Hess Express

free air for bikes!

Both my uncle and my father had over 200 gasoline service stations, combined, so I know the gas business, but even moreso from the inside, customer service level. In fact, I’ve even MET John Hess, son of Hess founder, Leon Hess. For my own education, I even worked in a Hess for a year to see how things were done «The Hess Way» and, our models differed widely.
Hess, for those who don’t know, has a mission statement that isn’t about fluffy customer service, or any such thing. They’re mission is to become «the largest gasoline retailer in North America.» and they’re certainly on their way because they are, or at least had been, aggressively buying up as many multi-​location companies as possible with «offers you can’t refuse» type offers.
The reason they can afford to do this is because, a number of years ago, Hess bought a New Jersey gasoline refining company, named Amerada. By not having to pay mark-​up to refineries, Hess can do two things:
1. Have extra money to make those aggressive buy-​out offers; and,
2. Keep prices at the pump lower than competitors.
They also staff their stores with the cheapest labor they can they get and that can sometimes present a problem.
ONTO THIS HESS…
But that doesn’t seem to be too big a problem with this Cabot St Hess because it’s surrounded by 2 – 3 local colleges and is staffed mostly by a mix of college kids and locals. Assume what you want about why that might make a difference from a more urban location.
This Hess is typical of most Hess in the following ways:
1. Gas prices are always competitive, if not the least expensive for the area;
2. Every week there are a half dozen specials on individual drinks and regular deals on packs of soda and water;
3. This Hess has a Blimpie’s sub shop inside that makes breakfast sandwiches, cookies, hot dogs and subs, fresh, every day;
4. Bathrooms are pretty clean. It can be hit or miss but, for the most part, they are;
5. There’s an ATM inside; and
6. They carry all the phone cards, and pay-​as-​you go, like you’d find in any straight convenience store.
NOTE: THIS HESS IS NOT A 24-​HR HESS. They close around 10:30−11p and I’m not sure what time they re-​open.
The things that are NOT typical about this Hess:
1. Getting in and out of the lot can be a challenge. I’m uploading a picture. It doesn’t show the driveways, but they’re not very far from the street-​side of the pumps and cars have to jockey for position and, sometimes, back up and go another way just to even get to the front of the store for non-​gas purchases.
I’ll gas up at this Hess if I’m going by and think about it but there’s nothing special about this place that would make me make an automatic beeline here every time my tank hit ‘E’ or my stomach grumbled.