Before I left for my recent trip to the Ohio Chip Show my good friend Alex Cilento asked if I would be "Harvesting" any Gas Pump Stickers on my trip. My answer was a resounding YES !!

Looking for Gas Pump Stickers - aka "GPS" was one of the most fun portions of my trip. Not only did I "Harvest" a bunch of GPS but I also learned a lot about them - particularly in Ohio.

I know that some people see the Harvesting of GPS as a Major crime - stealing Government property, defacing official notifications, etc, etc. My response to these critics is that if I was ever charged for any Major offense for Harvesting GPS is that I would use the "Joe Biden Defense". I would claim that I am too old. too feeble, too dumb, too senile and not able to remember what I did. This defense worked for Biden and it certainly would work for me. On the other hand I would still be more than qualified to be President of the United States Association of Gas Pump Sticker Harvesters -POTUSAOGPSH !!

Now that we have covered the Legal issues surrounding the Harvesting of GPS - let's get to the rest of the story.

Many States are Uni - Sticker States as they only have one type of Sticker that is used on the Gas Pumps. Examples of these States would include Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, etc. There is another group of States that I refer to as Multi - Sticker States. Ohio and Indiana fall into this category.

In Ohio there are as many counties as there are keys on a piano = 88. Each county in Ohio has there own individual style of GPS. In addition, some municipalities also have there own version of GPS. As an example Columbus has it's own version of GPS.

As I road across Ohio, I would diligently look for the county line signs so I would know that it was time to look for a gas station with a different style of GPS. Once I located a gas station, the real challenge of Harvesting a GPS would begin. I used a special knife to gently slip under the GPS and peel it off the pump. In many cases the stickers were impossible to remove even if you had a jack hammer. I would have to get in my car and head to another station to see if I had better luck. In Butler County, when I tried to peel off the GPS the sun damaged plastic on the pump came off with the GPS.(see scan below) The officials who are in charge of applying the GPS to the pumps are very proud of their names and positions in government. Every GPS has the officials name boldly displayed on the GPS.
I guess this serves as political advertising as their name appears on 100s of gas pumps through out their county. I am sure Ohio tax payers could save a lot of money if they went to a Uni-State GPS instead of having over 88 different agencies posting GPS all over the State. I thought of contacting the Governor of Ohio and suggesting that they go to a Uni-State system to save money. However, if they did this I would only have one GPS to collect instead of dozens and dozens and that would not be as much fun !!

I figured that it would take days if not weeks to visit all 88 counties in Ohio to get a complete set of GPS. I guess I will have to settle for the 13 GPS I was able to Harvest.(see map below)

I picked up a GPS from Dearborn County in Indiana when I visited the Rising Star Casino in Rising Sun, Indiana.(see map below)

Harvesting GPS gave me something fun to do and helped pass the time on my trip. GPS Harvesting is simply mindless entertainment for an old and harmless collector.

Take care,
Jerry "Mr. GPS" Birl