Would you use a mobile gas delivery service?

Services like Uber and Lyft have revolutionized the conventional taxi service -- could an app do the same thing with gas? Tune in to learn about the next big disruption in gas station models: companies that want to deliver gas straight to your tank.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Go behind the wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car stuff from house stuff Works dot com. I welcome
to car Stuff. I'm Scott and then we are, as
always joined by our super producer, Noel the Mobile Brown like, yeah,
thank you. Every so often we get one right and

(00:23):
that makes this car stuff. How about the pump man
A pump man? Yeah, that's you know, if we're in
a hist film, it would sound as though Null were
the fellow with the shotguns. Though I wish we were
in a high film. That's that's probably my favorite type
of film ever. High films. Yeah, I love high films.
Oh man. Yeah, I spend an inordinate amount of time

(00:45):
Scott figuring out who would be who were you? And
I and Nolan some of our co workers to create
a highst team where they do like those freeze frames
and they'll have like blow the brains and like that
or you know whatever it is the technician. This is
such a side note, it's such a tangent. But for
our listeners out there, if you are also a fan

(01:06):
of highest films, we do have one brain stuff video
called uh it's called like why shouldn't I rob a bank?
Or something like that? Oh yeah, and in that we uh,
and then that we have some of our co workers
pop up in that style Scott's describing where we have
you know, someone come up like uh, Laura Numbers, Vogue
Bob or like Scott a two hands Benjamin. I watched that.

(01:28):
There's some surprises in there too, like just how well,
how low paying that job is to call it a
job and an extreme high risk and how many how
many banks we break down the numbers of how many
banks one would have to rob in order to be
above the poverty line reminds me of my Brinks car um.
You know, Um, I try to stay away from Brinks

(01:50):
delivery vans. You remember that from a long long time ago.
We talk about that, and other people wrote in and
said the same thing. They try to avoid all of
that activity at all costs because of, you know, potential
for some chaos happening, and just you don't want to
be anywhere near that stuff. You just don't want to
be taken as suspicious when you're not. There's just a
there's a weird thing with with Brinks delivery trucks being

(02:10):
around me and other people too, I know, And it
goes back to the situation you put yourself in. So
one situation that we're all familiar with as drivers will
be of course, the gas station, the oasis of the
desert that is the American interstate. Yeah, let's say that
you're running low on fuel when you leave home and
get to work, and you realize that you were supposed

(02:32):
to stop for fuel on the way. So now you're
really really low on but you're too busy. But you're
at the office, and you maybe downtown, and of course
you know, gas stations downtown are a bit more scarce
than they are out in the suburbs, maybe not to
mention more expensive, and home far more expensive, that's right.
So what do you do? I mean, do you push
it and try to get home again on that already
low tank? Ding ding ding ding ding with the with

(02:54):
the elite flash. Yeah, that's trouble. And I see a
lot of motorists stranded on the side of the road
that are you know, uh, using that that safety I
would have called the hero vehicles that come around and
help people with some minor, minor things like change on
a tire or whatever. They have a gallon of fuel
that they'll provide you with for free. But you know
that that's just one gallon to get you to the
nearest gas station. It's not like what we're gonna be

(03:15):
talking about today. It's a that's a slightly different thing, right, Yeah,
what we're talking about today will be the oh and
just a side note here in Atlanta HERO stands for
Highway Emergency Response Operators. Okay, Yeah, And I know the
question that some people might have, which is, hey, Ben,
you're pretty much a skin flint, right, you're a cheap skate.

(03:35):
Have you ever just driven to empty for that free
gallon of gas? The answer is no, even I have
not done that. Now, that would be a terrible situation
to put yourself in, you know, intentionally, right, an awful idea.
But what if there were a better way? Yeah, there
is a better way. In fact, there's a better way
that's been happening for quite some time now. And I

(03:56):
honestly didn't know this was going on for this long
because some of these companies that were want to talk
about today have been around for upwards of eighteen months
in certain parts of the certain parts of the United States. Um,
what we're talking about is these gasoline delivery startups, and
it's it's really it's fuel on demand wherever you want,
whenever you want, you can get fuel put into your vehicle.

(04:18):
And you know, in the past I was thinking about this,
and that's not a new idea by any means. I mean,
we'll talk about where and the companies and everything in
just a moment. But for I mean, since there since
has been a machinery, really people have been getting fuel
delivered to that machinery. You know, if it's not street legal,
if it's not something that UM is is mobile. Even
you know, some large construction equipment that requires diesel fuel,

(04:40):
I mean massive amounts of diesel fuel. Farmers that require
um a fill up in their own tanks so that
they can fill up their tractors and their skid loaders
or whatever they have there to do their jobs. UM,
they can fill up those machines whenever they need to,
you know, day or night. UM. You know sometimes also
again large amounts of fuel, or if you have an
isolated home, you might have your own fuel tank, right yeah,

(05:03):
heating oil. I had an aunt that had a gasoline
tank for just that purpose, and it was bigger than
a fifty five gallon drome. It was probably three or
four times that size, and occasionally they would have somebody
come out and fill that thing, and then they have
of course their own pump set up so that they
can pump it into their own personal vehicles. But they
were miles and miles from the nearest gas station and
out in the middle of the country. But the and

(05:24):
I think that was the original intent was for the
previous owners who operated as a farm, they were simply
living in as a residence, you know, just just a
home out in the middle of nowhere. Really well, yeah,
especially if you live in a place that has inclement weather,
you know, like parts of the Northeast can be very
uh can a very severe weather during the winter, which
is why it pays to have access to bulk fuel

(05:47):
in your home or heating oil. And then there will
be companies like Wilco for instance, pretty big company will
deliver will deliver fuel, diesel or gas to these residents areas,
rural areas. It's not you know, it's not the newest
idea on the block. But what we're seeing now over

(06:08):
the past few months is a a radical take on this. Yeah,
it is. And and we're going to compare this in
a in a way to uber I think it's very
very similar. It's a citizen and in a lot of ways.
And we'll explain that the fact is even a tie
in later that we'll talk about that's kind of confusing.
But the companies that are already doing this, the ones
that there are listed as you know, current operating gasoline

(06:31):
delivery startups, are our companies called like filled we Fuel, Yoshi,
Purple Booster Fuels, and these are operating in places like
San Francisco, l A, Palo Alto, Nashville, tennessee here right
here in Atlanta. Now, I haven't seen any of these
around town yet. I haven't, and if I have, I
haven't noticed it because maybe they look like, you know,

(06:51):
just a construction equipment or you know, part of another
part of a fleet of vehicles that goes out to
job sites or whatever. Well, because you know, similar in
the way that construction equipment is refueled, you know that
the companies have their own pump trucks where they put
you know, um, storage tanks on the back of pickup
truck maybe, and then they have an electric fuel pump
that that operates and they can fill any machine they

(07:13):
need to a diesel fuel without obviously having to load
it onto a you know, a flatbed and then haul
that thing to the gas station and have filled up.
So um. Again, it's not a brand new idea, but
it is new for the type of consumer that they're
catering to here, because they're talking about just office workers,
people that um, you know, simply residential you know, um

(07:34):
locations where people just don't want to be bothered, I
guess with driving to the gas station. And that kind
of leaves me to a quick question before we really
get into do you hate the process of going to
the gas station so much that you would sign up
for a service like this, But then we'll tell about
we'll talk about fees and other logistic issues in a moment,
But you hate the process that much? Because I think

(07:55):
some people really do hate going to the gas station.
It's like the worst part of their week. I'm gonna
answer this candidly, and there is only one place that
I've been where I hated the gas stations is New
Jersey because you can't pump your own gas. However, I
love gas stations. If this were not a family show,

(08:16):
I would be cursing. I will sometimes, dude, I don't
need gas, I'll just go to a quick trip. I
think they have cool stuff, you know what, I do
the exact same thing, and I like the process. Yeah,
good gas station is almost like a general store. I
see it also as a way to get out and
stretch your legs on a on a hot summer day.

(08:36):
You know it's hot or whatever, but it's a good
good time to get out of the car and stretch
a little bit, get the get the you know, the
blood pumping back again on your legs. And also it
gives you a chance to you know, just I do this.
I just kind of track to make sure all my
tires are still inflated and make sure that, you know,
I clean the windshield or something like that. It just
kind of busy myself while it's pumping it. I'm not
really bothered by it, right, It's it's cool to slow

(08:57):
it down and wait. One of my favorite things about
road trips are actually the odd gas stations you can
find on the way. I'll always try to go for
the mom and popline off the beaten path, and especially
in areas where there there's a proliferation of regional I
guess culture, you can find some really cool weird stuff.

(09:19):
And you know, I like to if I'm not in
a hurry, you know, I'll pull over at a gas
station or a rest stop that's by uh some wilderness
or forests or nice field or something, and then I'll
you know, I'll have lunch there. And it's a good idea.
Have you ever gone to one of and this is
particularly here in the South. I think you pull into

(09:39):
one of those mom and pop type stations. It's off
the freeway maybe a mile or two or a couple
of miles even, and that doesn't get a lot of business.
And they're trying to sell like homemade food on the counter,
like you know the yeah, yeah, you know they've they've
cooked biscuits and gravy that morning and they're selling it
there at the store or something like that, you know,
making their own breakfast oil, peanuts, and it's not coming
from some big corporation where you they're pre wrapped and everything.

(10:01):
They got the one fryer with the chicken. Yeah, and
they'll tell you if the chickens hot. I like those places.
I really do. There there's something to that. But we're
not every person, No we're not. And some people really
do hate the process. I mean, they just can't stand
it's the worst part of their week when they have
to go. So these services that we're talking about, and
really the addition here, I guess is that it's now electronic.

(10:24):
There's a there's an app that you can, uh, you
can install on your phone and of course you have
to do the whole sign up process with the credit
card information and everything for billing. But once you do that,
then you're registered to use these services that will come
to your home, your office, you know, wherever you are.
I guess even if you're let's say that you practice
softball on Wednesday nights and you want to have the
tank filled up on Wednesday nights at the park, you

(10:46):
can do that and while you're practicing, come by and
fill up your tank. Yeah, it's it's quite a service.
I mean, I can see where there's some benefit to
this for some people. Some this is one of those
doesn't fit everybody right now situations. Uh, just just like Uber,
I think, is a similar way. Some people use it
just you know, when they need to maybe an emergency

(11:07):
or something. But this this idea, it's it's kind of interesting,
I think, and there's a lot of different ways to
look at this because you are being charged a You're
not being charged with premium for the fuel, but you
are being charged a flat delivery rate. Right, Okay, So
this is interesting because they don't always have the same
business model. But I believe it is FILLED determines the

(11:29):
price of the gas you pay through a calculation of
the average price for gas stations around you. Filled is
one of the companies that operates here in Atlanta, I believe,
And then they add a five dollar fee. Yes, so
there's a flat fee on top of that, and I've
seen numbers that go up to seven dollars, I think.
So it's between five and seven dollars the flat fee.
But is it I'm sorry I didn't hear it. Was

(11:51):
it the average or was it the lowest price locally available?
Because they on the APT it'll tell you. Um, they
do it in a couple of different ways, some of
the some of these companies operate different So you'll be
told what the price of the fuel will be before
it goes into your vehicle, of course, and that will
either be the lowest price in the area or the
average price in the area. So I know those numbers

(12:12):
can vary. You know, probably thirty or forty cents it
seems like these days that's the different it is in
the city or even more possibly um, you know, in
a bigger city. Um. But it is an interesting idea,
and a lot of people are now questioning the legality
of this whole thing too. And we haven't really talked
about the process and everything yet. But but but the

(12:33):
main main focus of this article that I read, and
the reason I brought this in here today is because
they're questioning whether these businesses that are operating in all
these major cities now and for again eighteen months in
some cases not in every market, some of them, some
of them are operating I wouldn't say illegally, but on
the edges of the law because they haven't gotten all
the permits and all the um, all the necessary paperwork

(12:55):
to go through they think they have, but that's kind
of a gray area, right. And if you are a
driver for one of these services, then are you has
MATT certified because that's an issue as well. Some are
and some aren't. Right. So let's go to San Francisco
where Lieutenant Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the fire department
over there, said that it is not permitted for these

(13:17):
companies to fuel vehicles and actually ask residents of San
Francisco to call the fire department if they see any
companies refueling vehicles in the city. Can you believe that
that you want them to rat out the companies that
are doing this? Now, that's a This is a company
that's operating under the idea that they are legal. They're
they're they're perfectly fine to do this. They're saying, well,

(13:39):
we're we've we've taken care to make sure that the
number of gallons that we carry is within the UM
Oh what was it called the International Fire Code? I
think is what they follow, right, They're all following this
International Fire Code, which is a blanket code that covers
all of the United States, but some cities alter that
in ways, they modify it. They you know, they make
changes or pre asians to it based on their own

(14:01):
personal or not personally, their own individual needs. Like UM,
I would guess that you know l A maybe maybe
l A does operate under this because they don't have
UM They haven't mentioned anything specific like you know, they're
they're carrying too many gallons of fuel or what. But
but they did say that's the problem they have with
They say, you can't simply drive around with hundreds of

(14:21):
gallons of fuel because these these trucks, some of them,
just to give you an example, a Ford F two fifty. Uh.
For let's see which company would this be? Um, I
think it might be filled. Also, Uh, they're driving around
with something like, you know, three hundred and twenty four
gallons of fuel. And that sounds like a very specific
number to me, like maybe is above the limit. So

(14:43):
gallons of fuel of gasoline. They're driving it through the
city and into you know, parking parking structures and into
residential areas, and and the fire department has a problem
with that, and I can understand why they do. But
the argument then is that they're not carrying nearly as
much as like would a big fuel tanker truck. But
then see, this is like a back and forth thing.

(15:03):
You wouldn't be driving a tanker truck of fuel underneath
a let's say hospital, into a parking structure or underneath
an office building. That's something that wouldn't happen. So he
wouldn't have those you know, three instead of three hundred,
it would be three thousand gallons they're saying, you know,
even if there's an accident. Sure, there's three four gallons
of fuel there, but it's not the three thousand gallons
that would would be spilled if a a full sized

(15:26):
hanker would spill, So it's a much smaller problem. I
I still think it's kind of a problem. If you know,
three gallons are spilled somewhere, that's that's still an issue.
But I can I can really see both sides of
this whole thing, man. I mean, every every argument, it
seems like, oh yeah, I can see that point. You
know there as well, and a lot of the cities,
you know, Los Angeles is one. I think that there.

(15:46):
Um they're looking into making changes so that something like
this can be legal, right, Yeah, Los Angeles also looked
into it. They said they're drafting a policy around gas delivery.
Our current fire code does not allow for this process us. However,
we're exploring a way this could be allowed with some restrictions.
That's Captain Daniel Curry, spokesman for l as Fire Department,

(16:08):
and uh he says, it's I thought this was a
great quote, Scott. He says, it's just one of those
things that nobody really thought about before, kind of like
how Uber popped up out of nowhere. But he said
it's not a gray area. He says, all I can
tell you at this time is it's not allowed per
our current fire code. Okay, so technically then filled and
any other similar services is not really breaking the law

(16:32):
with the current fire code and in Los Angeles? Is
that right? No, they say it is. Now, Oh, it's
opposite of what I'm thinking then, so so it's they
are currently operating illegally, but they haven't gone to get
permission from them. They didn't go to get any kind
of certificate or anything, but they have done other things
like you know, this is this is kind of weird
because you know, they'll go to get like the state
troopers to take a look at the truck and make

(16:53):
sure that it's you know, a legit road vehicle and
do an inspection. But there's really nothing for them to like,
you know, check off. I guess on the like a
tick box to say, okay, it's got that, it's got this.
It's the safety man. They look at it and say
it's generally a safe vehicle contained, it's you know that
the pump seems to be operating correctly. There's other things too,
like um, you know, regular regulatory issues that you wouldn't

(17:15):
normally think of, Like well, the Weights and Measures Department,
you know how they um for every state I think,
or every maybe even every county. I don't know how
that works, but um. You known when you go to
the gas pump and you see those those metal foil
stickers that are on the pumps and they've got they
usually um cover a seal so that you know that
the pump can't be opened, um without breaking the seal,

(17:36):
and they scribble on at the date and time, maybe
a signature or something like that. That is somebody who
has come out and measured, uh, the amount of fuel
that comes out of that pump and make sure that
a gallon is truly a gallon. It's an exact measurement.
They come out and they weigh it, they measure and everything.
It's it's it's perfectly a gallon. Kind of like someone
goes and test elevators. You know, every elevator you get
in has that little license on a certificate yeah yeah,

(17:58):
or a fire extinguisher something like that exactly. Like that's
just making sure everything is legit and that both sides
are getting in the best end of the deal. The
station is not being you know, pumping out too much
fuel for two little money, and the customer is getting
a true gallon of gas when they're when they're paying
for a gallon. Well, they can do that with the
pumps here, but they can't inspect the tanks in the
same way that they do the tanks at a gas station.

(18:20):
They can't inspect certain things on on these rolling vehicles
the way they would at a at a location that's
always always there, it's always gonna be in the same spot.
Um can't do these regular checks and anything. And I
know you could have them come in and it seems
like there's a way to do this. They could. They
could come in for an annual check or a monthly
check even, but they don't have a department set up

(18:40):
to do something like that right now. So this is
all it's all groundbreaking. It's all brand new to them
a lot, you know, in a lot of ways, as
you mentioned, like the way Uber kind of surprised the
taxi industry. Yeah, absolutely, it pops up out of nowhere.
What we're seeing, again, we've talked about this on the
show before, is that this ruptive role of technology. Technology

(19:03):
always progresses at a faster pace than legislation, and legislation
in any kind of new technology, legislation still several years behind.
For instance, Netflix, right, uh, Google's autonomous vehicles Uber and
now these apps that allow you to summon gas. Yeah,

(19:25):
this disruptive technology. And now I wonder is it it
disruptive technology is disruptive service because we're really just talking
about a simple app that that summons them the services
the disruptor here in this. Yeah, that's a really good point.
There's no different hardware, it's all the same nuts and bolts. Yeah,
I guess so, whereas Uber seems to be doing things
completely different, where you know, you can order different vehicles,

(19:46):
you can decide if you want other people to come
with you. One time they one time they brought animals
to our office. They didn't. Yeah, they had that promotion
that our our peer podcast Caroline and Kristen or stuff
Mom never told you. And sometimes will do fun things
like you can be picked up in the DeLorean from
Back to the Future or the Batmobile or something crazy

(20:08):
like some place in the Middle East. Head at Uber
helicopter service. No way, it would be a lot of fun.
That would be that would be pretty cool. They don't
let you drive though. I would like to arrive at
a turner field like that, you know, for for a ballgame,
but they would have to land in the middle of
the field and show up late, like center field. They
land there and then they escort you to your seat.

(20:29):
That would be the way. That would be the way
to arrive, all right. So then there's so many things
to talk about with this, really like this just this
back and forth argument with whether it's legal, whether it's
not what they should do, Should they allow it, should
they not allow it? Um. I read a couple of
different things, and there's there's so many different viewpoints here,
but one one of them was and this made sense
to me, and I thought, this is right. Now. It's

(20:50):
kind of a luxury service, it seems, because there's plenty
of gas stations around. You can pump your own gas.
This is just a matter of you know, you don't
want to, or you know it's it's easier for you
to do it this way. It's not like you absolutely
have to have this done, or maybe it's just a
more efficient use of time if you're in a really
crowded place. Well, sure, and I get I get all
those like you know, the instances where it could be

(21:10):
useful to some people, or fleets of vehicles, or imagine
having rental cars filled up this way, that'd be it'd
be a great way to do it too. I mean
you could anyways, there's a lot of different situations where
this might really work. But one thing that I read
that was pretty interesting and it made a pretty good,
a strong argument for this type of service. And they said,
you know, the landscape of the city is changing in

(21:31):
such a way that this is gonna make This is
gonna make sense because a lot of people are moving
back into cities again. There's there's an influx right now.
And the problem, if you can call it that is
the property values are just soaring. They're going right through
the roof. So a lot of times in a in
a city where you know you might have had, you know,
one or two gas stations on every corner, now the

(21:52):
value of that property has gone so high that the
owners are selling because gas stations don't make a huge
amount of profit. No they don't, you know what. We'll
talk about that a second um at least on the
gas maybe maybe they do. There's a big number I'll
tell you in a minute. So the property value is
soaring and they're selling out, and the problem is then
that you know what's going back in? It's not another

(22:13):
gas station. No, it's like a high rise condo, or
an artisanal stroller store, or like a place that just
sells half boomerangs custom made blue jeans. Guys, you can
tell that Scott and I are reacting a little bit
to uh to the changes that our own city is
a bit of gentrification happening here. That is, kid you not?

(22:34):
Maybe this, maybe this mobile app will work for people
who uh, people whose companies are based in the building
weird podcasting in today, Scott, because just across the street,
they're tearing down that music venue, the Masquerade to build
another string of another enormous mixed use development. Uh place right,

(22:55):
you have the lofts at Soda Sopa exactly. Uh, the
lofts that so to Sofa, which is a south Park episode.
You guys know we're big fans of south Park. It's
one of my favorite south Park episodes. Yeah, I think
so too. That whole season, that whole season is just
it's amazing spot on. But so maybe we are maybe
the creators of these services are prescients and they're predicting

(23:18):
this because San Francisco is much further along on the
the price out curve than uh than many other cities,
partially because of the huge investments made by tech companies. Yes, absolutely,
and you know again, far fewer gas stations are are
in cities these days. I mean, it's just a matter

(23:38):
of fact. I mean, you got to the suburbs and
there's four on every corner. There's at least two on
every corner, it seems, major major street corners, and you know,
it's just not the case here. You might have to
go a long distance in order to find the nearest
gas station. Anyways, and this is just a great service.
Plus a lot of people coming from the suburbs don't
necessarily want to pay the high premium of that downtown price.

(23:59):
But that's that's another that's I don't know if you can.
That's unavoidable at this point though, because they do price
it based on the local areas, So you're not getting
the suburb price while you're down here in the city.
You're getting the city price while you're down in the city,
so you still are paying more, it's just you maybe
removing the technicality of getting to that because that that
could be a long side trip to get to a

(24:20):
gas station. If you're trying to leave work, head out
on the highway where it's you know, rush hour traffic,
and then you've got to make an exit, fill up
your tank and then get back on that highway. That
could take a long time in that city situation, especially
with the insane traffic. Yeah, exactly. So you know we mentioned,
you know how much they make on fuel and everything. Right,
just just a moment ago I went through there. There's

(24:41):
a there's a number here, and I'll read you just
a little bit. You're gonna have to bear with me
on this, but this sets the whole thing up. So
it says here that you know, people that are in
the the gas station business don't necessarily like what's going on.
Of course, right, it's a disruptor, like you said, it's
taking away their business. And and they said that selling
gasoline and the US is a big business in that's

(25:02):
the latest numbers. There were ten thousand, five hundred and
forty five gas stations. That's that's an interesting number. I
thought they were being actually more than ten thousand, um
so ten thousand five or forty five gas stations, and
they collectively sold five hundred and thirty four point seven
billion dollars worth of gasoline. See, but that's there, that's

(25:23):
their gross. Well that is a gross, and that's according
to the US Census Bureau, So that these numbers are
are legit as far as we know. All right, Now,
those stations earned this is now, this is the earnings
sixty six point six billion dollars after accounting for what
it costs them to buy the fuel. That means that
the fuel cost the stations four hundred and sixty eight

(25:43):
point one billion dollars and they made sixty six point
six billion dollars in profit. Now that I kind of yeah,
I extrapolated this a little bit, Okay, so I'll tell
you what I did. Now that that that number, by
the way, the profit number, that's like, that's like three
sixes and then eight zeros afterwards. It's a huge number.
So you divide that number by the ten thousand, five

(26:04):
and forty five stations and you come out with an
average of six million, three hundred and fifteen thousand, seven
nine dollars and forty seven cents. Now that's not to
say that every little mom and pop gas station or
even even every big gas station is making you know,
six point three million dollars every years. No, that's a

(26:24):
huge number, right, Some are gonna be making double that,
and others are gonna be making almost nothing. Some are
gonna go out of business because they don't make enough
money to pay their employees or keep the lights on,
goes out of So that number, it varies dramatically across
the board, like who's making what? You know, the big
companies of course and making a lot of money on
the on every station they've got. But I had no
idea that if you divide ten thousand, five forty five

(26:47):
stations you get this number. This is a huge number
of six point three million dollars for each gas station.
That's a big average number. So, um is it is
a huge, huge business. Now that the thing is why
why these investors are getting are so interested in this idea,
this this this not new but relatively new idea. Is
there's there's two things about this that really draws them

(27:08):
in this gasoline business. The first one is that owning
a truck is a lot cheaper than owning a gas station. Uh,
you know, it's to fully equip one of these trucks,
it costs something like fifty dollars. That's buying the truck,
it's equipping it and everything that's fifty and that and
then I'm sorry, just to interject to the equipment that

(27:28):
they have is relatively simple. So they have to fire
extinguishers to traffic cones, uh bucket of chalk for spills, right,
and then you know, three gallons of gas to the
tank for that. And I wonder about the tanks. I
wonder if it's split into two for premium and unletted
like regular unletted and premium it has unless you got

(27:50):
one truck that goes out with just premium and one
goes out with just regular. Okay, I thought you were
asking whether they were building people. Oh yeah, I don't know. No,
you've heard those stories. We've talked about it before, like
the old gas station in town that's been there for
decades or something. It's closed down or they sell out
and the bulldozers come in and they find out that

(28:13):
the premium, the mid grade, and the regular we're all
coming from one tank. Yeah. Now one okay, one tank
would be a problem. I think two you can do
the blunt. They can blending, so two is a minimum.
But one tank. Yea, there is there's something fishy going
on there. Um. Well, okay, so again, if you have
a station like what you just mentioned, you know, a
gas station permanent location that can cost you as much

(28:36):
as two point to five million dollars, So two and
a quarter million dollars for a gas station versus fifty
dollars to fully outfit one one truck to do this.
And that one truck can I mean, they can canvass
the whole city all day long. And you know they're
not operating one. They've probably got a dozen or they
got a whole fleet. So the other thing is, um
is that they the more fuel that they sell, the

(28:58):
less they likely have to pay per on. So they're
going to a supplier that you know, will provide them
in bolk quantity, uh, the amount of fuel that they need.
And you know what's not attractive about that, I mean
you charge of course, you're going to charge this this
flat dollar fee. And if you charge the same price
per gallon as the you know, the least expensive or
the average or whatever nearby, you're still gonna be making
money and you're gonna be paying less for that fuel

(29:20):
on the front end, and and getting more back from
it on the back end, because you're just getting average
price versus your discounted price, so it's very attractive. Yeah.
It makes me wonder, though, I have questions because we
also have to wonder how much the delivery drivers are
being paid. Are they in the same position as Uber
drivers where they are considered independent contractors. I doubt that

(29:43):
because these are definitely company vehicles. I wouldn't think so
because there has to be and I don't know that
not every one of these does this because it's a
simple matter of pumping fuel. Really it's very easy. But
some of them are doing as you said, has MATT certification.
Some are doing just you know, I guess, maybe a
safety course ahead of time, you know, an instruction course. Um,
I would think they'd be kind of the minimum. That's

(30:03):
not a huge investment really, and if you're not paying
them a whole lot per hour, it's probably an hourly
position if I need guess, Um, you know, I don't
think that they're really losing a lot of money. It's
it's similar, I guess to having somebody behind the counter
at a gas station. Yeah, but that's my question. You know,
it's like, what is the price point for someone to
uh to work their hourly and the company just still

(30:25):
make money. And what I guess for them, it's good
if gas becomes cheaper, right for bottoming gas price, Um,
it is good because they will still pay less. They'll
still pay less and then it gets cheaper just to
operate the vehicle. This is a win win, my friend. Yeah,
it's you know what, it sounds like a pretty darn
good business to get into. And and there's variations of

(30:46):
this coming to Eventually, you know, people are gonna be
delivering hydrogen, you know, to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and
they're gonna being delivering electricity to vehicles, and how that
would work would be, uh, these would be like you
know the quick charging stations, but mobile, so you know,
you can have your car no matter what type of
electric car it is. Let's say, parking a lot that

(31:06):
they haven't yet you know, upgrade, or they don't have
enough chargers for you, you you can have the service come
out and fully charge your electric car for you while
you're at work or you know, at having a doctor's
visit or you know, ball practice or whatever. Uh, in
an hour, they can charge your car and be on
their way and it would cost you, you know, whatever
the electricity costs. I mean, I don't know how they

(31:27):
would check that, but I'm sure it's the same way
you can do with with fuel and then plus a
convenience fee. Convenience fee which is again that flat fee
of of you know, I guess for you know what,
I would guess that it's going to be more for
an electric car because it will take more of the
more time from the driver because they have to be
parked there while it charges, and and a fuel fill
up happens in a matter of minutes unless they just
switch up batteries or something, in which case you have

(31:50):
to buy into a battery leasing service. That's what That's
the whole Tesla thing, right like that they want to
do that at their own locations. But I don't know
if you would even be able to do that on
the fly because those things are heavy, unless they had
I mean, there's gonna be a lot of specialty equipment
involved at that point, right Yeah, what kind of robot
do we have to build for that one? I mean
pound battery? Uh, you're trying to do that and in

(32:11):
a parking lot maybe when it's raining or snowing. I
don't think that's I don't know if that's gonna be possible. Yeah,
it's gonna it's a it's a tough one. But another
thing that we we see here is that, just like
you said with Uber, this is not a silver bullet situation.
This will work for some people not for others. We
found some interesting information about the demographic of these people,

(32:33):
especially on the West coast. Excuse me for saying these people,
the folks who find this useful, A lot of them
are owners of larger tanked SUVs. So if you think
about it, if you're in an escalade, which is pretty
long vehicle, pretty big tank, then it takes you longer

(32:54):
to fill up at a gas station than it would say,
you know, a civic. That's only one factor though, too.
You're also trying to navigate into a gas station and
an escalate and that's difficult when it's a not so
crowded location. But if you're in downtown l A and
you're trying to pull off the road into into a
gas station and then back onto the road again. It
I know, it sounds kind of funny to say it,

(33:16):
but it's difficult. It could be it could be different,
it could be a hard thing to do, um peche, Yeah, exactly.
You know, and you've mentioned Uber a couple of times now,
or we have mentioned Uber, but I want to tell
you about one that this This made me really scratch
my head because I can't figure this out if this
is a good idea or not. There's one particular company,
it's called Purple, and they offer They have a fleet

(33:37):
of about eighty cars that drive around Los Angeles to
San Diego, Orange County and even in the Seattle area.
Um and they don't operate the way these pump trucks
work that we're talking about. This this particular company, Purple,
in these areas, these drivers operate in sedans and they
carry around about a half dozen five gallon gasoline canisters

(33:58):
in the trunk and that's how they go to make
the reason. They come back refill and then head back
out again. So they've got all these gas canisters in
the back and you know, however many they pour out,
that's how that's how they're measured. But this is so strange, man.
That's already strange to me to begin with, but to
take it one step further, Uh, the one of the
founders founders of the company, I think said we wanted

(34:18):
to give an option to drivers to skip the gas
stations as if they were ordering Uber or a lift vehicle,
and that's what we've been talking about. But he says,
speaking of ride hailing services, some of Purple's drivers actually
pick up passengers for Uber between refuel gigs. So this
is kind of crazy. And now Uber hasn't commented on
this at all, you know, they declined to comment on it. Actually,

(34:39):
But here's the driver that's going out and delivering fuel
out of the trunk of the vehicle right in these
five yallon canisters. They've got some time in between, or
maybe they're out of fuel headed back, they they open
up their Uber app and pick up a rider on
the way, you know, drop that person off, and then
go back and get more fuel. So they're operating. They're
like doing two jobs there, which is I mean, that's fantastic.
You know, it's good for them. They're go getters. But

(35:00):
but the thing is, what do you want to get
into an Uber car that likely smells like fuel because
I would think that that car would smell like gas
all the time, and yeah, it smells like gas. And
then also, are they license or certified to transport fishel materialists. Well, yeah,
a passenger, like imagine a passenger gets in or you know, family,
a small family or whatever, three people, and you're carrying

(35:21):
you know, forty yallons of fuel in the trunk and
they don't know that that's that's that's gotta be a
safety issue, right, I mean, how would you feel if
you're hopping in an uber and eventually, you know, the
guys very nice or the lady driving is very nice,
and eventually you go, hey, uh, is there something wrong
with your car? What's smell? And they're like no, no,
Or it's the gas. The guy gas in the back.
I got this. I deliver gas. Yeah. Also, everybody's getting

(35:43):
just a little bit sleepy during the trip. Do you
guys want some gas? Do you want me to just
keep driving? We don't even have a car. You didn't
have a car. Yeah, but like if you want some gas,
you know, just to have just for whatever. I mean,
that strange. It's just like one of these strangest things.
I mean, and and again all these companies operating in
slightly different ways in all the different cities too. So

(36:06):
I was looking around what's available here in Atlanta, and
I did find that. I found that filled company, and
I guess there's others here as well, and in Nashville,
which is close by. I was wondering, Ben. I mean,
of course the question comes about would you use a
service like this, because I don't think I would. I
think I know your answer now. Because of the way
you feel about gas stations. I feel the same way.
I would not use the service. I would, I would

(36:27):
use it if I had to. I'm not That's the
thing though, I'm not in the great argument. I'm not
again it if we're talking about being for it or
again it, but I'm not again it. But I don't
think it's for me because I like gas stations too much.
The only way I could see myself using it would
be if maybe I was roped down on the side

(36:49):
of the road somehow, which doesn't usually happen. Well, that's
an emergency situation. You know there are other services. Yeah,
I don't see it. I don't see myself using it
outside of some uh, outside of some extraordinary circumstance. For instance,
if I had a rental car and I was new

(37:10):
to town and it was rush hour, and I knew
that right after I got out of whatever meeting I
was in, I had exactly forty three minutes to get
across town or something insane like that. I turned the
rental car right then. I would say, we'll fill it up,
fill me up before I get out of this meeting
and I'm just hopping and go. That would be worth it. Also,

(37:33):
because we've talked about it before. The gas station prices
near rental car drop officer, they're milking, you know, don't
ever go to the the gas station that's located on
the airport or near the airport, even because there's six
or seven dollars a gallon, and it really they truly
are go to the quick trip down the street. And
it's funny that you mentioned that specific scenario because I

(37:53):
did kind of an informal poll among awesome house Stuff
Works employees here and I got varied responses. But um,
given more time, you know, like during the day, because
I asked them in the morning and you know it's
the afternoon now they've had some time to think about it.
And it's funny they must have been pondering this because
they came back and said, you know what, I was
thinking about this, and one of them mentioned a rental

(38:14):
car situation. You know, that'd be a great idea. The
other one that you mentioned also was you know, if
you if you run out, if it's an emergency situation,
you're on the side of the road. The problem the
problem with that idea though, is that for one, you
know other services do that. You know Triple A will
come out and give you a gallon of fuel if
you have their roadside assistance. And also the Hero vehicles

(38:34):
that I mentioned again that you know patrol uh Atlanta Highways,
I guess they will do that, and I know other
cities have similar programs, will give you a gallon of
fuel to get to the gas station. Um. The other
thing is that you know, when you push the button
to order the fuel. Uh. Some companies do say yeah,
we'll be there in an hour. Others say, here's your
window of opportunity between or our window of opportunity between

(38:56):
between noon and five pm. It's like calling the cable company.
You have to come out. It's like you you're kind
of stuck in That company would never be that specific.
You don't know if it's that dramatic. It might be
a smaller window. But that's kind of one of the
problems I would have with this is that, you know,
what if what if you do push the button when
you're at work and say, you know, I need I
need fuel in the parking lot. I'm sure you can cancel,

(39:16):
and there there might even be a fee. I don't know.
But let's say that meeting gets at early and your
husband or wife calls you and says, you've got to
pick kids up at school today because I've got you know,
an unexpected um emergency dentist appointment or something right, or
you've got to pick up the kids of school the
day because I was I just got notice of my
audition for American Idol. Okay, that's a scenario. Okay, So

(39:41):
here's another Well, here's another little problem. And this is
a minor problem, and I know that there's probably a
way around this, but most cars now, it seems like,
have locking fuel doors. So you're you're in the you know,
you're office space or whatever, you know, I need the
cars parked outside. Do you leave the fuel door open
or do you leave the car and lock so that
the attending can get in there and get to in

(40:02):
a city, you know, like where you're likely going to
be using this in a city. You don't really want
to leave a car doors unlocked all the time. It's
not that it's not good policy. People check that kind
of thing to see if they can get in and
take you know, whatever trinkets or whatever you have in there. Um,
it happens all the time. People. I see people check
in doors to see if they can get into cars.
It happens, um, So what do you do in that
case or what happens when they get there to fill

(40:22):
it up? And then they have to call you in
your office and you have to run down to the
you know, the parking lot or structure or wherever. That
can take a lot of time as well. As I
know it's minor stuff, but it's things I'm thinking about
because especially if it's time sense. You can't pop open
a lot of these these tanks from the outside anymore
like you used to a lot of them. Are you
know a release inside or you know something like that,
or even a key fob operation? So I don't know,

(40:43):
it's it's tricky in a lot of ways. But you know,
the people that I talked to here in the office,
and I don't know should I mention names or not? Yeah,
go ahead, all right, So Dylan, he's our photo editor here.
Oh yeah, yeah, and also also occasionally edits our show
car stuff. He's probably listening to this right now before
all the other listeners. That's an interesting thought. Huh, that's weird. Yeah,
it's like time travel right, all right, well, future Dylan.

(41:06):
I think he's he might even be kind of a fan,
kind of. He has to do it for it's work,
you know, it's it's his job out of volunteer. All right.
So to Dylan said maybe and and he said, you
know here every thought about it. Her wife's very thoughtful, Dylan.
So he was thinking about the reasons. And he said,
if he was maybe taking off for a trip to
his parents house, who I think. I think they live

(41:26):
in Tennessee. Um, if he was taken off for a
trip right from the office and he had forgotten to
go to the gas station the night before, U, that
would be a situation where he would use it. But
really outside of that, um, that's not really something that
he would typically want to use. Um. Alison. I talked
to Alison. She is an editor here um for House
of Works. Now, Uh, she is a Prius driver. We've

(41:49):
talked about remember rats and a Prius that was her.
She's a Prius driver and she only fills up something
like once a month, and it's really not a big
deal for her. It's a short drive home, five minutes.
She says, there's no way she'd do it because, um,
she also through in there that she's a cheapskate, which
we can appreciate. We can appreciate that on the show.
So yeah, we both we both appreciate that. That's a

(42:10):
good quality, all right, all right. And then Catherine Catherine,
another editor for her Household works Now, she said she
said no, not just right, almost immediately said no way
I would do it. Um, wow, what are you hiding
in your Yeah, yeah, maybe that's it. Maybe she's got
something to hide. Yeah, So she says no. But then
then she did come back and say maybe in an

(42:31):
emergency situation only, but she does have a triple A
and they'll also, you know, already deliver a gall I
was getting trouble finding any anybody that would really say wholeheartedly, yeah,
I'd use that. I would love to because I I
can't stand the gas station. Uh yeah, I I don't know,
the thing is, gas stations are just so cool, especially

(42:53):
if you get out on the inner state here in
the US. You know that's I love it. I love
the truck stops that like their own little cities, you
know what I mean. Yeah, when you go in and
they've got all the CB equipment and unusual brands of
things that you you know, you don't get in the
smaller stations. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to
take a shower there unless I had to you. But

(43:13):
you know, I like when they have the Yeah they
have the clean showers and the stock fishing pond out back. Yeah,
the stock fishing pond is so cool. Then the clean
showers are a necessity. Um. I also I wish that
I saw more of these around. I think I may
have missed missed them or miss their heyday. But the

(43:33):
the hotel, gas station, restaurant, uh truck parking area all
attached and one things things seems so cool. Those little
classic motels where you drive up to the door of
your of your room. Yeah, exactly what you're talking about.
There's still a s H statue. Man. Gas stations are
the best. You never know what you're gonna find, but
you know you're gonna you're gonna find. Look yeah. Maybe

(43:56):
at a lot of the big chains the food is
horrible for you. That's fine. You can just accept that.
I'm sure you can find a salad somewhere, right, and
don't act like they don't sell fruit. Just deal with it. Right.
We all know we want the pizza, Yeah, of course
we do. That's fine. And the roller food. Yeah. And
so this brings me to something else. I I don't know,

(44:16):
I've I'll eat. I'm very selective about it. I also
will do it. I promise you. Guys. Quick Trip is
not paying me like me. It is a company, it
is from Tennessee. But uh, they're They're absolutely not paying
me just to say how great they are. I just
think they do a good job. And I agreed. And
some of the bigger one like race track or places.

(44:37):
That's the thing, Like, it's funny we're talking to us,
we're talking about this now. I might as well just
continue down this path. They I don't know if everywhere
that's happening everywhere or not. But have you ever you've
pulled over before and you've just found a gas station
that is just super nice, like everything's brand new. They've
got you know, cut stone work outside, you know, like
they did, stone columns and beautiful place. It really is nice,

(44:59):
like you know, granted countertops inside and the latest equipment,
all stainless steel and everything. One of those went in
sort of near my house and my daughter when she
was younger, it was brand new. Yeah, she called it
the first class gas station. That's the top quality. Yeah,
the top notch. That's a good name for one to
top notch gas it would be. But okay, so before

(45:23):
I take us any further off the rails of our
episode today, we're almost done anyway. Yeah. One of the
reasons that I'm so gassed about gas stations, I am
sorry the ladies and gentlemen. I apologize now. I know
it's necessary. It just happens sometimes. But the one of
the reasons I am so excited about this is because
it seems that logically the next step in the business

(45:46):
model from mobile fuel delivery will be to deliver things
other than fuel, right like like uber. So if you
can't take to to paraphrase the old the old quotation,
if you can't take Mohammed to gas station, take the
gas station to Mohammed, you know, like the the idea
of being if we already have this truck with relatively

(46:07):
simple equipment. How much more of a of an investment
is it to have a selection of snacks and cold drinks?
But see, then you have to be with the vehicle
in order to enjoy that, unless unless they leave it
for you, you know, and they can leave it and
then you don't have to make it. What if you
just see one filling up someone else's tank and say, oh, hey,

(46:31):
well that's like the ice cream try you have a coke? Yeah,
turn it into an so okay. So maybe while they
park and they're filing, they play that little jingle that
everybody knows, like the loud speakers, so that it alerts
people to its presence. I mean, you see what I'm
saying that there's possibilities because I was I was thinking
about this before when I have been in um, when
I have been in traffic, and there there were these endless,

(46:53):
seemingly endless traffic jams, you know, rush hours, some terrible
acts and incurs four lanes ere miles ahead are shut
down on the five lane, and you were absolutely parked
where you just shut the engine off, right where where
you started looking around and wondering, is this gonna be
like the old r M video where everybody just gets
out of their car. It hit me because I've seen

(47:15):
this happen before in other countries. Primarily, I was like,
this would be the perfect time for someone to hop
out and have you know. I just think if I
were truly an entrepreneur, I would hop out and I
would have a cooler with with some like water, some soda,
et cetera. And then it's like and then I would
also have, you know, some kind of snack. Not a

(47:38):
bad idea, yeah, but I can't Well, how about like
remember the winter storm when everybody was out on the
highway and their Catillac escalades. Yes, yeah, that's a that's
a Buford Callaway reference there. If you look it up,
you'll you'll know what I'm talking about. Funny bit snl
um No, that's a great idea. Like it's almost like
those guys that that show up outside of sporting events
with a cooler and saw you a bottle of Waterford

(47:59):
dollar or it sounds like a fantastic deal once you
were paying six dollars inside the same water. However, they're
not licensed. They don't have the proper licensing for selling
stuff like that. I don't know what kind of permits
you need? And I don't what would you need to sell,
you know, snacks on the highway? I mean it's the
same and the thing. Well, technically it's already illegal because

(48:21):
they are non pedestrian areas. Oh yeah, that's right. You
know you're supposed to be out of your vehicle, bummer.
But it's true. Well, if you're already breaking the law,
you might as well sell some stuff while you're there too.
You got some jewelry in this container here I got
Can I interest you in a watch or a cigar?
That's great? Yeah, how about here's a here's a hat
for sports team that you've never heard of. It's like, oh,

(48:44):
who are the Ohio mud Feet. Oh you're close there
almost the mud Hens. I was trying to make up something,
Toledo mud Hens, I think it was. It's like the
the maybe Triple A. I can't remember. It's the Farm League.
I'm trying. Yeah, I was trying to make up something
just well it's just enough off that it would work. Yeah,
all right, so I get it. Yeah, like a knockoff,

(49:05):
had a knockoff merchandise something like that, you could be
the worst of the work. So we have two people
then in the truck, two people in the fuel truck. O.
One guy is, let's look at let's bring it all
the way back around and let's look at it the
way we look at a hist team. Right, So we've
got I guess three people total, because we've got a
dispatch somewhere who's fueling up the actual tree on twenty

(49:25):
four gallons or supervising that, right, like the dispatcher in taxi.
And then these two people go out and one of them,
let's say, navigating and charge of tunes and snacks and
then good job, great job. It's a cushy job, a
great job other than's driving and then fuels or something
like that. So they drive. We call him Knuckles. So

(49:46):
Knuckles gets perfect Knuckles gets to the parts car and then,
however they've worked out access to the car, has it
is filling it up with it it's funny gallons or whatever,
and twelve I guess twelve eighteen gallons. And then while
Knuckles is doing that, the other guy, whose nickname is
I'm stumping. I've been trying to think for the last

(50:08):
thirty seconds. I can't get one that I gotta come
up with some clever snack name. But what about the snacks? Yeah,
there you go, all right, Snacks is out there in
his very creative street name. Snacks turns on the tunes
and uh and opens up maybe almost like a side
of it, a side of the truck, like an old

(50:28):
roach coach exactly yea, yeah, exactly like that, and then
just begins to there might be a problem with open
fuel near food. That might be one issue. Yeah, that's
one down, so it happens, possibility Yeah, and then also
sealed packages. One of the other things I'm thinking about
is also, Uh, if there are a lot of these

(50:51):
calls that are on inner states, or if they're calls
in bad parts of town late at night, Snacks probably
just sit there shot shotgun Snacks is on edge snackses
and feeling it. It's like these these guys walking up
don't want the rito's snacks and knuckles out work in
the town. Uh. And that brings stuff video about heist. Uh.
We gave all the brain stuff host some sort of

(51:14):
pursuit or you know, expertise for the heist. And I
don't know if our buddy Josh Josh Clark from Stuffy
Snow watched the video, and we we actually made him
the getaway driver and in charge of snacks, and his
name in charge of catering, and his think name was
like Josh Noodles, Clark Noodles, and we got a really

(51:35):
weird picture of him. Check out the video that the
Craft Services guy, the Crest Services guy. Yeah, I mean
he's he. I think he appreciated it as as a joke.
I'm sure he watched. No one calls him Noodles. But
what do you think about this idea? If you could,
and you can, depending on where you live, summon a
service to fill up your tank and say goodbye to

(51:56):
gas stations forever with a five to seven something dollar
fee each time, plus the fuel, plus the fuel, which
you're gonna pay for anyways, right, and you're not really
getting a discount on it now. So just every time
you push that app button, you know you're being charged
five or seven dollars. Would you do it? And if so,
why do you think this is something that would spell

(52:19):
the demise or slow decline of gas stations the same
way that Amazon and online ordering uh put put paid
to quite a few brick and mortar stores. Yeah, you
know what, And I just want to say this too.
I think there is a pile of money to be
made in this business. I think that this is something
that is going to stick around. I think they're going
to change rules in order to you know, make it

(52:41):
work in different cities, allow it to happen, and because
of the need is going to grow. I think, you know,
with the demise of the slow demise, I guess at
these gas stations, that's my opinion. But um, in cities anyways,
and crowded cities, and I think that I think there's
a ton of money to be made here for somebody
who can jump in right now out early on this.
If you can, you can get in with a fleet

(53:02):
of vehicles at fifty apiece and you know, get the
whole thing. You know, if you're if you've got a
business mind, and you've got investors, and you've got people
you know willing to help you along with this, I
think this is a good business to get into. Um,
it's always gonna be a little risky, of course, it's risky.
It's a huge risk. And what direction you're gonna go.
Are you gonna do fuel, You're gonna do diesel? Are
you gonna do I mean it's sorry, gas or diesel?

(53:23):
A you're gonna do? Uh, you're gonna go electric? Are
you gonna go with some other type of fuel that
you know, we're not really seeing a lot of right now,
Where do you want to set up? Because and where
do you want to set up? And then also, how
flexible do you think those municipal authorities will be you'll
probably have to start in the city. How flexible do
you think those authorities would be with the current legislation.

(53:45):
And some people are saying right now and maybe we're
just not asking for permission, We're just doing it until
they tell us we can't do it, and then and
then and then we'll force a change, you know, well
we'll write new laws, will you know, whatever we have
to do. But um, that's kind of the the assumption
a lot of them are operating on right now. And
it's it's kind of working. It's like they're not looking
at each other and what they're doing exactly, and it's
it's it's functioning. It's happening, but um, maybe not perfectly

(54:10):
to the letter of the law right at this moment.
Right and then the question becomes how long will this
last before it becomes legitimate or before it becomes an
interesting flash in the pain. And the biggest issue here
is are people willing to do it? Because I mean
our quick informal survey here of pretty much of what
five people pretty much unanimous if I said no, only

(54:32):
only to be done in emergency situations. Yeah, So are
you going to get people to bite on this? Is
this is gonna be something that really takes off? Or
is it gonna be something that is just again, like
you said, just an idea that maybe it's it's better
left to construction equipment, farmers and and you know those
desolate homes you know, that could be it. Yeah, so
let us know what you think and do check out

(54:53):
our earlier podcast on Let's see. Do we ever do
a gas stations podcast? Oh? Man, I don't know. We've
talked about maybe in nuts and Bolts type episodes, but
never I don't think a full gasolene We've done, Oh
how to get how they how you get gasoline? How?
You know? Yeah? How? Your right? Right? So that's one. Um.

(55:13):
I don't know. Maybe the idea of doing a gas
station podcast just I can't tell if it is a
good idea or if I'm just hungry because a little
a little inside baseball here, you guys. Uh, we were
we were working on another project that was off air
and it was video stuff, and in between that those shoots,

(55:33):
I was trying to eat a hot pocket. He was,
and I felt I felt kind of unprofessional. I apologize.
The most unprofessional part of that was he didn't bring
enough for everybody. I said, there's another one in the fridge.
So that's a lot of work. Plus we were being there,
you know, the setting up for the shoot and everything,
and Ben's got a hot pocket his hand. We weren't
even doing it. Were saying. Also, also, would you, uh,

(55:56):
would you use an app that would get somebody to
just bring you a hot pocket? I could use that
at home, you know, about midnight every night. Uh. Let
but let us do let us know these jan We
hope that you have enjoyed this episode. You know what
I'd like to hear, Scott. I'd like to hear it
from people who have used this. Oh that's a great idea,
and there's there's bound to be somebody out there who
has or you know, just people who have an opinion

(56:18):
about it. Sure, but if you've actually used this service,
I would love to hear about it and and the
situation that led you to decide that that was a
good idea. You could just be an outright hatred for
gas gas stations of the process. You know, you don't
like it, you enjoy it. Um or it could be
maybe a physical limitation of some kind. Um it could
be you know, that disability that that causes you to

(56:38):
maybe even temporarily not be able to do it yourself
or or permanently. Um that's another situation. But you know,
I'd love to hear you know, the situation around why
you're using it. That'd be great, Yeah, I as well.
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(56:59):
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(57:20):
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