That Petrol Emotion: Petrol stations and loyalty

Low down the list of tourist must-do's would be a trip to a petrol station. It would be an essential in order to find a way of moving an overpriced hire car from A to B, but as to being a cultural must-do, then hardly. Nevertheless, the petrol station is something, or has become something, of an economic and social metaphor for Mallorca.

Petrol stations are under threat of closure, the consequence of decreased traffic, in particular the heavy vehicles for construction. While car rentals are, in August at any rate, topping out at 100% supply, consumption has generally declined by up to 10% over the last year. To add to the lower revenues from petrol and diesel, the petrol stations have also had to contend with the vagaries of untypical summer weather. More rain around has meant cars being washed naturally and has led to up to 20% loss of business going through the car washes.

Earlier in the season, petrol station owners, in some areas, were complaining about a fall in tourist demand and having to rely on local business. This demand has increased, now that high season is here, but the regular, repeat custom is the bread and butter, one that must sustain the petrol stations during the off-season.

However, there has been a change in the style of many petrol stations, one that threatens the repeat, local business. Petrol stations, some at any rate, were part of social life. One, my own, was a place where, like the supermarkets can still be, you would wait while the customer before you or some old boy who just happened to walk in for no obvious reason, exchanged views as to the state of the local goat market. Not that you could buy a goat, though one suspects one might have, at some in the past, been able to do just that, along with a litre of diesel.

What you got was, yes, frustration at having to spend several minutes listening to something largely indecipherable, but also service that was akin to that during the grand days of motoring in England. Like the barber might ask if anything for the weekend was required, so the pump attendant might ask if anything for the engine was needed, and then provide it.

Well actually, it was never really like that in Mallorca. But the petrol station was friendly. I used to be given a bottle of cava at Christmas. It's not like that now. Change of ownership, a revolving door of staff, the fall in revenue and the prevention of any unnecessary additional loss through "shrinkage" - the use of pre-payment. Along with all this has gone a knowledge as to who the customer is, one who gives regular, repeat business. I don't want to be spoken to in English. I don't want to have to show ID if I use a card. I don't want to pre-pay, even if I understand why. But it feels like an affront, as is the ID. They knew me before. It was never asked for.

Maybe it's a case of being more business-like. Perhaps. But the regular business the petrol stations crave should be a mutual arrangement. My loyalty to my particular petrol station is being undermined by a more distant customer encounter. No attempt, it would seem, has been made to try and understand who the "regulars" are.

There are aspects of business in Mallorca that do service very well and that haven't looked to distance themselves. Banks, despite the growth of remote, internet banking, are a prime example. It is this closeness that, while maybe old-fashioned, counts for much. The petrol stations are counting on their regular business, but they are doing their best to lose it and in the process shift away, ever more, from a natural, albeit quirky service that was once the case.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Running On Empty

Tried buying petrol or diesel lately? There's no shortage, nothing like that, but what there is, is falling demand for fuel - to the tune of nearly 12% for petrol across the islands. A combination of factors has, according to a report on 5 May in "The Diario", led to this fall - the cuts in construction and associated businesses, the cuts to car-rental fleets and simply a cutting back. It is reckoned that around 10% of petrol stations are at risk of closure. In Puerto Alcúdia, the Campsa station by the Platja d'Or is closed certainly for fuel sales, and has been closed for some while. It seems slightly surprising. One business one might think would be largely immune to economic difficulties is petrol, and given the scale of vehicle ownership in Mallorca, it is doubly surprising. But the sheer volume a station has to turn over annually to be commercially is enormous - 3 million litres. In Alcúdia and Playa de Muro, there are five stations, and I'm told that the Campsa one was always a bit more expensive. Don't know if that was so or not. Personally, I never take much notice; give us twenty euros worth, and that's it.


The annual threat from the sea, your friendly jellyfish, always gets an airing around this time. Will there be a plague, won't there be, what are they doing to prevent one, etc. etc. Well, we can add something else to the threat, something rather more ominous - the "carabela portuguesa". A carabela was the style of ship fancied by the likes of Columbus; the shape of its sails were not dissimilar, apparently, to the thing in the water, the devil of component parts - run for your lives, or swim for your lives, the Portuguese Man o' War. Oh no, it's coming, it's coming.

The Ibizan version of the Diario has reported on the appearance of the Man o' War heading into the Mediterranean; normally, it stays out in the Atlantic. But no, the rotten thing has decided to float into calmer waters. Damn its tentacles. Hopefully, it stays well put out in deeper waters. Don't want that bloody thing hanging around when going for a paddle. Inicidentally, it isn't strictly speaking a jellyfish, which I suppose is some comfort; it all has to do with it not being one thing but four. Damn weird if you ask me - four bits of malevolence flopping around and looking out for some likely limb and skin to have a go at.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Laid So Low", Tears For Fears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F32vL71LTw). Today's title - ageing American rocker/folkist.

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