Monthly Poll: Would you go out of your way for full serve?
March 05, 2015
A co-worker was telling me a story the other day about driving with her aunt. Her aunt's fuel tank was low and my co-worker tried to be helpful by calling out whenever a gas station came into view. Her aunt resolutely ignored her and drove several blocks out of their way before she finally settled on where to buy her gas.
My co-worker couldn't figure out why her aunt would drive so far, until she realized that they had arrived at a full serve station. It turns out that her aunt had just never learned how to pump her own gas.
Full serve stations aren't as common as they once were but we do still have them. In fact, Petro-Canada has over 200 full service gas stations across the country. How you do find them? Visit the Station Locator, click on "Advanced Search" and select "Full Serve" to find one near you.
I certainly enjoy a full service gas station. As I mentioned in an earlier post, road tripping through Oregon was extra fun because I was in charge of refuelling the car and full service gas stations are the law there. It's important to know how to pump your own gas, of course. But there are plenty of reasons to seek out full serve, ranging from the very necessary to the merely convenient:
- You're elderly or disabled
- You're injured or ill
- It's cold
- It's raining
- You forgot to change out of your pyjama pants
Over to you - do you go out of your way for full serve? Take our poll below!
- Rose R.
Unlike Esso, Petro-Canada stations are few and far between. I'm a loyal Petro-Canada customer and I'm looking forward to the day Petro-Canada stations can be located based on a route not a location. Currently I have to guess based on a 50 km radius of many locations along a route. Is there a way to get a list of customer retail site to load to GPS? They used to posted on POIFriend. When POIFiend disappeared why wasn't info posted on petro-canada.ca?
Posted by: David Robertson | March 06, 2015 at 08:57 AM
One more consideration- flu season! Full service is best in flu season as you won't be picking up pneumonia at the pump.
Posted by: Alexandra LeMay | March 06, 2015 at 03:33 PM
When I built the first orange image Gulf Station in Toronto at Keele and Wilson, after opening, 4 senior ladies were huddled around one of the dispensers. When I approached them to help, they quickly told me that they were quite OK and one of them was in the midst of teaching the others how to operate self serve. She had been in earlier and was so impressed at the concept that she went back home to get her friends, bring them back to the station and demo how to do it. She was delighted at the convenience and proud to be an early adopter.
Posted by: Robert Barr | March 07, 2015 at 12:13 PM
I have hand disabilities and find it rather difficult to squeeze the novel trigger! Is there a way that the novel triggers on ALL triggers at ALL gas stations be changed so that all who get gas can do self serve without having to ask someone to pump their gas for them???
Posted by: John Mc | March 30, 2015 at 11:48 PM
I have always been able to pump my own gas, but was so happy when I moved north to find a Petro Station near me that provided "Full" service. I have bad arthrtitis in my back and knees and standing, especially in the winter is hard for me. That station closed and opened in a different location, but it became a "self-serve" station. I am a loyal Petro consumer and always buy Petro gas. I just wish there were more "full" service stations.
Posted by: Sylvia Mason | April 05, 2015 at 01:21 PM
need more service stations in NS,
Posted by: lorna | April 19, 2015 at 10:38 PM