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It’s stealing from gas pump owners who are still very much the little people.
by huytersd 3y ago
It’s stealing from gas pump owners who are still very much the little people.
- mattgeo_j 3y agoLast I heard, gas station "owners" make such a minuscule amount of money from the gas pumps and really rely on what they sell
- jjkaczor 3y agoDepends on if it is a direct corporate owned location, or franchised - but yes, I would argue that it hits many of the average small/medium business owners. Things will be "interesting" over the next 10-20 with the switch to electrification - yet another entire sector that may no longer be viable for small/medium independent owners. (but, time marches on - we don't see many people lamenting the "buggy whip manufacturers" from days of old)
- asynchronous 3y agoI actually think electric is one thing that could be squarely profitable for the small guy- think a small lot with solar panels or micro hydro and a few charging stations invested for much less than the cost of a house.
- greendave 3y agoPeople often have an unrealistic notion of what solar can do. A single 50kW charger would require 125 400w panels minimum - around 3000 square feet of area - and still only be able to provide max current for a few hours of the day. And 50kW is still slower than most people will tolerate if they’re not at home/work.
- rtkwe 3y agoFast chargers pull huge amounts of electricity requiring significant electrical connections and infrastructure that's pretty expensive to build up. You could provide level 1 or 2 chargers maybe on a DIY but even a single fast charger is going to need a LOT of solar and batteries to provide round the clock service.
- TremendousJudge 3y agoAs other people mentioned, the money of owning a gas station comes mostly from the convenience store attached to it. This isn't going away, quite the opposite. "Fast" charging is quite slow by gas station standards, which means more time for the drivers to go in and shop.
- bluGill 3y agoSort of. Most people will charge at home, so there will be less of that style of store with chargers. Along highways and in busy rural areas you will still find them - for travelers and truckers, but overall there is less need. Though there is still need for a store close to home where I can get a bit of milk quick, my morning donuts, and all the other things. I hope such stores move closer to where people live - suburban people should experience the big city convenience of walking to such places and when they don't have a hope of competing for drivers they may as well move closer to where people live. (if zoning allows!)
- rtkwe 3y agoIf you can afford to setup a charger fast enough to bring people in. They're not going to stop and browse your candy isle for 3 hours while your low wattage level 2 charger trickles 30 mph of charge into their batteries unless that's the only option available. Faster charging, even staying within the bounds of AC Level 2 charging, requires beefy connections to the electrical grid to support more than one or two charging points. Many places will make the transition but you'll also need to change your interior to dedicate more space to people waiting while charging.
- prmoustache 3y agoSome would argue they are complicit of a giant crime against humanity and environment.
- gottorf 3y agoI mean, it's not like the thieves were stealing gas to put it back in the ground.
- dahfizz 3y agoand stealing gasoline helps the situation?
- prmoustache 3y agoDid I write that?
- gowld 3y agoThe gas station owners aren't the criminals. The people who built suburbs are.
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- throw__away7391 3y agoPlease try to make substantive comments, not wild flames
- throw__away7391 3y agoCool, so theft is morally justified depending on whom is being stolen from. Also, burning 800 gallons of fuel will release over two tons of carbon into the atmosphere, but I guess we just blame the oil companies for that too. This is where we are at now, the ultimate luxury, everyone has complete moral immunity for life for absolutely anything they do so long as someone else has more money than them, never mind if they are in the top 10% of the world's wealthy overall.
- dahfizz 3y agoSeriously, it feels like all morality is situational now. People have no principles. Something as straightforward as "stealing is wrong" doesn't apply. "Stealing from people I don't like is fine".
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- ryandrake 3y agoNot that I agree that stealing is acceptable (it's not), but this is expected and what happens deep into class warfare when inequality skyrockets and hopelessness sets in. People do what they can to make a buck, and justify it as evening out a perceived imbalance. We should expect to see more and more of this as more and more economic gains are captured by the rich, squeezing more of the middle class into poverty.
- huytersd 3y agoThe massive wealth inequality has a role to play. People are willing to accept people having more money than them but 10 people owning 50% of the wealth while the rest are literally suffering through multiple jobs and still live paycheck to paycheck, that’s when people think of revolting. What we’re seeing now is the initial stages of a soft revolution where ideas are introduced to the larger public and reactions are gauged. Things aren’t bad enough for an actual revolution but these are the first signs of the growing discontent.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoThen they have cause to sue the bastards that sold them the pump equipment.
- justrealist 3y agoSociety actually works a lot better if every possible way to steal from your neighbor isn't considered fair game.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoAt what point is it negligence on the part of the manufacturer?
- justrealist 3y agoSociety works better if every exploitable loophole is not considered a valid excuse to steal from your neighbor.
- Dylan16807 3y agoYou're talking past each other.
- justrealist 3y agoThrough, not past.
- Dylan16807 3y agoI have no idea what that means. Unless you mean "talking through" in the sense of teaching a lesson, because you're not. Your argument does not invalidate what they are saying, or bring any notable information to light. You merely started a waste-of-time tangent. Theft bad, everyone knows that.