June 18, 2025 • 63 mins
As avid fans of the Great American Roadtrip, Ben, Matt and Noel love gas stations. They're a fundamental part of US culture -- and, holy smokes, do they get weird. In tonight's episode, the guys dive into the crime, conspiracy, controversy and underground subcultures of America's filling stations and truck stops... all to discover that there's a ton of stuff Gas Stations Don't Want You To Know.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,
my name is Noa.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you
are you. You are here, and that makes this the
stuff they don't want you to know. There is a
non zero chance that several of our fellow listeners are
driving toward or from a gas station as they hear this. Now,
(00:53):
when's the last time you guys went to a gas station?
Pretty recently?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Right this morning?
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Yeah, I want to pick up a few odds and ends.
I live in what they call a bit of a
food desert, so sometimes I pop into the gas station
for some doughnut sticks for a quick and easy brecky
for the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Ah. Because a gas station is not just a gasing station.
It is a place to fuel up on everything you may.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Need and to convene. It's a eating place.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, it's a convenient place to convene. Yeah, if you're
if you're not from North America, folks. This may sound
a little bit weird because in many other countries, as
anyone who's travel can assure you, your local gas or
petrol station or filling station might be unremarkable. They might
literally just sell gas. Maybe some auto parts offer a
(01:44):
few light repair services. But check this out here. In
the wild culture of the United States, the humble gas
station has evolved far beyond its original form.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
You know, you guys been to BUCkies, Yeah, Buies?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think the height killed it for me.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Well, you know, it'll do that.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
They do have a really great selection of beefed jerkeys
and also pretty good pull pork sandwiches, and it's sort
of like a mini like to your point, Ben, it
is the pinnacle of gas station culture. One could argue
it is like a Disneyland of gas stations. There's costumed
mascots roaming the facilities.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, it's like here later too. But the best way
we could describe BUCkies is to say it is like
a gigantic gift shop for a theme park that doesn't
yet exist, and it happens to have gas pumps outside.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
There's a lot of gas pumps too.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
The same number of gas pumps, and all of the
merch is like seasonal and BUCkies themed of course, and
there are like people that are mega into it and
like collect I have a tied hi full BUCkies swimsuit
with a with a top and everything nice.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I really liked the thing you brought up. There been
about uh sometimes offering repair and parts. Do you guys remember,
like when you were kids, seeing more gas stations that
were car focused.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Oil changes at the very least in the garage on
peace right.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I feel like that doesn't maybe doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Maybe in some areas now, maybe in like the Midwest perhaps,
or maybe like in some parts of like upstate New
York and Jersey and things like that.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I just I picture that, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Lots of rural areas will still have the service station
they would call it in addition to the gas station. Look,
here in the US, you are just an interstate away
from these enormous hypermarkets like BUCkies or truck stops are pal.
Dylan and I were talking about this a little bit
off air. There's such a vibe to a good interstate
(03:52):
truck stop, you know, like quick trip is very popular
here in the southeast of the United States. I'man be honest, guys,
it's a little too clean for me.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
It ticks off the boxes though you can get all
the different snacks and they have some pre made foods.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And yeah, like there's not enough sketch about it, you know.
Give me, give me a fly in jay at like
three point thirty four in the morning.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
For sure, and you'll see if you want to talk
about some touch points, you will often see like cbe
radio gear, like walls of like things you can buy
for long haul truck driving. And then the weird thing
for me is like cases of weird crystal figurines and
like little little figures that you can buy. Maybe I
don't know what how that why the deal is? That's
a flying j thing in particular.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, under Delta nine.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And technically legal things like creat them and truck or speed.
Some gas stations feel like they're spaceships, right, and others
are sketchier than a Matisse painting. So tonight we thought
we would take a break from some of the really
heavy stuff we've discussed recently and dive into the weird
underground culture or world of gas stations and perhaps without conspiracies.
(05:01):
Along the way, here are the facts. All right, spoiler everybody,
We don't want to ruin the movie for you, but
the origin of gas stations is in fact tied to
the creation of the automobile.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Combustion engines, right, literally thousands of tiny explosions chained together
to create propulsive power.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
And the first technically what we could call the first
gas station, is actually a pharmacy in Weislach, Germany in
eighteen eighty eight, Earth of Benz was driving from Mannheim
to Forzheim. Am I saying that correctly you are foresheil okay, yeah, okay,
(05:50):
So she is driving in the world's first long distance
automobile trip, the first car road trip. And the problem
is is that they have wildly, as Bush would say,
miss underestimated the gas tank efficiency. So halfway through these
folks have to stop and try to find something that
(06:13):
will work as auto fuel. So in eighteen eighty eight
they happen by this local pharmacy which you can still
visit today, and they refill the tank. So technically that's
the first gas station. But then from there they propagate,
they spread and step with the auto and thank you
Henry Ford and so many others. It's similar to how
(06:34):
you will see more and more electric vehicles and charging
stations year over year. Today, these gas stations and cars,
they start popping up in urban areas right, slowly replacing
the wagon and the trolley and so on, and they
expand outward as people start building newer, more reliable roads.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Yeah, and it's another thing that has kind of develops
in lockstep with infrastructure, Like as theredes are created, there's
this network, this infrastructure of gas stations, and that being
kind of the first to market, You've got decades generations
of kind of being in on the ground floor of
that operation, which is why it's really hard for things
(07:15):
like charging stations to kind of overtake that. Not to
mention just gasoline car culture. It's not going anywhere. There's
too much money at stake. There's too much investment in
real estate.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh yeah, and we're going to bring something up towards
the end of this episode. That's another one of these
sketchy things about gas stations. But I think it's just
important to point out here, Ben, you're talking about how
as the automobiles going up in popularity and in profitability
for car makers, right, and there's just just thousands and
(07:45):
thousands and more cars being created every year, and more
people are using them every day. More gas stations are
popping up. There's this interesting thirty year period that exist,
like when there's a lot of gas stations and then
thirty years later and then there's a thing that happens
that we're going to talk about later. But it's specifically
(08:07):
to do with how gasoline gets stored in these individual places,
in these things called underground storage tanks.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, you guys ever heard the old the old ripoff
griff stories. This has happened multiple times. I definitely remember it.
In Tennessee. There were gas stations that we get closed
down and they had by that point evolved to have
three grades of gas, right and so someone which is
all based on octane. You can check out car stuff
(08:38):
for more. But the I have seen this before. It
is not an urban legend. Several of those places, when
they got closed down and cleaned up, turned out those
three pumps were all sucking from the same tank.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Oh yeah, that makes nice.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's nice a little sketchy, right, yeah, Oh dude.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
This is really interesting. There's an IAmA on Reddit from
like sixteen years ago, and one of it's a gas
station owner saying, hey, ask me anything, I own a
gas station. And one person said, mid grade is just
regular gas in premium mixed together, Isn't it? Isn't it?
And he responded, most places have a separate tank, you know,
(09:18):
one of these underground storage tanks for all three grades,
and a fourth one if you've got diesel, and maybe
even a fifth one if you've got a different type
of gas, right, like bio diesel or something.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Or like a marina might have fuel for boats exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
But in this case, when this gas station owner, he's
saying that most places have that, but in his there's
basically a it combines regular gasoline and the premium gasolinetain, Yes,
had a two thirds regular, one third premium to get
that eighty nine number, which is what mid grade is.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yeah, do people buy mid grade? I would think you
would either go for the low end or the high end.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It depends on your vehicle, okay, right, some manufacturers have
specific recommendations.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Right, so it depends on how high the compression is. Right,
exactly about it.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
You got it. Look, gas station owners, even back when
they still have the new car smell, as an industry,
they're providing an essential service, and even at that point,
it was obvious to the owners that the gas did
not make a ton of profit for the business. Even
in recent years. If you look at gas prices, no
(10:32):
matter how they fluctuate, in defense of the owners and operators,
they're making a tiiny bit of profit off of the
gas after all the costs they incur. It's something like
a nickel to fifteen cents profit per gallon, which does
add up. But you know, I think it's all too
easy for us to drive by and see a very
(10:56):
high price point on gas and think these guys are rooking,
And sometimes they are. If they're buy an interstate they
kind of are because they can't.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I've always wondered too, Like I worked at a gas
station very briefly when I was younger, and they actually
would look at the surrounding gas station, yes, and change
their prices accordingly, like visually just doing I just always
assumed there was some network and interconnectedness of all those prices,
especially on the signs that have the you know, digital
readouts or whatever. But no, I mean maybe there isn't
(11:27):
for some, but not the one I worked that and
the one I worked that was definitely Matisse level sketchy.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, Well, just in that I am Ama thing, the
guy describes how there is an internal system for the
gas company, right, so that gas station, the owner of
that gas station doesn't own the gas, that's the gas company.
If it's a mobile X on BP QT whatever.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
If it's franchised, right or yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And each one of these companies have their own internal
system that shows how much gas prices are and what
people are charging. Like essentially, you've got a threshold of
what you're going to be charging for gas, where you
should be charging for gas, or at least how much
you're going to pay for the gas to get to
your station, right right then, as the gas station owner,
as you're calculating that price. One of the things that
(12:16):
this person said they take into account is what the
competition looks like, because as we know, generally there's not
just one gas station around. And if that does occur
where there's just one like Ben and Nola're talking about
on the Interstate or something like, there's one in a
place called Buckhead in Atlanta that is the only gas
station on one of these primary roads, and their gas
(12:37):
is always almost a full dollar more than any other
gas if you just continue on that road for a
couple of.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Miles, because where are you going to go? Yeah, And
the gas station owners then therefore have a They have
a bottom, right, they have a floor of price they
can hit, and then they have a little bit of
a window of flexibility to how as to how they
can push the price higher for profit. And of course
they're going to go out of business if they fly
(13:06):
too far. They're too much of an Icarus out there
on the price point.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
But I can keep up with the competition.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
You know, maybe they have just enough edge to be attractive,
like you know, versus the one across the street or
down the way, but you can't go ham on it.
And I mean that gas station you're talking about, Matt
is probably the closest example to a pure monopoly. Or
they could just be like, well, I guess we name
the price, but only past a certain point of reason.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I would say that's why the digital redoubts are so
popular now, because you can take a loss. Sometimes it
makes sense to take a loss on the gas, even
just for like a few hours or a day or so,
because if you are a gas station owner, you are
very much like a movie theater so movies shown in
(13:51):
local theaters, and we hope yours are still around. They
are not owned by the theater. They're the oil for
that proverbial gas station. And as a result, just like
the studio at movie theater, tycoons of old gas station
owners got into concessions. The other stuff you buy while
you're buying gas. That's where you see the big bucks snack, foods, drinks,
(14:15):
the vice purchases, lottery tickets, beer, tobacco, chochkes, souvenirs, car parts,
over the counter drugs, magazines, and then you know, of
course later like you were saying, with food, desert snoll,
small grocery stands right, And then it goes gambling machines,
which is what prompted this episode.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
It sure is.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
And the very gas station that I go to has
a whole little gambling section, like a little gambling parlor.
And the reason I mentioned the whole people play a
meeting place because it is popping sometimes like people hanging
out and you know, using those video there's a term
for it.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
We're gonna get to it. I'm totally forgetting.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
But there entertainment machines, coin operated, skill based, and that's
a big one. And of course you know they're also
rife for people maybe selling selling drugs.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Drugs, yeah, not hit over the counterless.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Sure, yeah. And you know later we also see a
hybrid monopolization interesting term. Large supermarkets sometimes called hyper markets,
like Walmart and Costco. They get in on the game
and they put small gas stations or service stations in
their parking lot. And it is tough to say no
(15:27):
to such a tremendous convenience. It's the kind of thing
Bertha Ben's probably never imagined, but we mentioned this. You know,
like some of these gas stations, especially big trucker stops
in interstate compounds, they are an event all to themselves. Again,
I'll just reiterate it. BUCkies feels like a gift shop
(15:50):
for an amusement park that does not exist. We cannot
overemphasize that.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
It is its own amusement park.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
It's an experience.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
It even has like a brass you know, statue of
the titular Bucky upfront, and like everything you can think
of BUCkies, you know, barbecue, gear, pop tense. It is
an absolute marketing you know, nightmare slash dream, I mean,
depend on your stance.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So it's a feedback loop. It's so crazy because if
you have never been there, or you haven't been to
the US, and you just woke up into BUCkies, you
would assume there's a roller coaster outside.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Very true.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah dude, well okay, so really quickly we went through
a big list of things that the convenience stores usually sell, right,
we uh. One of the things we learned in research
for this episode is that those some of those vice things. Well,
I think we all assumed that gas stations made a
killing on most of like, as you said, cigarettes and alcohol,
(16:48):
and at least those two things in particular. Sure, when
I think about a gas station often I think, oh,
I'm gonna stop in and you know, get a six pack.
When I would do that, I would just stop buy
a local gas station. So many people do that.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
Some of us have a whole like beer, you know,
Haven Cooler, yeah or whatever, where you have all the
top choices of craft beers and everything depends on the spot.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And almost every gas station I've ever been in has
a wall, as you said, been of cigarettes and smoking things,
vaping things, like a huge back wall of that stuff.
What we didn't realize is that those things often are
not one of the main things these gas stations make
money on because the prices of those things are so
(17:30):
closely regulated. Often not in every state, but in most states,
the maximumount you can charge for those things is capped.
And then they've got specific like rubrics for how you
can sell those things.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Tax regmeans and so on. Yeah, and this, the state
by state thing is something that's going to be very
important for this exploration. You might be wondering how many
gas stations there are in total across the United States.
If so, we got you. As of November two, twenty
twenty four, there were an estimated one hundred and forty
(18:04):
seven thousand all told. However, that number fluctuates a lot.
Most of the convenience stores in this country are also
going to be selling fuel, but we are not counting
just the service stands only, which are more like the
European style thing. You know, there's like a little kiosk,
(18:25):
and you pay the person, you get the gas, and
they might give you a coke, they might sell soda.
But these things are still pretty much everywhere. If you
are ninety three percent of the American population, you are
always ten minutes away from a gas station maximum, which
is nuts a lot of other businesses can't say that,
(18:47):
you know.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Yeah, it's by necessity though.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
I mean, you know, you hear stories or horror stories
about being out in maybe a desert region, perhaps out
west and not a gas station for miles where you
really have to plan in more mountainous regions, anything that's
super rural, but you have you can hopefully depend on
there being a gas station at least within a certain
number of miles, or else you could genuinely be in
(19:12):
real trouble.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Right, the same problem some electric vehicles have been facing
on long trips. Now I got Can I tell you
guys a story about one of the weirdest gas stations
I've been to in this country?
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Please? Sure?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Okay, I think it's a little bit of a discoursion,
but hopefully this will be enjoyable for all of us.
Many years ago, I was, as a birthday present kidnapped
to New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
I did not know that was is.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
It like a whole like hop in the car a
happy birthday? Where are we going? I was driving. It
was a self kidnapping. I just said, go west, you man,
where west is a direction, not a place? And and
they said we'll tell you when we get there.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Anyway.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
So we're on these back roads over through Gulf Gulf
coast country and we're running out of gas and it's
just like you described, Noel, there is no clear you know,
there's no clear like Exxon or QT or anything like that.
But we have to stop. And I stop by this
place that has seen better days and it looks closed,
(20:19):
but I'm hoping against hope they're open. And it's got
the old school analog gas pump, you know where the
numbers roll, So no no card. So walk in and
I swear, man, it was so weird. The lights are off,
there's dust on the shelves. There is a song playing
on the you know the speakers. It is a Thousand
(20:42):
Miles from Nowhere by a guy named Dwight Yoakum and.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
At an appropriate song for this situation. I walk in.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
It's like the end of the song and then the
song starts again. Someone has been in the dark playing
thousand Miles to Nowhere on loop. This guy comes out.
He is wearing overalls but no shirt, and he is
lazily eating chicken. And then he asked, are you him.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Got to help?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
You say, I'm just gonna get some gas, and he says, okay, uh,
you want some chicken. I make it fresh. And I'm like,
not again, good, just twenty bucks some pump three or whatever.
And he goes okay, and he wrings me up and
he says, but he is coming right, So.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Waiting for a good story. If we wrote it'd.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Be better, because all I did was immediately chicken out
and like, yeah, I'm cheer.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
He's on the way.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Man. Okay, you chicken.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Out, but you didn't need the chicken. My biggest complaint.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Wow, you know that's that's amazing. Ben. I was recently
on a trip just on on old state roads going
east to the host of South Carolina, and there were
several stretches where if we had been a little lower
on gas, we would have been in serious trouble because
there was nothing well.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
And sometimes in areas like that too, you're going to
be in dead zones for self signal, which makes you
extraft and like having to like walk or you know,
I mean, I'm reminded of a really excellent sequence and
better call sault involving getting stranded in the desert and
like not literally there being nothing like in the United
State road type situation that where you would maybe have
(22:31):
to walk for miles and mild and really dangerous conditions
to get help.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Yeah, and for most drivers, thankfully, that is an uncommon situation.
I would say for a lot of us, visiting a
gas station is part of your weekly routine, right. You
got a daily stop, sometimes for fuel, sometimes just for
your morning coffee or a snack, and you get to
know the people who are employed there at the station
in your neighborhood or along your work route. And I
(23:00):
think everybody has an internal hierarchy of gas stations. You know,
I've got the good one right because it's always a
right turn based on the direction I've driving. There's the
bad one. What are those guys always doing standing outside?
I think we all we always rate these things in
this hierarchy of cleanliness, affordability, and above all location. We
(23:24):
talked about this, but that that's the primary reason gas
station owners put so much effort into getting the right
real estate. You know, if you're on that interstate exit,
you make a ton of money from a constant flow
of traffic, and every time someone gets out of the car,
you have a good chance of getting them to buy
other stuff too.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Dude, Oh my god, think about how revolutionary the seven
to eleven Slurpy was, guys, as far as a profit
center for a gas station. So then the slushie or
whatever it is that popped up at all gas stations.
Just a little bit of eye, a little bit less. Yeah,
like but just holy I'm just sorry. I was just
(24:04):
thinking about the problem the investments.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
In the machine and then everything else is like absolute
pure profit.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Well and if if you're in the right location and
you've got this new thing that the kids love that
parents are going in there to get, oh my god,
such a brilliant move.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
It's true.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
That's why BUCkies took it to the next level. Yeah,
let's make a mascot, you know, let's like wu tang.
BUCkies is for the children, get your bad to spend
some money. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
And you guys, listen to that Riza episode of SmartLess
Yet you really have to have so great.
Speaker 5 (24:36):
There's the most amazing video of Rizza like doing a
video for Guitar Center where he's like building a beat
on the fly, like on this like beat machine thing,
and it's.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
The worst beat ever.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
It's just all crash cymbols and he's just bopping to
it like it's that. I love Reza, I love woods claim,
but this video is classic.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
It's so good.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I got he's a man of tremendous wit. He's very sharp,
so I the suspect he may have purposely made.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
It's maybe possible, but it's it's unclear that I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I mean, you know it's a we haven't seen the
finished product. But look, if you are having a normal
day or night at a gas station, unless something goes awry,
like you get a break down, a flat tire, or
a bathroom emergency, you're not going to spend a lot
of time in that store. And that's what we're dwelling
on tonight, because, as we're about to see, the more
(25:27):
time you spend at the average filling station, the closer
you look, the more apparent it is that there's some
stuff they don't want you to know. So we're going
to pause for a word from our sponsors and then
we'll get weird with it. Here's where it gets crazy,
(25:47):
all right. I know we've overused this phrase in the past,
you guys, but this is applicable now. Gas stations are
indeed a liminal space. They're an oasis in the desert
of the Inner State.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh yeah, sure, or any really anywhere you just you
go into a gas station convenience store and isn't they're
just kind of a vibe. Then you're talking about ones
that were you know, I don't know. Increasingly now it's
like a random exon or mobile or you know whatever, like.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Gas company or something.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, even the VP stations you find them. There's a
time when those companies were trying to like make their
stations look kind of the same and update of them,
make them cool. And know, when I go to a VP,
there's a specific convenience store attached to it, the way
QT and racetrack and all those we're doing it. But
then now I feel like I'm seeing more and more
that are.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Just free for all.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, it all depends on the owner operators and like
what their standards are and what their like kind of
interests are and what they're into and some of the straight.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Up bongs like it's like a thing. Not all, but
some there's.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
A lot of like over sees. I know, a guy
who wholesales stuff kind of things always like find find
one where the paint is not doing too well on
the outside. Of the store. And that is your clue
that you're gonna you're gonna find some weird stuff. Oh,
especially if they have the LED lights bringing the class.
That is a real that's a sick, that's a popping spot.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
I mean some of them, I don't know if you
guys have seen this specifically around Atlanta. You'll see like
lots of clothing items like like t shirts and hats
and bulk socks and things like that. And not to mention,
we haven't even talked about porn. Some of them have
like a whole section of like very specific porn like videos, DVD's. Ye,
like it's very interesting, and that's usually gonna be one
(27:43):
of those Matisse type ones.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
With the lights.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah, Matisa is a nice you missm I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Guys. We all know the joy of a five dollars
pair of gas station sunglasses, right one million.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I love a good pair of burner shades.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
Could be a whole new person. I'm a guy that
wears Oakley's. Now I'm not actually going to invest in Oakley's.
I'm gonna get the gas station.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
They call me the aviator. Let me get these glasses,
let me go into.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
The let me tip them down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Look, I'm gonna buy a razor. I'm gonna sneak into
the bathroom that the key is attached to this cartoonish
brick or whatever I'm gonna shave, so I have a mustache. Yes,
And now Ben is gone and Chris is back.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
That guy's so cool. Respect Chris is too cool.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
He might be a cop. Okay, gambling though, all right,
there are so many unseen things that will occur right
under your nose at your local gas station unless you
know where to look. So I loved our conversation previously
about the weird, complicated, just labyriantine issue agglomeration with gambling
(29:00):
at a gas station. It could be legal or illegal,
depending on the state and depending on the language they
use to describe their machines. Right.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
Yeah, we talked about this pretty recently on Strange News,
where we rattled through some of the laws around it.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
And I believe here in Georgia a new.
Speaker 5 (29:20):
Law or change in the laws is what has led
to a bit of an explosion in these and I
think I made the point that you know, while it's
not Vegas style gambling, you're not getting cash payouts per se.
And we'll get into that later. A lot of the
machines are ones you would see on a casino floor
in Vegas.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
They're the same ones.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, maybe the twenty twenty four changes to legislation that
that you're referencing their NOL. It advances the idea of
skill based slot machines. And I really loved their conversation
about that, where you had you had beautifully described right,
what the big difference is the idea that one must
make a decision, the player chooses something right as somewhere
(30:04):
in the order of operations, so legally to the politicians
who got paid off for this, that makes it not
quite the same as gambling. But law enforcement is usually
not happy with this because to your point, Matt, about
how people might get paid or not paid, store employees
(30:24):
can have any number of under the table or off
the books ways to surreptitiously skirt the law and pay
the gamblers. And if you, if you, if you were
law enforcement, like you're the gambling unit or something, you
crack down on one method, uh what a sketchy coupons
or something, then you're playing whack a mole because they'll
(30:45):
just figure out another way to keep paying people.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
Well, we didn't we didn't really talk about this, but
you know what, gas stations and compass, largely in the
United States are a combination of two services that would
be available elsewhere in the world, perhaps like you have
the little convenience store that is its own thing, very
much exactly the same or similar to what you would
see attached to a gas station. But then gas stations
being very specific, especially in cities where there's a lot
(31:10):
of foot traffic and a lot of public transit use.
But in New York City, for example, the little bodegas
and the corner stores. For a while, we're selling weed,
like just straight up selling weed while there was this
gray area period with legalizing marijuana in New York City.
(31:32):
Now there are dispensaries and there are places you can go,
but during that kind of wild West gray area period,
it was sort of all bets are off. But then
once the dispensaries open and the laws tightened up, the
NYPD absolutely swept those places. And now it's very rare
for them to do that, but they will. Some still
are bold, and we'll do it. It's got to know
(31:52):
what to ask.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
It's Dave Chappelle rules from Half Baked You go into
the bodega, you have to establish a rapport in advance.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, Well, and why would those bodegas and the owners
and operators of those go into the weed business Because
there's lots of money in it, which is why gas
stations go into the gambling business. Yes, because, holy mackerel,
there's potential money there. The thing is, like we're talking
about with Georgia, because that's what we know best. We're
Georgia boys. I mean, at least now right, there are
(32:23):
there are an estimated seven thousand, two hundred and thirty
seven slot machines in the United States according to casino
dot org. So you got to take their word for
it in September twenty twenty. But that means there's thousands
of these slot machines all over the place, and each
state's different. And in Georgia, these what do they they
(32:44):
call them coin operated amusement machines that class B.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
Com that are paid and the class refers to how
they are paid out, how they get licensed.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Right, that's rights is a much more expensive license, that's right.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yeah, class demitations for much higher profits.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yes, Class A machines are stuff like those claw machines
and pool tables where you got to put the money
in and stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Gotcha pung machines perhaps, so the thing with the little
toys in the in the bubble, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah. But the crazy thing is with states like Georgia,
they tie that gambling to the lottery system of the state,
so they're now kind of one and the same. And
all of those machines are now operated by the lottery
and licensed from the lottery, and they take in money.
Now those machines, guys, the same way that when at
(33:35):
least when I was growing up, my dad would go
and buy lottery tickets sometimes, and he was talking about
paying for Hope scholarship and all these other things in Georgia,
where it's actually scholarships for students who get a certain
you know, grade average level. And now these machines. In
twenty twenty two, there's like one hundred and forty million
(33:55):
dollars raised for Hope scholarship and other stuff by the
lottery via gambing machines.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And that's after everybody gets their cut, you know what
I mean. It's a big pizza.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Isn't that interesting?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Though?
Speaker 5 (34:06):
How like the fact that it's tied to education and
the hope scholarship as a way to make people kind
of hold their nose about the sort of not great
aspects of it and the potential for people becoming addicted.
To me, you see it when you go to people
just like dropping mad money on tons of lottery tickets
and like writing in all their numbers, and it's like
(34:27):
you hate to see it in a way because it's
like the chances are so near zero.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
People are going to do what they want, right, So
this is a way to turn the sword of gambling
addiction into the plowshare of education.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
That's right. That's a great way of putting it.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Thanks man.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
We know.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Also to your point, nol, it goes past the dicey
hair splitting league LEAs of electronic gambling machines in the
front of the store. If you make the right connections,
you can go to a full on legal gambling ring.
We've seen it here. I'm not going to name specifics,
but a lot of interesting stuff can happen behind that door.
(35:07):
Marked employees only.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Like a card game, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
You come in. You know the right guy, you know,
you do the right dap. Yeah maybe maybe would it
be cool if they had a code phrase and you're like,
I would like to see the sprite t right, or
you just whisper yeah, and then they might also be
(35:32):
sports betting as well.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
That true.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Oh yeah, yeah, well hey, and if you find yourself
in the state of Georgia, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Investigative Division Commercial Gambling Unit wants you to know that
if you find something like that and you're feeling like
a narc, they've got a whole system stitch. You can
anonymously snitch.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
I saw a I saw a fascinating thing recently. It
was a picture of a sign about gambling addiction and
it said something like, you know, watch out, twenty percent
of gamblers will end up bankrupt. And immediately I thought,
I think someone with a gambling problem would take those.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Odds or statement.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
As a positive thing. They're trying to trick the probation office.
All right. I don't know if there's a probation office
for gambling, but look, a lot of us, as your
average evening the evening customers. When we see these machines
or sensus Shenanigan, we assume that county level authorities may
(36:38):
somehow be complicit, which can happen especially in rural area
in the wheels, as you said, hold their nose or
look the other way. But there's a lot more to
crime and gas stations than gambling and petty bribery. Gas
Stations and convenience stores are the seventh and fourth most
common locations for violence crime in the country, and that's
(37:02):
because they are private property, but they are considered a
public space. You will inevitably see someone you don't know
at a gas station, and some of those strangers may
have bad intentions. You're just more likely to run into
that situation there.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah, and as we mentioned before on when of these
episodes where we talked about this guys, a lot of
the gas stations now, particularly QT I've seen they have
those signs posted up that it's a safe space, right
or a safe place to go if you are ever
in trouble or if you're finding yourself sure in a
kidnapping or human trafficking situation, there are ways within that
(37:40):
station to alert authorities and the people running the gas
station that you need help, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Even just the small non trafficking situations like you have
you're attempting to sell something on Facebook, marketplace or online
somehow like Craigslist back in the day, and so there
are known grifts where someone will say, hey, I want
to buy a thing and then meet me here and
then they attempt to rob you or do something worse.
(38:08):
So those spaces that you're describing their matt can also
just be a safe place to trade, depending on what
you're doing. We should also mention that a lot of
local police departments provide the same service. Don't meet someone
that you don't know in a place that you don't trust.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
There you go easy.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I guess, yeah, I heard. I always thinking through that sentence.
As we reached the end, I was like, it's easy
to say, it's tougher to do. But also, you know,
a lot of these gas stations are open twenty four
hours a day. They're right next to the veins and
arteries of transit. So if you are a would be robber,
you can wait until the hours are slow. You can
(38:52):
even surveil a bit. If you're clever, you can commit
a crime and then you can be in the wind
before the police can respond.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
Mean, it's I think it's no accident that like in general,
and maybe it's different in New Orleans, but gas stations
don't sell hard liquor, like you know what I mean, Like.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
They just yeah, it depends on the state, right, Yeah,
but but most of them, at least in Georgia, all
of them that I've seen in Georgia, don't.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
I guess.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
I just mean that, like it's almost like it's just
an understanding that that would almost potentially increase the chances
of violence or the chances for difficulty in a place
that's already a target for that kind of stuff. I
just want to sell little those are malt beverages, the
little things that look like character. There're a different class
of beverage, things like fireball and southern Southern comfort.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
It's like gross, yeah, no, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
And shout out to our buddy Blake for his buzzballs.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
They do sell buzzballs, that's true, but they are not
They don't have hard liquor in them.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
They have like some kind of the one actually maybe buzzballs.
They don't sell, like.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
Do they sell them a gas stations because they don't
there are laws around them.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I saw something, you guys at a Kroger in the
place where I was in South Carolina. It was a buzzball,
but it was it was like a three liter buzzball.
It was a magic It looked like a buzzball, but
it was huge orb exactly. I want to put this
(40:21):
other just I think selling liquor like that when it's closed,
like it would be in a paper bag or something
when you sell it. I don't think that's the same
as selling you know, whiskey, that you come in and
enjoy a whiskey on premises and then leave. I think
that's maybe the thing the difference.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
But no, no, liquor stores are like here.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
They often call them package stores, which is I think
there's laws around that too. Yeah, you do have to
dispense it in a paper bag and you are not
allowed to consume it on the premises even.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
That's what I mean though, But if it was like
a bar situation at the gas station, that would be
like increasing the potential violence thing because of it in
bibing in the games.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Yeah, these are all kind of loopholes in a lot
of way.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
And liquor stores also have a very powerful monopoly, so yeah,
there's there's a that's a huge part of why some
of these laws exist, right, And I love this point
about loopholes and legal eese because we say Yeah, a
gas station cannot sell hard liquor. You will have to
walk out of the door, take a right, and proceed
(41:27):
twenty feet to the next building, which does sell all
the liquor.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
You will also sure you go correct and then sometimes
you know, oh gosh, funny story, guys. The gas station
that I was mentioning that I worked at was owned
by and connected to a liquor store.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
It was called the Liquor Locker. I'll never forget that.
It's the funniest name.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
But the same folks owned both and they weren't separate entities,
but they were literally right next to one another.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Wow, just like you're saying.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
This is the perfect example. That's so funny. Is it still? Yes?
It is, Georgia. Sure it was not a great I
did not leave on good terms.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
There'd be like I used to be the king I was.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
I worked behind the counter in the gas station part.
I was like sixteen.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
You know, it's one of my very first jobs.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
Gig.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Just to switch gears back to thinking about crime, specifically
at a gas station. Yeah, have you guys ever, I
don't know. I don't want to be weird about this.
I've no felt threatened at Okay, Yes, I've had a
couple of not necessarily but just seeing why. I've seen
stuff that I just don't understand. It's behaviors I don't understand.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
You saw it beneath the skin, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, And it has to do with people who are
generally hanging out around the outside.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Of a station involved a lot of times for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Well in this case, okay, so it's a specific place
that you guys kind of no on on that Beuford
Highway corridor where there's a gas station in between two
major roads. So imagine like the two major roads going
out and there's a gas station in between those two roads.
And I just noticed when I would go there, there
(43:16):
are people, always not the same people, but just hanging
out kind of just waiting for stuff.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
There's in a group.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, yes, And I just wonder it's not like a
home depot situation where you might find a group of
people waiting for work or something like that. That's not
I never saw that interaction. It just felt weird to me,
like they're watching or waiting for something.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
It might be posted up to sling arcotics.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
I mean, yeah, well that's that's what I think, But
I don't I never want to assume that, right.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Right, but they also might be uh, it might be
a situation, especially here in the South, in a lot
of places in the US, it might be a situation
where that's just the free hangout spot one hundred live
in the neighborhood, you walk over there. Because there are
very few places in this country right now where you
don't have to pay to exist in that space, like
(44:08):
the library, the liminal spaces in front of a gas
station or a business that not for nothing. Do people
kick it at the barber shop all day? You know
what I mean, a haircut doesn't take that long. You
just don't want to have to like pay to go
somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Yeah, in parks things, that makes sense, That makes sense. Yeah,
it It's always weird when you see interactions with cars
where you're like, okay, what why are they going to
a third car?
Speaker 3 (44:35):
So what we're describing here as an excellent segue is
something I've been kind of thinking about as Invisible America
to our earlier episode on train hopping. There are subcultures,
underground cultures associated with truck stops, especially, but a lot
of gas stations, and if you look at these places,
(44:57):
if you spend more time than you would normally spend.
You will, like you said, Matt, you'll start to notice
things that could otherwise slip past your radar. Trucking stations
in particular, have garnered a reputation as places where you
can buy illegal ray market drugs, you know, your creative
and whatnot. They're also going to be depending on the size,
(45:21):
they can become like small towns or villages of their own.
You know, a place where you can sleep in your truck.
There's a restaurant, there's showering facilities, there might be an
actual hotel or motel. And this means that a lot
of people who are off the grid can move through
these environments and communicate. Local law enforcement and federal law
(45:44):
enforcement often has to investigate trucking routes and trucking stations
as stop offs on human trafficking operations.
Speaker 5 (45:53):
You got the term here that a classic old school
term for truck stop sex work, which I think is kind.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
Of it's a little gross, but as very much was
used a lot.
Speaker 5 (46:03):
This idea of a lot lizards, which I just I've
always rubbed me the wrong way, but this is this
notion of sort of you know, lower tier let's just
say sex workers that hang out at truck stops, and
there's often associations with you know, methamphetamines and other stimulants
and things like that as well.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Yeah, drug addictions struggles. Victims of trafficking may be forced
into it by an abuse of pimp. Often, unfortunately, these
sex workers are not treated well by law enforcement nor
by store employees. They're seen as a nuisance, though some
might say a necessary evil, which we don't agree with,
(46:43):
and as a result, it can be very difficult for
these people to get the help and support they need
to leave that life. But trafficking not restricted to illegal
sex workers. Investigators have repeatedly over the years here in
the United States found gas station inconvenience store owners conducting
forced labor or purposely hiring and then blackmailing undocumented people.
(47:09):
Oh yeah, it gets dirty, real quick, real quick. And
this isn't even touching on the conspiracy theories. Do we
want to pause for a word from our sponsor and
just explore like one or two of those we must, yes, sir,
and we have returned all right. Aside from the crime,
(47:30):
those are all real conspiracies. Gas stations are also a
great place for wha could do conspiracy theories, you know
what I mean? I love Have you guys ever seen
like weird flyers at a gas station or weird stickers
at a gas pump?
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah? I remember hearing something about specific items being left
on the top of pumps or something as like a signal,
Like if you pick up the thing, you are sending
the signal to somebody who's watching the gas pump, and
now you're gonna you they think you're the person that
(48:07):
they're meant to do some deal with. I don't know,
It's just ridiculous, are you him? Yeah, it sounds like
conspiracy theory to me because I've never actually seen it
in action, but you you'll find people writing about.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
It on social media sting.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
Yeah, I could see that working as a tactic, But
I wonder what it's for. You know what, do we
know what they would leave? Is it something that would
make sense there, like a something that's a nick knack,
not of high value, like a cigarette lighter or something.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
It was definitely a nick knack pattiwack situation.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
I'm just not sure what, okay, because I feel like
if you left the wallet there, that defeat the purpose.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
It's like something that it would appear somebody just accidentally
left it behind, like a packet gup. It was something
that you wouldn't want to take. Does that make sense?
You wouldn't look at it and go oh that I
could use that?
Speaker 4 (49:02):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (49:03):
So like an open halfway used packing up, sure, right,
because I've seen that kind of stuff and thought, who
has to clean that up? Because I don't know anybody.
We don't personally know anybody who is enough of a
skin flint to see a halfway used pack of gum
(49:25):
and go oh, yeah, more triedent for me. Baby, Let
me add it, Let me add it, Let me add this.
Use packicum all right. So part of the reason these
things are so prevalent in the world at gas stations,
these conspiracy theories, these subcultures. The conspiracy theories in particular
occur because gas is an unavoidable expense for so many
(49:47):
people in this country, and gas prices can fluctuate due
to all kinds of things that you cannot predict, right
and that you cannot immediately mitigate. Higher gas have huge
consequences for individuals, industries, businesses, and whenever something like this
goes sideways, people immediately want an explanation. Why is this
(50:12):
six bucks? It was four bucks last month. I blame
the president exactly.
Speaker 4 (50:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:18):
And it's also a metric that politicians will often point
to whether or not they are responsible for the fluctuations
or not.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
And say I did that right exactly. We saw those
stickers too, especially here in the South. One of the
most popular gas price conspiracies recently argued that the surging
gas prices in twenty twenty two were not due to
Russia's invasion of Ukraine nor to pandemic supply issues. But
(50:46):
this was their pitch. They said, this is a purposeful
scheme by the Biden administration. They want to intentionally rig
gas prices and drive them up so that more American
consumers electric vehicles. Super non complicated, right, no way it
could go wrong. One of the memes said, six dollars
(51:09):
a gallon for gas is how you get people to
buy electric cars? What do you think?
Speaker 4 (51:15):
Maybe I don't know, man, I don't think they want. Yeah,
nobody want.
Speaker 5 (51:19):
I mean, people in power don't want you to buy
electric cars. There's too much, too much in the oil
and gas lobby and not to mention that, like I mean,
it seems like still electric cars feel like a bit
of an afterthought for most manufacturers.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Do you remember the time there was a gas shortage
across all of Georgia?
Speaker 5 (51:36):
Yeah, and it's totally in the seventies too. They're like
gas lines, people waiting lines.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
Yeah, of course, gas rationing.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
And well it was years and years ago, and I
can't remember when. I just I have a specific memory
of going to band rehearsal in it was like forty
five minutes away and when I was down there, by
the time I got like was heading back and needed
to fuel up, there was like some gas shortage going
on and it was it was like five dollars a
(52:03):
gallon or four four dollars a gallon or something like that,
which was crazy at the time. And then it was
those gas lines. The first time I ever experienced something
like that, And I wonder, I wonder if supply really
I don't know, I just wonder if supply really is
the thing. And as that one gas station owner said
in that, IAmA, like, you just calculate how much it
(52:25):
costs at the pump, depending on how much a barrel
of oil costs, and that's it.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
Yeah, we know that there are a lot of opportunities,
right to put your thumb on the scale here, and
so that's why this kind of conspiracy theory would arise.
The gas shortages have been real, they've occurred in the past,
they will occur again. But this theory, in particular, it
kind of ignores that there are already established ways to
(52:52):
push ev or push manufacturers and consumers, tax credits, legislation, incentives,
and if you brought that up at this time, you
would be called foolish. There's no proof that anything like
this has happened in the US, but thousands of people
spread that story because it explained the chaos and at
(53:16):
the same time it confirmed pre existing distrust. Right. It
gave us a face and a villain, and people love
a face and a villain. A system is a little
bit more difficult to explain and get mad at.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
Yeah, oh for sure. Did you guys hear the conspiracies
about watering down the gas and or just putting other
stuff besides ethanol into.
Speaker 4 (53:40):
The gas, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
I didn't realize those were fueled by actual things that
occur every year, and most of it is from water
leeching into the actual underground fuel tanks, the storage tanks, interesting,
and like there was I think it was this year
or last year. It was this year in Georgia there
(54:03):
was a gas station that was found to have about
twenty percent water in their gas. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:09):
Well, and how does that affect your vehicle? I mean
it's probably just bow for it real bad.
Speaker 2 (54:14):
It's no good.
Speaker 5 (54:15):
Yeah, but I just mean, like it will still it'll
still go, but then it'll be causing long term damage potentially.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
Right, Theoretically, it'll go for a little bit while your
engine is burning off the actual you know, fuel and
stuff at least somewhat, but then it will break down. Okay,
And that that didn't happen just in one place. There's
a specific Marathon gas station in making. I think that
happened in late March of this year, just twenty percent
(54:43):
water in the fuel tank in the bottom. Which leads
me to this other big thing that we have kind
of talked about before on other episodes. I think when
we talked about dark waters and we talked about forever
chemicals contaminating water, I think we also brought up a
little bit at least this concept of gas stations and
(55:03):
the underground fuel tanks leaching gas or just spilling gas.
Out into the water table. I didn't realize how big
of a thing that is.
Speaker 5 (55:12):
You guys, you certainly would require lots of maintenance to
be operating correct. And I imagine over time the way
like pipes can corrode that that you'd start to see
little holes and things developing.
Speaker 4 (55:23):
Perhaps.
Speaker 3 (55:24):
Yeah, it's also out of sight, out of mind, exact,
so the maintenance can be difficult to execute proactively.
Speaker 4 (55:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (55:33):
Well, so what we found is as some of these
the gas station expansions are occurring in the nineteen forties,
because it's been you know, they're like fits and starts
right where all of a sudden there's a ton more
gas stations and then a ton more and ton more.
In the forties, I think it's like forties to the
early fifties, gas stations started putting in these thirty year
warranty steel underground storage tanks, right and at the thirty
(55:57):
year mark, right around nineteen eighty early nineteen eighty, all
of these steel tanks that were across the United States
started to fail because that's how long you can hold
hydrocarbons in that steel container before it starts breaking down.
And there was just a wave, a massive wave of
gasoline leaking into small town aquifers and the underground water
(56:21):
that all these small towns were using for well water.
And there's a great sixty minutes, I guess peace you
can watch from it's at the end of nineteen eighty three,
early nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 4 (56:35):
You can look it up all of our berths, right,
I think.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
So you can find it. It's called Check the Water,
I believe, and you can find one that was I
think it was rebroadcast on August ninth, nineteen eighty four,
and it's just really creepy. And in there they interviewed
this guy, Warren Rodgers, who were at the time was
heading up the American Petroleum Institute or he's a part
of major part of the Petroleum Institute. He was saying
(57:01):
two to three out of every ten gas stations in
the United States at that time was likely leaking gasoline
out of these fuel tanks. The gas company, Mobile and
Exon were out there spending hundreds of millions of dollars
to replace these things in the eighties, which guess what,
guess how long they're uh, how long they were supposed
(57:22):
to last?
Speaker 4 (57:23):
Still around now.
Speaker 2 (57:25):
Well like thee the twenty teens, and then a bunch
of people started raising the flag again. Well, hey, there's
gas in all our water again, and it's just one
of those things that it causes cancer if it's in
your water to a certain extent, birth effects, all those things,
and it makes me just think about this wider conspiracy
of holding mass quantities of hydrocarbons in places everywhere, next
(57:51):
to homes, next to schools, next to all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (57:54):
Or holding hydrocarbons hostage as well, right speculating on futures
so there would be a gas shortage while a tanker
is literally on the coast just holding gas. The craziest
part about this is because this country is so reliant
on fossile fuels, because so many people and businesses need gas,
(58:18):
some conspiracy theory will always crop up every time the
price is ticked too high. The US president, whomever they
may be, regardless of political party, that's always going to
be one of the world's most powerful people. But even
though they have such power and status across the planet,
every president post automobile lives in eternal fear of the
(58:42):
price at the pump. It is one of the biggest
motivations for US voters, and it's going to be that
way far into the future. There's a lot of like
geopolitics that impact your local flying j or stuckies. Yep,
I'm just mentioning different names now sheets Well yeah, stuckies,
(59:05):
remember stuckiesy all?
Speaker 2 (59:07):
Well, think about how powerful these gas companies are, like
how old they are, how much money and investment they have,
and how many lawyers they employ incalculable and if anything
ever happens, that's a big deal thing with any of
these companies, just as like in that sixty minutes article,
it's a small town in Rhode Island, right that got
(59:28):
affected where people couldn't sell their houses now because they
all had wells and all the wells were fully tainted
with gas. They couldn't They were basically trapped, right, They
couldn't do anything. So the small town council attempted to
fight or wanted to fight back against Mobile. The council
decided not to take any action because after they did
(59:50):
some investigating. This is a quote from the guy who
was leading the town council at the time. Quote, an
oil company the size of Mobile has resources to successfully
counteract anything we might put up. So we just decided
not to take action andn' that's crazy And the only
reason anything happened is because we had something called the
(01:00:11):
EPA that could take action, and now we're dismantling that sucker,
so whatever I mean.
Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Yeah, we know how disturbing all of this sounds, folks,
especially if you're hearing this at night and you're about
to stop by an unfamiliar gas station. So we want
to take a moment to note we are not casting
aspersion on gas station employees or owners or law enforcement.
It's just the same things that make gas stations and
(01:00:39):
convenience stores. So you know, convenient also creates opportunities for corruption, crime,
and conspiracy. We can't not have gas stations, so they'll
always be around, which means a lot of these problems
will continue, and gas station employees, as we've established or underpaid,
have to put up with some crazy stuff. This is
(01:01:00):
where we ended.
Speaker 5 (01:01:01):
Oh I would add the from everything that I've read,
and I understand, BUCkies is a great place to work,
and they pay really good wage and they.
Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Have good benefits and opportunities.
Speaker 5 (01:01:12):
I'm not shilling for BUCkies, but I have read some
things that were kind of interesting in terms of the
way they treat their employees. So there are alternatives I
guess to what you're talking about as well.
Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
Then same quick trip.
Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
Agreed, that's right.
Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
So if you have ever worked in these positions, folks,
you almost certainly have some war stories and we would
love to hear them. You can give us a telephone call,
you can please please please send us an email, or
you can reach us on the internets.
Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
It's right.
Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
You can find us at the handle Conspiracy Stuff, where
we exist on Facebook with our Facebook group Here's where
it gets crazy, on xfka, Twitter, and on YouTube. We
have absolute heaps of videos for YouTube enjoy and soon
to be adding to the heap on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
However, we're Conspiracies Show.
Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
We have a phone number. It is one eight three
three std WYTK. When you call in, you will be
inside a voicemail. You'll have three minutes. Give yourself a
cool nickname and let us know within the message if
we can use your name and message on the air.
Quick shout out to Axios Atlanta and an article titled
(01:02:18):
cleaning up Georgia's coam Industry a really great read if
you want more context on those types of machines and
specifically in Georgia, but it applies to a lot of
other states too. If you want to write to us,
why not instead send us an email.
Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
We are the entities that read each piece of correspondence
we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void
writes back, seriously, I'm not joking. Gas station war stories.
We want to hear them right. Whether you are a
consumer or an employee, what are the weirdest things you
have seen at a gas station? Tell us. All you
(01:02:54):
have to do is walk a little further out into
the dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Stuff they don't want you to know. Is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,
my name is Noa.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you
are you. You are here, and that makes this the
stuff they don't want you to know. There is a
non zero chance that several of our fellow listeners are
driving toward or from a gas station as they hear this. Now,
(00:53):
when's the last time you guys went to a gas station?
Pretty recently?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Right this morning?
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Yeah, I want to pick up a few odds and ends.
I live in what they call a bit of a
food desert, so sometimes I pop into the gas station
for some doughnut sticks for a quick and easy brecky
for the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Ah. Because a gas station is not just a gasing station.
It is a place to fuel up on everything you may.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Need and to convene. It's a eating place.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, it's a convenient place to convene. Yeah, if you're
if you're not from North America, folks. This may sound
a little bit weird because in many other countries, as
anyone who's travel can assure you, your local gas or
petrol station or filling station might be unremarkable. They might
literally just sell gas. Maybe some auto parts offer a
(01:44):
few light repair services. But check this out here. In
the wild culture of the United States, the humble gas
station has evolved far beyond its original form.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
You know, you guys been to BUCkies, Yeah, Buies?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think the height killed it for me.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Well, you know, it'll do that.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
They do have a really great selection of beefed jerkeys
and also pretty good pull pork sandwiches, and it's sort
of like a mini like to your point, Ben, it
is the pinnacle of gas station culture. One could argue
it is like a Disneyland of gas stations. There's costumed
mascots roaming the facilities.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, it's like here later too. But the best way
we could describe BUCkies is to say it is like
a gigantic gift shop for a theme park that doesn't
yet exist, and it happens to have gas pumps outside.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
There's a lot of gas pumps too.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
The same number of gas pumps, and all of the
merch is like seasonal and BUCkies themed of course, and
there are like people that are mega into it and
like collect I have a tied hi full BUCkies swimsuit
with a with a top and everything nice.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I really liked the thing you brought up. There been
about uh sometimes offering repair and parts. Do you guys remember,
like when you were kids, seeing more gas stations that
were car focused.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Oil changes at the very least in the garage on
peace right.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I feel like that doesn't maybe doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Maybe in some areas now, maybe in like the Midwest perhaps,
or maybe like in some parts of like upstate New
York and Jersey and things like that.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I just I picture that, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Lots of rural areas will still have the service station
they would call it in addition to the gas station. Look,
here in the US, you are just an interstate away
from these enormous hypermarkets like BUCkies or truck stops are pal.
Dylan and I were talking about this a little bit
off air. There's such a vibe to a good interstate
(03:52):
truck stop, you know, like quick trip is very popular
here in the southeast of the United States. I'man be honest, guys,
it's a little too clean for me.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
It ticks off the boxes though you can get all
the different snacks and they have some pre made foods.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And yeah, like there's not enough sketch about it, you know.
Give me, give me a fly in jay at like
three point thirty four in the morning.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
For sure, and you'll see if you want to talk
about some touch points, you will often see like cbe
radio gear, like walls of like things you can buy
for long haul truck driving. And then the weird thing
for me is like cases of weird crystal figurines and
like little little figures that you can buy. Maybe I
don't know what how that why the deal is? That's
a flying j thing in particular.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, under Delta nine.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And technically legal things like creat them and truck or speed.
Some gas stations feel like they're spaceships, right, and others
are sketchier than a Matisse painting. So tonight we thought
we would take a break from some of the really
heavy stuff we've discussed recently and dive into the weird
underground culture or world of gas stations and perhaps without conspiracies.
(05:01):
Along the way, here are the facts. All right, spoiler everybody,
We don't want to ruin the movie for you, but
the origin of gas stations is in fact tied to
the creation of the automobile.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Combustion engines, right, literally thousands of tiny explosions chained together
to create propulsive power.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
And the first technically what we could call the first
gas station, is actually a pharmacy in Weislach, Germany in
eighteen eighty eight, Earth of Benz was driving from Mannheim
to Forzheim. Am I saying that correctly you are foresheil okay, yeah, okay,
(05:50):
So she is driving in the world's first long distance
automobile trip, the first car road trip. And the problem
is is that they have wildly, as Bush would say,
miss underestimated the gas tank efficiency. So halfway through these
folks have to stop and try to find something that
(06:13):
will work as auto fuel. So in eighteen eighty eight
they happen by this local pharmacy which you can still
visit today, and they refill the tank. So technically that's
the first gas station. But then from there they propagate,
they spread and step with the auto and thank you
Henry Ford and so many others. It's similar to how
(06:34):
you will see more and more electric vehicles and charging
stations year over year. Today, these gas stations and cars,
they start popping up in urban areas right, slowly replacing
the wagon and the trolley and so on, and they
expand outward as people start building newer, more reliable roads.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Yeah, and it's another thing that has kind of develops
in lockstep with infrastructure, Like as theredes are created, there's
this network, this infrastructure of gas stations, and that being
kind of the first to market, You've got decades generations
of kind of being in on the ground floor of
that operation, which is why it's really hard for things
(07:15):
like charging stations to kind of overtake that. Not to
mention just gasoline car culture. It's not going anywhere. There's
too much money at stake. There's too much investment in
real estate.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh yeah, and we're going to bring something up towards
the end of this episode. That's another one of these
sketchy things about gas stations. But I think it's just
important to point out here, Ben, you're talking about how
as the automobiles going up in popularity and in profitability
for car makers, right, and there's just just thousands and
(07:45):
thousands and more cars being created every year, and more
people are using them every day. More gas stations are
popping up. There's this interesting thirty year period that exist,
like when there's a lot of gas stations and then
thirty years later and then there's a thing that happens
that we're going to talk about later. But it's specifically
(08:07):
to do with how gasoline gets stored in these individual places,
in these things called underground storage tanks.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, you guys ever heard the old the old ripoff
griff stories. This has happened multiple times. I definitely remember it.
In Tennessee. There were gas stations that we get closed
down and they had by that point evolved to have
three grades of gas, right and so someone which is
all based on octane. You can check out car stuff
(08:38):
for more. But the I have seen this before. It
is not an urban legend. Several of those places, when
they got closed down and cleaned up, turned out those
three pumps were all sucking from the same tank.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Oh yeah, that makes nice.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's nice a little sketchy, right, yeah, Oh dude.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
This is really interesting. There's an IAmA on Reddit from
like sixteen years ago, and one of it's a gas
station owner saying, hey, ask me anything, I own a
gas station. And one person said, mid grade is just
regular gas in premium mixed together, Isn't it? Isn't it?
And he responded, most places have a separate tank, you know,
(09:18):
one of these underground storage tanks for all three grades,
and a fourth one if you've got diesel, and maybe
even a fifth one if you've got a different type
of gas, right, like bio diesel or something.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Or like a marina might have fuel for boats exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
But in this case, when this gas station owner, he's
saying that most places have that, but in his there's
basically a it combines regular gasoline and the premium gasolinetain, Yes,
had a two thirds regular, one third premium to get
that eighty nine number, which is what mid grade is.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yeah, do people buy mid grade? I would think you
would either go for the low end or the high end.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It depends on your vehicle, okay, right, some manufacturers have
specific recommendations.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Right, so it depends on how high the compression is. Right,
exactly about it.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
You got it. Look, gas station owners, even back when
they still have the new car smell, as an industry,
they're providing an essential service, and even at that point,
it was obvious to the owners that the gas did
not make a ton of profit for the business. Even
in recent years. If you look at gas prices, no
(10:32):
matter how they fluctuate, in defense of the owners and operators,
they're making a tiiny bit of profit off of the
gas after all the costs they incur. It's something like
a nickel to fifteen cents profit per gallon, which does
add up. But you know, I think it's all too
easy for us to drive by and see a very
(10:56):
high price point on gas and think these guys are rooking,
And sometimes they are. If they're buy an interstate they
kind of are because they can't.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I've always wondered too, Like I worked at a gas
station very briefly when I was younger, and they actually
would look at the surrounding gas station, yes, and change
their prices accordingly, like visually just doing I just always
assumed there was some network and interconnectedness of all those prices,
especially on the signs that have the you know, digital
readouts or whatever. But no, I mean maybe there isn't
(11:27):
for some, but not the one I worked that and
the one I worked that was definitely Matisse level sketchy.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, Well, just in that I am Ama thing, the
guy describes how there is an internal system for the
gas company, right, so that gas station, the owner of
that gas station doesn't own the gas, that's the gas company.
If it's a mobile X on BP QT whatever.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
If it's franchised, right or yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And each one of these companies have their own internal
system that shows how much gas prices are and what
people are charging. Like essentially, you've got a threshold of
what you're going to be charging for gas, where you
should be charging for gas, or at least how much
you're going to pay for the gas to get to
your station, right right then, as the gas station owner,
as you're calculating that price. One of the things that
(12:16):
this person said they take into account is what the
competition looks like, because as we know, generally there's not
just one gas station around. And if that does occur
where there's just one like Ben and Nola're talking about
on the Interstate or something like, there's one in a
place called Buckhead in Atlanta that is the only gas
station on one of these primary roads, and their gas
(12:37):
is always almost a full dollar more than any other
gas if you just continue on that road for a
couple of.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Miles, because where are you going to go? Yeah, And
the gas station owners then therefore have a They have
a bottom, right, they have a floor of price they
can hit, and then they have a little bit of
a window of flexibility to how as to how they
can push the price higher for profit. And of course
they're going to go out of business if they fly
(13:06):
too far. They're too much of an Icarus out there
on the price point.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
But I can keep up with the competition.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
You know, maybe they have just enough edge to be attractive,
like you know, versus the one across the street or
down the way, but you can't go ham on it.
And I mean that gas station you're talking about, Matt
is probably the closest example to a pure monopoly. Or
they could just be like, well, I guess we name
the price, but only past a certain point of reason.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I would say that's why the digital redoubts are so
popular now, because you can take a loss. Sometimes it
makes sense to take a loss on the gas, even
just for like a few hours or a day or so,
because if you are a gas station owner, you are
very much like a movie theater so movies shown in
(13:51):
local theaters, and we hope yours are still around. They
are not owned by the theater. They're the oil for
that proverbial gas station. And as a result, just like
the studio at movie theater, tycoons of old gas station
owners got into concessions. The other stuff you buy while
you're buying gas. That's where you see the big bucks snack, foods, drinks,
(14:15):
the vice purchases, lottery tickets, beer, tobacco, chochkes, souvenirs, car parts,
over the counter drugs, magazines, and then you know, of
course later like you were saying, with food, desert snoll,
small grocery stands right, And then it goes gambling machines,
which is what prompted this episode.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
It sure is.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
And the very gas station that I go to has
a whole little gambling section, like a little gambling parlor.
And the reason I mentioned the whole people play a
meeting place because it is popping sometimes like people hanging
out and you know, using those video there's a term
for it.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
We're gonna get to it. I'm totally forgetting.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
But there entertainment machines, coin operated, skill based, and that's
a big one. And of course you know they're also
rife for people maybe selling selling drugs.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Drugs, yeah, not hit over the counterless.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Sure, yeah. And you know later we also see a
hybrid monopolization interesting term. Large supermarkets sometimes called hyper markets,
like Walmart and Costco. They get in on the game
and they put small gas stations or service stations in
their parking lot. And it is tough to say no
(15:27):
to such a tremendous convenience. It's the kind of thing
Bertha Ben's probably never imagined, but we mentioned this. You know,
like some of these gas stations, especially big trucker stops
in interstate compounds, they are an event all to themselves. Again,
I'll just reiterate it. BUCkies feels like a gift shop
(15:50):
for an amusement park that does not exist. We cannot
overemphasize that.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
It is its own amusement park.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
It's an experience.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
It even has like a brass you know, statue of
the titular Bucky upfront, and like everything you can think
of BUCkies, you know, barbecue, gear, pop tense. It is
an absolute marketing you know, nightmare slash dream, I mean,
depend on your stance.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So it's a feedback loop. It's so crazy because if
you have never been there, or you haven't been to
the US, and you just woke up into BUCkies, you
would assume there's a roller coaster outside.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Very true.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah dude, well okay, so really quickly we went through
a big list of things that the convenience stores usually sell, right,
we uh. One of the things we learned in research
for this episode is that those some of those vice things. Well,
I think we all assumed that gas stations made a
killing on most of like, as you said, cigarettes and alcohol,
(16:48):
and at least those two things in particular. Sure, when
I think about a gas station often I think, oh,
I'm gonna stop in and you know, get a six pack.
When I would do that, I would just stop buy
a local gas station. So many people do that.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
Some of us have a whole like beer, you know,
Haven Cooler, yeah or whatever, where you have all the
top choices of craft beers and everything depends on the spot.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And almost every gas station I've ever been in has
a wall, as you said, been of cigarettes and smoking things,
vaping things, like a huge back wall of that stuff.
What we didn't realize is that those things often are
not one of the main things these gas stations make
money on because the prices of those things are so
(17:30):
closely regulated. Often not in every state, but in most states,
the maximumount you can charge for those things is capped.
And then they've got specific like rubrics for how you
can sell those things.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Tax regmeans and so on. Yeah, and this, the state
by state thing is something that's going to be very
important for this exploration. You might be wondering how many
gas stations there are in total across the United States.
If so, we got you. As of November two, twenty
twenty four, there were an estimated one hundred and forty
(18:04):
seven thousand all told. However, that number fluctuates a lot.
Most of the convenience stores in this country are also
going to be selling fuel, but we are not counting
just the service stands only, which are more like the
European style thing. You know, there's like a little kiosk,
(18:25):
and you pay the person, you get the gas, and
they might give you a coke, they might sell soda.
But these things are still pretty much everywhere. If you
are ninety three percent of the American population, you are
always ten minutes away from a gas station maximum, which
is nuts a lot of other businesses can't say that,
(18:47):
you know.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Yeah, it's by necessity though.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
I mean, you know, you hear stories or horror stories
about being out in maybe a desert region, perhaps out
west and not a gas station for miles where you
really have to plan in more mountainous regions, anything that's
super rural, but you have you can hopefully depend on
there being a gas station at least within a certain
number of miles, or else you could genuinely be in
(19:12):
real trouble.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Right, the same problem some electric vehicles have been facing
on long trips. Now I got Can I tell you
guys a story about one of the weirdest gas stations
I've been to in this country?
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Please? Sure?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Okay, I think it's a little bit of a discoursion,
but hopefully this will be enjoyable for all of us.
Many years ago, I was, as a birthday present kidnapped
to New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
I did not know that was is.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
It like a whole like hop in the car a
happy birthday? Where are we going? I was driving. It
was a self kidnapping. I just said, go west, you man,
where west is a direction, not a place? And and
they said we'll tell you when we get there.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Anyway.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
So we're on these back roads over through Gulf Gulf
coast country and we're running out of gas and it's
just like you described, Noel, there is no clear you know,
there's no clear like Exxon or QT or anything like that.
But we have to stop. And I stop by this
place that has seen better days and it looks closed,
(20:19):
but I'm hoping against hope they're open. And it's got
the old school analog gas pump, you know where the
numbers roll, So no no card. So walk in and
I swear, man, it was so weird. The lights are off,
there's dust on the shelves. There is a song playing
on the you know the speakers. It is a Thousand
(20:42):
Miles from Nowhere by a guy named Dwight Yoakum and.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
At an appropriate song for this situation. I walk in.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
It's like the end of the song and then the
song starts again. Someone has been in the dark playing
thousand Miles to Nowhere on loop. This guy comes out.
He is wearing overalls but no shirt, and he is
lazily eating chicken. And then he asked, are you him.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Got to help?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
You say, I'm just gonna get some gas, and he says, okay, uh,
you want some chicken. I make it fresh. And I'm like,
not again, good, just twenty bucks some pump three or whatever.
And he goes okay, and he wrings me up and
he says, but he is coming right, So.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Waiting for a good story. If we wrote it'd.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Be better, because all I did was immediately chicken out
and like, yeah, I'm cheer.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
He's on the way.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Man. Okay, you chicken.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Out, but you didn't need the chicken. My biggest complaint.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Wow, you know that's that's amazing. Ben. I was recently
on a trip just on on old state roads going
east to the host of South Carolina, and there were
several stretches where if we had been a little lower
on gas, we would have been in serious trouble because
there was nothing well.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
And sometimes in areas like that too, you're going to
be in dead zones for self signal, which makes you
extraft and like having to like walk or you know,
I mean, I'm reminded of a really excellent sequence and
better call sault involving getting stranded in the desert and
like not literally there being nothing like in the United
State road type situation that where you would maybe have
(22:31):
to walk for miles and mild and really dangerous conditions
to get help.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Yeah, and for most drivers, thankfully, that is an uncommon situation.
I would say for a lot of us, visiting a
gas station is part of your weekly routine, right. You
got a daily stop, sometimes for fuel, sometimes just for
your morning coffee or a snack, and you get to
know the people who are employed there at the station
in your neighborhood or along your work route. And I
(23:00):
think everybody has an internal hierarchy of gas stations. You know,
I've got the good one right because it's always a
right turn based on the direction I've driving. There's the
bad one. What are those guys always doing standing outside?
I think we all we always rate these things in
this hierarchy of cleanliness, affordability, and above all location. We
(23:24):
talked about this, but that that's the primary reason gas
station owners put so much effort into getting the right
real estate. You know, if you're on that interstate exit,
you make a ton of money from a constant flow
of traffic, and every time someone gets out of the car,
you have a good chance of getting them to buy
other stuff too.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Dude, Oh my god, think about how revolutionary the seven
to eleven Slurpy was, guys, as far as a profit
center for a gas station. So then the slushie or
whatever it is that popped up at all gas stations.
Just a little bit of eye, a little bit less. Yeah,
like but just holy I'm just sorry. I was just
(24:04):
thinking about the problem the investments.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
In the machine and then everything else is like absolute
pure profit.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Well and if if you're in the right location and
you've got this new thing that the kids love that
parents are going in there to get, oh my god,
such a brilliant move.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
It's true.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
That's why BUCkies took it to the next level. Yeah,
let's make a mascot, you know, let's like wu tang.
BUCkies is for the children, get your bad to spend
some money. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
And you guys, listen to that Riza episode of SmartLess
Yet you really have to have so great.
Speaker 5 (24:36):
There's the most amazing video of Rizza like doing a
video for Guitar Center where he's like building a beat
on the fly, like on this like beat machine thing,
and it's.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
The worst beat ever.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
It's just all crash cymbols and he's just bopping to
it like it's that. I love Reza, I love woods claim,
but this video is classic.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
It's so good.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I got he's a man of tremendous wit. He's very sharp,
so I the suspect he may have purposely made.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
It's maybe possible, but it's it's unclear that I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I mean, you know it's a we haven't seen the
finished product. But look, if you are having a normal
day or night at a gas station, unless something goes awry,
like you get a break down, a flat tire, or
a bathroom emergency, you're not going to spend a lot
of time in that store. And that's what we're dwelling
on tonight, because, as we're about to see, the more
(25:27):
time you spend at the average filling station, the closer
you look, the more apparent it is that there's some
stuff they don't want you to know. So we're going
to pause for a word from our sponsors and then
we'll get weird with it. Here's where it gets crazy,
(25:47):
all right. I know we've overused this phrase in the past,
you guys, but this is applicable now. Gas stations are
indeed a liminal space. They're an oasis in the desert
of the Inner State.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh yeah, sure, or any really anywhere you just you
go into a gas station convenience store and isn't they're
just kind of a vibe. Then you're talking about ones
that were you know, I don't know. Increasingly now it's
like a random exon or mobile or you know whatever, like.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Gas company or something.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, even the VP stations you find them. There's a
time when those companies were trying to like make their
stations look kind of the same and update of them,
make them cool. And know, when I go to a VP,
there's a specific convenience store attached to it, the way
QT and racetrack and all those we're doing it. But
then now I feel like I'm seeing more and more
that are.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Just free for all.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, it all depends on the owner operators and like
what their standards are and what their like kind of
interests are and what they're into and some of the straight.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Up bongs like it's like a thing. Not all, but
some there's.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
A lot of like over sees. I know, a guy
who wholesales stuff kind of things always like find find
one where the paint is not doing too well on
the outside. Of the store. And that is your clue
that you're gonna you're gonna find some weird stuff. Oh,
especially if they have the LED lights bringing the class.
That is a real that's a sick, that's a popping spot.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
I mean some of them, I don't know if you
guys have seen this specifically around Atlanta. You'll see like
lots of clothing items like like t shirts and hats
and bulk socks and things like that. And not to mention,
we haven't even talked about porn. Some of them have
like a whole section of like very specific porn like videos, DVD's. Ye,
like it's very interesting, and that's usually gonna be one
(27:43):
of those Matisse type ones.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
With the lights.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah, Matisa is a nice you missm I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Guys. We all know the joy of a five dollars
pair of gas station sunglasses, right one million.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I love a good pair of burner shades.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
Could be a whole new person. I'm a guy that
wears Oakley's. Now I'm not actually going to invest in Oakley's.
I'm gonna get the gas station.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
They call me the aviator. Let me get these glasses,
let me go into.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
The let me tip them down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Look, I'm gonna buy a razor. I'm gonna sneak into
the bathroom that the key is attached to this cartoonish
brick or whatever I'm gonna shave, so I have a mustache. Yes,
And now Ben is gone and Chris is back.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
That guy's so cool. Respect Chris is too cool.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
He might be a cop. Okay, gambling though, all right,
there are so many unseen things that will occur right
under your nose at your local gas station unless you
know where to look. So I loved our conversation previously
about the weird, complicated, just labyriantine issue agglomeration with gambling
(29:00):
at a gas station. It could be legal or illegal,
depending on the state and depending on the language they
use to describe their machines. Right.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
Yeah, we talked about this pretty recently on Strange News,
where we rattled through some of the laws around it.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
And I believe here in Georgia a new.
Speaker 5 (29:20):
Law or change in the laws is what has led
to a bit of an explosion in these and I
think I made the point that you know, while it's
not Vegas style gambling, you're not getting cash payouts per se.
And we'll get into that later. A lot of the
machines are ones you would see on a casino floor
in Vegas.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
They're the same ones.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, maybe the twenty twenty four changes to legislation that
that you're referencing their NOL. It advances the idea of
skill based slot machines. And I really loved their conversation
about that, where you had you had beautifully described right,
what the big difference is the idea that one must
make a decision, the player chooses something right as somewhere
(30:04):
in the order of operations, so legally to the politicians
who got paid off for this, that makes it not
quite the same as gambling. But law enforcement is usually
not happy with this because to your point, Matt, about
how people might get paid or not paid, store employees
(30:24):
can have any number of under the table or off
the books ways to surreptitiously skirt the law and pay
the gamblers. And if you, if you, if you were
law enforcement, like you're the gambling unit or something, you
crack down on one method, uh what a sketchy coupons
or something, then you're playing whack a mole because they'll
(30:45):
just figure out another way to keep paying people.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
Well, we didn't we didn't really talk about this, but
you know what, gas stations and compass, largely in the
United States are a combination of two services that would
be available elsewhere in the world, perhaps like you have
the little convenience store that is its own thing, very
much exactly the same or similar to what you would
see attached to a gas station. But then gas stations
being very specific, especially in cities where there's a lot
(31:10):
of foot traffic and a lot of public transit use.
But in New York City, for example, the little bodegas
and the corner stores. For a while, we're selling weed,
like just straight up selling weed while there was this
gray area period with legalizing marijuana in New York City.
(31:32):
Now there are dispensaries and there are places you can go,
but during that kind of wild West gray area period,
it was sort of all bets are off. But then
once the dispensaries open and the laws tightened up, the
NYPD absolutely swept those places. And now it's very rare
for them to do that, but they will. Some still
are bold, and we'll do it. It's got to know
(31:52):
what to ask.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
It's Dave Chappelle rules from Half Baked You go into
the bodega, you have to establish a rapport in advance.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, Well, and why would those bodegas and the owners
and operators of those go into the weed business Because
there's lots of money in it, which is why gas
stations go into the gambling business. Yes, because, holy mackerel,
there's potential money there. The thing is, like we're talking
about with Georgia, because that's what we know best. We're
Georgia boys. I mean, at least now right, there are
(32:23):
there are an estimated seven thousand, two hundred and thirty
seven slot machines in the United States according to casino
dot org. So you got to take their word for
it in September twenty twenty. But that means there's thousands
of these slot machines all over the place, and each
state's different. And in Georgia, these what do they they
(32:44):
call them coin operated amusement machines that class B.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
Com that are paid and the class refers to how
they are paid out, how they get licensed.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Right, that's rights is a much more expensive license, that's right.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yeah, class demitations for much higher profits.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yes, Class A machines are stuff like those claw machines
and pool tables where you got to put the money
in and stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Gotcha pung machines perhaps, so the thing with the little
toys in the in the bubble, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah. But the crazy thing is with states like Georgia,
they tie that gambling to the lottery system of the state,
so they're now kind of one and the same. And
all of those machines are now operated by the lottery
and licensed from the lottery, and they take in money.
Now those machines, guys, the same way that when at
(33:35):
least when I was growing up, my dad would go
and buy lottery tickets sometimes, and he was talking about
paying for Hope scholarship and all these other things in Georgia,
where it's actually scholarships for students who get a certain
you know, grade average level. And now these machines. In
twenty twenty two, there's like one hundred and forty million
(33:55):
dollars raised for Hope scholarship and other stuff by the
lottery via gambing machines.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And that's after everybody gets their cut, you know what
I mean. It's a big pizza.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Isn't that interesting?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Though?
Speaker 5 (34:06):
How like the fact that it's tied to education and
the hope scholarship as a way to make people kind
of hold their nose about the sort of not great
aspects of it and the potential for people becoming addicted.
To me, you see it when you go to people
just like dropping mad money on tons of lottery tickets
and like writing in all their numbers, and it's like
(34:27):
you hate to see it in a way because it's
like the chances are so near zero.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
People are going to do what they want, right, So
this is a way to turn the sword of gambling
addiction into the plowshare of education.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
That's right. That's a great way of putting it.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Thanks man.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
We know.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Also to your point, nol, it goes past the dicey
hair splitting league LEAs of electronic gambling machines in the
front of the store. If you make the right connections,
you can go to a full on legal gambling ring.
We've seen it here. I'm not going to name specifics,
but a lot of interesting stuff can happen behind that door.
(35:07):
Marked employees only.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Like a card game, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
You come in. You know the right guy, you know,
you do the right dap. Yeah maybe maybe would it
be cool if they had a code phrase and you're like,
I would like to see the sprite t right, or
you just whisper yeah, and then they might also be
(35:32):
sports betting as well.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
That true.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Oh yeah, yeah, well hey, and if you find yourself
in the state of Georgia, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Investigative Division Commercial Gambling Unit wants you to know that
if you find something like that and you're feeling like
a narc, they've got a whole system stitch. You can
anonymously snitch.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
I saw a I saw a fascinating thing recently. It
was a picture of a sign about gambling addiction and
it said something like, you know, watch out, twenty percent
of gamblers will end up bankrupt. And immediately I thought,
I think someone with a gambling problem would take those.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Odds or statement.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
As a positive thing. They're trying to trick the probation office.
All right. I don't know if there's a probation office
for gambling, but look, a lot of us, as your
average evening the evening customers. When we see these machines
or sensus Shenanigan, we assume that county level authorities may
(36:38):
somehow be complicit, which can happen especially in rural area
in the wheels, as you said, hold their nose or
look the other way. But there's a lot more to
crime and gas stations than gambling and petty bribery. Gas
Stations and convenience stores are the seventh and fourth most
common locations for violence crime in the country, and that's
(37:02):
because they are private property, but they are considered a
public space. You will inevitably see someone you don't know
at a gas station, and some of those strangers may
have bad intentions. You're just more likely to run into
that situation there.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah, and as we mentioned before on when of these
episodes where we talked about this guys, a lot of
the gas stations now, particularly QT I've seen they have
those signs posted up that it's a safe space, right
or a safe place to go if you are ever
in trouble or if you're finding yourself sure in a
kidnapping or human trafficking situation, there are ways within that
(37:40):
station to alert authorities and the people running the gas
station that you need help, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Even just the small non trafficking situations like you have
you're attempting to sell something on Facebook, marketplace or online
somehow like Craigslist back in the day, and so there
are known grifts where someone will say, hey, I want
to buy a thing and then meet me here and
then they attempt to rob you or do something worse.
(38:08):
So those spaces that you're describing their matt can also
just be a safe place to trade, depending on what
you're doing. We should also mention that a lot of
local police departments provide the same service. Don't meet someone
that you don't know in a place that you don't trust.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
There you go easy.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I guess, yeah, I heard. I always thinking through that sentence.
As we reached the end, I was like, it's easy
to say, it's tougher to do. But also, you know,
a lot of these gas stations are open twenty four
hours a day. They're right next to the veins and
arteries of transit. So if you are a would be robber,
you can wait until the hours are slow. You can
(38:52):
even surveil a bit. If you're clever, you can commit
a crime and then you can be in the wind
before the police can respond.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
Mean, it's I think it's no accident that like in general,
and maybe it's different in New Orleans, but gas stations
don't sell hard liquor, like you know what I mean, Like.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
They just yeah, it depends on the state, right, Yeah,
but but most of them, at least in Georgia, all
of them that I've seen in Georgia, don't.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
I guess.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
I just mean that, like it's almost like it's just
an understanding that that would almost potentially increase the chances
of violence or the chances for difficulty in a place
that's already a target for that kind of stuff. I
just want to sell little those are malt beverages, the
little things that look like character. There're a different class
of beverage, things like fireball and southern Southern comfort.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
It's like gross, yeah, no, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
And shout out to our buddy Blake for his buzzballs.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
They do sell buzzballs, that's true, but they are not
They don't have hard liquor in them.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
They have like some kind of the one actually maybe buzzballs.
They don't sell, like.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
Do they sell them a gas stations because they don't
there are laws around them.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I saw something, you guys at a Kroger in the
place where I was in South Carolina. It was a buzzball,
but it was it was like a three liter buzzball.
It was a magic It looked like a buzzball, but
it was huge orb exactly. I want to put this
(40:21):
other just I think selling liquor like that when it's closed,
like it would be in a paper bag or something
when you sell it. I don't think that's the same
as selling you know, whiskey, that you come in and
enjoy a whiskey on premises and then leave. I think
that's maybe the thing the difference.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
But no, no, liquor stores are like here.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
They often call them package stores, which is I think
there's laws around that too. Yeah, you do have to
dispense it in a paper bag and you are not
allowed to consume it on the premises even.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
That's what I mean though, But if it was like
a bar situation at the gas station, that would be
like increasing the potential violence thing because of it in
bibing in the games.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Yeah, these are all kind of loopholes in a lot
of way.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
And liquor stores also have a very powerful monopoly, so yeah,
there's there's a that's a huge part of why some
of these laws exist, right, And I love this point
about loopholes and legal eese because we say Yeah, a
gas station cannot sell hard liquor. You will have to
walk out of the door, take a right, and proceed
(41:27):
twenty feet to the next building, which does sell all
the liquor.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
You will also sure you go correct and then sometimes
you know, oh gosh, funny story, guys. The gas station
that I was mentioning that I worked at was owned
by and connected to a liquor store.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
It was called the Liquor Locker. I'll never forget that.
It's the funniest name.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
But the same folks owned both and they weren't separate entities,
but they were literally right next to one another.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Wow, just like you're saying.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
This is the perfect example. That's so funny. Is it still? Yes?
It is, Georgia. Sure it was not a great I
did not leave on good terms.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
There'd be like I used to be the king I was.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
I worked behind the counter in the gas station part.
I was like sixteen.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
You know, it's one of my very first jobs.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
Gig.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Just to switch gears back to thinking about crime, specifically
at a gas station. Yeah, have you guys ever, I
don't know. I don't want to be weird about this.
I've no felt threatened at Okay, Yes, I've had a
couple of not necessarily but just seeing why. I've seen
stuff that I just don't understand. It's behaviors I don't understand.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
You saw it beneath the skin, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, And it has to do with people who are
generally hanging out around the outside.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Of a station involved a lot of times for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Well in this case, okay, so it's a specific place
that you guys kind of no on on that Beuford
Highway corridor where there's a gas station in between two
major roads. So imagine like the two major roads going
out and there's a gas station in between those two roads.
And I just noticed when I would go there, there
(43:16):
are people, always not the same people, but just hanging
out kind of just waiting for stuff.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
There's in a group.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, yes, And I just wonder it's not like a
home depot situation where you might find a group of
people waiting for work or something like that. That's not
I never saw that interaction. It just felt weird to me,
like they're watching or waiting for something.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
It might be posted up to sling arcotics.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
I mean, yeah, well that's that's what I think, But
I don't I never want to assume that, right.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Right, but they also might be uh, it might be
a situation, especially here in the South, in a lot
of places in the US, it might be a situation
where that's just the free hangout spot one hundred live
in the neighborhood, you walk over there. Because there are
very few places in this country right now where you
don't have to pay to exist in that space, like
(44:08):
the library, the liminal spaces in front of a gas
station or a business that not for nothing. Do people
kick it at the barber shop all day? You know
what I mean, a haircut doesn't take that long. You
just don't want to have to like pay to go
somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Yeah, in parks things, that makes sense, That makes sense. Yeah,
it It's always weird when you see interactions with cars
where you're like, okay, what why are they going to
a third car?
Speaker 3 (44:35):
So what we're describing here as an excellent segue is
something I've been kind of thinking about as Invisible America
to our earlier episode on train hopping. There are subcultures,
underground cultures associated with truck stops, especially, but a lot
of gas stations, and if you look at these places,
(44:57):
if you spend more time than you would normally spend.
You will, like you said, Matt, you'll start to notice
things that could otherwise slip past your radar. Trucking stations
in particular, have garnered a reputation as places where you
can buy illegal ray market drugs, you know, your creative
and whatnot. They're also going to be depending on the size,
(45:21):
they can become like small towns or villages of their own.
You know, a place where you can sleep in your truck.
There's a restaurant, there's showering facilities, there might be an
actual hotel or motel. And this means that a lot
of people who are off the grid can move through
these environments and communicate. Local law enforcement and federal law
(45:44):
enforcement often has to investigate trucking routes and trucking stations
as stop offs on human trafficking operations.
Speaker 5 (45:53):
You got the term here that a classic old school
term for truck stop sex work, which I think is kind.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
Of it's a little gross, but as very much was
used a lot.
Speaker 5 (46:03):
This idea of a lot lizards, which I just I've
always rubbed me the wrong way, but this is this
notion of sort of you know, lower tier let's just
say sex workers that hang out at truck stops, and
there's often associations with you know, methamphetamines and other stimulants
and things like that as well.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Yeah, drug addictions struggles. Victims of trafficking may be forced
into it by an abuse of pimp. Often, unfortunately, these
sex workers are not treated well by law enforcement nor
by store employees. They're seen as a nuisance, though some
might say a necessary evil, which we don't agree with,
(46:43):
and as a result, it can be very difficult for
these people to get the help and support they need
to leave that life. But trafficking not restricted to illegal
sex workers. Investigators have repeatedly over the years here in
the United States found gas station inconvenience store owners conducting
forced labor or purposely hiring and then blackmailing undocumented people.
(47:09):
Oh yeah, it gets dirty, real quick, real quick. And
this isn't even touching on the conspiracy theories. Do we
want to pause for a word from our sponsor and
just explore like one or two of those we must, yes, sir,
and we have returned all right. Aside from the crime,
(47:30):
those are all real conspiracies. Gas stations are also a
great place for wha could do conspiracy theories, you know
what I mean? I love Have you guys ever seen
like weird flyers at a gas station or weird stickers
at a gas pump?
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah? I remember hearing something about specific items being left
on the top of pumps or something as like a signal,
Like if you pick up the thing, you are sending
the signal to somebody who's watching the gas pump, and
now you're gonna you they think you're the person that
(48:07):
they're meant to do some deal with. I don't know,
It's just ridiculous, are you him? Yeah, it sounds like
conspiracy theory to me because I've never actually seen it
in action, but you you'll find people writing about.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
It on social media sting.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
Yeah, I could see that working as a tactic, But
I wonder what it's for. You know what, do we
know what they would leave? Is it something that would
make sense there, like a something that's a nick knack,
not of high value, like a cigarette lighter or something.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
It was definitely a nick knack pattiwack situation.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
I'm just not sure what, okay, because I feel like
if you left the wallet there, that defeat the purpose.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
It's like something that it would appear somebody just accidentally
left it behind, like a packet gup. It was something
that you wouldn't want to take. Does that make sense?
You wouldn't look at it and go oh that I
could use that?
Speaker 4 (49:02):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (49:03):
So like an open halfway used packing up, sure, right,
because I've seen that kind of stuff and thought, who
has to clean that up? Because I don't know anybody.
We don't personally know anybody who is enough of a
skin flint to see a halfway used pack of gum
(49:25):
and go oh, yeah, more triedent for me. Baby, Let
me add it, Let me add it, Let me add this.
Use packicum all right. So part of the reason these
things are so prevalent in the world at gas stations,
these conspiracy theories, these subcultures. The conspiracy theories in particular
occur because gas is an unavoidable expense for so many
(49:47):
people in this country, and gas prices can fluctuate due
to all kinds of things that you cannot predict, right
and that you cannot immediately mitigate. Higher gas have huge
consequences for individuals, industries, businesses, and whenever something like this
goes sideways, people immediately want an explanation. Why is this
(50:12):
six bucks? It was four bucks last month. I blame
the president exactly.
Speaker 4 (50:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:18):
And it's also a metric that politicians will often point
to whether or not they are responsible for the fluctuations
or not.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
And say I did that right exactly. We saw those
stickers too, especially here in the South. One of the
most popular gas price conspiracies recently argued that the surging
gas prices in twenty twenty two were not due to
Russia's invasion of Ukraine nor to pandemic supply issues. But
(50:46):
this was their pitch. They said, this is a purposeful
scheme by the Biden administration. They want to intentionally rig
gas prices and drive them up so that more American
consumers electric vehicles. Super non complicated, right, no way it
could go wrong. One of the memes said, six dollars
(51:09):
a gallon for gas is how you get people to
buy electric cars? What do you think?
Speaker 4 (51:15):
Maybe I don't know, man, I don't think they want. Yeah,
nobody want.
Speaker 5 (51:19):
I mean, people in power don't want you to buy
electric cars. There's too much, too much in the oil
and gas lobby and not to mention that, like I mean,
it seems like still electric cars feel like a bit
of an afterthought for most manufacturers.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Do you remember the time there was a gas shortage
across all of Georgia?
Speaker 5 (51:36):
Yeah, and it's totally in the seventies too. They're like
gas lines, people waiting lines.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
Yeah, of course, gas rationing.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
And well it was years and years ago, and I
can't remember when. I just I have a specific memory
of going to band rehearsal in it was like forty
five minutes away and when I was down there, by
the time I got like was heading back and needed
to fuel up, there was like some gas shortage going
on and it was it was like five dollars a
(52:03):
gallon or four four dollars a gallon or something like that,
which was crazy at the time. And then it was
those gas lines. The first time I ever experienced something
like that, And I wonder, I wonder if supply really
I don't know, I just wonder if supply really is
the thing. And as that one gas station owner said
in that, IAmA, like, you just calculate how much it
(52:25):
costs at the pump, depending on how much a barrel
of oil costs, and that's it.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
Yeah, we know that there are a lot of opportunities,
right to put your thumb on the scale here, and
so that's why this kind of conspiracy theory would arise.
The gas shortages have been real, they've occurred in the past,
they will occur again. But this theory, in particular, it
kind of ignores that there are already established ways to
(52:52):
push ev or push manufacturers and consumers, tax credits, legislation, incentives,
and if you brought that up at this time, you
would be called foolish. There's no proof that anything like
this has happened in the US, but thousands of people
spread that story because it explained the chaos and at
(53:16):
the same time it confirmed pre existing distrust. Right. It
gave us a face and a villain, and people love
a face and a villain. A system is a little
bit more difficult to explain and get mad at.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
Yeah, oh for sure. Did you guys hear the conspiracies
about watering down the gas and or just putting other
stuff besides ethanol into.
Speaker 4 (53:40):
The gas, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
I didn't realize those were fueled by actual things that
occur every year, and most of it is from water
leeching into the actual underground fuel tanks, the storage tanks, interesting,
and like there was I think it was this year
or last year. It was this year in Georgia there
(54:03):
was a gas station that was found to have about
twenty percent water in their gas. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:09):
Well, and how does that affect your vehicle? I mean
it's probably just bow for it real bad.
Speaker 2 (54:14):
It's no good.
Speaker 5 (54:15):
Yeah, but I just mean, like it will still it'll
still go, but then it'll be causing long term damage potentially.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
Right, Theoretically, it'll go for a little bit while your
engine is burning off the actual you know, fuel and
stuff at least somewhat, but then it will break down. Okay,
And that that didn't happen just in one place. There's
a specific Marathon gas station in making. I think that
happened in late March of this year, just twenty percent
(54:43):
water in the fuel tank in the bottom. Which leads
me to this other big thing that we have kind
of talked about before on other episodes. I think when
we talked about dark waters and we talked about forever
chemicals contaminating water, I think we also brought up a
little bit at least this concept of gas stations and
(55:03):
the underground fuel tanks leaching gas or just spilling gas.
Out into the water table. I didn't realize how big
of a thing that is.
Speaker 5 (55:12):
You guys, you certainly would require lots of maintenance to
be operating correct. And I imagine over time the way
like pipes can corrode that that you'd start to see
little holes and things developing.
Speaker 4 (55:23):
Perhaps.
Speaker 3 (55:24):
Yeah, it's also out of sight, out of mind, exact,
so the maintenance can be difficult to execute proactively.
Speaker 4 (55:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (55:33):
Well, so what we found is as some of these
the gas station expansions are occurring in the nineteen forties,
because it's been you know, they're like fits and starts
right where all of a sudden there's a ton more
gas stations and then a ton more and ton more.
In the forties, I think it's like forties to the
early fifties, gas stations started putting in these thirty year
warranty steel underground storage tanks, right and at the thirty
(55:57):
year mark, right around nineteen eighty early nineteen eighty, all
of these steel tanks that were across the United States
started to fail because that's how long you can hold
hydrocarbons in that steel container before it starts breaking down.
And there was just a wave, a massive wave of
gasoline leaking into small town aquifers and the underground water
(56:21):
that all these small towns were using for well water.
And there's a great sixty minutes, I guess peace you
can watch from it's at the end of nineteen eighty three,
early nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 4 (56:35):
You can look it up all of our berths, right,
I think.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
So you can find it. It's called Check the Water,
I believe, and you can find one that was I
think it was rebroadcast on August ninth, nineteen eighty four,
and it's just really creepy. And in there they interviewed
this guy, Warren Rodgers, who were at the time was
heading up the American Petroleum Institute or he's a part
of major part of the Petroleum Institute. He was saying
(57:01):
two to three out of every ten gas stations in
the United States at that time was likely leaking gasoline
out of these fuel tanks. The gas company, Mobile and
Exon were out there spending hundreds of millions of dollars
to replace these things in the eighties, which guess what,
guess how long they're uh, how long they were supposed
(57:22):
to last?
Speaker 4 (57:23):
Still around now.
Speaker 2 (57:25):
Well like thee the twenty teens, and then a bunch
of people started raising the flag again. Well, hey, there's
gas in all our water again, and it's just one
of those things that it causes cancer if it's in
your water to a certain extent, birth effects, all those things,
and it makes me just think about this wider conspiracy
of holding mass quantities of hydrocarbons in places everywhere, next
(57:51):
to homes, next to schools, next to all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (57:54):
Or holding hydrocarbons hostage as well, right speculating on futures
so there would be a gas shortage while a tanker
is literally on the coast just holding gas. The craziest
part about this is because this country is so reliant
on fossile fuels, because so many people and businesses need gas,
(58:18):
some conspiracy theory will always crop up every time the
price is ticked too high. The US president, whomever they
may be, regardless of political party, that's always going to
be one of the world's most powerful people. But even
though they have such power and status across the planet,
every president post automobile lives in eternal fear of the
(58:42):
price at the pump. It is one of the biggest
motivations for US voters, and it's going to be that
way far into the future. There's a lot of like
geopolitics that impact your local flying j or stuckies. Yep,
I'm just mentioning different names now sheets Well yeah, stuckies,
(59:05):
remember stuckiesy all?
Speaker 2 (59:07):
Well, think about how powerful these gas companies are, like
how old they are, how much money and investment they have,
and how many lawyers they employ incalculable and if anything
ever happens, that's a big deal thing with any of
these companies, just as like in that sixty minutes article,
it's a small town in Rhode Island, right that got
(59:28):
affected where people couldn't sell their houses now because they
all had wells and all the wells were fully tainted
with gas. They couldn't They were basically trapped, right, They
couldn't do anything. So the small town council attempted to
fight or wanted to fight back against Mobile. The council
decided not to take any action because after they did
(59:50):
some investigating. This is a quote from the guy who
was leading the town council at the time. Quote, an
oil company the size of Mobile has resources to successfully
counteract anything we might put up. So we just decided
not to take action andn' that's crazy And the only
reason anything happened is because we had something called the
(01:00:11):
EPA that could take action, and now we're dismantling that sucker,
so whatever I mean.
Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Yeah, we know how disturbing all of this sounds, folks,
especially if you're hearing this at night and you're about
to stop by an unfamiliar gas station. So we want
to take a moment to note we are not casting
aspersion on gas station employees or owners or law enforcement.
It's just the same things that make gas stations and
(01:00:39):
convenience stores. So you know, convenient also creates opportunities for corruption, crime,
and conspiracy. We can't not have gas stations, so they'll
always be around, which means a lot of these problems
will continue, and gas station employees, as we've established or underpaid,
have to put up with some crazy stuff. This is
(01:01:00):
where we ended.
Speaker 5 (01:01:01):
Oh I would add the from everything that I've read,
and I understand, BUCkies is a great place to work,
and they pay really good wage and they.
Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Have good benefits and opportunities.
Speaker 5 (01:01:12):
I'm not shilling for BUCkies, but I have read some
things that were kind of interesting in terms of the
way they treat their employees. So there are alternatives I
guess to what you're talking about as well.
Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
Then same quick trip.
Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
Agreed, that's right.
Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
So if you have ever worked in these positions, folks,
you almost certainly have some war stories and we would
love to hear them. You can give us a telephone call,
you can please please please send us an email, or
you can reach us on the internets.
Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
It's right.
Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
You can find us at the handle Conspiracy Stuff, where
we exist on Facebook with our Facebook group Here's where
it gets crazy, on xfka, Twitter, and on YouTube. We
have absolute heaps of videos for YouTube enjoy and soon
to be adding to the heap on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
However, we're Conspiracies Show.
Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
We have a phone number. It is one eight three
three std WYTK. When you call in, you will be
inside a voicemail. You'll have three minutes. Give yourself a
cool nickname and let us know within the message if
we can use your name and message on the air.
Quick shout out to Axios Atlanta and an article titled
(01:02:18):
cleaning up Georgia's coam Industry a really great read if
you want more context on those types of machines and
specifically in Georgia, but it applies to a lot of
other states too. If you want to write to us,
why not instead send us an email.
Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
We are the entities that read each piece of correspondence
we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void
writes back, seriously, I'm not joking. Gas station war stories.
We want to hear them right. Whether you are a
consumer or an employee, what are the weirdest things you
have seen at a gas station? Tell us. All you
(01:02:54):
have to do is walk a little further out into
the dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Stuff they don't want you to know. Is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know News
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Matt Frederick
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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