The days of gas station pit stops are gone

When's the last time you've stopped inside of a gas station to get snacks on a trip or to get directions? Well as a guy, you're not supposed to stop and ask for directions, so I rarely do, but I realized that in the past 10 or so years, stopping at a gas station for directions has become a futile activity.

If we didn't have web-enabled cell phones and in-car GPS, a lot of people wouldn't be able to find anything these days. The gas station attendents aren't much help either. In Chicago, it's just about impossible to find a long-term local resident working behind the counter. And if you ask whoever is there for directions, they'll be just as confused as you are. I mean there is absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing how to get everywhere if you're not from the area, but if you don't have fancy in-car GPS, or Google Maps on your cell phone, how are you supposed to find anything? Well, you can start at a large grocery store chain. They're almost as abundant as gas stations and you're pretty much guaranteed to find at least one local resident working there who knows his or her way around. So all is not lost, we can drive assured that if we get lost, we can still get help if we need it!

But another thing I have noticed is that you rarely ever see people stopping in to get snacks at gas stations anymore on their way to work or while doing their weekly fill-up. I think the reason for this is two-fold. For one, gas prices are about 200% as much as they were in 1997 when they were hovering around $1. When there was only an 10-13% per capita income increase in 10 years, you can easily tell that everybody notices this price difference. Right now it costs me about $60 to fill up my tank and I remember it costing under $20 (in 2001). I never bought $40 in snacks, but now I'm paying that much more at the pump, so why would I even stop in to buy overpriced snacks unless I was starving? The second reason I don't think people stop for snacks and drinks at the gas stations anymore is because of the proliferation of places like Starbucks and Panera. Why get gas station quality coffee and donuts when you can pay $5 more and get extra large granules of sugar on your muffin and whipped cream on your coffee???

Have you ever heard of "pay at the pump"? Yeah, everybody has. I'd argue that 90% of people under 30 use it and the majority of Amrericans use it no matter what age they are. That alone has to be a major contributing factor as to why people don't stop inside gas stations anymore. I certainly enjoy the convenience of swiping my card and not having to wait in line to pay for gas.

So today, gas stations are back to just being gas stations instead of that convenient stop to get your directions, snack, and gas filled all in one place. It seems to be a sad end of an era, but times do change.