A Gas Station That Doesn’t Suck
Posted by footinmymouth@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 47 comments
There is no business category visited more by Americans and they are universally dismally lit, stocked with EVERY means of retail exploitation: Cigarettes, alcohol, over processed food, lotto tickets, even gambling machines. I am sure if they could get away with it they would have a pay-to-play glory-hole.
F*ck that.
Put it at a huge highway intersection and give it a dog park, and a high quality playground. No florescent lighting here, we have comfortable seats and couches to rest after driving for hours. We have a gourmet coffee shop, and a fresh charcuterie bar for snacks. If you MUST have soda, we have a row of killer vending machines imported from Japan. Hang out and play some free to play arcades. Relax, use our individual restrooms with full walls, no partitions.
picklemonkey@reddit
QuikTrip enters the chat
Scav-STALKER@reddit
Quik Trip is just a speedway in a nicer neighborhood that doesn’t need blue lights in the bathrooms. Nothing special
som_juan@reddit
You’re looking for a truck stop
The001Keymaster@reddit
So like a turnpike rest stop?
If you are hanging out at a gas station for fun or to relax then your life seems pretty sad.
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
Ah yes, rest stops often have actual gourmet coffee shops and a charcuterie bar.
I'd much rather stop somewhere with a dog run, a playground for the kids to stretch their legs and walk into a store with floors that aren't sticky from the soda fountain.
Not sure why the attempted ad hominem trying to connect me to rest-stops.
The001Keymaster@reddit
I wasn't connecting you to rest stops. I was just saying what you are asking for already exists. Maybe not every rest stop, but I've seem plenty just like you described. Then I was just making a joke. I'll add /s.
Recent_Permit2653@reddit
Eh. Buccee’s. Good food, and…? It’s just big, filled with tchotchkes you can find elsewhere where cheaper, or shirts with a beaver on them.
What OP described is pretty close to what some of the better truck stops are, but you do kinda have to seek those out.
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
I have never been to a gas station that had a dog park, a play ground and a comfortable sitting area.
I have seen: Wendys, mcdonalds, a pizza kitchen, or fried chicken kitchen or a mexican food stand.
I’ll give Buccees it’s due for having actual brisket & meats, and a jerky bar though
Again, it is like they are TRYING to kill anyone who enters the store.
I have never seen a gas station though without rows and rows of junk food.
(Also I haven’t seen a free to play arcade, a REAL coffee shop, or a charcuterie bar though)
legendary_pro@reddit
Texas has already solved this issue. Buc-ee's is the way.
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
Clooose-ish Bucc-ees has clean bathrooms, but aside from that it is just as chock full of the usual gas station stuff, just more of it and bigger.
I don’t want all the junk food non-sense! Give me some real food!
RolandDeepson@reddit
Congratulations on your future bankruptcy as a truck stop proprietor.
abundantwaters@reddit
Don’t be such a doubter. I really believe truckers want healthy food after eating junk on the road for weeks at a time at a time.
RolandDeepson@reddit
That's what sit-down restaurants are for.
abundantwaters@reddit
Good luck parking a semi truck at Red Lobster or longhorn steak house
RolandDeepson@reddit
I've driven more miles in a semi truck in reverse gear than you've prolly had on the highway as a front seat passenger.
Truck stops, especially the chains, usually have at least one sit-down restaurant on premises.
But please, continue displaying your precise and accurate level of expertise on the subject.
abundantwaters@reddit
I’ve driven cross country in the USA and yes, you could probably find a really lousy dennys to eat at. But imagine if truckers could have better quality gas stations with actual quality food to stop to.
Yes you can park at plazas but why isn’t there a good quality steakhouse in Ohio where trucks can park to fill up on gas and get a great meal?
RolandDeepson@reddit
Really? The whole thing? All in the same go?
I'm super proud of you.
abundantwaters@reddit
You got me, so I’ve driven from Windsor Ontario to Reynosa Mexico. That’s close enough.
RolandDeepson@reddit
Ok. But the very fact that you're using the term "gas station" reveals that you wouldn't know how to find the nearest clue of what the fuck you're talking about if you had it bookmarked in your gps.
abundantwaters@reddit
Lots of sit down restaurants lack trucker parking.
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
As someone who sat in an orange big rig for weeks on end as a “fun summer trip” with my Dad to experience his trucking experience, THIS 100%
Even in a short time, recalling the experience a decade + latet, the junk food got really…really old.
Number1AbeLincolnFan@reddit
Bucees has tons of real food. Tacos, BBQ, sandwiches, kolaches, salads, etc. Not to mention, an enormous amount of what they sell can’t be found in any gas station in any capacity, unless your 711 has multi burner crawfish boilers, deer stands, suede jackets and board games.
You could have just said you’d never heard of it instead of making up bullshit.
trumpet575@reddit
Why would I spend one more second at a gas station than I have to? Stop, get gas, leave. Maybe pee if it's a road trip and I need to.
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
trumpet575@reddit
No, I mean in any model. It's a gas station; I'm there for gas. If I want anything else, I'll go somewhere else.
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
You're obviously not the target demographic then, because "In 2023, US gasoline station retail sales reached $654.14 billion" That's in-store purchases, amigo.
for context "In 2023, US supermarket and other grocery store sales totaled approximately $884.8 billion"
There was 4/5ths as much junk food purchased at gas stations as all types of food at grocery stores.
trumpet575@reddit
43% of gas station users go inside and 1/3rd of them buy something. So 14% of people is the target audience.
That's why only $120 billion of the $654 billion number you're quoting was non-gas sales.
DegreeAcceptable837@reddit
those gambling machines, cost 5k to 10k per year in tax or fees, not counting leasing the machine, electricity and other upkeep cost.
on the other hand they have a payout schedule when the machine eats enough money it have to pay out jackpot, but idk what that amount is, and store can reset the machine before it hits the limit, tha5s why you see people campout at machines for days sometimes
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
Insanity that gambling is legal at random gas stations
DegreeAcceptable837@reddit
it's 5k each machine, it's good tax revenue
don't get me started on scratch offs
thebipeds@reddit
Your only problem is everyone else.
In my hood anything open to the public is basically trashed immediately. Opening a park is easy, but it ends up costing tons to constantly clean up after everyone.
Without maintenance the park immediately goes back to a field of dogshit, trash, and needles.
—
There is a realm chicken and the egg problem with the junk they sell.
If people bought sustainable items and healthy food, those stores would sell it.
But people love bullshit.
I worked for a food kitchen and we couldn’t give vegetables away for free. I will never forget this dude who said, “what the fuck am I going to do with an eggplant?!?” And threw it back at us.
They looked at artichokes like face-huggers were going to pop out of them.
firematt422@reddit
It's called Buc-ee's
BusMaleficent6197@reddit
I detest bucees. How about a quiet place that isn’t neon-fluorescent- bright, where you don’t need crowd control?
liberal_texan@reddit
The cult of the god of petrol creeps me out, and they are just too big. QuickTrip hits the sweet spot for me.
evergladescowboy@reddit
Love’s Travel Stops
Racetrac
Bucee’s
abundantwaters@reddit
Buccees doesn’t allow 18 wheelers
BaitmasterG@reddit
Gloucester Services in South West England has a farm shop, amazing butchers, chocolatier, cake shop, artisanal cured meats and heritage veg
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
Amaaaaaaszinggggg
freebaseclams@reddit
The entire reason I go to these places is for the booze and lotto tickets and unregulated dick pills
footinmymouth@reddit (OP)
3,256,001/1 odds you just stay in your car then
Round_Ad_6369@reddit
Buccees, QuikTrip, allsups and probably a few more that I'm missing
xFblthpx@reddit
Thorntons my beloved
flip314@reddit
There's an independent gas station near me that I honestly don't know how they stay in business. Any given pump is out of order half the time, and they're slow AF when they are working.
For the longest time the 7/11 across the street had nearly the same gas prices so I always went there, but the more run down the other station gets the more of a gap 7/11 keeps in their prices. It's like they know people will get frustrated at the other station and be willing to pay more just to get gas.
fluffynuckels@reddit
Check out sheets and wawa
abundantwaters@reddit
Sheets still sucks
abundantwaters@reddit
I’m not joking, I’m willing to invest $200 into this idea, no bs.
If 10,000 people here invested $200 each, we could make this dream a reality.
AFrostNova@reddit
Stewarts in Upstate NY: Byrne Dairy in Upstate NY
Royal Farms...umh everywhere? Idk their range