

7. Follow all special instructions and regulations in checking and handling coupons.

Failure to observe these rules will violate the gasoline-rationing regulations

NOTE TO PUBLIC: DO NOT ASK GASOLINE DEALERS TO VIOLATE THE REGULATIONS

OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION

Washington, D. C.

Provenance

The Office of Price Administration in Washington signs the notice, and the Government Printing Office imprint gives 1942. The National Archives keeps it in Record Group 44, World War II Posters, 44-PA-1085 (NAID 514612). FRAME tags fear appeal, and its description says little persuasion is present; the nearest thing is the warning of a violation.

The attendant as checker

This is one of the plainest sheets in the OPA's gasoline file, and it shows where enforcement sat. The gasoline rules were checked at the pump, by the station's own employee, who had to match a sticker to a book, a book to a car, a date to a calendar and a coupon to a gallon, and tear the coupon out himself before he could make the sale. The notice makes him the government's checker for every customer he serves.

The notice is candid. It does not call the rule a pledge or ask for good will. It lists the steps, names the violation, and signs it. A dealer reading it knew exactly what was required. Compare the World War I store card Your Sugar Ration Is 2 lbs. per Month, which told customers their ration was "voluntary" while its top line told the store it was "pledged to conform."

The last line is aimed at the customer: do not ask the dealer to break the rules. Two years on, the OPA's counter cards made the same point with more heat. We Have Gas... If You Have Legally Issued Coupons and My Tank's in the War, Too both ask buyers to help "smash the black market." The driver's side of the rules is the OPA chart How Mileage Is Rationed, and the wider file is on the rationing and price control hub.