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The Single Rider Line Podcast Episode 10: Gas Station Tier List
76 Plays1 year ago
Lunarus is back to rank all gas stations for your next coaster road trip!
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Transcript
Introduction and Challenge
00:00:04
Speaker
Sunday! Sunday! Are you ready for the highest and fastest poster in the world? Are you ready for a real... Island dare you to come face-to-face with the beast of the beast. 7,000 feet. You can't hear my voice. The loveless monster lives. This man, he can't hear me.
00:00:40
Speaker
Oh no. Mr. Pop.
Mechanical Issues and Holiday Return
00:01:08
Speaker
All riders waiting and on top of those rapture, we are currently experiencing a mechanical issue and you do not know the length of the way. Once again, we are experiencing a mechanical issue. Motherfuckers! I don't know what that intro was, but welcome to 2024, the first episode of 2024. We're back from the holidays. We're back to weekly recordings, guys. Wow. It took long enough.
00:01:39
Speaker
only took us, you know, a couple months to get back to where we, uh, to where we need to be. But you know what? We're back. We are back. So again, welcome back to the single rider line.
Holiday Experiences and Financial Concerns
00:01:55
Speaker
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was pretty good. A little bit, uh, a little bit financially rough, but when is it not? If we're being honest,
00:02:09
Speaker
uh, still haven't bought my pass yet for 2024 to, uh, to any of the parks. I should probably do that. I should probably do that. I'm going to, I'm going to get, uh, get it eventually, but it's just going to keep going up in price.
Car Maintenance and Listener Engagement
00:02:27
Speaker
And I'm trying to save right now because I need a new car desperately. Um,
00:02:36
Speaker
Mine works perfectly fine and it'll keep working for a while, but it's going to need new tires here soon. It's going to, it's going to need just maintenance in general. It's a 2011 Toyota Prius. And I don't know if you know anything about hybrid vehicles, but they have an internal battery on them that is absolutely massive. Um, this battery lasts about 12 to 15 years. So.
00:03:04
Speaker
Um, we are right in that timeframe of how long that battery lasts. And to replace that battery, it's about three grand. So, um, I'd rather not have to worry about that. So I'm just going to buy a whole new car because batteries plus tires, you're like $5,000 and that's part of, that's like partially a down payment for a car. Um, it's so it's.
00:03:34
Speaker
I'd rather put $10,000 down on a new car. I'm not going to get into my finances right now. Anyways, welcome back again. I know I've said that three times now, but as voted on by the listeners over on Twitter, let me get this pulled up real quick. I gave you, I gave you guys two options. I gave you guys two options. So I went to Twitter and I posted
00:04:01
Speaker
single writer line returns to weekly episodes next Monday. Um, I'm recording this on Tuesday the ninth. Uh, and I asked you guys, what do you want to hear first? And I mentioned the, your favorite coaster sucks Northern California trip report. And that has gotten zero votes so far. And the other one that I put on there, it was a gas station tier list, which is something that I've been having in my head for the past. I don't know.
00:04:32
Speaker
Two years now, whenever I first thought about doing this podcast, it was probably 2021. And. I was thinking, like, what if I did a gas station tier list because we've all we've all done coaster road trips at this point, right? And you all know what gas stations you want to stop by and what gas stations you don't want to stop by.
Gas Station Tier Ranking Intro
00:04:56
Speaker
And let me just preface this real quick. I live in Dayton, Ohio, so.
00:05:03
Speaker
We, I've driven up and down the East coast and I've been to the West coast. I have not been to as many gas stations as I thought I have been. So if there are some on here that you are not going to hear, um, that is why. So I'm taking a look at this list that somebody already made on tier maker.com. As I have a really itchy nose all of a sudden and like half of these, I don't even know. Or if I do know them, I haven't been to them. Like.
00:05:34
Speaker
I've never heard of I've never heard of like I've heard of golf. Never been Philip 66. Never heard of or never heard of him. Sinclair I've heard of. Never been to though. Terrible's. C.I.T.G.O. Satigo. I think that's how you say it. Like there's just so many on here. I've never been to.
Gas Station Critiques and Anecdotes
00:06:04
Speaker
Um, Valerio, I have been, I have been to that one. So you're going to get a list of all of the ones that I have been to on a tier between S and F S being the best F being the worst. And we got ABC, we had just ABC and then F there is no DT or apparently. So I'm going to add that real quick, actually. We're doing this. We're doing this on the spot.
00:06:36
Speaker
Add a row below. So we're going to name this tier. We're going to name this D tier. Because I feel like there should be a D tier. So we got A, we got A, B, C, D and F tier. And then we got S tier as well, which is like top. Top dog doesn't get any better than that. C is going to be. Is going to be like middle of the road.
00:07:05
Speaker
just okay. Um, and this is going to be a general of these. If I, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll make the rules up as we go through, as I stutter over my words. So, all right, let's just take, we'll take a look at the list. I know this isn't being recorded, uh, visually, but, uh, I'll go ahead and read through these. So we got Costco. Costco does have a gas station. We got pilot travel center.
00:07:32
Speaker
We've got Speedway, we've got Come and Go, we've got Loves, we've got the Meijer Gas Station, we've got Quick Trip, we've got 7-Eleven, Sam's Club, we've got Sheets, we've got Shell, we've got Sanoko, we've got Thortons, I think that's how you pronounce it. We've got TA, we've got BP, we've got
00:07:58
Speaker
Bucky's buces. I'm not sure how you're technically supposed to pronounce that. I'm going to pronounce it. Bucky's get mad at me on Twitter. We've got Casey's. We've got Circle K. We got Exxon Noble and we've got Valerio. So these are the ones I have all been to and heard of. So if you you know. I apologize if there's any on here that you're expecting that just aren't on here.
00:08:25
Speaker
All right, so we'll just kind of go through this. I'm going to give you reasonings on every single one of these. Just because, you know, if I just put them into a list and end the recording, that's boring. We're going to kind of go based on a number of things. So like Speedway, Speedway has speed traditional speedways and they also have things called speedy cafes.
00:08:48
Speaker
Uh, which is where you can order like food and that sort of thing. A lot of this is going to, going to be dependent on if you can order food and how good said food is. So we're going to go from left to right. You can't see this, but Costco is up first. Costco's gas station. You need a membership just to get gas there. So.
00:09:16
Speaker
I don't want to pay $60 a year just to go get gas from Costco. Also, how many Costcos are you running into on this hypothetical road trip? Okay. I'm going to add this to the list of things now too. This, we're going on a hypothetical road trip for a roller coaster, something. I don't know. You're going to some park or you're doing multiple parks on one road trip. It's,
00:09:42
Speaker
Which one of these do you want to run into? If you're running into a Costco, I don't know where the fuck you are at in the United States, but I can't think of a single major highway that has a Costco like right there. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just cannot think of one Costco. You're it's always like.
00:09:59
Speaker
15 minutes off of the highway, or you have to take some alternate route, which is just through a city just to go to Costco. I don't care that much. And they, and it's not even anything special. You just got traditional snacks there. They don't even have an area where you can walk in, at least from the ones that I have seen. So Costco for me, yeah, you can save more money on gas, but I'm going to put that. I'm gonna put that in D tier F tier has to be absolutely terrible for me to,
00:10:28
Speaker
for me to go there, but Costco, you're going to get, you're going in D tier. I like what you do with trying to save money on gas and that sort of thing. But like the whole atmosphere of going there is boring. You know, there's nothing extravagant about it. It's a.
00:10:50
Speaker
It's just your basic gas, your basic gas gas station. Actually, you know what? I'm going to bump it up to C tier because it's, it's actually no, it's staying in D just because you need a membership for it. C tier is average and Costco is average, except for the fact that they pay $60 just to even get gas there. I may be wrong on that, but you know what? Who cares? I do. Not enough though. Okay.
00:11:18
Speaker
Uh, next on the list, pilot travel center, pilot travel center. Pilots, I feel like are always out in the middle of fucking nowhere. Like you're driving through, you're driving through, through the cornfields of Ohio and it's like, oh, there's a pilot there. I've never seen a pilot. Okay. That's not true.
00:11:44
Speaker
I rarely see pilots like in towns or anything, large towns, I should say. If you've got a traditional town of like 100,000, 200,000 people, um, you know, you're probably not going to see a pilot there. It's a truck stop. That's what pilot is. It's a truck stop. Pilot typically has pretty decent bathrooms from my experience as a male. Um,
00:12:12
Speaker
Snack selections typically pretty good. They've typically got good drink selection. Not as good as some of the other ones later on this list. Pilot, where am I going to put you? I can't. OK, bit of a story here. I was coming back from a concert in Cleveland, Ohio, and I wasn't leaving there until like 11 o'clock at night, and Cleveland is about three hours from Dayton.
00:12:40
Speaker
And I could have gotten a hotel, but it's like, eh, do I really want to get a hotel? So I figured I would just drive it. This was actually last, last January. Now that I remember properly. Um, and I was starting to fall asleep on the road and I'm like, you know what? I'm pulling over. I need to get some caffeine. I went inside to a pilot travel center. Um, got some, got some snacks, got some caffeine. I was like, you know what?
00:13:10
Speaker
Screw it. I'm not, uh, I'm not driving the rest of the way and potentially getting myself killed. Cause I still had like two and a half hours to go. So I, uh, reclined my chair back in my 2011 Toyota Prius, turn the lights off through a coat and hoodie on. And, uh, I just slept in my car. So pilot, I would say, I would say it's pretty good. I'm going to put you in B tier. You're not like, excuse me. I'm still lightly congested from being sick.
00:13:40
Speaker
You're not like absolutely amazing, but you're better than you're just average gas station. And you typically have some sort of fast food place hooked onto you as well. So that's always, that's always nice. All right. We got Speedway. Now Speedway is, there is no speedy cafes mentioned on here. Speedy cafes have some of the best gas station food I have ever had. They have these things. They're called touch shows. Um, for those of you who don't know what touch shows are,
00:14:09
Speaker
Tachos are essentially nachos, but you replace the chips with tater tots and they are so damn good. They're not like the greatest food you're ever going to have, but as far as gas station food goes, it's, it's pretty nice. I'll give you that. And they're way cheaper than fast food too. It's like four bucks for our, for some tacos and it's a decent size bowl that they give you too.
00:14:35
Speaker
However, this is not a speedy cafe. The logo they have on here is just the Speedway logo. So, Speedways are super hit or miss. We have a ton of them here in the Dayton area. This is like the most basic gas station you can ever go to.
00:14:57
Speaker
You know, they don't have a huge selection of drinks and snacks. Um, but they have enough to get you through and probably have something that you do want, but it, it's nothing super special. You know, it's, it's just, it's just okay. So I feel like Speedway is the quintessential middle of the road gas station.
00:15:24
Speaker
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there's like some speedy cafe out there that absolutely brings this up a tier, but traditionally your average speedway is probably, probably not going to be that special. Their bathrooms are probably going to have a bunch of graffiti in them. Somebody's taken a knife to the, uh, to the mirror and the bathroom. If the bathroom even has a mirror and their bathrooms just in general, aren't that great.
00:15:54
Speaker
Um, pilot has some nice, some nice bathrooms, not as good as some of the other ones, but still some nice bathroom Speedway. It's a, it's such a coin toss. If the employees there even give a shit. So I think, I think Speedway is going to have to continue to sit and see tier. It's like middle of the road. You really don't want to go there. If you have to, like, if you have any of the other ones above it, you're totally going there over Speedway.
00:16:20
Speaker
But Speedway has some highs to it. They're not very high highs, but they're there and the lows are, uh, they're just all right. Come and go. I have not been to one of these in forever. It's, uh, it's been a while. What is the, I'm gonna look, I'm looking this up. What does the traditional come and go look like? I have not been to one of these in forever.
00:16:51
Speaker
OK, so they do have like a like a restaurant area where you can like order food. See, this is what I like about about restaurant about these common goes. Like if they have a little restaurant area, we can just get food or like some snacks. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. So come and go. You're going to get you're going to get a beat here as well. Pilot, you're kind of even with pilot.
00:17:20
Speaker
I haven't really been to come and go in forever, so I kind of have to make this a quick one. Pilot typically has like a subway or McDonald's on it as well or a Taco Bell or something. And I feel like they kind of they kind of match each other as well. Can't really talk for their bathrooms, don't really know how well their bathrooms are. I'd like to assume they're nice. I'm looking at pictures online and every single come and go seems to be like pretty well put together.
00:17:50
Speaker
compared to some other ones on there. But you know what? I'll put it in B tier. And if we have a bad experience in the future, then we'll bring it down on this tier list.
00:18:11
Speaker
All right. Next up loves loves is just pilots, but with a different branding. It's it's the exact same. It probably has a gas station or it probably has a fast food place on it. Selection is pretty good. Bathrooms are typically nice. You know, it's a truck stop. It's a truck stop. They've got showers. Why you would ever shower there is beyond me. But loves is pretty much equal
00:18:40
Speaker
for me with pilot. There isn't really a difference between the two besides the name. You can buy shitty electronics there or some $200 headphones for some reason. I mean, it's the exact same. I seriously can't think of one difference besides the name. Are they owned by the same company? Hold on. Give me one second.
00:19:18
Speaker
So they are separate companies. So Pilot owns Pilot and Flying J. Flying J is the same as Pilot. OK. And Loves is a separate company. Pilot Flying J is its own company. Interesting. I did not know that. The more you know. All right. So those are basically the exact same.
00:19:48
Speaker
Meijer gas stations are typically about the same with Speedway. Speedway typically has two bathrooms. Meijer, from my experience, only has one. They keep them pretty tidy, though. Meijer gas stations are typically fairly nice. They keep them clean. They're not
00:20:11
Speaker
They're not awful, but they just don't. They're just not very big. You don't really have a whole lot of selection on things. You have like three aisles, maybe, maybe of that sort of thing. I know the drink selection isn't very good. They have more alcohol than they do than they do soda and that sort of thing. So Meyer, I go to Meyer gas stations quite a bit. I'll say that though here in the Dayton area, they're pretty nice Meyer stores in general.
00:20:40
Speaker
They're in, they're in decent areas and you can't really go wrong with a Meijer, with a Meijer gas station. I am going to put it in the same tier of Speedway though, just because Meijer is more consistent, but Speedway has those higher highs than Meijer does. Meijer is like just very, it's very, you know what you're getting every time you walk into a Meijer gas station. Um, I have had very, very few bad experiences with Meijer gas stations.
00:21:09
Speaker
Um, if I were to, if I had the option of stopping at one on this hypothetical road trip, though, um, would probably pick something else. Um, but if that were an option, you know, I wouldn't be hating myself either. Would still gladly take pilots come and go or loves over a Meyer or speedway gas station though, and much more over Costco. So. Bit of a, uh, bit of a rundown of what we're looking at here. We've got pilot coming go and loves in beats here.
00:21:37
Speaker
speedway and Meyer in C tier in Costco in D tier a tier and S tier still nobody in them same thing with F tier so we're going to
00:21:49
Speaker
We're going to go ahead and continue on quick trip.
Praise and Criticism of Gas Stations
00:21:52
Speaker
Easy, easy, easy eight year quick trip. Pretty good. I mean, pretty good food you can order from quick trip and sheets remind me a lot of each other. Quick trip, I'm almost considering putting into S tier.
00:22:14
Speaker
Because like the food you can order, they have a whole ass restaurant in there. It's not just like some snacks and that sort of thing. They got a whole ass restaurant in there and they have anything from breakfast to desserts. Their menu changes throughout the day. I don't know. Quick trip's pretty dang good. Never had an issue with their bathrooms. Employees are always really nice. It's a very open feeling gas station as well from the ones I've been to.
00:22:42
Speaker
I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave it in a for now that may get bumped up later. Quick trip though would definitely, definitely stop there. I would almost go there for lunch. Honestly. Like if I have the option between going to a fast food restaurant and quick trip, I may almost pick quick trip over some of the other options in the area just because I like their food. So quick trip is going to a first, first gas station in a,
00:23:11
Speaker
is quick trip. So quick trip. Good job. We'll leave it there. And if that gets moved later, I won't be surprised. 7-Eleven. Oh, God. 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven just got bought or Speedway just got bought out by 7-Eleven. I have never been to a 7-Eleven that has been that great. They're all pretty mediocre. They're basically the exact same as Speedway. I have not been to a 7-Eleven where you can order food.
00:23:42
Speaker
which is a bit unfortunate. So actually, you know, at 7-11, I was going to put it in C tier. I'm going to put it in D tier. I had not been to a 7-11 that's that great. Um, you got the name going for you, obviously, but, uh, besides that, I mean, they're, they're not special. They're just okay. They're a little bit under okay. In my opinion, they're just, they're all right at the very, at the very best, but, um,
00:24:10
Speaker
Nothing I would jump at the chance to go to. I would pick a Meijer gas station or a speedy cafe over a 7-Eleven. So 7-Eleven going in D tier and so is Sam's Club. Sam's Club gas stations are the exact same as Costco even though they're owned by different companies. I don't care what anybody says. Sam's Club, it's just not great. It's the exact same.
00:24:37
Speaker
Um, low options as far as like food and stuff goes, you got some snacks, but I've never seen a Sam's club where they also have like a service restaurant in there. Unlike, you know, some of these other ones we've talked about earlier. They're just mediocre. I mean, you go there to get gas if you absolutely have to. However, I think a majority of people are going to prefer these other ones above hand.
00:25:06
Speaker
or above above it. Because if I want to go to a gas station, I want to go to one that's like got options. You know, I want it to be more of an experience than just getting gas and getting on the road. Like if I can go in there and have time to look around and relax, if it's hot, hot as hell outside, you know, stand in the AC or if it's cold as hell outside, stand in the heat, grab myself, I don't know, something warm to drink.
00:25:35
Speaker
and, uh, some food, just kind of hang out there for a bit. I love that. Absolutely love it. So Sam's club, you're staying in D because, uh, you're just, you're just not good. I'm sorry. You're just not. And here we come to one of my absolute favorites of all time. We've got sheets.
00:25:59
Speaker
I have never been to a Sheets that is bad, period. Food options, I think, is better than Quick Trip, in my opinion. They've got, again, anything and everything that you could want there. So Sheets is going to stay in A tier with Quick Trip. However, I think it is definitely better overall, but it is not enough to get into S tier. Actually, you know what?
00:26:31
Speaker
Sheets. You're going to ask here. We have our first S.T. Ladies and gentlemen's sheets is for S tier because they start with the same letter. That's not why I'm putting it in there, but. I don't know, man. Their bathrooms are nice. I would love. I love stopping at sheets whenever I'm I'm on the road. They're open 24 seven like. I don't feel like I'm going to get shot if I walk in there at the wrong
00:27:00
Speaker
at the wrong time. As my phone goes off, my girlfriend is texting me. I'm going to see her later, so that is why. She's letting me know how her workday is going. All right, but yeah, sheets. Our first S tier. You love to see it. You love to see it. So, I mean, can you really say anything bad?
00:27:29
Speaker
about sheets. Like honestly, honestly, can you say anything bad about sheets? I can't think of anything. I have zero nitpicks about sheets. They always do some deal on gas as well. Sheets is an experience and I love it. What is an experience is our next one on here. And that is shell.
00:27:56
Speaker
Shell gas stations, they have their true north. Those are pretty decent. But again, they're not anything special. There's some shell stations I walk into kind of sketchy, kind of sketchy. I think Shell is still better than Costco and Sam's Club. So I am going to put Shell in C tier compared to 7-11.
00:28:23
Speaker
and everything else and it's gonna sit up there with Meyer and Speedway because there are some Shell stations that are nice. They don't have really many food options. I've never seen one that offers a full service restaurant or anything like that in there. Or sorry, not full service. I've been saying full service this entire video or this entire recording. It's a fast food restaurant is what it is. So Shell, you're gonna sit and sit here
00:28:50
Speaker
Not bad. Got some improvements to make. Wouldn't be super happy about stopping for you on a on a road trip if it was a just a traditional one. A true north one, though. Not bad. Would would be OK with it. However, if you want to get up to the scale of quick trip or sheets, you got some work to do sheets. I would pull off the side of the road to go to in the middle of a trip because I just love me some sheets.
00:29:19
Speaker
All right, Senoko is our next one. We've got our first F tier, ladies and gentlemen. Senoko, I have never been into a Senoko that is good or seen one that is good ever. They're always in like areas you probably shouldn't be in. I feel like I'm going to get robbed whenever I walk into one sometimes. It's just don't have a good
00:29:50
Speaker
don't have good experience with Sanoko. They always advertise that they're the official fuel of NASCAR. I don't really care. If that's all you got going for you, then, you know, that's that's not great. It's like Speedway, except there's no upside to it, you know. It's like 7-Eleven, but a bit worse. It's, you know, Sanoko got a lot of work to do.
00:30:16
Speaker
Just so you're going to be our first F tier and maybe I'll run into one that will change that someday, but I have not ran into one. I've only seen. I don't know where I was going with that. I had something I was going to say, just totally, totally blank. All right, next on our list we have Thortons. Thortons is an easy A tier. They're like quick trip, but
00:30:45
Speaker
a touch different. I mean, it's, there's not really a big difference between the two. Both have full service restaurants. Both have good environments. Both have clean restrooms. I'm kind of repeating myself here, but, uh, Thornton's not something I would absolutely pull over for to, uh, to, you know,
00:31:09
Speaker
to get food from but still still pretty good still still pretty good again about average with quick trip I'm putting it Nate here definitely picking that if like if if we need some gas and there's a Thortons or a quick trip a few stops up but we have the option for a Speedway at this at this exit I'm going up a few more eggs it's just to go to Thortons or a quick trip you know
00:31:36
Speaker
All right. And we're going to have what is the dumpster fire, in my opinion, with these next with these next two. We've got Valerio, which is literally no different than Sunoco, in my opinion. And then the same thing with BP. They're both tiny ass gas stations, typically out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes a BP, you know, BP is going in deep.
00:32:01
Speaker
BP is going in deep because sometimes they have like a subway or something. But again, I just don't see any BPs that I think are worth your time. Like if you've got all of these options and you choose to go to BP, there's something mentally wrong with you. Please seek mental help. Um, and, uh, hopefully you will be able to survive here for the next five years or so. Um,
00:32:28
Speaker
Excuse me. Valerio. I haven't been into one in forever. No, not Clerio. I don't even know what Clerio is. Valerio. Valerio gasket. Yeah, like, I don't know, man. These these things just look basic. Basic as hell.
00:32:57
Speaker
Oh, I remember the last video area I went to the last video area I went to was on my way to Cedar Point. It was just OK. Sorry, I was looking at more pictures of it, but yeah, it's it's just it's just OK. It's like it's. It's it's just not not great, you know.
00:33:27
Speaker
It's not great. It's very basic. You're never going to see anything super, super great. You know what, Valeria, you'll go up there with BP. You're not going to get an F tier. Sanoko is pretty bad, so Sanoko may be the only F tier we see today.
00:33:46
Speaker
But Senoko, you're staying down there, Valerio BP. Nothing special. You guys got a lot of work to do. If you want to catch up, start making more money and then maybe I'll start going there and ordering some lunch off you guys. T.A. I have been in one of these in a while, but I know it's pretty much the exact same as pilot loves and Flying J. They're all about the same. There's nothing super, super special about any of these.
00:34:14
Speaker
Um, they're better than your traditional gas station. It's a truck stop. It's, it's just okay. All right. I kind of glazed over those last few because a they suck and B we have gotten to what is objectively.
Crowning of the Best Gas Station
00:34:32
Speaker
And I mean, objectively, the best gas station in the entire United States. And if you say otherwise, I'm sorry, but you are wrong. Just.
00:34:44
Speaker
Wrong. And we are talking about the one and only drum roll, please. Bucky's bucis, whatever the hell you want to call it. It is the greatest gas station to have ever been put in. These things are absolutely massive. If you have not been to one, please, please, please go to one.
00:35:07
Speaker
Bucky's is something that you pull off the side of the road for. It's not something you just stop to get gas. Bucky's is an event. If you pass one, it's like, oh shit, there's a Bucky's a few exits up. Guys, we're going, we're going. You make time on your trip to stop at Bucky's. It is a whole store in there. You know how sheets and quit trip and uh, Thornton's have gas, have a like full service restaurants in there. We'll take that and triple it because they have people making food there all day long. They've got,
00:35:37
Speaker
anything and everything that you can want there. They've got merchandise there because people love it so much. They are the largest gas station in the United States. They may be the largest gas station in the world. Hold on. Where's the world's largest gas station? It is buggies.
00:36:04
Speaker
Bucky's is the world's largest gas station with 120 pumps, more than 350 employees. It is the world's largest gas station and it is amazing. The amounts, the amounts of options, voice crack guys, the amount of options you have there is absolutely nuts. It's you are running out, you,
00:36:33
Speaker
You get overwhelmed with how many options you have. Walking in there on a Saturday while you're, you know, traveling the country or whatever is, uh, you're walking into your walk. It's no different than walking into a park during their Halloween event on a Saturday night. It is the exact same because everybody loves it. And, uh, there's, it's perfect. Okay. It's, it's honestly perfect. So easiest S tier of my entire life.
00:36:59
Speaker
It knocks everything else out of the park. The difference between Bucky's and Sonoko is such a night and day difference. You wonder what went wrong with Sonoko and all these other ones below it. Sheets, I feel like can't top. We'll never top Bucky's but sheets.
00:37:21
Speaker
if they put some genuine work in and they've really, and they really start swinging for the fences, I feel like she's can eventually beat out buggies if they decide to get as big as buggies is, uh, physically anyways, but, uh, yeah, easiest S tier of my entire, of my entire podcasting career. All right. Time to come back down to earth a little. We got Casey's Casey's gas station. Uh, this is an easy, easy beat here.
00:37:52
Speaker
Not super, super, or sorry, an easy seats here. Not super, super amazing. Um, the nice thing about Casey's is that Casey's is pretty damn consistent. Um, I don't really see a bad Casey's ever. They technically have a fast food restaurant in there, but if you want to order, they don't just have like a touch screen. You can go order from, you got to order it from your phone and it's a pain in the ass. And I don't want to do that. I just want to walk up to a register, tap what I want.
00:38:22
Speaker
and get a receipt and go pay for it. Casey's, you make your system way too confusing. It's a pain in the ass. Fix that up. You can easily be B or A tier up there with Quick Trip and Thortons and you'll easily surpass Pilots Loves TA and come and go. Casey's though, you got some work to do. Typically pretty consistent with how clean their bathrooms are. I occasionally see that somewhere dirty. However, that's very, it's very occasional.
00:38:51
Speaker
And not super, not super consistent with them being dirty. They're typically pretty clean and I don't feel bad going to a Casey's. However, not something I'm going to pull off the side of the road for or wait a few exits to go to. I take that back. I would wait to go to Casey's if my only other options were Sanoko 7-11 BP, that sort of thing. All right. Circle K.
00:39:16
Speaker
Circle K, you're kind of going to you're going in easy seats here as well. You're pretty mediocre. You keep your place nice. I like the open floor plan. I like how open your guys stores are. But again, you don't really have any sort of any sort of restaurant in there whatsoever. You can't just order fresh food or anything like that. It's all pre-packaged. Sometimes your bathrooms are sometimes you guys bathrooms are pretty dirty.
00:39:44
Speaker
not super not super consistently what they are sometimes you guys have a nice sort of selection I'll give you that but other than that though pretty pretty typical I guess I could put you in beats here I guess I could put you in cases and beats here but it's just not good enough in my opinion and you got some work to do final one ExxonMobil I have not been to one of these in forever I'm looking it up hold on
00:40:16
Speaker
ExxonMobil images. ExxonMobil is a pretty, pretty basic gas station from what I remember properly. Nothing special, just traditional, basic as hell. So you are going in the tier.
00:40:41
Speaker
I haven't been to one of you in a while, and you haven't really done anything to stand out for me. So that is where you are headed. All right.
Final Recap and Future Plans
00:40:50
Speaker
It is time for the final list, ladies and gentlemen. And F tier, we have Sanoko, our only F tier member. Unfortunately, you guys got a lot of work to do. You can do better. I believe in you. No, I don't. You guys aren't going anywhere. Anyways, in D tier, we've got Costco.
00:41:10
Speaker
We've got 7-Eleven. We've got Sam's Club. We've got BP, Valerio, and ExxonMobil. All you guys, you either have a membership to go there, or you guys just don't have very nice layouts or lots of options. You guys got a lot of work to do. I think you can be better. Get rid of those memberships. Open up the floor plan a bit more. Put in some made-to-order food, and we can go from there. Seeds here. We've got Speedway. Speedway.
00:41:40
Speaker
You got to work on that consistency, man. You've got those speedy cafes. Those are pretty nice. Sometimes you guys have really nice bathrooms, but other times it's just terrible.
00:41:50
Speaker
So, you know, you could be in B or even a tier if you tried a bit harder, but you got to stay more consistent. Get more of those speedy cafes going and get more made to order food. Meyer, you guys are too consistent. You guys aren't really trying to shoot super high, but you're not super low either. I like what you guys are doing. Maybe make your gas stations a touch bigger. Add one more extra restroom so it's not just one. And I like where you guys are at some light improvements you can do.
00:42:18
Speaker
But I'd say you're good where you're at too. Shell, again, got to work on the consistency just like Speedway. Sometimes you got some decent ones. Sometimes you got some really bad ones. You know, got some work to do. Same thing with the Casey's and excuse me, Circle K. Circle K. Casey's guys. Casey's get rid of the mobile ordering.
00:42:44
Speaker
Like I understand having mobile ordering. That's nice. But if that's your only option, that sucks. Nobody wants to do that. It's a pain in your app. Doesn't work half the time. Circle K. I like where you guys are at. Get some, again, get some food in there. Get some, uh, get some more fresh stuff and you'll be all right. Casey's put some tablets out there. Let me order right from this, right from the, uh, restaurant itself or from the gas station itself.
00:43:12
Speaker
Circle K, do the exact same thing, please. Pilot loves to come and go up and beats here. Pilot and loves and to you guys that have your market and you probably aren't going to go up anymore, but you can definitely go down. So stay where you guys are at. Keep those bathrooms clean like you've been doing. I like the fact you guys have restaurants in there, even if it is, even if it is outsourced to like. I don't know.
00:43:41
Speaker
Subway or McDonald's or whatever. I like what you guys are doing. You guys have your market with truck drivers and that sort of thing. I understand what you guys are going for. Keep that up. Keep it up. I appreciate you guys being 24 hours as well. Come and go. You know, you're not as good as Thortons or Quick Trips. That's why you're in B tier. However, you are definitely you are definitely doing good right there. I just haven't been to you in a while. So I appreciate what you guys are doing. And if you.
00:44:11
Speaker
Feel like you should be a bit higher on this tier list. Give me a call. I and invite me out to one of your places. I may go check it out. Up in eight here, we've got Quick Trip and Thortons. You guys don't really have a lot to improve on. It's the most nitpicky stuff to put you got to get you guys up to S tier.
00:44:33
Speaker
The only reason why I like sheets and buckets more than you guys is because sheets and buckets has a touch more consistency than you guys do. Um, if you could get some more locations in the area, that would be nice. Um, you guys got some good food options, good layouts. Um, bathrooms always pretty decent, but, uh, just a touch below, uh, where you could be in absolute S tier, but I don't think you guys are looking to improve.
00:45:02
Speaker
More than what you already have you guys are pretty set where you're at and you know what eight here is pretty good eight here is pretty solid and You guys shouldn't shouldn't really worry about it too much and an S tier we got Bucky's and we got sheets sheets You're doing great, man I appreciate you guys expanding more getting those full-service restaurants in here you guys have yet to disappoint me I appreciate it a lot nice bathrooms, and I love stopping on you guys and Bucky's I mean, it's Bucky's do we have to say anything?
00:45:33
Speaker
Do we really have to say anything? It's perfect. It's perfect. They've got the nicest restrooms around. They've got so many food options. They've got merchandise out the wazoo. You can get gas there anytime. And it's a experience just to even go there. So Bucky's at the absolute top and will never be dethroned unless something goes terribly, terribly, terribly wrong.
00:46:03
Speaker
So that is the tier list one last time. In S, Bucky's and Sheets. In A, Craig Tripp and Thornton's. In B, Pilot Loves, TA, and Come and Go. In C, Speedway, Myers, Shell, Circle K, and Casey's. In D, Costco, 7-Eleven, Sam's Club, BP, Valerio, and ExxonMobil. And in F, we've got Sunoco.
00:46:25
Speaker
And that is the 2024 gas station tier list. So if you need this as reference next time you're doing a coaster road trip, this will be posted on Twitter as soon as this episode goes live. So go ahead and refer back to it. Just go ahead and bookmark that tweet and we can go from there.
00:46:49
Speaker
I can't wait to get back to doing weekly episodes. I've been looking forward to doing this. Had a bit of a motivation shot in the leg there for a bit. That didn't come out as how I was kind of lacking motivation there for a bit, especially with work and everything else going on. It's kind of hard. It's kind of hard to stay motivated to do this sometimes, but I appreciate the support you guys give. It really does help.
00:47:15
Speaker
We'll be back to weekly episodes this year. And if for some reason we do have to skip a week, I will make you guys aware over on social media. So. Forty six minutes as far as recording goes, so I appreciate you guys stopping by. I appreciate you guys listening. I can't wait for the 2024 coaster season. Hopefully get to meet some of you and head head to some new parks and just in general.
00:47:43
Speaker
Have a good time this year. And again, I hope you guys had a happy new year and a good Christmas. So until next time, we will see you next time in the single writer line. Peace guys.