Jul 2, 2008 12:08 am US/Eastern
Decades-Old Gas Station Hangs Up The Nozzle
MENDON (WBZ) ―
Dave Gaskell turned away customers after pumping his last tank Tuesday morning. He put up signs after he and his son, Dave, who ran the station, cancelled their regular delivery of gas last week because they didn't know how they would pay for it.
"I said to Dave, 'that's it.' We just closed up."
The Gaskells say their profit margin was squeezed between the rising price of gas, diesel, credit card fees and expenses.
Dave, who was a heavy machine-gunner with the marines in Korea, remembers 20-cents-a-gallon gas from the price wars of the 1960s.
Dave showed WBZ's Ron Sanders the business appreciation award he received in 1958 from Gulf Oil.
Now he's a casualty of high oil prices along with 100 to 150 independent dealers. The New England Service Station and Auto Repair Association expects to go out of business this year.
After 50 years as an independent dealer, Dave would tell you that suits him just fine. He's independent.
He'll be a lot more independent now; and, unfortunately, many more independent service station dealers will go out of business in the coming days.
The record high gas prices are changing the way Americans think about energy and the environment. A new poll shows more people now say expanding oil drilling and building new power plants is a bigger priority than energy conservation.
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