#gas stations

[mapsontheweb]

Parts of the country where self-service gas pumping is illegal.

#maps #us #gas stations

[mayanhandballcourt]

Photographer Alexander Schönberg

#photography #alexander schönberg #cars #cinematic #germany #atmosphere #gas stations #new topographics

[goshyesvintageads]

Phillips Petroleum Co, 1965

#Phillips 66 #ad #1965 #credit card #gas stations #advertisement #vintage #charge card #Quality Courts motels #1960s #advertising

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Alcan crossing Yukon, Canada

#bears #brown bear #black bear #churches #fog #mountains #yukon #canada #gas stations #my photos #my places #rlwtstcwtsv

[dank-meme-my-gf-sends-me]

#cashiers be like #cashier life #cashier lyfe #csr lyfe #funny memes #gas stations #dank memes #funny meme #dank meme #meme #memes

[seeminglydark]

What do you get when you mix a mom and pop gas station, some slightly ominous woods, a mixed-up teenager and a Datsun? Well I don’t know but I guess you'll find out soon enough! 

Mil-Liminal Episode 1: CONSUMED is now live! You can listen on Youtube, Podbean, Spotify or your favorite podcast service right now!

**mild feelings of dread and claustrophobia**

**transcripts available where they are supported and cc and transcripts available on Youtube**

What is the Mil-Liminal Podcast?

Mil-Liminal is a cozy horror podcast featuring the charming and slightly unhinged Caro Greene, an employee working the counter during the night shift at a tiny gas station in the middle of the woods. Join their journey of witnessing the unexplainable! Liminal spaces, ghosts and ghouls galore, there won’t be any jump-scares or hopelessness, just unsettling vibes with moments of comedy to lighten the mood. The podcast is in canonical order, meaning the first episode is Caro’s first ‘episode’ as well, learning as they go to create their podcast. 

Please Share on any social media if you like it! You can find me under raptorjules on most, and I need help conquering algorithms and imposter syndrome, a share means everything to me! -xoxo Caro and RJ

#mil-liminal podcast #horror podcast #caro speaks #ghost stories #scary stories #original characters #AHHHH i hope you like it #THE FIRST REAL EPISODE #here we go #spooky stuff #liminal spaces #gas stations #art featuring a review from one of my test listeners

[quirkymarshmallows93]

Gas Station Stream of Consciousness Post

Gas Stations as Liminal Spaces

I've had quite a few hyperfixations in my day - ATMs, laundry detergents, credit cards - so my current one pertaining to gas stations is fitting considering my affinity for liminal spaces and the dedication of this blog to them. Liminal spaces are transitory in nature, hence their portrayal in online circles through photos of carpeted hallways, illuminated stairwells, dark roads, and backrooms, among other transitional points.

Gas stations are posted online as well; images of their fuel pumps or neon signage photographed through a rainy car window communicate their liminality and the universal experiences they provide to all of society. Perhaps they are the ultimate specimen of a liminal space. The machines they are created for, automobiles and tractor trailers alike, themselves are tools for motion, vestibules that enable travel and shipment across long distances at high speeds. Cars and roads are liminal spaces, albeit in different formats, and gas stations serve as their lighthouses. Vehicles at filling stations, therefore, are in a sense liminal spaces within liminal spaces within liminal spaces.

The uniqueness of a gas station as a liminal space, however, is its intersection with the economics and aesthetics of capitalism. Gasoline (and diesel fuel) is a commodity, downstream from crude oil, merely differentiated by octane ratings. Some argue that minute distinctions between agents, detergents, and additives make some brands better than others. Indeed, fuels that are approved by the Top Tier program, sponsored by automakers, have been shown to improve engine cleanliness and performance, but this classification does not prefer specific refiners over others; it is simply a standard. To a consumer, Top Tier fuels are themselves still interchangeable commodities within the wider gasoline commodity market.

The Economics of Gas Stations

The market that gas stations serve is characterized by inelastic demand, with customers who reckon with prices that fluctuate day in and day out. This is not to say that consumer behavior does not change with fuel prices. It has been observed that as prices rise, consumers are more eager to find the cheapest gas, but when prices fall, drivers are less selective with where they pump and are just happy to fill up at a lower price than last week. In response, gas stations lower their prices at a slower rate than when increasing prices, allowing for higher profit margins when wholesale prices fall. This has been dubbed the "rockets and feathers" phenomenon.

When portrayed as liminal spaces, gas stations are most often depicted at night, places of solitude where one may also enter the adjacent convenience store and encounter a fellow individual who isn't asleep, the modern day lightkeeper. The mart that resides at the backcourt of a gas station is known to sell goods at higher prices than a supermarket, simultaneously taking advantage of a captive customer, convenient location, and making up for the inefficiencies of a smaller operation. It may come as no surprise, then, that gas stations barely make any money from fuel sales and earn their bulk through C-store sales. This is a gripe I have with our economic system. Business is gamified, and in many cases the trade of certain goods and services, called loss leaders, is not an independent operation and is subsidized by the success of another division of a business, a strategy inherently more feasible for larger companies that have greater scale to execute it.

Nevertheless, most gas station owners, whether they have just one or hundreds of sites, find this method fruitful. Even though most gas stations in the US sell one of a handful of national brands, they operate on a branded reseller, or dealer, model, with oil companies themselves generally not taking part in the operations of stations that sell their fuels. The giants do still often have the most leverage and margin in the business, with the ability to set the wholesale price for the distributor, which sells at a markup to the station owner, which in turn will normally make the least profit in the chain when selling to the end customer at the pump. This kind of horizontal integration that involves many parties lacks the synergies and efficiencies of vertical integration that are so applauded by capitalists, but ends up being the most profitable for firms like ExxonMobil, who only extract and refine oil, and on the other end of the chain merely license their recognizable brands to the resellers through purchasing agreements. Furthermore, in recent years, independent dealers have sold their businesses to larger branded resellers, in many cases the ones from whom they had been buying their fuel.

A Word on ExxonMobil's Branding Potential

The largest publicly traded oil company in the world is Exxon Mobil Corporation. It is a direct descendent of the Rockefeller monopoly, Standard Oil, which was broken up in 1911 into 34 companies, the largest of which was Jersey Standard, which became Exxon in 1973. This title was generated by a computer as the most appealing replacement name to be used nationwide to unify the Humble, Enco, and Esso brands, decades before AI was spoken of. The latter brand is still used outside of the United States for marketing, arising from the phonetic pronunciation of the initials of Standard Oil. In 1999, Exxon and Mobil merged, and the combined company to this day markets under separate brands. Exxon is more narrowly used, to brand fuel in the United States, while Mobil has remained a motor oil and industrial lubricant brand, as well as a fuel brand in multiple countries.

Mobil originated in 1866 as the Vacuum Oil Company, which first used the current brand name for Mobiloil, and later Mobilgas and Mobilubricant products, with the prefix simply short for "automobile". Over time, Mobil became the corporation's primary identity, with its official name change to Mobil Oil Corporation taking place in 1966. Its updated wordmark with a signature red O was designed by the agency Chermayeff & Geismar, and the company's image for service stations was conceived by architect Eliot Noyes. New gas stations featured distinctive circular canopies over the pumps, and the company's recognizable pegasus logo was prominently on display for motorists.

I take issue with the deyassification of the brand's image over time. As costs were cut and uniformity took over, rectangular canopies were constructed in place of the special ones designed by Noyes that resembled large mushrooms. The pegasus remained a prominent brand icon, but the Mobil wordmark took precedence, which I personally believe to be an error in judgement. This disregard for the pegasus paved the way for its complete erasure in 2016 with the introduction of ExxonMobil's "Synergy" brand for its fuel. The mythical creature is now much smaller and appears only at the top right corner of pumps at Mobil gas stations, if at all.

Even into the 90s and the 21st century the Pegasus had its place in Mobil's marketing. In 1997, the company introduced its Speedpass keytag, which was revolutionary for its time and used RFID technology, akin to mobile payments today, to allow drivers to get gas without entering the store or swiping a card. When a Speedpass would be successfully processed, the pegasus on the gas pump would light up red.

When Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, the former adopted the payment method too, with Exxon's less iconic tiger in place of the pegasus.

The program was discontinued in 2019 in favor of ExxonMobil's app, which is more secure since it processes payments through the internet rather than at the pump.

What Shell has done with its brand identity is what Mobil should've done for itself. The European company's logo was designed in 1969 by Raymond Loewy, and is a worth contender for the "And Yet a Trace of the True Self Exists in the False Self" meme. In recent years, Shell went all in on its graphic, while Mobil's pegasus flew away. I choose to believe that the company chose to rebrand its stations in order to prevent the malfunction in the above image from happening.

ExxonMobil should have also discontinued the use of the less storied Exxon brand altogether, and simplifying its consumer-facing identity to just the global Mobil mark. Whatever, neither of the names are actual words. As a bonus, here is a Google map I put together of all 62 gas stations in Springfield, MA. This is my idea of fun. Thanks for reading to the end!

#exxonmobil #exxon #mobil #gas station #gas stations #liminal space #liminal spaces #liminal #liminalcore #liminal aesthetic #justice for pegasus #shell #corporations #capitalism #branding #marketing #standard oil #economics #gas #gasoline #fuel #oil companies

[justahillbillyfromouterspace]

food and gas and a 49 ? Merk great ole photo

#gas stations #filling station

[gwydionmisha]

#Gasoline #Gas Stations #Pollution #Toxic Waste #News

[staticspaces]

Shanty Bay Go-Karts

You can find this week's brand new video here!!

https://youtu.be/zcoU5sy2eCA

Let's start this one out by taking a look at some exteriors!!

This building was once home to a number of businesses. Being located along a major highway, I would have imagined it was once a very busy place.  After having talked to a few former employees, they confirmed that those businesses were indeed busy, so the question remains...why did they all close?

In last week's episode we explored the abandoned Coffee Time Restaurant.  In today's video we will be exploring the rest of the building, including a former McDonald's, a Shell gas station convenience store, a party room and the go kart track and mini putt.

Looking through street imagery, I could see that the building was not very well maintained as far back as 2012 and as time went on, it just got worse and worse with holes beginning to appear in the roof.  Coffee Time was the first to go in 2009.  The McDonald's closed in late 2015 and around the same time an "under new management" sign appeared in the gas station window. That didn't seem to help matters since the Shell station and store would later close in 2018. Finally in 2019 the go-kart track and party room would close as well.  There was also a mini putt but that looks to have been closed for far longer.

I suspect there were a number of reasons it failed.  It is located along a divided highway with good visibility but was only easily accessible by the southbound traffic.  There is also a sizeable city located not more than 10 minutes down the road with far more options.  Last, the owners tried to lease the empty spaces where the coffee shop and restaurant used to be but were unsuccessful.  With those two food options gone, the location was no longer a one stop shop.

Since then the building has deteriorated even further, the roof has developed more holes and the vandals have taken over.  In the spring of 2022 the entire building now sits boarded up and likely awaiting the wrecking ball before the property is redeveloped.

#abandoned #abandoned buildings #abandoned places #abandoned gas stations #gas stations #forgotten #forgotten buildings #forgotten places #bandos #urbex #urban exploration #urban exploring

[hclib]

Prices at the Pump

There are all sorts of details hidden in plain sight in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections. Within our hundreds of photos of gas stations, for example, are hidden a fun history of gas prices. As travelers fill up for the Memorial Day weekend, some of these historical prices might look pretty attractive. Too bad we can't step back in time to get those "7 gallons for 97 cents!"

Gas Prices Pictured from Upper Left (Click on the link to see each full photo):

March 6, 1941: 7 gallons for 97 cents

July 20, 1998: $1.089

1974: $0.479 ($0.509 for premium)

1969: $0.329

December 4, 1939: 6 gallons for 59 cents (plus 30 cents tax)

1998: $1.29

#minneapolis #minnesota #gas prices #gas stations #road trip

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Paying for gas before you pump could become mandatory in parts of Ontario under new legislation proposed by a Progressive Conservative backbencher. The bill aims not only to prevent so-called "gas and dash" thefts but also to reduce the risk of gas station attendants being hurt or killed, says the MPP who tabled the legislation this week.  "My focus is on saving lives," said Deepak Anand, MPP for Mississauga-Milton. "My focus is on making sure of better use of police resources." Gas theft has long been a common occurrence, but last year's spike in gas prices brought with it a fresh surge in thefts, according to figures from police and the industry in Ontario.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian #canada #ontario #gas #gas stations #gas prices #theft #deepak anand #conservatives

[mayanhandballcourt]

Photographer Marco Franchina

#photography #marco franchina #mobil #cars #night photography #gas stations #cinematic #street photography #new topographics

[iwishiwasredacted]

I LOVE AMPM!!!

#shitpost #kms #real real real #i need a lobotomy #so sane #weirdcore #me fr #me when #current mood #ampm #i love ampm #gas station #gas stations #i love gas stations #me #photos of me #pics of me #yippie

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

tetlin nwr to glenallen, ak

#my photos #alaska #caribou #gas stations #mountians #wrangell-st elias #rlwtstcwtsv

[seeminglydark]

Mechanic on duty

A wip for a little poster to promote the podcast 💜

#mil-liminal podcast #original characters #gas stations #liminal spaces #the graveyard shift