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(bowshock.nl)
579 points todsacerdoti | 4 comments | 16 Jun 25 07:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.317s | source
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lljk_kennedy ◴[16 Jun 25 08:38 UTC] No.44287646[source]▶
> One of my nightmares is waking up one morning and discovering that the power is out, the internet is down, my cell phone doesn’t work

I dunno.... as I get older, this sounds more and more idyllic

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ndr ◴[16 Jun 25 08:40 UTC] No.44287653[source]▶
I see the sarcasm but you're likely not simulating this hard enough. This is what happened in most of Spain and Portugal during the recent power outage and it wasn't pretty.
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al_borland ◴[16 Jun 25 11:48 UTC] No.44288692[source]▶
The power grid went down in a large area of the US about 20 years ago. The biggest issue I saw was the gas pumps didn't work. Cars were lined up, many abandoned, just waiting for the power to come on some they could get gas. I was in college at the time, but home for a few days. I heard rumors that the power was on west of us (where my school was), so I just started driving west, hoping I found where the power was on before I ran out of gas. Thankfully, that worked out.

But if the power, and the gas stations, don't work anywhere. It won't take long before we start running out of food and other utilities start to fail.

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tcoff91 ◴[16 Jun 25 12:41 UTC] No.44289004[source]▶
It’s absurd that we don’t require gas stations to have generators on-site. They have all the fuel they need to power them right there!!!

Now nobody else can get more fuel for their generators when the gas stations don’t have power either.

This was a big issue during the power shutoffs during LA fires this year.

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dghlsakjg ◴[16 Jun 25 14:53 UTC] No.44290176[source]▶
Gas stations are private businesses, and they typically make almost nothing on gas, most of their margin is in the c-store.

Requiring every single one of them to invest in a 5-6 figure power backup solution with hundreds or thousands in yearly maintenance costs, so they can sell their lowest margin product to accommodate those who can't plan ahead during a disaster that happens maybe once in a decade event is pretty absurd.

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1. zahlman ◴[16 Jun 25 23:56 UTC] No.44294436[source]▶
> and they typically make almost nothing on gas, most of their margin is in the c-store.

It's hard for me to imagine gas station convenience stores doing enough volume for this to make any business sense.

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2. al_borland ◴[17 Jun 25 01:00 UTC] No.44294758[source]▶
Movie theaters have a similar model. The movie gets you in the door, but it’s very low margin. They make almost all their profit on the concessions.

While I can count on one hand the number of times I walk into the store at a gas station in a given year, I know others who buy things on a daily basis, to the point that they’re on a first name basis with everyone there and the employees start asking questions if a few days go buy without a visit.

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3. dghlsakjg ◴[17 Jun 25 02:13 UTC] No.44295182[source]▶
Pretty well known, and documented. You can google it, or do the math yourself. Typical margins are around 1-2% on fuel sales. You can check this by looking up the wholesale price of gas (search for 'gasoline rack price', that tells you what it costs at the distribution center), then add in taxes, and you will find that most stations are within a few cents of cost. Don't forget that gas pumps cost $20k per, and all of the fixed costs like tanks, testing, calibration, inspections, etc.

The business model for a typical gas station is to bring people in with competitively priced gas, since people are incredibly price sensitive to gas, and then make money with high margin c-store items. Most of the things in a c-store have triple digit margins. That's why you'll see plenty of c-stores without gas stations, but its pretty rare to see a gas station that doesn't have a business attached.

4. zahlman ◴[18 Jun 25 03:16 UTC] No.44306368[source]▶
> I know others who buy things on a daily basis, to the point that they’re on a first name basis with everyone there and the employees start asking questions if a few days go buy without a visit.

... I suppose it takes all kinds.