Service Stations

They're not gas stations, they're not quick stops and you don't pump your own gas. Nope, they're called service stations. At least they were called service stations.

From the time I can remember riding in a car with my parents or a neighbor until I graduated college in 1968 and even later, I knew about service stations. There were very few local names. The big brands controlled the market; brands like Esso, Standard Oil, Gulf, Texaco, Phillips, Conoco, Sinclair, Sunoco, American Oil and Pure. There was an occasional local brand such as Rose Oil, Billups, and Knight Oil.

Regardless of brand, all service stations provided gas, oil, water, tires, air, batteries, free maps and some minor repairs. Some had cleaner rest rooms than others. Some had better service than others. Yes we could get free maps at the service station and, if lost, we could always get directions at the service station. This was before GPS units and cell phones. I'm sure a lot of people today don't know how to read a map
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Better service was a way to keep a loyal customer. When you drove into a service station a person greeted you at the driver's side window. All you had to do was tell him how much gas you wanted or how much you wanted to spend and he would do the rest. The attendant would pump your gas, clean your windshield, check your oil and other fluid levels, check the air in your tires, take your money and bring you your change.

Some stations employed as many as four attendants so two people could attend to your car at a time. Gas ranged from 25 to 35 cents per gallon. As a college student with a VW Beetle, I could go all week on a dollar's worth of gas. Even for that meager amount, I got the same service as a Cadillac did with a fill up.

If you had a flat tire, you would take it to the service station for repair. The person fixing the flat would take your tire off the rim, pull out the inner tube (we didn't have tubeless tires then) put air in the inner tube and spin it slowly around a vat of water until he could see air bubbles. That would be where the patch would have to go to repair the leak. They would patch the inner tube, let the air out, put the tube and tire back on the rim, air it up and put it back on your car. The charge would probably be $1 or maybe $1.50.

The beauty of inner tubes is you could always have an inflated tire regardless of the number of holes in the tire itself. Although sometimes you had to get a "boot" and an inner tube repair. A "boot" was a heavy duty patch applied to the inside of the tire itself. But I digress.

We paid for our gas in cold hard cash. There were no credit cards back then. Some stations would take a personal check and, on occasion, some would allow you to charge your gas at the station until payday.

The standards for service were different back then than they are now. Today when a station displays full service, it means that somebody might come out and pump your gas for you if you wait long enough.

Today, we drive in, get out, pump the gas, pay with a credit card and drive on. We rarely check the air, oil and water and only clean the windshield once in a while when we have some extra time. Need air or water? Most places don't have it. Need to get a flat fixed? Most places don't do that. Need a map? Go to WalMart or the drug store.

The evolution from service stations to gas stations really can't be termed progress in my book. But, in all fairness, it is faster to omit the service and just pay for the gas. So I guess we busy multi-taskers would rather have it that way.

But then maybe service stations could fit in today as a place where you can text and talk without the aggravation of surrounding drivers honking and glaring and waiving fingers at you. Nah! We just don't have time for civility.