My town of about 50k is now down to four gas stations, only one of them has parking other than at the pump. The three stations that don’t have other parking, but a reasonable price for gas are now two or three cars deep at the pumps, but less than 1/4th of the pumps are actually pumping gas. The rest are in buying lottery tickets.
The fourth station which always has open pumps charges a lot more for gas.
In what state do you reside? Even in my part of Central NJ–where Tesla Model 3s now seem to be the dominant new vehicles–very few gas stations have closed.
When I go to the local Costco gas station–every 5-6 weeks in order to gas-up my plug-in hybrid–there are still a decent number of vehicles, and there might be as many as 3 vehicles in front of me while I am waiting for the pump.
At least your gas stations don’t sell breakfast, lunch and dinner along with coffee. The “pump parkers” spend much more time shopping for food and drinks than a simple lotto scratcher.
I have to wait for lotto players making transactions occasionally here in San Jose, but not many of them, so it isn’t much of a problem, although it can be annoying. Gas prices seem to have gone up a little. I paid $5 per gallon on my last gasoline purchase, 87 octane regular.
Tennessee. In the last year, we had a major grocery chain pull out taking its gas station. The owner of another convenience store that had off pump parking was shot and killed during a robbery and it never reopened. A Tornado came through last spring and took a gas station with it, along with the towns elementary and middle schools. A couple others had just closed a few years earlier.
I’d rather be behind someone getting a few item at the 7-11 type store at the gas station then the people buying the lotto scratchers, these idiots will take several minutes to decide what they want and then scratch the flipping things off and buy even more if they win something and scratch those off also, all while you are just trying to buy a gallon of milk or bread… There can be 2 lines and 6 people will go through the non lotto line, while the one lotto buyer makes a decision, then if someone goes on break they drop down to just the lotto line, which seems to be when busy… grrr… And yeah, most of the time they are blocking a pump while playing the lotto…
But at least we have 5 large gas stations close by with parking except for the Kroger one that is very busy with NO parking and the pump blocking, but we are also right off I65, so all 5 are very busy all the time…
BTW, A freaking Tesla was blocking a gas pump the other day at Kroger… WTF?? No charging stations anywhere close, like a few miles away and I think it is for employees of whatever company is there… On the plus side the Model S looked pretty good… lol
I bet the EV driver would have been out of his/her mind if an ICE was blocking the charging station!!!.. just saying…
And yes, I am in Tn also, just probably about 200 miles east of Keith… lol
Lottery Tickets - Tax for the Mathematically Challenged.
Agree to a point as granny used to say you can’t catch a fish without getting a line wet but I will go one step farther it’s like people who drink beer as long as they don’t go to exess and don’t or will not take care of there other obiglations then itis like you say I spend an average of 50$ a year on the lottery but I make sure everything else is covered first.
The gas station on the corner next to where I work has been closed for over a year after a fire in the ceiling of the connivence store, more bad luck for the owners because 2yrs before that they had someone accidently start a fire while attempting to fill a container that wasn’t designed to hold gasoline and burned not only the RV to the chassis but destroying the pump and canopy above.
The Lotto put in new vending machines that take cash or credit/debit cards, has all the scratch tickets and sells Powerball and Mega Millions, you can tell when the jackpot’s getting big because there’s a rush just before they stop selling tickets.
We get the lines here in Ga. when the jackpots start getting big because Alabama next door does’nt have a lottery.
Neighboring states are also part of the Power Ball and Mega Millions drawing, might get a few Canadians trying to win but they have their own jackpot.
You’re basically buying it for entertainment. A lot of people do. I don’t. The odds of winning Powerball when calculated out to 6 decimal places are the same if you buy a ticket or not.
When I was working in an office (now working at home), some people at work would pool their money to buy a bunch of lottery tickets when it got big. I would join in, because if they did win, I didn’t want to be the only one left doing the work.
Same here. We used to buy ~20 tickets per week, and in order to keep it honest and above-board, each of us would get a sheet of paper showing photocopies of the tickets. ~90% of the time, we won nothing, and on a few occasions we won $10–which we used to buy more tickets for the following week. There were never any winnings that could be considered to be significant.
The ONLY lottery that you could win at was one in MA (and other states). Watch the movie “Jerry and Marge go Large”. Based on a real-life couple who won MILLIONS off a loophole in the MI and MA lottery called Winfall. It’s a very funny movie. Not 100% accurate, but very good.
That is a very amusing story!
Only two groups figured it out… Likely people that can do the math don’t play the lottery and people that do play can’t do the math.
You heard about the guy that asked is lovely wife what she would do if he ever won the lottery?? She said she would take half and leave him, he handed her $6.00 and said OK… 
I’ve known people that break even or come out a head for a few dollars, sometimes a few hundred, but never enough to live on over a day or 2…
I can proudly say I have never played the Lotto, so I have NO idea how to even pick a ticket and don’t care to learn either… lol
That reminds me of a guy I knew in Floriida who we sort of shamed into buying a scratch of ticket shortly after the lottery came out [ to get the lottery passed Flordia said the money was going to be used for education but we all know how that tured out ] anyway he bought a 1$ scratchof ticket and won 5$ he said he was going to double his money he folded the five dollar bill in half and put it in his pocket and as far as anybody knowes he never played the lottery again.
No gas lines here in Eastern NC, and gas is 3.29-3.39. We can buy lottery tickets online, and that is what I do, but only when the payout is very high. Just entertainment, and the wife and I postulate what we would spend it on if we won.
I think the games that roll money over when no one wins can sometimes have an expected value higher than the cost.
When I would go to the service counter at the grocery store for stamps o4 other necessities behind the counter, there would sometimes be a delay for lottery buyers. Mostly though it would be the folks that were sending money back to their home countries. There really needs to be a faster way to transfer money than western union. No joke.
I don’t remember the last lottery ticket I bought but it was years ago when the pot was at multiple millions. I lost, but it would not be sour grapes to say that I was glad I lost. So many winners have had their lives turned upside down with the millions won. Not a good way to spend your reclining years dealing with lawyers, tax people, cpa s, charities, and charlatans. I’m happy where I’m at. That country song “thank god for unanswered prayers” comes to mind. I’d much rather go to a casino for a fresh supply of hundred dollar bills, and free coffee. End of daily editorial comment.
