Comments on: Too Many Gas Stations

By: Sanjay

Sanjay — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:53:18 +0000

I’m sure you could build an app for the Dash Express to show all of the tweets from a specific hashtag if you wanted. The gas station feature on the Dash was actually somewhat helpful in finding gas cause if prices weren’t from “today” during the peak of the shortage, that likely meant the station didn’t have gas. Wasn’t always true but it was a good rule to follow for me.

By: Grayson

Grayson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:27:11 +0000

Let’s talk underserved in the ATL for a sec… I don’t have a GPS in my car (just on my yachts), but if I did, could it read the Twitter hashtag #atltraffic outloud to me? Is there already such a feature on your GPS, in other words?

By: Clark

Clark — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:05:15 +0000

“So your immediate response should be – well, if that really were true then market forces should …”

My first response was: “This is the fault of the Georgia government!”. This isn’t an anti-government tirade, but gasoline prices in Georgia are not subject to market forces. The government does not allow it to be. That’s why there are long lines.

This is also why they have to resort to selling $5 candy bars (which, strangely, aren’t subject to “price gouging” laws). If they could charge more for gasoline when supply is down, then people who really need it could find gasoline with no lines, and maybe they wouldn’t *need* to become Quik-E-Marts to stay profitable.

Ask any economist — “price gouging” laws don’t help people. They hurt us.

By: Sanjay Parekh Says I’m Right (Sort Of) | KillerBlog

Sanjay Parekh Says I’m Right (Sort Of) | KillerBlog — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:48:46 +0000

[...] Sanjay Parekh, the founder of Startup Riot, Startup Dinner, and Digital Envoy, just wrote something very interesting in his [...]

By: Sanjay

Sanjay — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:31:40 +0000

Micah – definitely agree which is why I said:

Are you entering an already crowded field with the hopes of doing what everyone else is doing and then try to sell some lottery tickets and candy bars along with it?

For gas stations, maybe it would be interesting to have paid memberships to a gas station franchise (would have made a killing in the last few weeks in Atlanta). But doing the same thing as everyone else plus selling candy bars isn’t the way to make a killing. At least I can’t think of an example where that was done to huge success.

By: Micah

Micah — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:27:03 +0000

Don’t forget that sometimes a startup can take a bite out of the existing market by taking the current status quo and twisting it.

To continue the gas analogy, perhaps you believe that there’s a better, more convenient way to sell gas, and you’re willing to bet that others will agree with you and be willing to pay you for it.