Grumbling at franchise gas stations

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Lotto tickets are a guaranteed profit margin for the companies, and have no liabilities.

Leaking gas tanks are a huge liability and selling gas is a break-even operation to get customers in the door.

I'll let the yahoos pay for impulsive wants to subsidize the gas I need.
 
Lotto tickets are a guaranteed profit margin for the companies, and have no liabilities.

Leaking gas tanks are a huge liability and selling gas is a break-even operation to get customers in the door.

I'll let the yahoos pay for impulsive wants to subsidize the gas I need.
Gross margin on a gallon of gas is $0.40 to $1.00 per gallon depending on area.

Lotto tickets pay the retailer 5 to 8% margin - the higher rate if the retailer pushes the add ons.

Your thoughts on strategy is backwards. The lottery ticket is there to get people to stop.

Now the state makes a ton on lottery tickets.
 
I don't know what people see in vaping. Or smoking. If I am going to do something a little unhealthy I would rather eat a warm oatmeal raisin cookie or a slice of carrot cake. Maybe pecan pie.
Me too, especially since I've helped relatives during setting and multiple years pulling or staking leaves and hanging them in their barns. The spray has skull and crossbones on it and says " do not get on skin or inhale" yet is sprayed on tobacco leaves then smoked.
 
We have one that is Sunoco branded and they also sell fake/counterfeit vapes.
Report them to your local sanitary inspector inspector who ever controls this stuff. It’s usually illegal and some have actual opiates in them.


I bet the chances of getting your CC cloned at 10x higher at a non corporate gas station.
 
And do drugs in the restroom.
This is a huge issue. The company I work for owns several medical buildings and we've had to start locking the restrooms and give the tenants keys so they can let patients use them because druggies go into them and write them off, get high, pass out, crap on the floor or wall or die in them.
 
My second "corporate job" was pumping gas at a Texaco station back in the full service days. We even checked tire pressures if asked.

Part of that job was to clean the restrooms. The men's restrooms always remained clean and needed nothing. The women's bathroom was disgusting - total slobs. That was a learning moment for me at age 17.

Scott

Edit: As an aside, many years ago I was out bicycling with 3 or 4 of my good riding buddies. We stopped at a Chevron station to take a pee. I was the last one of the group to use the bathroom. When I walked out there was a woman standing there with a "militant" female attitude. As I walked out she rudely said "I hope you put the toilet seat down." I replied "Why would I do that? I'm not going to touch that effing toilet seat. I left it down and pee'd right through it." (the toilet seat was up when I went in and I left it up). We could see her anger go full boil in an instant so all of us laughed at her out loud, just to rub it in and toy with her lousy attitude. In hindsight I wish I "dropped a bomb" and hadn't even flushed it. What a miserable piece of work she was.
This reminds me of my first job out east. I was off for the summer from my first year at Uni and got a job at the local truck stop, which had a convenience store, trucker lounge and restaurant.

I worked maintenance, which meant I cleaned the restrooms, floors, windows...etc. And stocked the kitchen freezers (in the basement), unloading the Serca trucks. We typically had male/female maintenance running simultaneously, so female maintenance handled the female washroom, male maintenance handled the male washroom, this prevented us from shutting one of them down while the opposite sex was cleaning it. But, if the female maintenance was off, you covered both.

The females were definitely, on average, dirtier than the male truckers. Pads, pons...etc. sticking them to the stall walls, plugging the toilets with them, despite there being disposal bins right there above the toilet.

However, the grossest incidents were in the male bathroom, because some truckers are HUGE, and they don't eat well. One guy poo'd a "ring" around the stall, that is, it hit the water in the toilet with such force that it came right back out between the seat and the bowl and flew until it hit the walls of the stall. There were reliefs where his legs were. It was "clingy" and I was trying to squirt it off the walls with bleach in a spray bottle.

Another guy poo'd an honest to God salami.
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Not that length, but that's about the right girth. Wouldn't go down of course, just nosed-into the drain, blocking it solid. I was unloading the Serca truck so the guy working the diesel desk was dealing with this thing, had to hack it up with a toilet plunger to get it to go down.

Of course the most memorable also happened to the diesel desk guy when he was covering. A dad and his young son stop to get gas and use the bathroom. The dad goes pee, and heads over to wash his hands and mid wash he hears something that makes his heart stop: "hey dad, look, a giant mint!". He wheels around, starting to yell "NOOOOOOOO" before he even sees the horror he expects to greet him, and there it is, his son, with the urinal puck gripped in his hands, and the father lunges toward the boy as he takes a big lick of the puck. His face changes from amused to confused as the taste hits him, but then he's off the ground as his father scoops him up, turns back to the sink and frantically washes his mouth out.
 
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Wow. I would have never connected those dots - thank you.
Oh, this is not uncommon at all. A local convenience store used to sell plants. My wife works at Costco. Guess where they bought the plants? Lots of these places buy their stock from the big box stores and mark it up massively for the "Convenience".

A smart strategy employed by Indians in Brampton was to get together and all go in on a house, so you'd have multiple families under one roof. Then everybody would quickly pay down the mortgage, then they'd buy the house next door or at least in the same neighborhood, split, then pay that house off in the same way. My buddy rented in Brampton in the 2010's and his landlord's family had done this (hence the separate living space), and this was the case for many of the other families in the neighborhood. Now, I don't know how they were making money, since most of them seemed to be home all the time whenever I visited, but there's no denying this was a very effective strategy to rapidly gain home ownership.
 
Oh, this is not uncommon at all. A local convenience store used to sell plants. My wife works at Costco. Guess where they bought the plants? Lots of these places buy their stock from the big box stores and mark it up massively for the "Convenience".
This is not the surprising part. The surprising part is they were using social assistance moneys to buy the items then reselling them in the station for money / profit. Those were the dots I didn't connect. If a legit business wants to buy something at retail and resell it - no problem with me - they added time / place utility in that event.

A smart strategy employed by Indians in Brampton was to get together and all go in on a house, so you'd have multiple families under one roof. Then everybody would quickly pay down the mortgage, then they'd buy the house next door or at least in the same neighborhood, split, then pay that house off in the same way. My buddy rented in Brampton in the 2010's and his landlord's family had done this (hence the separate living space), and this was the case for many of the other families in the neighborhood. Now, I don't know how they were making money, since most of them seemed to be home all the time whenever I visited, but there's no denying this was a very effective strategy to rapidly gain home ownership.
This is what many Hispanics and other immigrants do here as well. Again, well above board and fine with me.
 
What the OP observed is likely just a very different culture, and these people have moved to the United States, but not to assimilate and be American, but to make money that they can't make in their native country.

What seems uncomfortable or unnormal to Americans, may be very normal in other cultures or countries.

@PandaBear mentioned his grandfather was a bridge builder in Asia and had very little to show for his risky and very labor intensive lifetime work. Had his grandfather been a union iron worker in the US. building bridges; his grandfather may have died with measurable wealth to leave his heirs. Money can be made in the US much easier than many other parts of the world..in some parts of the world, money can be near impossible to be made.

This days old video on India by Bald and Bankrupt does a good job showcasing what life is like for so many people in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Watch this video, and one might better understand that a clean bathroom, clean store, clean parking lot, working machines are things Americans may expect, but other cultures those things may not be normal.

 
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What the OP observed is likely just a very different culture, and these people have moved to the United States, but not be assimilate and be American, but to make money that they can't make in their native country.

What seems uncomfortable or unnormal to Americans, may be very normal in other cultures or countries.

@PandaBear mentioned his grandfather was a bridge builder in Asia and had very little to show for his risky and very labor intensive lifetime work. Had his grandfather been a union iron worker in the US, his grandfather may have died with measurable wealth to leave his heirs.miney can be made in the US much easier than many other parts of the world..in some parts of the world, money can be near impossible to be made.

This days old video on India by Bald and Bankrupt does a good job showcasing what life is like for so many people in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Watch this video, and might better understand that a clean bathroom, clean store, clean parking lot, working machines are things American s may expect, but other cultures those things may not be normal.



But are they only trying to attract other immigrant customers, or the locals?

If locals certain norms are expected. My guess is there not making $0.40 to $1.00 per gallon margin on gasoline in Bangladesh?

Even in backwater SC public health regulates all buildings accessible by customers. I think the solution is a station with only window service - several here have it.
 
But are they only trying to attract other immigrant customers, or the locals?

If locals certain norms are expected. My guess is there not making $0.40 to $1.00 per gallon margin on gasoline in Bangladesh?

Even in backwater SC public health regulates all buildings accessible by customers. I think the solution is a station with only window service - several here have it.
Thing is many of the people that came here during 2008-2016 and 2020-2024 time frame have absolutely zero interest in becoming Americans, or accepting and changing their customs or habits to adapt to OUR way of living...that is a huge and very serious problem.
 
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But are they only trying to attract other immigrant customers, or the locals?

If locals certain norms are expected. My guess is there not making $0.40 to $1.00 per gallon margin on gasoline in Bangladesh?

Even in backwater SC public health regulates all buildings accessible by customers. I think the solution is a station with only window service - several here have it.
In the early 2000s, I spent some time working in Sicily. I recall stopping at a rural gas station in Sicily to use the restroom, and get a cup of coffee to go.

The restroom was beyond primitive and nasty. When I went to order a cup of coffee to go, the gas station owner read me the riot act..he told me if I wanted a cup of coffee I needed to drink it at the has station, in a ceramic cup. He stated "we are not barbarians in Sicily, we would never drink coffee in a paper cup".

Nasty, really nasty bathroom, but same proprietor would not sell coffee in a to go cup because that was barbarian.

Yes, cultures can be very different. I can only say one thing, I kiss the ground every single time I return to the U.S...... we are so very blessed in the U.S.
 
In the early 2000s, I spent some time working in Sicily. I recall stopping at a rural gas station in Sicily to use the restroom, and get a cup of coffee to go.

The restroom was beyond primitive and nasty. When I went to order a cup of coffee to go, the gas station owner read me the riot act..he told me if I wanted a cup of coffee I needed to drink it at the has station, in a ceramic cup. He stated "we are not barbarians in Sicily, we would never drink coffee in a paper cup".

Nasty, really nasty bathroom, but same proprietor would not sell coffee in a to go cup because that was barbarian.

Yes, cultures can be very different. I can only say one thing, I kiss the ground every single time I return to the U.S...... we are so very blessed in the U.S.
Yes, I have been overseas to where the restrooms were spotless but you had to pay to use them, and overseas where the restroom was a trench down the middle of the floor. But that was there.

There trying to run a gas station here, not there. If you opened a gas station in Sicily and sold coffee in a paper cup, what reaction do you think you would get there?

I also share your joy of our country especially when I return.
 
In the early 2000s, I spent some time working in Sicily. I recall stopping at a rural gas station in Sicily to use the restroom, and get a cup of coffee to go.

The restroom was beyond primitive and nasty. When I went to order a cup of coffee to go, the gas station owner read me the riot act..he told me if I wanted a cup of coffee I needed to drink it at the has station, in a ceramic cup. He stated "we are not barbarians in Sicily, we would never drink coffee in a paper cup".

Nasty, really nasty bathroom, but same proprietor would not sell coffee in a to go cup because that was barbarian.

Yes, cultures can be very different. I can only say one thing, I kiss the ground every single time I return to the U.S...... we are so very blessed in the U.S.
Sicily is the almost a bit like Africa for some reason I believe. I think it is a historical issue.
 
Gross margin on a gallon of gas is $0.40 to $1.00 per gallon depending on area.

Lotto tickets pay the retailer 5 to 8% margin - the higher rate if the retailer pushes the add ons.

Your thoughts on strategy is backwards. The lottery ticket is there to get people to stop.

Now the state makes a ton on lottery tickets.
The margin on gasoline for that station owner is far smaller.

Closer to $0.10 per gallon.

What they sell inside makes a big difference.
 
The margin on gasoline for that station owner is far smaller.

Closer to $0.10 per gallon.

What they sell inside makes a big difference.
Yes - there was a big "Fortune" study years back - but thats NET margin they make up because most don't know the difference. This is the gaslight number they tell you AFTER they put their entire family on the payroll to do nothing in the case of indys or do special depreciation on a inflated base, and other accounting tricks, or simply make the number up.

Why would the media gaslight this at a high level you ask - simple - so they can blame the price on big oil. (well I admit that part I inferred. Makes sense. The rest I can prove though).

Here is the spot price of wholesale gas. Transport is a couple pennies depending on distance. How much you pay last time?

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This is one of the biggest lies out there. I have researched this as best I can.

Still don't believe me - ask yourself this:

-- How can buc-ees consistently sell 30 cents below everyone on the interstates here?
-- how can you drive through town and easily see a 50 cent swing, or change 64 cents in a day? https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/gas-jumped-64-cents-a-gallon-total-rip-off.400808/
-- If there was no money in it why would these smart wealthy families that own QT, and Sheetz and Pilot be putting up these places like rabbits. .They can't build stations fast enough.

Yes, they make margin on soda also.

Believe what you want. 🤷‍♂️
 
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