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Costco Gas Station
What is with the "No squeegee for you??"
Its all a matter of Squeezing money
and not Squeegeeing windshields at Costco.
7/26/2013
Recalling the Jerry Seinfeld episode with the Soup Nazi saying "No soup for you!", I can relate to that whenever I go to the Costco Gas Station (do they even call it a "gas station" anymore?). "No squeegees for you" at the Costco Gas Station. Company policy, I have been told. Don't bother asking at the service desk because they plead "Corporate Policy" Ignorance. "Nothing. I know NOTHING!" Also, do not bother filling out the "suggestion" or "complaint" forms by the service desk, to which you will be directed, if you have a complaint, because you will never get a response, even though they want your email and telephone number and member number. The local management apparently does not care or even read these "suggestions". "Corporate" will look at them from on high and make a grand decision as to whether your suggestion is worthy of further consideration. Apparently every suggestion must apply to EVERY local Costco. No local decisions on important things like being able to clean your windshield. Must be handled by Corporate.
So what is with the "No squeegees for you" "gas nazi" rule at Costco? I could not get a straight answer from the local Costco and nothing from Corporate. So I am left to my own deductions, which will follow.
All I can speak for are my experiences at our local Costco Gas Station in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
The first thing that ticks me off is that they took the sandwich sign, with prices on it, down from the pump area, and they have it now stainding, for the last few months, despite my complaints, in the entrance way of the store. Apparently they think that it is more important to try to coax more members out to the gas pumps that would not normally go there, than it is to let people know what the gas prices are without pulling up to the pump and looking at the prices on the pump. (One attendant, when questioned, said that they spot other gas station people cruising through looking at their pricing on the sandwich sign. How they can tell these people are from other gas stations, I do not know. Maybe they are just looking at the prices and saying to themselves that they can go to a station a block away where they can clean their windshield. Also, these people "cruising through" may just be avoiding the unbearably long stop light on the corner which the City of Sun Prairie says they do not have the resources, $$, to change the timing on it. Just turn right on the drive that goes through the Costco gas station entrance and you can save yourself a lot of time if you are wanting to go West on Hoepker Road and do not want to stop at the light and do any texting or emailing. The city of Sun Prairie does not care if you sit there for an eternity.) What other gas station does not make their gas pricing readily available so that, if you were standing next to the gas price sign, it would be almost 2 feet high? Costco has a sign that is ZERO feet high. It is non-existant. It is invisible. Costco is so smug in thinking that they have you roped into purchasing the gas from them, because, well, you are already here right? Even though we do not put our prices out for you to see before you pull up to a gas pump, it is too much trouble to go somewhere else now, right? Don't we always have the absolute lowest prices around? So now, overlook the fact that we are taking you for granted and we do not care about you knowing the prices before you pull up to the pumps and how we compare to other gas stations, go ahead and pay whatever we say is the price. Now, they may very well have one of the lowest prices around but that does not mean that other gas stations do not have the same low price. Just one block away, there is a Woodmans's store where you do not have to have a membership and you can purchase gas there for, nine times out of ten, the same price as the Costco has it. The only problem there is that you have to pay cash or use a Debit card. But, the down side for Costco is that you have to have a membership and you have to use an American Express card to charge. No membership; no gas.
Right now, as I look at my free www.GasBuddy.com app on my smart phone, I can see that Costco has the same low price as does the Woodman's, one block away (and Woodman's does post their prices on outside signs, so you can see them from the street, and are proud of them and not ashamed, as Costco is), as does BP at 5511 Eastpark Blvd, as does BP at 3893 Steven Drive, as does BP at 1705 W. Main, BP at 1706 Windsor St., as does Kwik Trip at 1252 W. Main St., as does TA Travel Center, 5901 US 51, as does Citgo at 4810 E. Washington Ave., as does PDQ at 4741 Lien Rd, as does BP at 1354 Bird St., as does Mobil at 605 E. Washington Ave, as does BP at 9 Tower Drive, and I could go on but I won't. I highly recommend the GasBuddy app for your smart phone or you can check the prices on your computer at gasbuddy.com. And, if you get the app, help out by updating prices so other people know what they are.
So, you are already here at the Costco. Are there some other benefits that other gas stations do not have that would attract you to the Costco Gas Station, since many others have the same low price? How about the free air for your tires? No. Sorry. Costco does not have that available for you. If you need air for your tires, please fill up your gas tank at Costco and then go to some other gas station for your air.
Well, how about being able to clean off your windshield? I don't know about you but my windshield tends to get a lot of bugs on it, in particular, some big damned bug crash landing right in the middle of my viewing area. I'll just clean it off when I get to the Costco Gas Station to fill up my tank. No! "No squeegees for you!" says the Costco Gas Nazi.
Since I could get no response from our local Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Costco, or the majestic "Corporate", I have to deduce that it is all a matter of squeezing as many customers through the gas lines as possible in a given amount of time. I have read on some Costco blogs that there are long lines at their gas stations which we are not experiencing yet, in Sun Prairie. I have, from the opening of the gas station, wondered why in the heck they have these "attendants" or whatever they are called, out by the gas pumps. They are not just to distract you from being able to properly put in your Costco card, press the button, and then select whether you want to use the same card to pay for your gas and then, as they confuse you all the more with their blathering, try to talk you through the process as though you were some kind of idiot that would not be able to follow the unusual directions if the attendant were not there. (After this happened to me numerous times, I learned to tell the attendant "Thank you, I do not need any help") No. They are also not there to wash your windshield FOR YOU since they do not provide you with the Squeegees so you can do it yourself and they obviously do not have anything to do other than make conversation which I do NOT NEED or try to confuse you when you are entering the payment info on the pump. I am here to fill my gas tank up and I am not looking for conversation. Leave me alone. I do not need any pretend friends. The reason, I have deduced, they are there, is to get cars into line, when they are busy, so as to shuffle as many cars through their gas pumps as possible, in a given amount of time. They are only being friendly and making conversation and trying to distract you from entering your credit card correctly, to pass the time, for now. Until they get busy. Then it will be ALL BUSINESS.
Makes sense, doesn't it? No windshield squeegees means no cars standing in line waiting for someone to clean their dirty, buggy window. Go somewhere else if your windows need cleaning. Costco does not care about your needing to clean your windows, no matter how dirty they are. No air for your tires means that you will not be clogging up the area with your car while you fill your low pressure tires. Go somewhere else. Costco does not care if your tires need air. Go have your flat tire somewhere else. Need to use a bathroom? Uh, uh. Go somewhere else. Or, go shopping in the main building. Hard time getting out of there without spending $100 or more. How about a $100 pee break? Welcome to Costco!
And, you CAN go somewhere else. As you can see, as mentioned above, there are plenty of gas stations that have the same prices as Costco does and they have bathrooms and they have air for your tires and they have squeegees for your windshields. Go to the gas stations that want your business and don't go to the ones that take you for granted and really want you to go somewhere else if you want all these "extras" that some of us have taken for granted for years.
So, Costco Corporate on high, as you read my Rant, all you had to do was give me some squeegees to clean my damned windshield. Would that really be so much extra trouble for you? In the internet age and the gasbuddy.com age, does it really pay for you to treat your customers, your people who pay to be members, so badly?