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Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is

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Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or

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Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,

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Speaker 2: my name is Noa.

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Speaker 3: They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our

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Speaker 3: super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you

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Speaker 3: are you. You are here, and that makes this the

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Speaker 3: stuff they don't want you to know. There is a

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Speaker 3: non zero chance that several of our fellow listeners are

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Speaker 3: driving toward or from a gas station as they hear this. Now,

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Speaker 3: when's the last time you guys went to a gas station?

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Speaker 3: Pretty recently?

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Speaker 4: Right this morning?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I want to pick up a few odds and ends.

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Speaker 5: I live in what they call a bit of a

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Speaker 5: food desert, so sometimes I pop into the gas station

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Speaker 5: for some doughnut sticks for a quick and easy brecky

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Speaker 5: for the kids.

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Speaker 2: Ah. Because a gas station is not just a gasing station.

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Speaker 2: It is a place to fuel up on everything you may.

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Speaker 4: Need and to convene. It's a eating place.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a convenient place to convene. Yeah, if you're

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Speaker 3: if you're not from North America, folks. This may sound

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Speaker 3: a little bit weird because in many other countries, as

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Speaker 3: anyone who's travel can assure you, your local gas or

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Speaker 3: petrol station or filling station might be unremarkable. They might

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Speaker 3: literally just sell gas. Maybe some auto parts offer a

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Speaker 3: few light repair services. But check this out here. In

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Speaker 3: the wild culture of the United States, the humble gas

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Speaker 3: station has evolved far beyond its original form.

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Speaker 4: You know, you guys been to BUCkies, Yeah, Buies?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think the height killed it for me.

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Speaker 4: Well, you know, it'll do that.

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Speaker 5: They do have a really great selection of beefed jerkeys

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Speaker 5: and also pretty good pull pork sandwiches, and it's sort

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Speaker 5: of like a mini like to your point, Ben, it

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Speaker 5: is the pinnacle of gas station culture. One could argue

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Speaker 5: it is like a Disneyland of gas stations. There's costumed

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Speaker 5: mascots roaming the facilities.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like here later too. But the best way

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Speaker 3: we could describe BUCkies is to say it is like

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Speaker 3: a gigantic gift shop for a theme park that doesn't

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Speaker 3: yet exist, and it happens to have gas pumps outside.

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Speaker 4: There's a lot of gas pumps too.

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Speaker 5: The same number of gas pumps, and all of the

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Speaker 5: merch is like seasonal and BUCkies themed of course, and

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Speaker 5: there are like people that are mega into it and

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Speaker 5: like collect I have a tied hi full BUCkies swimsuit

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Speaker 5: with a with a top and everything nice.

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Speaker 4: Nice.

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Speaker 2: I really liked the thing you brought up. There been

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Speaker 2: about uh sometimes offering repair and parts. Do you guys remember,

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Speaker 2: like when you were kids, seeing more gas stations that

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Speaker 2: were car focused.

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Speaker 5: Oil changes at the very least in the garage on

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Speaker 5: peace right.

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Speaker 2: I feel like that doesn't maybe doesn't exist anymore.

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Speaker 5: Maybe in some areas now, maybe in like the Midwest perhaps,

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Speaker 5: or maybe like in some parts of like upstate New

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Speaker 5: York and Jersey and things like that.

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Speaker 4: I just I picture that, you know.

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Speaker 3: Lots of rural areas will still have the service station

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Speaker 3: they would call it in addition to the gas station. Look,

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Speaker 3: here in the US, you are just an interstate away

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Speaker 3: from these enormous hypermarkets like BUCkies or truck stops are pal.

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Speaker 3: Dylan and I were talking about this a little bit

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Speaker 3: off air. There's such a vibe to a good interstate

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Speaker 3: truck stop, you know, like quick trip is very popular

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Speaker 3: here in the southeast of the United States. I'man be honest, guys,

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Speaker 3: it's a little too clean for me.

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Speaker 5: It ticks off the boxes though you can get all

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Speaker 5: the different snacks and they have some pre made foods.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, like there's not enough sketch about it, you know.

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Speaker 3: Give me, give me a fly in jay at like

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Speaker 3: three point thirty four in the morning.

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Speaker 5: For sure, and you'll see if you want to talk

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Speaker 5: about some touch points, you will often see like cbe

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Speaker 5: radio gear, like walls of like things you can buy

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Speaker 5: for long haul truck driving. And then the weird thing

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Speaker 5: for me is like cases of weird crystal figurines and

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Speaker 5: like little little figures that you can buy. Maybe I

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Speaker 5: don't know what how that why the deal is? That's

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Speaker 5: a flying j thing in particular.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, under Delta nine.

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Speaker 3: And technically legal things like creat them and truck or speed.

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Speaker 3: Some gas stations feel like they're spaceships, right, and others

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Speaker 3: are sketchier than a Matisse painting. So tonight we thought

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Speaker 3: we would take a break from some of the really

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Speaker 3: heavy stuff we've discussed recently and dive into the weird

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Speaker 3: underground culture or world of gas stations and perhaps without conspiracies.

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Speaker 3: Along the way, here are the facts. All right, spoiler everybody,

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Speaker 3: We don't want to ruin the movie for you, but

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Speaker 3: the origin of gas stations is in fact tied to

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Speaker 3: the creation of the automobile.

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Speaker 5: Combustion engines, right, literally thousands of tiny explosions chained together

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Speaker 5: to create propulsive power.

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Speaker 3: And the first technically what we could call the first

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Speaker 3: gas station, is actually a pharmacy in Weislach, Germany in

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Speaker 3: eighteen eighty eight, Earth of Benz was driving from Mannheim

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Speaker 3: to Forzheim. Am I saying that correctly you are foresheil okay, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 3: So she is driving in the world's first long distance

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Speaker 3: automobile trip, the first car road trip. And the problem

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Speaker 3: is is that they have wildly, as Bush would say,

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Speaker 3: miss underestimated the gas tank efficiency. So halfway through these

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Speaker 3: folks have to stop and try to find something that

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Speaker 3: will work as auto fuel. So in eighteen eighty eight

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Speaker 3: they happen by this local pharmacy which you can still

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Speaker 3: visit today, and they refill the tank. So technically that's

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Speaker 3: the first gas station. But then from there they propagate,

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Speaker 3: they spread and step with the auto and thank you

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Speaker 3: Henry Ford and so many others. It's similar to how

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Speaker 3: you will see more and more electric vehicles and charging

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Speaker 3: stations year over year. Today, these gas stations and cars,

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Speaker 3: they start popping up in urban areas right, slowly replacing

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Speaker 3: the wagon and the trolley and so on, and they

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Speaker 3: expand outward as people start building newer, more reliable roads.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's another thing that has kind of develops

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Speaker 5: in lockstep with infrastructure, Like as theredes are created, there's

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Speaker 5: this network, this infrastructure of gas stations, and that being

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Speaker 5: kind of the first to market, You've got decades generations

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Speaker 5: of kind of being in on the ground floor of

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Speaker 5: that operation, which is why it's really hard for things

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Speaker 5: like charging stations to kind of overtake that. Not to

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Speaker 5: mention just gasoline car culture. It's not going anywhere. There's

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Speaker 5: too much money at stake. There's too much investment in

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Speaker 5: real estate.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and we're going to bring something up towards

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Speaker 2: the end of this episode. That's another one of these

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Speaker 2: sketchy things about gas stations. But I think it's just

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Speaker 2: important to point out here, Ben, you're talking about how

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Speaker 2: as the automobiles going up in popularity and in profitability

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Speaker 2: for car makers, right, and there's just just thousands and

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Speaker 2: thousands and more cars being created every year, and more

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Speaker 2: people are using them every day. More gas stations are

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Speaker 2: popping up. There's this interesting thirty year period that exist,

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Speaker 2: like when there's a lot of gas stations and then

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Speaker 2: thirty years later and then there's a thing that happens

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Speaker 2: that we're going to talk about later. But it's specifically

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Speaker 2: to do with how gasoline gets stored in these individual places,

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Speaker 2: in these things called underground storage tanks.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys ever heard the old the old ripoff

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Speaker 3: griff stories. This has happened multiple times. I definitely remember it.

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Speaker 3: In Tennessee. There were gas stations that we get closed

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Speaker 3: down and they had by that point evolved to have

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Speaker 3: three grades of gas, right and so someone which is

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Speaker 3: all based on octane. You can check out car stuff

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Speaker 3: for more. But the I have seen this before. It

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Speaker 3: is not an urban legend. Several of those places, when

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Speaker 3: they got closed down and cleaned up, turned out those

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Speaker 3: three pumps were all sucking from the same tank.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that makes nice.

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Speaker 3: It's nice a little sketchy, right, yeah, Oh dude.

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Speaker 2: This is really interesting. There's an IAmA on Reddit from

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Speaker 2: like sixteen years ago, and one of it's a gas

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Speaker 2: station owner saying, hey, ask me anything, I own a

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Speaker 2: gas station. And one person said, mid grade is just

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Speaker 2: regular gas in premium mixed together, Isn't it? Isn't it?

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Speaker 2: And he responded, most places have a separate tank, you know,

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Speaker 2: one of these underground storage tanks for all three grades,

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Speaker 2: and a fourth one if you've got diesel, and maybe

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Speaker 2: even a fifth one if you've got a different type

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Speaker 2: of gas, right, like bio diesel or something.

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Speaker 3: Or like a marina might have fuel for boats exactly.

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Speaker 2: But in this case, when this gas station owner, he's

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Speaker 2: saying that most places have that, but in his there's

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Speaker 2: basically a it combines regular gasoline and the premium gasolinetain, Yes,

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Speaker 2: had a two thirds regular, one third premium to get

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Speaker 2: that eighty nine number, which is what mid grade is.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, do people buy mid grade? I would think you

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Speaker 4: would either go for the low end or the high end.

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Speaker 3: It depends on your vehicle, okay, right, some manufacturers have

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Speaker 3: specific recommendations.

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Speaker 2: Right, so it depends on how high the compression is. Right,

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Speaker 2: exactly about it.

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Speaker 3: You got it. Look, gas station owners, even back when

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Speaker 3: they still have the new car smell, as an industry,

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Speaker 3: they're providing an essential service, and even at that point,

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Speaker 3: it was obvious to the owners that the gas did

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Speaker 3: not make a ton of profit for the business. Even

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Speaker 3: in recent years. If you look at gas prices, no

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Speaker 3: matter how they fluctuate, in defense of the owners and operators,

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Speaker 3: they're making a tiiny bit of profit off of the

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Speaker 3: gas after all the costs they incur. It's something like

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Speaker 3: a nickel to fifteen cents profit per gallon, which does

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Speaker 3: add up. But you know, I think it's all too

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Speaker 3: easy for us to drive by and see a very

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Speaker 3: high price point on gas and think these guys are rooking,

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Speaker 3: And sometimes they are. If they're buy an interstate they

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Speaker 3: kind of are because they can't.

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Speaker 5: I've always wondered too, Like I worked at a gas

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Speaker 5: station very briefly when I was younger, and they actually

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Speaker 5: would look at the surrounding gas station, yes, and change

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Speaker 5: their prices accordingly, like visually just doing I just always

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Speaker 5: assumed there was some network and interconnectedness of all those prices,

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Speaker 5: especially on the signs that have the you know, digital

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Speaker 5: readouts or whatever. But no, I mean maybe there isn't

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Speaker 5: for some, but not the one I worked that and

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Speaker 5: the one I worked that was definitely Matisse level sketchy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, just in that I am Ama thing, the

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Speaker 2: guy describes how there is an internal system for the

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Speaker 2: gas company, right, so that gas station, the owner of

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Speaker 2: that gas station doesn't own the gas, that's the gas company.

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Speaker 2: If it's a mobile X on BP QT whatever.

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Speaker 4: If it's franchised, right or yeah.

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Speaker 2: And each one of these companies have their own internal

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Speaker 2: system that shows how much gas prices are and what

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Speaker 2: people are charging. Like essentially, you've got a threshold of

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Speaker 2: what you're going to be charging for gas, where you

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Speaker 2: should be charging for gas, or at least how much

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Speaker 2: you're going to pay for the gas to get to

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Speaker 2: your station, right right then, as the gas station owner,

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Speaker 2: as you're calculating that price. One of the things that

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Speaker 2: this person said they take into account is what the

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Speaker 2: competition looks like, because as we know, generally there's not

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Speaker 2: just one gas station around. And if that does occur

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Speaker 2: where there's just one like Ben and Nola're talking about

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Speaker 2: on the Interstate or something like, there's one in a

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Speaker 2: place called Buckhead in Atlanta that is the only gas

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Speaker 2: station on one of these primary roads, and their gas

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Speaker 2: is always almost a full dollar more than any other

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Speaker 2: gas if you just continue on that road for a

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Speaker 2: couple of.

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Speaker 3: Miles, because where are you going to go? Yeah, And

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Speaker 3: the gas station owners then therefore have a They have

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Speaker 3: a bottom, right, they have a floor of price they

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Speaker 3: can hit, and then they have a little bit of

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Speaker 3: a window of flexibility to how as to how they

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Speaker 3: can push the price higher for profit. And of course

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Speaker 3: they're going to go out of business if they fly

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Speaker 3: too far. They're too much of an Icarus out there

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Speaker 3: on the price point.

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Speaker 4: But I can keep up with the competition.

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Speaker 5: You know, maybe they have just enough edge to be attractive,

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Speaker 5: like you know, versus the one across the street or

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Speaker 5: down the way, but you can't go ham on it.

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Speaker 5: And I mean that gas station you're talking about, Matt

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Speaker 5: is probably the closest example to a pure monopoly. Or

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Speaker 5: they could just be like, well, I guess we name

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Speaker 5: the price, but only past a certain point of reason.

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Speaker 3: I would say that's why the digital redoubts are so

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Speaker 3: popular now, because you can take a loss. Sometimes it

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Speaker 3: makes sense to take a loss on the gas, even

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Speaker 3: just for like a few hours or a day or so,

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Speaker 3: because if you are a gas station owner, you are

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Speaker 3: very much like a movie theater so movies shown in

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Speaker 3: local theaters, and we hope yours are still around. They

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Speaker 3: are not owned by the theater. They're the oil for

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Speaker 3: that proverbial gas station. And as a result, just like

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Speaker 3: the studio at movie theater, tycoons of old gas station

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Speaker 3: owners got into concessions. The other stuff you buy while

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Speaker 3: you're buying gas. That's where you see the big bucks snack, foods, drinks,

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Speaker 3: the vice purchases, lottery tickets, beer, tobacco, chochkes, souvenirs, car parts,

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Speaker 3: over the counter drugs, magazines, and then you know, of

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Speaker 3: course later like you were saying, with food, desert snoll,

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Speaker 3: small grocery stands right, And then it goes gambling machines,

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Speaker 3: which is what prompted this episode.

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Speaker 4: It sure is.

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Speaker 5: And the very gas station that I go to has

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Speaker 5: a whole little gambling section, like a little gambling parlor.

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Speaker 5: And the reason I mentioned the whole people play a

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Speaker 5: meeting place because it is popping sometimes like people hanging

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Speaker 5: out and you know, using those video there's a term

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Speaker 5: for it.

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Speaker 4: We're gonna get to it. I'm totally forgetting.

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Speaker 5: But there entertainment machines, coin operated, skill based, and that's

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Speaker 5: a big one. And of course you know they're also

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Speaker 5: rife for people maybe selling selling drugs.

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Speaker 4: Drugs, yeah, not hit over the counterless.

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Speaker 3: Sure, yeah. And you know later we also see a

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Speaker 3: hybrid monopolization interesting term. Large supermarkets sometimes called hyper markets,

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Speaker 3: like Walmart and Costco. They get in on the game

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Speaker 3: and they put small gas stations or service stations in

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Speaker 3: their parking lot. And it is tough to say no

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Speaker 3: to such a tremendous convenience. It's the kind of thing

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Speaker 3: Bertha Ben's probably never imagined, but we mentioned this. You know,

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Speaker 3: like some of these gas stations, especially big trucker stops

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Speaker 3: in interstate compounds, they are an event all to themselves. Again,

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Speaker 3: I'll just reiterate it. BUCkies feels like a gift shop

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Speaker 3: for an amusement park that does not exist. We cannot

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Speaker 3: overemphasize that.

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Speaker 5: It is its own amusement park.

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Speaker 4: It's an experience.

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Speaker 5: It even has like a brass you know, statue of

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Speaker 5: the titular Bucky upfront, and like everything you can think

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Speaker 5: of BUCkies, you know, barbecue, gear, pop tense. It is

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Speaker 5: an absolute marketing you know, nightmare slash dream, I mean,

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Speaker 5: depend on your stance.

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Speaker 3: So it's a feedback loop. It's so crazy because if

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Speaker 3: you have never been there, or you haven't been to

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Speaker 3: the US, and you just woke up into BUCkies, you

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Speaker 3: would assume there's a roller coaster outside.

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Speaker 4: Very true.

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Speaker 2: Yeah dude, well okay, so really quickly we went through

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Speaker 2: a big list of things that the convenience stores usually sell, right,

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Speaker 2: we uh. One of the things we learned in research

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Speaker 2: for this episode is that those some of those vice things. Well,

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Speaker 2: I think we all assumed that gas stations made a

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Speaker 2: killing on most of like, as you said, cigarettes and alcohol,

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Speaker 2: and at least those two things in particular. Sure, when

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Speaker 2: I think about a gas station often I think, oh,

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna stop in and you know, get a six pack.

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Speaker 2: When I would do that, I would just stop buy

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Speaker 2: a local gas station. So many people do that.

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Speaker 5: Some of us have a whole like beer, you know,

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Speaker 5: Haven Cooler, yeah or whatever, where you have all the

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Speaker 5: top choices of craft beers and everything depends on the spot.

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Speaker 2: And almost every gas station I've ever been in has

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Speaker 2: a wall, as you said, been of cigarettes and smoking things,

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Speaker 2: vaping things, like a huge back wall of that stuff.

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Speaker 2: What we didn't realize is that those things often are

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Speaker 2: not one of the main things these gas stations make

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Speaker 2: money on because the prices of those things are so

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Speaker 2: closely regulated. Often not in every state, but in most states,

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Speaker 2: the maximumount you can charge for those things is capped.

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Speaker 2: And then they've got specific like rubrics for how you

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Speaker 2: can sell those things.

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Speaker 3: Tax regmeans and so on. Yeah, and this, the state

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Speaker 3: by state thing is something that's going to be very

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Speaker 3: important for this exploration. You might be wondering how many

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Speaker 3: gas stations there are in total across the United States.

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Speaker 3: If so, we got you. As of November two, twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty four, there were an estimated one hundred and forty

325
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Speaker 3: seven thousand all told. However, that number fluctuates a lot.

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Speaker 3: Most of the convenience stores in this country are also

327
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Speaker 3: going to be selling fuel, but we are not counting

328
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Speaker 3: just the service stands only, which are more like the

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Speaker 3: European style thing. You know, there's like a little kiosk,

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Speaker 3: and you pay the person, you get the gas, and

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Speaker 3: they might give you a coke, they might sell soda.

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Speaker 3: But these things are still pretty much everywhere. If you

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Speaker 3: are ninety three percent of the American population, you are

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Speaker 3: always ten minutes away from a gas station maximum, which

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Speaker 3: is nuts a lot of other businesses can't say that,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 5: I don't.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's by necessity though.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you know, you hear stories or horror stories

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Speaker 5: about being out in maybe a desert region, perhaps out

341
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Speaker 5: west and not a gas station for miles where you

342
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Speaker 5: really have to plan in more mountainous regions, anything that's

343
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Speaker 5: super rural, but you have you can hopefully depend on

344
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Speaker 5: there being a gas station at least within a certain

345
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Speaker 5: number of miles, or else you could genuinely be in

346
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Speaker 5: real trouble.

347
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Speaker 3: Right, the same problem some electric vehicles have been facing

348
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Speaker 3: on long trips. Now I got Can I tell you

349
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Speaker 3: guys a story about one of the weirdest gas stations

350
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Speaker 3: I've been to in this country?

351
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Speaker 4: Please? Sure?

352
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Speaker 3: Okay, I think it's a little bit of a discoursion,

353
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Speaker 3: but hopefully this will be enjoyable for all of us.

354
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:35,000
Speaker 3: Many years ago, I was, as a birthday present kidnapped

355
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Speaker 3: to New Orleans.

356
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Speaker 4: I did not know that was is.

357
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Speaker 3: It like a whole like hop in the car a

358
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Speaker 3: happy birthday? Where are we going? I was driving. It

359
00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 3: was a self kidnapping. I just said, go west, you man,

360
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,400
Speaker 3: where west is a direction, not a place? And and

361
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,720
Speaker 3: they said we'll tell you when we get there.

362
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Speaker 4: Anyway.

363
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Speaker 3: So we're on these back roads over through Gulf Gulf

364
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Speaker 3: coast country and we're running out of gas and it's

365
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,040
Speaker 3: just like you described, Noel, there is no clear you know,

366
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:12,720
Speaker 3: there's no clear like Exxon or QT or anything like that.

367
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Speaker 3: But we have to stop. And I stop by this

368
00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,440
Speaker 3: place that has seen better days and it looks closed,

369
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,360
Speaker 3: but I'm hoping against hope they're open. And it's got

370
00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 3: the old school analog gas pump, you know where the

371
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:31,000
Speaker 3: numbers roll, So no no card. So walk in and

372
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,840
Speaker 3: I swear, man, it was so weird. The lights are off,

373
00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,439
Speaker 3: there's dust on the shelves. There is a song playing

374
00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:42,840
Speaker 3: on the you know the speakers. It is a Thousand

375
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,440
Speaker 3: Miles from Nowhere by a guy named Dwight Yoakum and.

376
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Speaker 4: At an appropriate song for this situation. I walk in.

377
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,439
Speaker 3: It's like the end of the song and then the

378
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Speaker 3: song starts again. Someone has been in the dark playing

379
00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,320
Speaker 3: thousand Miles to Nowhere on loop. This guy comes out.

380
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,399
Speaker 3: He is wearing overalls but no shirt, and he is

381
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 3: lazily eating chicken. And then he asked, are you him.

382
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 4: Got to help?

383
00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:17,320
Speaker 3: You say, I'm just gonna get some gas, and he says, okay, uh,

384
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,439
Speaker 3: you want some chicken. I make it fresh. And I'm like,

385
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 3: not again, good, just twenty bucks some pump three or whatever.

386
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:26,679
Speaker 3: And he goes okay, and he wrings me up and

387
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,919
Speaker 3: he says, but he is coming right, So.

388
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 4: Waiting for a good story. If we wrote it'd.

389
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:43,080
Speaker 3: Be better, because all I did was immediately chicken out

390
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:44,640
Speaker 3: and like, yeah, I'm cheer.

391
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Speaker 4: He's on the way.

392
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 3: Man. Okay, you chicken.

393
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,360
Speaker 4: Out, but you didn't need the chicken. My biggest complaint.

394
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Speaker 2: Wow, you know that's that's amazing. Ben. I was recently

395
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Speaker 2: on a trip just on on old state roads going

396
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Speaker 2: east to the host of South Carolina, and there were

397
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Speaker 2: several stretches where if we had been a little lower

398
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,520
Speaker 2: on gas, we would have been in serious trouble because

399
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,119
Speaker 2: there was nothing well.

400
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Speaker 5: And sometimes in areas like that too, you're going to

401
00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,480
Speaker 5: be in dead zones for self signal, which makes you

402
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 5: extraft and like having to like walk or you know,

403
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,119
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm reminded of a really excellent sequence and

404
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 5: better call sault involving getting stranded in the desert and

405
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,200
Speaker 5: like not literally there being nothing like in the United

406
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 5: State road type situation that where you would maybe have

407
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,880
Speaker 5: to walk for miles and mild and really dangerous conditions

408
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 5: to get help.

409
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, and for most drivers, thankfully, that is an uncommon situation.

410
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 3: I would say for a lot of us, visiting a

411
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 3: gas station is part of your weekly routine, right. You

412
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,199
Speaker 3: got a daily stop, sometimes for fuel, sometimes just for

413
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 3: your morning coffee or a snack, and you get to

414
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 3: know the people who are employed there at the station

415
00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,439
Speaker 3: in your neighborhood or along your work route. And I

416
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 3: think everybody has an internal hierarchy of gas stations. You know,

417
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,320
Speaker 3: I've got the good one right because it's always a

418
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,359
Speaker 3: right turn based on the direction I've driving. There's the

419
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,479
Speaker 3: bad one. What are those guys always doing standing outside?

420
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 3: I think we all we always rate these things in

421
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:24,159
Speaker 3: this hierarchy of cleanliness, affordability, and above all location. We

422
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,119
Speaker 3: talked about this, but that that's the primary reason gas

423
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,400
Speaker 3: station owners put so much effort into getting the right

424
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 3: real estate. You know, if you're on that interstate exit,

425
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:36,880
Speaker 3: you make a ton of money from a constant flow

426
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 3: of traffic, and every time someone gets out of the car,

427
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,040
Speaker 3: you have a good chance of getting them to buy

428
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 3: other stuff too.

429
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,440
Speaker 2: Dude, Oh my god, think about how revolutionary the seven

430
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 2: to eleven Slurpy was, guys, as far as a profit

431
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,919
Speaker 2: center for a gas station. So then the slushie or

432
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,800
Speaker 2: whatever it is that popped up at all gas stations.

433
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,160
Speaker 2: Just a little bit of eye, a little bit less. Yeah,

434
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 2: like but just holy I'm just sorry. I was just

435
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 2: thinking about the problem the investments.

436
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 5: In the machine and then everything else is like absolute

437
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:10,240
Speaker 5: pure profit.

438
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 2: Well and if if you're in the right location and

439
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 2: you've got this new thing that the kids love that

440
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,080
Speaker 2: parents are going in there to get, oh my god,

441
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 2: such a brilliant move.

442
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:20,320
Speaker 4: It's true.

443
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,440
Speaker 3: That's why BUCkies took it to the next level. Yeah,

444
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,160
Speaker 3: let's make a mascot, you know, let's like wu tang.

445
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 3: BUCkies is for the children, get your bad to spend

446
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:30,879
Speaker 3: some money. Yeah, you know.

447
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 2: And you guys, listen to that Riza episode of SmartLess

448
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 2: Yet you really have to have so great.

449
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 5: There's the most amazing video of Rizza like doing a

450
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,960
Speaker 5: video for Guitar Center where he's like building a beat

451
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,200
Speaker 5: on the fly, like on this like beat machine thing,

452
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 5: and it's.

453
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 4: The worst beat ever.

454
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 5: It's just all crash cymbols and he's just bopping to

455
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,680
Speaker 5: it like it's that. I love Reza, I love woods claim,

456
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,000
Speaker 5: but this video is classic.

457
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:55,880
Speaker 4: It's so good.

458
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,399
Speaker 3: I got he's a man of tremendous wit. He's very sharp,

459
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,000
Speaker 3: so I the suspect he may have purposely made.

460
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,919
Speaker 5: It's maybe possible, but it's it's unclear that I'm with you.

461
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,159
Speaker 3: I mean, you know it's a we haven't seen the

462
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 3: finished product. But look, if you are having a normal

463
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 3: day or night at a gas station, unless something goes awry,

464
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 3: like you get a break down, a flat tire, or

465
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 3: a bathroom emergency, you're not going to spend a lot

466
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 3: of time in that store. And that's what we're dwelling

467
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 3: on tonight, because, as we're about to see, the more

468
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,640
Speaker 3: time you spend at the average filling station, the closer

469
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 3: you look, the more apparent it is that there's some

470
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,119
Speaker 3: stuff they don't want you to know. So we're going

471
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,679
Speaker 3: to pause for a word from our sponsors and then

472
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 3: we'll get weird with it. Here's where it gets crazy,

473
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 3: all right. I know we've overused this phrase in the past,

474
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,200
Speaker 3: you guys, but this is applicable now. Gas stations are

475
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 3: indeed a liminal space. They're an oasis in the desert

476
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 3: of the Inner State.

477
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, sure, or any really anywhere you just you

478
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 2: go into a gas station convenience store and isn't they're

479
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 2: just kind of a vibe. Then you're talking about ones

480
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,400
Speaker 2: that were you know, I don't know. Increasingly now it's

481
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 2: like a random exon or mobile or you know whatever, like.

482
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,399
Speaker 3: Gas company or something.

483
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, even the VP stations you find them. There's a

484
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 2: time when those companies were trying to like make their

485
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 2: stations look kind of the same and update of them,

486
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 2: make them cool. And know, when I go to a VP,

487
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 2: there's a specific convenience store attached to it, the way

488
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 2: QT and racetrack and all those we're doing it. But

489
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 2: then now I feel like I'm seeing more and more

490
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 2: that are.

491
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 4: Just free for all.

492
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, it all depends on the owner operators and like

493
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,679
Speaker 2: what their standards are and what their like kind of

494
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,119
Speaker 2: interests are and what they're into and some of the straight.

495
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,000
Speaker 4: Up bongs like it's like a thing. Not all, but

496
00:26:58,080 --> 00:26:59,120
Speaker 4: some there's.

497
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 3: A lot of like over sees. I know, a guy

498
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:06,679
Speaker 3: who wholesales stuff kind of things always like find find

499
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,879
Speaker 3: one where the paint is not doing too well on

500
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 3: the outside. Of the store. And that is your clue

501
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 3: that you're gonna you're gonna find some weird stuff. Oh,

502
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,200
Speaker 3: especially if they have the LED lights bringing the class.

503
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,200
Speaker 3: That is a real that's a sick, that's a popping spot.

504
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 5: I mean some of them, I don't know if you

505
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 5: guys have seen this specifically around Atlanta. You'll see like

506
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,200
Speaker 5: lots of clothing items like like t shirts and hats

507
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 5: and bulk socks and things like that. And not to mention,

508
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,679
Speaker 5: we haven't even talked about porn. Some of them have

509
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:40,520
Speaker 5: like a whole section of like very specific porn like videos, DVD's. Ye,

510
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 5: like it's very interesting, and that's usually gonna be one

511
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 5: of those Matisse type ones.

512
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:47,360
Speaker 4: With the lights.

513
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 3: Yeah, Matisa is a nice you missm I agree.

514
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,639
Speaker 2: Guys. We all know the joy of a five dollars

515
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,359
Speaker 2: pair of gas station sunglasses, right one million.

516
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,680
Speaker 3: I love a good pair of burner shades.

517
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 5: Could be a whole new person. I'm a guy that

518
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,400
Speaker 5: wears Oakley's. Now I'm not actually going to invest in Oakley's.

519
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 5: I'm gonna get the gas station.

520
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 3: They call me the aviator. Let me get these glasses,

521
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 3: let me go into.

522
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 4: The let me tip them down a little bit.

523
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,360
Speaker 3: Look, I'm gonna buy a razor. I'm gonna sneak into

524
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 3: the bathroom that the key is attached to this cartoonish

525
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 3: brick or whatever I'm gonna shave, so I have a mustache. Yes,

526
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,359
Speaker 3: And now Ben is gone and Chris is back.

527
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 4: That guy's so cool. Respect Chris is too cool.

528
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 3: He might be a cop. Okay, gambling though, all right,

529
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 3: there are so many unseen things that will occur right

530
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 3: under your nose at your local gas station unless you

531
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 3: know where to look. So I loved our conversation previously

532
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 3: about the weird, complicated, just labyriantine issue agglomeration with gambling

533
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 3: at a gas station. It could be legal or illegal,

534
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 3: depending on the state and depending on the language they

535
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 3: use to describe their machines. Right.

536
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, we talked about this pretty recently on Strange News,

537
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 5: where we rattled through some of the laws around it.

538
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 4: And I believe here in Georgia a new.

539
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 5: Law or change in the laws is what has led

540
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,320
Speaker 5: to a bit of an explosion in these and I

541
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 5: think I made the point that you know, while it's

542
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 5: not Vegas style gambling, you're not getting cash payouts per se.

543
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 5: And we'll get into that later. A lot of the

544
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 5: machines are ones you would see on a casino floor

545
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 5: in Vegas.

546
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 4: They're the same ones.

547
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe the twenty twenty four changes to legislation that

548
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 3: that you're referencing their NOL. It advances the idea of

549
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 3: skill based slot machines. And I really loved their conversation

550
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 3: about that, where you had you had beautifully described right,

551
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,960
Speaker 3: what the big difference is the idea that one must

552
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 3: make a decision, the player chooses something right as somewhere

553
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 3: in the order of operations, so legally to the politicians

554
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 3: who got paid off for this, that makes it not

555
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 3: quite the same as gambling. But law enforcement is usually

556
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 3: not happy with this because to your point, Matt, about

557
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 3: how people might get paid or not paid, store employees

558
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 3: can have any number of under the table or off

559
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 3: the books ways to surreptitiously skirt the law and pay

560
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 3: the gamblers. And if you, if you, if you were

561
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 3: law enforcement, like you're the gambling unit or something, you

562
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 3: crack down on one method, uh what a sketchy coupons

563
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 3: or something, then you're playing whack a mole because they'll

564
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 3: just figure out another way to keep paying people.

565
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 5: Well, we didn't we didn't really talk about this, but

566
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 5: you know what, gas stations and compass, largely in the

567
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 5: United States are a combination of two services that would

568
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 5: be available elsewhere in the world, perhaps like you have

569
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 5: the little convenience store that is its own thing, very

570
00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 5: much exactly the same or similar to what you would

571
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 5: see attached to a gas station. But then gas stations

572
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 5: being very specific, especially in cities where there's a lot

573
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 5: of foot traffic and a lot of public transit use.

574
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,040
Speaker 5: But in New York City, for example, the little bodegas

575
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 5: and the corner stores. For a while, we're selling weed,

576
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 5: like just straight up selling weed while there was this

577
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 5: gray area period with legalizing marijuana in New York City.

578
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 5: Now there are dispensaries and there are places you can go,

579
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 5: but during that kind of wild West gray area period,

580
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:40,239
Speaker 5: it was sort of all bets are off. But then

581
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 5: once the dispensaries open and the laws tightened up, the

582
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 5: NYPD absolutely swept those places. And now it's very rare

583
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 5: for them to do that, but they will. Some still

584
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 5: are bold, and we'll do it. It's got to know

585
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 5: what to ask.

586
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,960
Speaker 3: It's Dave Chappelle rules from Half Baked You go into

587
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,480
Speaker 3: the bodega, you have to establish a rapport in advance.

588
00:31:59,520 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 4: Correct.

589
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, and why would those bodegas and the owners

590
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 2: and operators of those go into the weed business Because

591
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 2: there's lots of money in it, which is why gas

592
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:13,440
Speaker 2: stations go into the gambling business. Yes, because, holy mackerel,

593
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 2: there's potential money there. The thing is, like we're talking

594
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 2: about with Georgia, because that's what we know best. We're

595
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 2: Georgia boys. I mean, at least now right, there are

596
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 2: there are an estimated seven thousand, two hundred and thirty

597
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 2: seven slot machines in the United States according to casino

598
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 2: dot org. So you got to take their word for

599
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 2: it in September twenty twenty. But that means there's thousands

600
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 2: of these slot machines all over the place, and each

601
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 2: state's different. And in Georgia, these what do they they

602
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 2: call them coin operated amusement machines that class B.

603
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,720
Speaker 5: Com that are paid and the class refers to how

604
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 5: they are paid out, how they get licensed.

605
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 3: Right, that's rights is a much more expensive license, that's right.

606
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, class demitations for much higher profits.

607
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 2: Yes, Class A machines are stuff like those claw machines

608
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 2: and pool tables where you got to put the money

609
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 2: in and stuff like that.

610
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 5: Gotcha pung machines perhaps, so the thing with the little

611
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 5: toys in the in the bubble, you know.

612
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 2: Yeah. But the crazy thing is with states like Georgia,

613
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:22,280
Speaker 2: they tie that gambling to the lottery system of the state,

614
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 2: so they're now kind of one and the same. And

615
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 2: all of those machines are now operated by the lottery

616
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 2: and licensed from the lottery, and they take in money.

617
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,000
Speaker 2: Now those machines, guys, the same way that when at

618
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 2: least when I was growing up, my dad would go

619
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 2: and buy lottery tickets sometimes, and he was talking about

620
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 2: paying for Hope scholarship and all these other things in Georgia,

621
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 2: where it's actually scholarships for students who get a certain

622
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 2: you know, grade average level. And now these machines. In

623
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, there's like one hundred and forty million

624
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,680
Speaker 2: dollars raised for Hope scholarship and other stuff by the

625
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 2: lottery via gambing machines.

626
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,120
Speaker 3: And that's after everybody gets their cut, you know what

627
00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 3: I mean. It's a big pizza.

628
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 4: Isn't that interesting?

629
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 2: Though?

630
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 5: How like the fact that it's tied to education and

631
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 5: the hope scholarship as a way to make people kind

632
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 5: of hold their nose about the sort of not great

633
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 5: aspects of it and the potential for people becoming addicted.

634
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:21,879
Speaker 5: To me, you see it when you go to people

635
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,240
Speaker 5: just like dropping mad money on tons of lottery tickets

636
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 5: and like writing in all their numbers, and it's like

637
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 5: you hate to see it in a way because it's

638
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 5: like the chances are so near zero.

639
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 3: People are going to do what they want, right, So

640
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 3: this is a way to turn the sword of gambling

641
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 3: addiction into the plowshare of education.

642
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,320
Speaker 4: That's right. That's a great way of putting it.

643
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:44,879
Speaker 3: Thanks man.

644
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 5: We know.

645
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 3: Also to your point, nol, it goes past the dicey

646
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:54,600
Speaker 3: hair splitting league LEAs of electronic gambling machines in the

647
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:57,760
Speaker 3: front of the store. If you make the right connections,

648
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,359
Speaker 3: you can go to a full on legal gambling ring.

649
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 3: We've seen it here. I'm not going to name specifics,

650
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,839
Speaker 3: but a lot of interesting stuff can happen behind that door.

651
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:09,400
Speaker 3: Marked employees only.

652
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 4: Like a card game, right, yeah, yeah.

653
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 3: You come in. You know the right guy, you know,

654
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 3: you do the right dap. Yeah maybe maybe would it

655
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 3: be cool if they had a code phrase and you're like,

656
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 3: I would like to see the sprite t right, or

657
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:32,799
Speaker 3: you just whisper yeah, and then they might also be

658
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:33,960
Speaker 3: sports betting as well.

659
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:34,439
Speaker 4: That true.

660
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,720
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, well hey, and if you find yourself

661
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:40,839
Speaker 2: in the state of Georgia, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation

662
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 2: Investigative Division Commercial Gambling Unit wants you to know that

663
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:47,440
Speaker 2: if you find something like that and you're feeling like

664
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,799
Speaker 2: a narc, they've got a whole system stitch. You can

665
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 2: anonymously snitch.

666
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 3: I saw a I saw a fascinating thing recently. It

667
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 3: was a picture of a sign about gambling addiction and

668
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,320
Speaker 3: it said something like, you know, watch out, twenty percent

669
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 3: of gamblers will end up bankrupt. And immediately I thought,

670
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,360
Speaker 3: I think someone with a gambling problem would take those.

671
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,240
Speaker 2: Odds or statement.

672
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 3: As a positive thing. They're trying to trick the probation office.

673
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 3: All right. I don't know if there's a probation office

674
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 3: for gambling, but look, a lot of us, as your

675
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 3: average evening the evening customers. When we see these machines

676
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:38,319
Speaker 3: or sensus Shenanigan, we assume that county level authorities may

677
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 3: somehow be complicit, which can happen especially in rural area

678
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 3: in the wheels, as you said, hold their nose or

679
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 3: look the other way. But there's a lot more to

680
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 3: crime and gas stations than gambling and petty bribery. Gas

681
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,760
Speaker 3: Stations and convenience stores are the seventh and fourth most

682
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:02,040
Speaker 3: common locations for violence crime in the country, and that's

683
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 3: because they are private property, but they are considered a

684
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:10,319
Speaker 3: public space. You will inevitably see someone you don't know

685
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,759
Speaker 3: at a gas station, and some of those strangers may

686
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 3: have bad intentions. You're just more likely to run into

687
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 3: that situation there.

688
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, and as we mentioned before on when of these

689
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 2: episodes where we talked about this guys, a lot of

690
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 2: the gas stations now, particularly QT I've seen they have

691
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,440
Speaker 2: those signs posted up that it's a safe space, right

692
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,839
Speaker 2: or a safe place to go if you are ever

693
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 2: in trouble or if you're finding yourself sure in a

694
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 2: kidnapping or human trafficking situation, there are ways within that

695
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,959
Speaker 2: station to alert authorities and the people running the gas

696
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 2: station that you need help, which is pretty cool.

697
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,319
Speaker 3: Even just the small non trafficking situations like you have

698
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 3: you're attempting to sell something on Facebook, marketplace or online

699
00:37:56,080 --> 00:38:00,879
Speaker 3: somehow like Craigslist back in the day, and so there

700
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,319
Speaker 3: are known grifts where someone will say, hey, I want

701
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 3: to buy a thing and then meet me here and

702
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 3: then they attempt to rob you or do something worse.

703
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 3: So those spaces that you're describing their matt can also

704
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 3: just be a safe place to trade, depending on what

705
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 3: you're doing. We should also mention that a lot of

706
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:23,720
Speaker 3: local police departments provide the same service. Don't meet someone

707
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 3: that you don't know in a place that you don't trust.

708
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 2: There you go easy.

709
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,480
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah, I heard. I always thinking through that sentence.

710
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:37,720
Speaker 3: As we reached the end, I was like, it's easy

711
00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 3: to say, it's tougher to do. But also, you know,

712
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 3: a lot of these gas stations are open twenty four

713
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 3: hours a day. They're right next to the veins and

714
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,240
Speaker 3: arteries of transit. So if you are a would be robber,

715
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 3: you can wait until the hours are slow. You can

716
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:55,360
Speaker 3: even surveil a bit. If you're clever, you can commit

717
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 3: a crime and then you can be in the wind

718
00:38:57,920 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 3: before the police can respond.

719
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,280
Speaker 5: Mean, it's I think it's no accident that like in general,

720
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,000
Speaker 5: and maybe it's different in New Orleans, but gas stations

721
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,319
Speaker 5: don't sell hard liquor, like you know what I mean, Like.

722
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,959
Speaker 2: They just yeah, it depends on the state, right, Yeah,

723
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 2: but but most of them, at least in Georgia, all

724
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 2: of them that I've seen in Georgia, don't.

725
00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:17,399
Speaker 4: I guess.

726
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 5: I just mean that, like it's almost like it's just

727
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:23,600
Speaker 5: an understanding that that would almost potentially increase the chances

728
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,479
Speaker 5: of violence or the chances for difficulty in a place

729
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:28,480
Speaker 5: that's already a target for that kind of stuff. I

730
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 5: just want to sell little those are malt beverages, the

731
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 5: little things that look like character. There're a different class

732
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:40,720
Speaker 5: of beverage, things like fireball and southern Southern comfort.

733
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 4: It's like gross, yeah, no, exactly, yeah.

734
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 3: And shout out to our buddy Blake for his buzzballs.

735
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:50,839
Speaker 5: They do sell buzzballs, that's true, but they are not

736
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:52,960
Speaker 5: They don't have hard liquor in them.

737
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,880
Speaker 4: They have like some kind of the one actually maybe buzzballs.

738
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 4: They don't sell, like.

739
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,000
Speaker 5: Do they sell them a gas stations because they don't

740
00:39:58,360 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 5: there are laws around them.

741
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 2: I saw something, you guys at a Kroger in the

742
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:07,279
Speaker 2: place where I was in South Carolina. It was a buzzball,

743
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:11,239
Speaker 2: but it was it was like a three liter buzzball.

744
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:14,920
Speaker 2: It was a magic It looked like a buzzball, but

745
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:21,880
Speaker 2: it was huge orb exactly. I want to put this

746
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:26,400
Speaker 2: other just I think selling liquor like that when it's closed,

747
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 2: like it would be in a paper bag or something

748
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:30,200
Speaker 2: when you sell it. I don't think that's the same

749
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,320
Speaker 2: as selling you know, whiskey, that you come in and

750
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,799
Speaker 2: enjoy a whiskey on premises and then leave. I think

751
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 2: that's maybe the thing the difference.

752
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 4: But no, no, liquor stores are like here.

753
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,520
Speaker 5: They often call them package stores, which is I think

754
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 5: there's laws around that too. Yeah, you do have to

755
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:47,239
Speaker 5: dispense it in a paper bag and you are not

756
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:49,240
Speaker 5: allowed to consume it on the premises even.

757
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,680
Speaker 2: That's what I mean though, But if it was like

758
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 2: a bar situation at the gas station, that would be

759
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:58,680
Speaker 2: like increasing the potential violence thing because of it in

760
00:40:59,040 --> 00:40:59,919
Speaker 2: bibing in the games.

761
00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, these are all kind of loopholes in a lot

762
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:03,839
Speaker 4: of way.

763
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 3: And liquor stores also have a very powerful monopoly, so yeah,

764
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:13,600
Speaker 3: there's there's a that's a huge part of why some

765
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:17,319
Speaker 3: of these laws exist, right, And I love this point

766
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:20,400
Speaker 3: about loopholes and legal eese because we say Yeah, a

767
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,680
Speaker 3: gas station cannot sell hard liquor. You will have to

768
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:27,520
Speaker 3: walk out of the door, take a right, and proceed

769
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 3: twenty feet to the next building, which does sell all

770
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 3: the liquor.

771
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 5: You will also sure you go correct and then sometimes

772
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,360
Speaker 5: you know, oh gosh, funny story, guys. The gas station

773
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,840
Speaker 5: that I was mentioning that I worked at was owned

774
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 5: by and connected to a liquor store.

775
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,480
Speaker 4: It was called the Liquor Locker. I'll never forget that.

776
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 4: It's the funniest name.

777
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 5: But the same folks owned both and they weren't separate entities,

778
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:55,640
Speaker 5: but they were literally right next to one another.

779
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:58,840
Speaker 2: Wow, just like you're saying.

780
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:04,320
Speaker 4: This is the perfect example. That's so funny. Is it still? Yes?

781
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:08,800
Speaker 4: It is, Georgia. Sure it was not a great I

782
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 4: did not leave on good terms.

783
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,239
Speaker 3: There'd be like I used to be the king I was.

784
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:17,799
Speaker 5: I worked behind the counter in the gas station part.

785
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 5: I was like sixteen.

786
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,080
Speaker 3: You know, it's one of my very first jobs.

787
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 4: Gig.

788
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 2: Just to switch gears back to thinking about crime, specifically

789
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,440
Speaker 2: at a gas station. Yeah, have you guys ever, I

790
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:32,239
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't want to be weird about this.

791
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:38,440
Speaker 2: I've no felt threatened at Okay, Yes, I've had a

792
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,840
Speaker 2: couple of not necessarily but just seeing why. I've seen

793
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,640
Speaker 2: stuff that I just don't understand. It's behaviors I don't understand.

794
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,600
Speaker 3: You saw it beneath the skin, Yeah.

795
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it has to do with people who are

796
00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 2: generally hanging out around the outside.

797
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:56,040
Speaker 4: Of a station involved a lot of times for sure.

798
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:59,200
Speaker 2: Well in this case, okay, so it's a specific place

799
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:03,000
Speaker 2: that you guys kind of no on on that Beuford

800
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:06,560
Speaker 2: Highway corridor where there's a gas station in between two

801
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:10,919
Speaker 2: major roads. So imagine like the two major roads going

802
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 2: out and there's a gas station in between those two roads.

803
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,480
Speaker 2: And I just noticed when I would go there, there

804
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 2: are people, always not the same people, but just hanging

805
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,400
Speaker 2: out kind of just waiting for stuff.

806
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 4: There's in a group.

807
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, And I just wonder it's not like a

808
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,520
Speaker 2: home depot situation where you might find a group of

809
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,680
Speaker 2: people waiting for work or something like that. That's not

810
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,960
Speaker 2: I never saw that interaction. It just felt weird to me,

811
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:38,439
Speaker 2: like they're watching or waiting for something.

812
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,200
Speaker 4: It might be posted up to sling arcotics.

813
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:44,360
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, well that's that's what I think, But

814
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,320
Speaker 2: I don't I never want to assume that, right.

815
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 3: Right, but they also might be uh, it might be

816
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 3: a situation, especially here in the South, in a lot

817
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 3: of places in the US, it might be a situation

818
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:57,080
Speaker 3: where that's just the free hangout spot one hundred live

819
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:59,400
Speaker 3: in the neighborhood, you walk over there. Because there are

820
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:03,759
Speaker 3: very few places in this country right now where you

821
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 3: don't have to pay to exist in that space, like

822
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 3: the library, the liminal spaces in front of a gas

823
00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:16,200
Speaker 3: station or a business that not for nothing. Do people

824
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 3: kick it at the barber shop all day? You know

825
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:22,279
Speaker 3: what I mean, a haircut doesn't take that long. You

826
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:24,400
Speaker 3: just don't want to have to like pay to go

827
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:25,000
Speaker 3: somewhere else.

828
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:29,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, in parks things, that makes sense, That makes sense. Yeah,

829
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,280
Speaker 2: it It's always weird when you see interactions with cars

830
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:34,239
Speaker 2: where you're like, okay, what why are they going to

831
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:34,759
Speaker 2: a third car?

832
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 3: So what we're describing here as an excellent segue is

833
00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 3: something I've been kind of thinking about as Invisible America

834
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:48,600
Speaker 3: to our earlier episode on train hopping. There are subcultures,

835
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:53,759
Speaker 3: underground cultures associated with truck stops, especially, but a lot

836
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,840
Speaker 3: of gas stations, and if you look at these places,

837
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:00,800
Speaker 3: if you spend more time than you would normally spend.

838
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,960
Speaker 3: You will, like you said, Matt, you'll start to notice

839
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,920
Speaker 3: things that could otherwise slip past your radar. Trucking stations

840
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,279
Speaker 3: in particular, have garnered a reputation as places where you

841
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:16,280
Speaker 3: can buy illegal ray market drugs, you know, your creative

842
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 3: and whatnot. They're also going to be depending on the size,

843
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:24,280
Speaker 3: they can become like small towns or villages of their own.

844
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,920
Speaker 3: You know, a place where you can sleep in your truck.

845
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,560
Speaker 3: There's a restaurant, there's showering facilities, there might be an

846
00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 3: actual hotel or motel. And this means that a lot

847
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:39,240
Speaker 3: of people who are off the grid can move through

848
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 3: these environments and communicate. Local law enforcement and federal law

849
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:49,680
Speaker 3: enforcement often has to investigate trucking routes and trucking stations

850
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,600
Speaker 3: as stop offs on human trafficking operations.

851
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:57,480
Speaker 5: You got the term here that a classic old school

852
00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:01,280
Speaker 5: term for truck stop sex work, which I think is kind.

853
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 4: Of it's a little gross, but as very much was

854
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:03,400
Speaker 4: used a lot.

855
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,000
Speaker 5: This idea of a lot lizards, which I just I've

856
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,239
Speaker 5: always rubbed me the wrong way, but this is this

857
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:11,799
Speaker 5: notion of sort of you know, lower tier let's just

858
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:14,839
Speaker 5: say sex workers that hang out at truck stops, and

859
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 5: there's often associations with you know, methamphetamines and other stimulants

860
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:21,080
Speaker 5: and things like that as well.

861
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:25,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, drug addictions struggles. Victims of trafficking may be forced

862
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,919
Speaker 3: into it by an abuse of pimp. Often, unfortunately, these

863
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:35,080
Speaker 3: sex workers are not treated well by law enforcement nor

864
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:39,480
Speaker 3: by store employees. They're seen as a nuisance, though some

865
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:42,839
Speaker 3: might say a necessary evil, which we don't agree with,

866
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 3: and as a result, it can be very difficult for

867
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:47,959
Speaker 3: these people to get the help and support they need

868
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 3: to leave that life. But trafficking not restricted to illegal

869
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:56,719
Speaker 3: sex workers. Investigators have repeatedly over the years here in

870
00:46:56,800 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 3: the United States found gas station inconvenience store owners conducting

871
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:08,200
Speaker 3: forced labor or purposely hiring and then blackmailing undocumented people.

872
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:13,600
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it gets dirty, real quick, real quick. And

873
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:16,759
Speaker 3: this isn't even touching on the conspiracy theories. Do we

874
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:19,239
Speaker 3: want to pause for a word from our sponsor and

875
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:22,719
Speaker 3: just explore like one or two of those we must, yes, sir,

876
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:30,240
Speaker 3: and we have returned all right. Aside from the crime,

877
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:34,200
Speaker 3: those are all real conspiracies. Gas stations are also a

878
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:39,000
Speaker 3: great place for wha could do conspiracy theories, you know

879
00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:41,320
Speaker 3: what I mean? I love Have you guys ever seen

880
00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:45,880
Speaker 3: like weird flyers at a gas station or weird stickers

881
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 3: at a gas pump?

882
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:51,719
Speaker 2: Yeah? I remember hearing something about specific items being left

883
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:56,000
Speaker 2: on the top of pumps or something as like a signal,

884
00:47:56,760 --> 00:48:00,360
Speaker 2: Like if you pick up the thing, you are sending

885
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:03,879
Speaker 2: the signal to somebody who's watching the gas pump, and

886
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 2: now you're gonna you they think you're the person that

887
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:09,600
Speaker 2: they're meant to do some deal with. I don't know,

888
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 2: It's just ridiculous, are you him? Yeah, it sounds like

889
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:18,120
Speaker 2: conspiracy theory to me because I've never actually seen it

890
00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 2: in action, but you you'll find people writing about.

891
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:22,040
Speaker 4: It on social media sting.

892
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:26,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, I could see that working as a tactic, But

893
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 3: I wonder what it's for. You know what, do we

894
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 3: know what they would leave? Is it something that would

895
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:37,759
Speaker 3: make sense there, like a something that's a nick knack,

896
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,400
Speaker 3: not of high value, like a cigarette lighter or something.

897
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,040
Speaker 2: It was definitely a nick knack pattiwack situation.

898
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 3: I'm just not sure what, okay, because I feel like

899
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,920
Speaker 3: if you left the wallet there, that defeat the purpose.

900
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:53,040
Speaker 2: It's like something that it would appear somebody just accidentally

901
00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:56,799
Speaker 2: left it behind, like a packet gup. It was something

902
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:59,360
Speaker 2: that you wouldn't want to take. Does that make sense?

903
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,239
Speaker 2: You wouldn't look at it and go oh that I

904
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:02,279
Speaker 2: could use that?

905
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:03,040
Speaker 4: Okay?

906
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:07,279
Speaker 3: So like an open halfway used packing up, sure, right,

907
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:12,720
Speaker 3: because I've seen that kind of stuff and thought, who

908
00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:16,080
Speaker 3: has to clean that up? Because I don't know anybody.

909
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,480
Speaker 3: We don't personally know anybody who is enough of a

910
00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:25,160
Speaker 3: skin flint to see a halfway used pack of gum

911
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:29,239
Speaker 3: and go oh, yeah, more triedent for me. Baby, Let

912
00:49:29,239 --> 00:49:31,239
Speaker 3: me add it, Let me add it, Let me add this.

913
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:34,000
Speaker 3: Use packicum all right. So part of the reason these

914
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,560
Speaker 3: things are so prevalent in the world at gas stations,

915
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:42,960
Speaker 3: these conspiracy theories, these subcultures. The conspiracy theories in particular

916
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,279
Speaker 3: occur because gas is an unavoidable expense for so many

917
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:52,839
Speaker 3: people in this country, and gas prices can fluctuate due

918
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:56,560
Speaker 3: to all kinds of things that you cannot predict, right

919
00:49:56,680 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 3: and that you cannot immediately mitigate. Higher gas have huge

920
00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:06,719
Speaker 3: consequences for individuals, industries, businesses, and whenever something like this

921
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:11,920
Speaker 3: goes sideways, people immediately want an explanation. Why is this

922
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:16,640
Speaker 3: six bucks? It was four bucks last month. I blame

923
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 3: the president exactly.

924
00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:18,799
Speaker 4: Yeah.

925
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:21,920
Speaker 5: And it's also a metric that politicians will often point

926
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:25,800
Speaker 5: to whether or not they are responsible for the fluctuations

927
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:26,160
Speaker 5: or not.

928
00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:30,239
Speaker 3: And say I did that right exactly. We saw those

929
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,239
Speaker 3: stickers too, especially here in the South. One of the

930
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:38,720
Speaker 3: most popular gas price conspiracies recently argued that the surging

931
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,480
Speaker 3: gas prices in twenty twenty two were not due to

932
00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:46,239
Speaker 3: Russia's invasion of Ukraine nor to pandemic supply issues. But

933
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:50,040
Speaker 3: this was their pitch. They said, this is a purposeful

934
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:55,120
Speaker 3: scheme by the Biden administration. They want to intentionally rig

935
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:58,799
Speaker 3: gas prices and drive them up so that more American

936
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:06,680
Speaker 3: consumers electric vehicles. Super non complicated, right, no way it

937
00:51:06,719 --> 00:51:09,640
Speaker 3: could go wrong. One of the memes said, six dollars

938
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:12,080
Speaker 3: a gallon for gas is how you get people to

939
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:14,719
Speaker 3: buy electric cars? What do you think?

940
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:19,160
Speaker 4: Maybe I don't know, man, I don't think they want. Yeah,

941
00:51:19,239 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 4: nobody want.

942
00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:21,480
Speaker 5: I mean, people in power don't want you to buy

943
00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:25,600
Speaker 5: electric cars. There's too much, too much in the oil

944
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:27,640
Speaker 5: and gas lobby and not to mention that, like I mean,

945
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:29,759
Speaker 5: it seems like still electric cars feel like a bit

946
00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:32,319
Speaker 5: of an afterthought for most manufacturers.

947
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,239
Speaker 2: Do you remember the time there was a gas shortage

948
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:36,840
Speaker 2: across all of Georgia?

949
00:51:36,960 --> 00:51:39,200
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's totally in the seventies too. They're like

950
00:51:39,239 --> 00:51:40,800
Speaker 5: gas lines, people waiting lines.

951
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:42,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, gas rationing.

952
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:45,200
Speaker 2: And well it was years and years ago, and I

953
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:48,000
Speaker 2: can't remember when. I just I have a specific memory

954
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:51,240
Speaker 2: of going to band rehearsal in it was like forty

955
00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 2: five minutes away and when I was down there, by

956
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:57,360
Speaker 2: the time I got like was heading back and needed

957
00:51:57,400 --> 00:51:59,879
Speaker 2: to fuel up, there was like some gas shortage going

958
00:51:59,920 --> 00:52:03,680
Speaker 2: on and it was it was like five dollars a

959
00:52:03,719 --> 00:52:06,400
Speaker 2: gallon or four four dollars a gallon or something like that,

960
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,239
Speaker 2: which was crazy at the time. And then it was

961
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:11,800
Speaker 2: those gas lines. The first time I ever experienced something

962
00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:18,000
Speaker 2: like that, And I wonder, I wonder if supply really

963
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:20,399
Speaker 2: I don't know, I just wonder if supply really is

964
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:22,719
Speaker 2: the thing. And as that one gas station owner said

965
00:52:22,719 --> 00:52:25,840
Speaker 2: in that, IAmA, like, you just calculate how much it

966
00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:28,360
Speaker 2: costs at the pump, depending on how much a barrel

967
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:30,400
Speaker 2: of oil costs, and that's it.

968
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:33,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, we know that there are a lot of opportunities,

969
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:36,880
Speaker 3: right to put your thumb on the scale here, and

970
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:40,440
Speaker 3: so that's why this kind of conspiracy theory would arise.

971
00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:44,000
Speaker 3: The gas shortages have been real, they've occurred in the past,

972
00:52:44,040 --> 00:52:48,279
Speaker 3: they will occur again. But this theory, in particular, it

973
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:52,680
Speaker 3: kind of ignores that there are already established ways to

974
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:59,680
Speaker 3: push ev or push manufacturers and consumers, tax credits, legislation, incentives,

975
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:04,880
Speaker 3: and if you brought that up at this time, you

976
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:08,960
Speaker 3: would be called foolish. There's no proof that anything like

977
00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:12,160
Speaker 3: this has happened in the US, but thousands of people

978
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:16,279
Speaker 3: spread that story because it explained the chaos and at

979
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:20,360
Speaker 3: the same time it confirmed pre existing distrust. Right. It

980
00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:23,000
Speaker 3: gave us a face and a villain, and people love

981
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:25,760
Speaker 3: a face and a villain. A system is a little

982
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:28,640
Speaker 3: bit more difficult to explain and get mad at.

983
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:33,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh for sure. Did you guys hear the conspiracies

984
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:37,759
Speaker 2: about watering down the gas and or just putting other

985
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:40,520
Speaker 2: stuff besides ethanol into.

986
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:42,320
Speaker 4: The gas, Yeah, for sure.

987
00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:45,200
Speaker 2: I didn't realize those were fueled by actual things that

988
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:50,080
Speaker 2: occur every year, and most of it is from water

989
00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:55,800
Speaker 2: leeching into the actual underground fuel tanks, the storage tanks, interesting,

990
00:53:56,600 --> 00:53:59,440
Speaker 2: and like there was I think it was this year

991
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 2: or last year. It was this year in Georgia there

992
00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:05,280
Speaker 2: was a gas station that was found to have about

993
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:08,959
Speaker 2: twenty percent water in their gas. Yeah.

994
00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:11,160
Speaker 4: Well, and how does that affect your vehicle? I mean

995
00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:13,600
Speaker 4: it's probably just bow for it real bad.

996
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:14,799
Speaker 2: It's no good.

997
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,040
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I just mean, like it will still it'll

998
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:20,440
Speaker 5: still go, but then it'll be causing long term damage potentially.

999
00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:24,520
Speaker 2: Right, Theoretically, it'll go for a little bit while your

1000
00:54:24,719 --> 00:54:27,440
Speaker 2: engine is burning off the actual you know, fuel and

1001
00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 2: stuff at least somewhat, but then it will break down. Okay,

1002
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:33,919
Speaker 2: And that that didn't happen just in one place. There's

1003
00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:38,560
Speaker 2: a specific Marathon gas station in making. I think that

1004
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:43,160
Speaker 2: happened in late March of this year, just twenty percent

1005
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:46,800
Speaker 2: water in the fuel tank in the bottom. Which leads

1006
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:49,160
Speaker 2: me to this other big thing that we have kind

1007
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:51,839
Speaker 2: of talked about before on other episodes. I think when

1008
00:54:51,880 --> 00:54:55,080
Speaker 2: we talked about dark waters and we talked about forever

1009
00:54:55,160 --> 00:54:59,080
Speaker 2: chemicals contaminating water, I think we also brought up a

1010
00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:03,160
Speaker 2: little bit at least this concept of gas stations and

1011
00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:07,160
Speaker 2: the underground fuel tanks leaching gas or just spilling gas.

1012
00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:11,680
Speaker 2: Out into the water table. I didn't realize how big

1013
00:55:11,719 --> 00:55:12,680
Speaker 2: of a thing that is.

1014
00:55:12,719 --> 00:55:16,319
Speaker 5: You guys, you certainly would require lots of maintenance to

1015
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:18,680
Speaker 5: be operating correct. And I imagine over time the way

1016
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:21,839
Speaker 5: like pipes can corrode that that you'd start to see

1017
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:23,680
Speaker 5: little holes and things developing.

1018
00:55:23,719 --> 00:55:24,040
Speaker 4: Perhaps.

1019
00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:26,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's also out of sight, out of mind, exact,

1020
00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:31,760
Speaker 3: so the maintenance can be difficult to execute proactively.

1021
00:55:32,160 --> 00:55:32,759
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1022
00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:35,080
Speaker 2: Well, so what we found is as some of these

1023
00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:38,560
Speaker 2: the gas station expansions are occurring in the nineteen forties,

1024
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:40,880
Speaker 2: because it's been you know, they're like fits and starts

1025
00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:42,520
Speaker 2: right where all of a sudden there's a ton more

1026
00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:44,719
Speaker 2: gas stations and then a ton more and ton more.

1027
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:48,200
Speaker 2: In the forties, I think it's like forties to the

1028
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:52,000
Speaker 2: early fifties, gas stations started putting in these thirty year

1029
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:57,520
Speaker 2: warranty steel underground storage tanks, right and at the thirty

1030
00:55:57,560 --> 00:56:00,879
Speaker 2: year mark, right around nineteen eighty early nineteen eighty, all

1031
00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:04,280
Speaker 2: of these steel tanks that were across the United States

1032
00:56:04,400 --> 00:56:06,960
Speaker 2: started to fail because that's how long you can hold

1033
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:10,000
Speaker 2: hydrocarbons in that steel container before it starts breaking down.

1034
00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:15,839
Speaker 2: And there was just a wave, a massive wave of

1035
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:21,319
Speaker 2: gasoline leaking into small town aquifers and the underground water

1036
00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:24,000
Speaker 2: that all these small towns were using for well water.

1037
00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:27,840
Speaker 2: And there's a great sixty minutes, I guess peace you

1038
00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:31,919
Speaker 2: can watch from it's at the end of nineteen eighty three,

1039
00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:33,919
Speaker 2: early nineteen eighty four.

1040
00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:37,920
Speaker 4: You can look it up all of our berths, right,

1041
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:38,719
Speaker 4: I think.

1042
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:42,200
Speaker 2: So you can find it. It's called Check the Water,

1043
00:56:42,560 --> 00:56:45,640
Speaker 2: I believe, and you can find one that was I

1044
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:49,120
Speaker 2: think it was rebroadcast on August ninth, nineteen eighty four,

1045
00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:52,840
Speaker 2: and it's just really creepy. And in there they interviewed

1046
00:56:52,840 --> 00:56:54,960
Speaker 2: this guy, Warren Rodgers, who were at the time was

1047
00:56:54,960 --> 00:56:57,520
Speaker 2: heading up the American Petroleum Institute or he's a part

1048
00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,560
Speaker 2: of major part of the Petroleum Institute. He was saying

1049
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:04,120
Speaker 2: two to three out of every ten gas stations in

1050
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:08,279
Speaker 2: the United States at that time was likely leaking gasoline

1051
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:12,879
Speaker 2: out of these fuel tanks. The gas company, Mobile and

1052
00:57:13,200 --> 00:57:16,320
Speaker 2: Exon were out there spending hundreds of millions of dollars

1053
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:20,000
Speaker 2: to replace these things in the eighties, which guess what,

1054
00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:22,960
Speaker 2: guess how long they're uh, how long they were supposed

1055
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:23,280
Speaker 2: to last?

1056
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:25,880
Speaker 4: Still around now.

1057
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:29,520
Speaker 2: Well like thee the twenty teens, and then a bunch

1058
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:32,840
Speaker 2: of people started raising the flag again. Well, hey, there's

1059
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:35,680
Speaker 2: gas in all our water again, and it's just one

1060
00:57:35,720 --> 00:57:38,000
Speaker 2: of those things that it causes cancer if it's in

1061
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:40,760
Speaker 2: your water to a certain extent, birth effects, all those things,

1062
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:44,040
Speaker 2: and it makes me just think about this wider conspiracy

1063
00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:51,320
Speaker 2: of holding mass quantities of hydrocarbons in places everywhere, next

1064
00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:54,439
Speaker 2: to homes, next to schools, next to all this stuff.

1065
00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 3: Or holding hydrocarbons hostage as well, right speculating on futures

1066
00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:02,920
Speaker 3: so there would be a gas shortage while a tanker

1067
00:58:03,040 --> 00:58:07,920
Speaker 3: is literally on the coast just holding gas. The craziest

1068
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:12,640
Speaker 3: part about this is because this country is so reliant

1069
00:58:13,040 --> 00:58:18,120
Speaker 3: on fossile fuels, because so many people and businesses need gas,

1070
00:58:18,480 --> 00:58:22,720
Speaker 3: some conspiracy theory will always crop up every time the

1071
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:26,480
Speaker 3: price is ticked too high. The US president, whomever they

1072
00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:30,360
Speaker 3: may be, regardless of political party, that's always going to

1073
00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:33,680
Speaker 3: be one of the world's most powerful people. But even

1074
00:58:33,720 --> 00:58:36,880
Speaker 3: though they have such power and status across the planet,

1075
00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:42,480
Speaker 3: every president post automobile lives in eternal fear of the

1076
00:58:42,560 --> 00:58:45,400
Speaker 3: price at the pump. It is one of the biggest

1077
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:48,280
Speaker 3: motivations for US voters, and it's going to be that

1078
00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:52,800
Speaker 3: way far into the future. There's a lot of like

1079
00:58:52,920 --> 00:59:00,520
Speaker 3: geopolitics that impact your local flying j or stuckies. Yep,

1080
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:05,120
Speaker 3: I'm just mentioning different names now sheets Well yeah, stuckies,

1081
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:06,400
Speaker 3: remember stuckiesy all?

1082
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:12,560
Speaker 2: Well, think about how powerful these gas companies are, like

1083
00:59:12,680 --> 00:59:15,240
Speaker 2: how old they are, how much money and investment they have,

1084
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:19,440
Speaker 2: and how many lawyers they employ incalculable and if anything

1085
00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:22,320
Speaker 2: ever happens, that's a big deal thing with any of

1086
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:26,640
Speaker 2: these companies, just as like in that sixty minutes article,

1087
00:59:26,640 --> 00:59:28,680
Speaker 2: it's a small town in Rhode Island, right that got

1088
00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 2: affected where people couldn't sell their houses now because they

1089
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:34,920
Speaker 2: all had wells and all the wells were fully tainted

1090
00:59:34,960 --> 00:59:38,600
Speaker 2: with gas. They couldn't They were basically trapped, right, They

1091
00:59:38,600 --> 00:59:42,200
Speaker 2: couldn't do anything. So the small town council attempted to

1092
00:59:42,200 --> 00:59:47,760
Speaker 2: fight or wanted to fight back against Mobile. The council

1093
00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:50,800
Speaker 2: decided not to take any action because after they did

1094
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:53,960
Speaker 2: some investigating. This is a quote from the guy who

1095
00:59:54,000 --> 00:59:57,080
Speaker 2: was leading the town council at the time. Quote, an

1096
00:59:57,080 --> 01:00:00,640
Speaker 2: oil company the size of Mobile has resources to successfully

1097
01:00:00,680 --> 01:00:04,040
Speaker 2: counteract anything we might put up. So we just decided

1098
01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:08,480
Speaker 2: not to take action andn' that's crazy And the only

1099
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:10,960
Speaker 2: reason anything happened is because we had something called the

1100
01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:15,480
Speaker 2: EPA that could take action, and now we're dismantling that sucker,

1101
01:00:15,560 --> 01:00:17,080
Speaker 2: so whatever I mean.

1102
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:20,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, we know how disturbing all of this sounds, folks,

1103
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:24,080
Speaker 3: especially if you're hearing this at night and you're about

1104
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:26,920
Speaker 3: to stop by an unfamiliar gas station. So we want

1105
01:00:26,960 --> 01:00:29,320
Speaker 3: to take a moment to note we are not casting

1106
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:34,520
Speaker 3: aspersion on gas station employees or owners or law enforcement.

1107
01:00:34,960 --> 01:00:39,200
Speaker 3: It's just the same things that make gas stations and

1108
01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:45,680
Speaker 3: convenience stores. So you know, convenient also creates opportunities for corruption, crime,

1109
01:00:45,760 --> 01:00:49,280
Speaker 3: and conspiracy. We can't not have gas stations, so they'll

1110
01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:52,000
Speaker 3: always be around, which means a lot of these problems

1111
01:00:52,040 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 3: will continue, and gas station employees, as we've established or underpaid,

1112
01:00:57,760 --> 01:01:00,480
Speaker 3: have to put up with some crazy stuff. This is

1113
01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:01,320
Speaker 3: where we ended.

1114
01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:03,960
Speaker 5: Oh I would add the from everything that I've read,

1115
01:01:04,040 --> 01:01:07,280
Speaker 5: and I understand, BUCkies is a great place to work,

1116
01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:09,520
Speaker 5: and they pay really good wage and they.

1117
01:01:09,400 --> 01:01:12,000
Speaker 4: Have good benefits and opportunities.

1118
01:01:12,040 --> 01:01:14,760
Speaker 5: I'm not shilling for BUCkies, but I have read some

1119
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:17,360
Speaker 5: things that were kind of interesting in terms of the

1120
01:01:17,360 --> 01:01:20,320
Speaker 5: way they treat their employees. So there are alternatives I

1121
01:01:20,360 --> 01:01:21,760
Speaker 5: guess to what you're talking about as well.

1122
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:23,320
Speaker 3: Then same quick trip.

1123
01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:24,360
Speaker 4: Agreed, that's right.

1124
01:01:24,600 --> 01:01:28,000
Speaker 3: So if you have ever worked in these positions, folks,

1125
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:31,560
Speaker 3: you almost certainly have some war stories and we would

1126
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:34,640
Speaker 3: love to hear them. You can give us a telephone call,

1127
01:01:34,720 --> 01:01:38,080
Speaker 3: you can please please please send us an email, or

1128
01:01:38,240 --> 01:01:40,120
Speaker 3: you can reach us on the internets.

1129
01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:40,960
Speaker 4: It's right.

1130
01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:43,120
Speaker 5: You can find us at the handle Conspiracy Stuff, where

1131
01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:46,120
Speaker 5: we exist on Facebook with our Facebook group Here's where

1132
01:01:46,120 --> 01:01:49,920
Speaker 5: it gets crazy, on xfka, Twitter, and on YouTube. We

1133
01:01:49,960 --> 01:01:53,439
Speaker 5: have absolute heaps of videos for YouTube enjoy and soon

1134
01:01:53,480 --> 01:01:56,680
Speaker 5: to be adding to the heap on Instagram and TikTok.

1135
01:01:56,680 --> 01:01:57,919
Speaker 4: However, we're Conspiracies Show.

1136
01:01:58,360 --> 01:02:00,840
Speaker 2: We have a phone number. It is one eight three

1137
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:05,720
Speaker 2: three std WYTK. When you call in, you will be

1138
01:02:05,880 --> 01:02:08,880
Speaker 2: inside a voicemail. You'll have three minutes. Give yourself a

1139
01:02:08,880 --> 01:02:10,960
Speaker 2: cool nickname and let us know within the message if

1140
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:13,439
Speaker 2: we can use your name and message on the air.

1141
01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:18,400
Speaker 2: Quick shout out to Axios Atlanta and an article titled

1142
01:02:18,400 --> 01:02:23,280
Speaker 2: cleaning up Georgia's coam Industry a really great read if

1143
01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:26,120
Speaker 2: you want more context on those types of machines and

1144
01:02:26,160 --> 01:02:28,120
Speaker 2: specifically in Georgia, but it applies to a lot of

1145
01:02:28,160 --> 01:02:31,760
Speaker 2: other states too. If you want to write to us,

1146
01:02:32,520 --> 01:02:34,040
Speaker 2: why not instead send us an email.

1147
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:37,520
Speaker 3: We are the entities that read each piece of correspondence

1148
01:02:37,560 --> 01:02:40,960
Speaker 3: we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void

1149
01:02:41,080 --> 01:02:45,400
Speaker 3: writes back, seriously, I'm not joking. Gas station war stories.

1150
01:02:45,760 --> 01:02:47,760
Speaker 3: We want to hear them right. Whether you are a

1151
01:02:47,800 --> 01:02:51,240
Speaker 3: consumer or an employee, what are the weirdest things you

1152
01:02:51,360 --> 01:02:54,280
Speaker 3: have seen at a gas station? Tell us. All you

1153
01:02:54,280 --> 01:02:56,600
Speaker 3: have to do is walk a little further out into

1154
01:02:56,640 --> 01:03:17,560
Speaker 3: the dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.

1155
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:19,760
Speaker 2: Stuff they don't want you to know. Is a production

1156
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:24,400
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

1157
01:03:24,480 --> 01:03:27,320
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.