Good intentions always lead to bad destinations it seems. When Sam Walton created Walmart, it seemed like a one-stop shop for groceries, household products and goods, personal hygiene products and basic home maintenance and car repair items. At one point, you could buy live fish and lobsters.
And Amazon seemed to hop on the digital media train early and survived the Dot Com Bubble Burst of the early 200s because it actually appealed to a wider public. Even though the Mom and Pop/IGA supermarkets could get us our basic needs, if you lived in the boondocks, getting the latest books or CDs wasn’t so easy. Then DVD sales went off the charts. All you needed was a computer, credit card and dial-up. No gas spent. No driving an hour to a bigger store or mall only to find out they were sold out or didn’t even carry it.
But when things get too easy, people tend to not care as much as who is getting shafted as long as it’s not them. And to be honest, pumping gas and even going to a convenience store can still be a bad experience for anyone. There’s some places where you feel the cashier is going to pull a gun on you. If they have a public restroom, you’re almost certain you’re in a real-life horror movie as it looks like the worst toilet in Scotland from Trainspotting.
That’s why Buc-ees is so appealing. It doesn’t look like you’re run-of-the-mill travel center where you don’t know if the Dale Dickey Doppelganger is a Lot Lizard or just some Okie from Muskogee feeding the cancer monkey. Even QuikTrip stores in some neighborhoods are to be avoided.
But Buc-ees has well cleaned gas pump islands, groceries that aren’t over priced and food that you know hasn’t been on a roller grill that some Bubba hasn’t picked with dirty fingers to see if it was hot enough before putting it back. (To be honest their BBQ sandwich are bland. I’m surprised it didn’t come with a complimentary order of potato salad with raisins. This is crazy because their headquarters are near Houston and Houston to Kansas City to Memphis is the BBQ Triangle.)
Recently on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, it was revealed the company is sue happy going after any gas station/travel center that has an animal logo/mascot. Legal experts say this is to push them out of competition. And now we’re getting into the era where Walmart and Amazon went the point of no return. All three started small and then gained money and fame.
But kicking the competition when its down is tactless and why people turn against them. The American Dream is based on free market capitalism where you competed fairly against others. Yet that’s not always the case in theory. A lot of legal loopholes make it impossible for this theory to work for anyone who doesn’t have a lot of money and pull.
And once a company/entity has most of the market, they start to cut corners for profit. Look what happened to Blockbuster or the cable industry. Everything began to cost more but the quality didn’t improve. We’re seeing that in Walmarts as some feel like you’re witnessing the looting raid aftermath of a dystopia flick.
There are 56 locations all over America and more intended to open over the next few years. The one near where I grew up in Calhoun, Ga. has become popular online. And players and fans from other countries visiting for the World Cup were so excited to be in the stores, they can easily spread more throughout North America and even overseas.
But the expense of maintaining a location in this economy may not even break even and then the cuts happen.
Speaking of Oliver, go to Buc-Off.com to give them a taste of their own medicine.
Zane Says 