Mitch Mauer, Researcher and Author.
In 1950`s, a service station was more than a place to buy gas. When a customer bought gas, he got his windows cleaned, his tires and fluids checked, and the gas pumped as well. In those days, service was the name of the game. The better service a station provided, the more customers they kept.
Today, Belle Fourche`s population of 4,800 has three full-service stations and five convenience stores with gas pumps. In the late 1950`s, with a nearly identical population, Belle Fourche supported 21 full-service stations. What happened to all those stations? What has changed in the past 50 years so that full-service stations are so rare?
Most of the people I interviewed had several theories about why things had changed. Most agreed that the main factors were gas prices, technological advances in automobiles, the advent of the Interstate Highway system, changes in the attitudes of customers, and oil company management.
In 1952, gas sold for around 20 cents per gallon. Carl Ogaard, former service station owner, said that in those days the profit margin on the gas paid for the station`s utilities and for the wages of one employee. Today, the profit margin is so slim that it barely covers the station`s utility bills. As the price of gas went up, big dealerships took over and crowded out the small station owners.
In the 1950`s, businesses catered more to the customers than they do now. Stations set their hours according to customers demands, and took care of the people`s needs when they came in. When the Interstate Highway came, traveling time between towns decreased and people began by-passing local stations.
Charge accounts were also a big deal with the decline. Big trucking companies would have their trucks serviced at serviced stations. A lot of them refused to pay their bills, that was a big loss on the dealer`s part.
All 21 service stations changed oil, changed tires, changed mufflers, and installed new starters. They basically did everything. Cars became so sophisticated that regular mechanics couldn`t work on them anymore. The newer cars have computers in them. It takes a special computer to work on them. The newer cars also have air conditioning. It takes a special technician to service cars with air conditioning. A lot of the stations couldn`t afford the technology to get the job done. That is when a lot of the repair business started to go back towards the automobile dealerships. The national dealerships sponsored training for their mechanics, but they did not offer this training to independent mechanics.
The reasons given in the story above seem to support the decrease
in the number of service stations in Belle Fourche. It appeared to me to be a combination of causes, that affected the operation of many independently owned service stations in Belle Fourche.