And here I go thinking air was free
Last Friday, as I left the house for work, I stopped to get gas a nearby station. While filling the tank, I took a walk around the car and did a quick inspection. It sounds a little nerdy I’m sure, but I got into the habit of doing this a few years ago, especially once there was a child in the car.
Usually I just give everything a quick glance and don’t really worry about it, but this particular morning, I noticed that my right rear tire was low. I had to do a double take, because it was just barely low enough to make it stand out. So I went into my glove compartment and grabbed the tire gauge to measure the air. Before I did that, I pressed against the tire with my hand and that said it all. The tire was pressing inward with minimal force.
All right.
Easy enough, right? Just fill the tires with air…but I had three things standing in my way.
Apparently, air costs money
I looked over to the air machine, thinking that I could just mosey the car over and fill the tire to the right pressure. That’s when I had to dip into my cupholders and console for some change, because this station’s air machine costed 75 cents. A whole 75 cents for two minutes of compressed air action. Right away, this had me fuming. I can still remember when air used to be free, but that wouldn’t do me any good now.
No change
Neither would the fact that I didn’t have any cash on me. In fact, I rarely have cash on me these days. Such is the life of a check card carrier. It’s just so much easier to handle. That and the fact that I’m less likely to spend real, green money it I don’t have any on me. It’s a nice little snag that I’ve managed to work around—not having cash. But I’ve got this blasted card, if I could only go to a store and get some cash, or maybe an ATM…
No PIN
But oh yeah, you need the PIN to get money. When I got my new card, I never read the pre-assigned PIN that the bank sent with it. I just filed it away, and it had since gone missing. Okay, I admit it. That’s all me. My bad.
But now my problem was three-fold. I had to get the PIN to my card, so I could get some cash, so I could get some air, so I could get to work.
Luckily, the nearest bank branch was just down the street. Oddly enough, I hadn’t given the slightest concern to my driving before I had seen the low tire, but now I was driving as gentle as a feather. I went in, got a new PIN and grabbed twenty bucks from the ATM.
I drove to the nearest station (not the same one) and pulled up the the air machine. Sure enough, 75 cents. I walked in to get some loose change from the cashier and here’s what he says…
“It’s okay. I’ll turn it on, just push the button.”
Wha..?
After all this, the guy just flips a switch. I walk back to the air machine and push what looks like a little red light above the coin slot. At first, I thought it might have been an “out of order” light or something. But I touched it, then pushed the big black AIR button and presto! Free air for the masses…for two minutes.
You see, at this station, the air and water is free for all customers. But who qualifies as a customer? Apparently, anyone that takes the time to go inside the store.
And that made me think, is that what it’s all about—getting you in the store? I mean, it just doesn’t make sense to charge money for air, right? There must be something behind that. So maybe air is free after all, except when there’s the possibility of making money from it. Thanks, jerks.
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