A Shout Out to My Favorite Gas Station

If I won the lottery - or any sum of money that would allow me to pursue my whims - one thing I would like to do would be to buy a gas station - and to clean it. Yes, I would clean this gas station - from sweeping and mopping the floors regularly, to keeping the bathrooms clean.

I have grown tired of running into gas stations along the highway only to wonder if I am going to get a disease from the restrooms in it and to trip over doubtful looking garbage all the way to the front door. (By the way - when I discussed this problem with my dad, who travels about 90% of teh time, he suggested that I only use gas stations for bathroom breaks as a last resort. His first choice is a hotel, which makes sense. The bathroom in the lobby is open to everyone and will be clean to attract visitors. The next choice would be a restaurant of any kind - the fancier the restaurant, the better kept the restroom). Back to my dream...

Some gas stations are small and crowded. Others have candy covered in dust.

And from a business perspective you may ask what could I possibly get out of owning a gas station? Gasoline has probably the lowest margin of any product that we can buy. As much as we complain about gas prices, the gas stations aren't the ones that are making much money off it. In recent years they have been able to earn a little more money by letting gas prices lag behind oil prices, thereby creating a higher return before they are forced to drop prices down. Pay at the pump gas stations have, for the most part, gone under because, even though they have a lower day to day cost (no employees for one), the margin is too low to sustain the business by itself.

That's why gas stations have convenient stores attached. In fact, what we call a "gas station" is your gas pumps plus convenience store. The store charges much higher margin on little items because they are "convenient," and they use the gas pumps to draw people to the store. This is also why some grocery stores and Sam's Clubs attach gas stations to their stores, hoping to draw more customers inside, as the gas business is not that luctrative.

Back to my gas station - even though it is probably not the easiest business to start off in, I made my decision to "buy" a gas station in my fantasy because I wanted to clean it up. But I wasn't considering the fact that there is already a clean gas station (two actually).

Quik Trip is a local gas station chain. I know for sure that it operates in Kansas but not Illinois. I don't know how far it reaches or in what directions. However, it seems that the marketing strategy of Quik Trip has been quality. Although price competition is tough (and I don't know that Quik Trip's prices are any higher than other gas stations), the chain operates on providing quality gas, clean stores, and good customer service (I have met with a kind of creepy employee, but no HR department is perfect in their screening).

This is the kind of gas station you go in just to go in. They have high quality baked goods, lots of food choices other than candy and snacks, and amazing drink specials in the summer. Before BP, I remember Quik Trip always advertising on their guaranteed gasoline. If your car broke down and it was traced to Quik Trip gas, they would cover the cost.

The success of Quik Trip has spawned another luxury gas station (if you could call it that), Kwik Shop. This shop is owned by Kroger / Dillons. They offer discounts on gas for those who have the Kroger shoppers card. However, I still prefer to patronize Quik Trip over Kwik Shop because of Quik Trip's cake donuts! (Kwik Shop uses Krispy Kreme donuts for the most part).

As I mentioned before, both gas stations run clean operations without seeming to increase prices (even discounted gas for Kwik Shop regular customers). How much better could it be?

So I want to give a shout out to two businesses who are doing things right. Way to go Quik Trip in leading the trend in clean gas stations!