this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Why is this petrol station so big? I could park 2 tanks between the petrol pumps.

Why would you eat pizza for breakfast?

Why would you drink so much cola (this looks like 1l-1.5l to me)?

How is this so cheap? They charge 4€ at my local petrol station for 0.5l of pepsi alone.

What kind of pizza is this?

Is midwest some kind of common marketing?

[–] tenacious_mucus 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Okay, i’ll bite and try to answer these. Without knowing any details of which chain and where exactly this station is located (in a city/town or right off a motorway/interstate?)

A lot of “truck stop” type stations are this big to accommodate large vehicles and potential larger trailers they might be towing. Like a 3/4ton pickup with a huge 5th wheel trailer. Or even Class A/C motorhomes and RVs. These pumps likely have diesel and petrol so even large box trucks will pull in the fuel up. There are usually different areas for full tractor-trailer (lorries) but those pumps are for those trucks only. Further, the gap is three vehicles wide so a vehicle can be on a pump on either side and someone arriving or leaving can fit between them- especially if there is a case of 3 pumps in a row.

Pizza for breakfast? Judging by the picture and the title, this looks like actual Breakfast Pizza. Eggs, sausage, etc are the toppings. Had this a lot growing up just at home. And pizza style is common “grab and go” type food from gas stations since it’s easy to eat, even while driving.

Now, a cola with/for breakfast…naah. I’m with you there. That’s a bit off. But otherwise, the size is normal for a truck stop. Fountain drinks are a lot cheaper than canned or bottled of the same drink. For example 24oz bottle for $2-3 or a 48-64oz fountain for the same price or less. People are traveling when they come through here, or stopping by to grab stuff on their way to work for the whole day. So the idea is the drink is to have on hand for hours if not most of the day. The styrofoam cups are junk but a lot of people transfer to a more practical container, or some stations chains would sell their own fancy insulated cups and allow discounted refills in their cup.

How is this so cheap? Gas station food, man! Doesn’t mean it’s any good! I just covered the soda portion for pricing and a slice of pizza (breakfast or normal pepperoni) is usually only like $2. So the pricing advertised here makes sense.

Midwest is a kind of marketing thing with many layers or points. The midwest region of the States is the massive, wide-open middle section where there’s usually cattle ranching, farming and a lot of nothing. So this can be spun in a lot of ways- farmers/ranchers allegedly eat big (unhealthy) food and drinks, the midwest is big, things are cheap because nothing and no one is out there, etc. Also this gas station is likely located in the midwest and targeted towards people that are traveling through, so it’s got that “tourist” hook to it.

I think that about covers it?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The gas station is Casey's, I'd recognize their breakfast pizza anywhere. It's the best I've ever had.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How... many... different... breakfast pizzas did you have so far?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

IDK about a dozen ish

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, makes sense.

However, where I live everything at gas stations is really expensive (like 3 times the super market price), because they don't make a lot of profit with gasoline. Most of their profits likely come from car services and selling stuff 24/7. I don't know how it's in the states, but most shops here open at 7-8am and close at 7-8pm and are closed on sundays, so if you need something late at night or on sun-/holidays you drive to the gas station.

Tbh, the only things I ever buy there when every shop is closed are alcohol and tabacco (and some times paper and filters for weed)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

However, where I live everything at gas stations is really expensive (like 3 times the super market price)

There's been some brilliant competition in the US by some gas station chains to raise the bar for quality and lower prices inside the convenience stores, to the point where some regional chains have become part of the regional identity as they're actually worth stopping into

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Buc-ees (a Texas gas station chain) has been expanding beyond Texas recently. I've driven all over the US and have never seen anything quite like them anywhere else. The gas is cheap, they have their worker salaries posted (and are way above what other similar places pay), they're incredibly clean, their bathrooms are huge and immaculate, they have restaurant quality food, halfway decent barbecue, a whole home goods/apparel section, a huge variety of snacks, and a load of merchandise (from rocking chairs to roto molded coolers to huge grills and smokers).

It is part of the state identity. With the expansion I bet it will become part of the southeastern regional identity. And if you're near one it's worth stopping at.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, people seem to think Wawa is the best thing ever. One opened near here and people were acting like it was the second coming.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are a few bits wrong here. First off, the Midwest is not simply a massive wide open cattle ranching area with little else around. That’s really the Great Plains area, which is partially in the Midwest but also partially in the West and Southwest. The Midwest is not mostly made up of ranchers or farmers. There are definitely some in various parts, but other parts have none at all.

Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are all part of the Midwest, and your summary doesn’t really describe them well at all. I think you may be doing what I see a lot of coastal Americans do which is to confuse the Midwest with the West or the Southwest because the names are much less intuitive than they seem. These terms rose to prominence in the 19th century before “manifest destiny” colonized the entire continent, so they’re all incredibly East coast-centric. The Midwest is in the mideast, the South is in the southeast, the Southwest is in the south, and the West is the whole western half of the country.

And while cola for breakfast might seem a bit off even to most Americans, it’s not at all uncommon in the Midwest, but what’s weird is that it’s Pepsi in this ad because almost all prefer coke in the Midwest. When I moved out of the Midwest, it took me a while to break the disgusting coke for breakfast habit, but it definitely rings true to me to be characteristic of a Midwest breakfast.

Also, this looks like a regular sized gas station anywhere in the central US. It’s definitely not an area for truckers to fill up their big rigs because there is clearly unleaded at those pumps.

And to back it all up, here is the location map for Casey’s (that made this ad) where it’s clear that they are mostly in the Midwest states I mentioned as well as the Great Plains Midwest states of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas.

[–] JohnDClay 1 points 1 year ago

Midwest is much more corn and bean farming, not cattle ranching. That's more west rather than Midwest. There's some dairy farms, but those are more north usually.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In America, sometimes you have to park two tanks.

Pizza slices are easy to shove into your face while you drive for an hour to your job.

Driving is boring and sipping on a huge soft drink gets some people through it.

It is cheap because over the years the government had bailed out farmers/producers making corn, cheese, wheat, etc very cheap.

It is a breakfast pizza, I'm guessing a crap load of 'cheese' with some specks of something that could have once been called Ham. Maybe some egg product mixed in.

Generally, things are cheaper in the Midwest, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ad came from the deep south.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I’m guessing a crap load of ‘cheese’ with some specks of something that could have once been called Ham. Maybe some egg product mixed in.

You're guessing wrong.

It's usually loaded with bacon, sausage, veggies or some combination of those. And not "egg product," just scrambled eggs. It's breakfast on a flatbread. I'm not sure why that's so hard to comprehend for so many people.

[–] vaultdweller013 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ill answer all of your questions by order.

Its so big for trucks trailers, and even RVs and Semis(Lories?) this is probably a gas station by a freeway. A lot of local stations are smaller, atleast where I am.

Because its cheap as shit.

You'll usually get one and drink it over the day, especially if my freeway gas station hypothesis is correct, there are a long stretches of american highway with fuck all.

Their probably banking on you grabbing one or two more items to help even out the loss and turn it into a profit. Also government subsidies may be a factor.

I cant Identify what type of pizza that is, maybe cheese if not IDFK.

This station is probably is in the midwest and their taking the piss a bit. Ive personally come across "middle of nowhere lunch" advertisements while driving through eastern Nevada so I assume this is a similar situation.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Man those long stretches of nothing sound amazing. Where I live towns bleed into one another pretty much. You gotta really move a lot to find somewhere relatively untouched.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Loads of north America is just fuckin empty. Canada's population density is around 4 people per km², and 99% of us are crammed up against the 49th parallel(the border) as most of the rest of the country is a frozen wasteland.
When I was living in London, my wife and I decided to rent a car and drive up to Edinburgh for our yearly visit to her friends. Told my coworkers that we were driving and they couldn't believe it.
"ISN'T THAT LIKE A 7 HOUR DRIVE?!"
Motherfucker, back home you do a 7hr drive to go camping on a regular weekend....

[–] vaultdweller013 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It can be pretty neat during the day, but man does it fuck with your senses at night. If youre lucky youll have the full moon and/or the milky way. Also it can be anxiety inducing if you didnt realize how big itd be and youre gas starts getting uncomfortably low.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Driving through Wyoming on a mostly moonless night along an empty highway was one of the best driving experiences I've ever had.

[–] Apollo 1 points 1 year ago

Empty doesn't necessarily mean untouched. Replace towns bleeding into each other with industrial farms.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why is this petrol station so big? I could park 2 tanks between the petrol pumps.

People drive large vehicles here, and are often bad at it. It's necessary.

Why would you eat pizza for breakfast?

It doesn't require utensils, can be eaten while driving to work; It somewhere between 2 and 4 different food groups. Lots of advantages.

Why would you drink so much cola (this looks like 1l-1.5l to me)?

That's kinda weird, gotta admit. I much prefer coffee in the morning. It is probably the 32oz, which is a little under a liter.

How is this so cheap? They charge 4€ at my local petrol station for 0.5l of pepsi alone.

Things are cheaper in the US in general. In the Midwest especially so.

What kind of pizza is this?

There's 3 variants of the Casey's Breakfast Pizza. See here for more info.

Is midwest some kind of common marketing?

In the US, anything can be marketing. Midwest is common enough that it doesn't really stand out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you lost the link you were intending to link

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If I go in to edit, it's there, but it doesn't show up. Weird.

https://www.caseys.com/menu/pizza/c/breakfast-pizza

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Why is this petrol station so big? I could park 2 tanks between the petrol pumps.

Caseys has gas stations in extremely small towns so something they have to space the pumps for is farmers coming to fill up their tractors. It is also common practice 'round here to put 3 car widths of space between pumps to allow vehicles to drive between those that are filling. Obviously in larger cities where land is a premium they'll have fewer pumps closer together

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why would you eat pizza for breakfast

???

Please tell me this isn't an Americans-only thing. I don't understand how it could be. Do you mean to tell me when you have leftover pizza in your fridge you don't sneak a piece in the morning? What do you do? Save it for later? I don't believe you. You've never, out of curiosity, just taken a bite straight out of the fridge? At which point you'd have discovered that it is positively sublime?

Cold pizza for breakfast is one of my favorite parts about eating pizza for dinner. If this is somehow not a thing outside America, it needs to be. For once this isn't something fatter or grosser, it's just eating it at a different time of day and at a different temperature and it's life changing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I personaly don't do it, but it's probably not that unusual

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's what the people want. Mega slices of pizza and giant medium sized sodas for breakfast for 4 bucks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There’s no way that medium is 1-1.5L.

I’d say 32oz. 48oz at most.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

32oz is about 1l and 48oz should be like 1.4l, not that far off I think

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That was hilarious. "No way it's 1-1.5L!" -> proceeds to list extremely similar amounts in freedom units.