Customer loyalty

There’s this gas station near work that I always go to.  I got to like the guy that worked there.  We named the gas station after him.  Even though this gas station looks dumpier than the recently renovated Circle K across the street, I still wanted to give my business to this guy.

Recently, I started noticing that he was having random sales on milk, bread, and eggs.  And then the other day I found out that gas station was staying open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and that shoppers during those wee hours would get free things.  The only people that are usually awake around that time are drunks (college and bums).  I thought that was a bit odd that they were staying open that late.  This past weekend, Ben went in to buy an energy drink and he came out with two.  He told me that the guy in the store said it was a $3 minimum for debit purchases.  I told him that he was just getting shafted cause he didn’t have the “in” with guy there, like I did.

So this week, I wanted to test out my theory.  I went in and bought a protein bar, usually runs about $2.  I hand “Buddy” my debit card and he tells me I need to spend $3.  This gas station has lost my loyalty.  The lady at Circle K has always been nice to me, it isn’t as shady, and I can buy however little in merchandise I want and use my debit card.  My business goes to Circle K now, sorry “Buddy”.

[Currently listening to Fabolous - Into You]

The Morning Eye-Opener

Like many people, I like to start my day off with a nice hot cup of coffee.  I have a $250 coffee/espresso maker at home, but I only seem to use it on the weekends–most likely because I am lazy during the week.

I used to stop by Starbucks everyday for a grande black coffee (dark roast).  That daily routine was starting to hurt the wallet.  When I was in school, my friend Luis and I would go to the Circle K right near campus and get coffee for cheap.  I think it was about $1.25 for a 20 oz coffee.  Circle K has a variety of roasts and creamers.  I then discovered an even better deal.  A refill was only $0.85!  I try as much as possible to bring my mug to get that $0.85 deal.

Currently, Circle K is my favorite place to go for coffee–there is no Dunkin Donuts in Tallahassee.  Circle K used to brew Kona coffee, which is one of my favorites.  All of a sudden they stopped.  I have to settle for a Tres Rios, which is the next best thing there for me.  Today, I got my morning brew and found out that they took away the hazelnut creamer.   It was replaced with creama leche or something like that or maybe another caramel.  I normally do not take cream with my coffee unless I buy coffee somewhere–it is weird and hard to explain.  Regular cream is okay, and I can only have French vanilla coffee iced.

So now, I am kind of bummed at Circle K.  They are slowly taking away what got me hooked on them.