Last Updated on: 16th February 2017, 01:01 pm
Since I don’t drive, I don’t even think about full serve versus self-serve gas stations, and how there are fewer and fewer full-service stations to be found. But it seems this is the case. This is no big deal for folks who have no trouble getting out of their car and pumping their own gas. But what about those who can’t? There *are* people in wheelchairs who can’t get out of their car to pump their own gas, and full-service gas stations are a necessity for them.
There are also people who can do it, but it’s hard for them. I think of seniors and people with arthritis and bad hips and such.
One person told me a story about how she could not find a full-service gas station, so her only choices were to let a stranger pump her gas and swipe her card for her, or drive around looking for a full-serve gas station, which made her run out of gas. She then had to get in her power chair, wheel down the street, buy a can of gas and rely on someone else to help her get the gas into her tank and then help her pump the rest of it at a self-serve gas station. She has also found that full-service stations close at random throughout the day.
Can you imagine running out of gas on the side of the road in the middle of the night amid a ton of gas stations, but none of them you can use? Can you imagine being at the mercy of strangers? This is something I never thought about.
I also don’t have the first clue about bringing this concern to someone who could do something about it. The poor unfortunate gas station attendant has no access to the powers that be. He just sits there and takes the money. The most he could do is report a broken pump.
Giant gas companies aren’t known to be brimming with compassion, but they’re the very people who *could* do something about it. But who do you contact at these large corporations? And how do you make it look like a good business decision?
The fact is the population is aging. More people are going to need full-service gas stations. But if we wait for the big companies to figure that out, it will take too long. How do we start working on this problem now?
I’m looking for any ideas I can get. Has anyone else tried to address the problem before? Did you get anywhere? How did you do it? Do you have your own story? Please let us know. I need all the input I can get.