My son and I were driving back from a fossil-hunting expedition in South Carolina when we came upon the Buc-ee’s in Florence.
It is hard to explain what Buc-ee’s really is ― is it a gas station, a convenience store, a fast-food restaurant or a mini-Walmart all combined under one roof?
Somehow, Buc-ee’s has defied all odds and become the American Dream.
When 7-11 installed gas pumps onsite long ago, many people thought the evolution of convenience stores had reached its logical end. “What else could be better than buying a Slurpee and a hot dog grilled on rollers while you are filling your gas tank?” was the reasoning.
Gas stations and 7-11 have come a long way since then. Buc-ee’s brags about having the “cleanest bathrooms around!” — which is saying something if you have ever been in a restroom while traveling on the highway.
There are 120 gas pumps available ― almost all in use. Dozens of EV-charging stations surrounded the parking lot, which was packed like it was near a college football stadium on a clear fall afternoon.
There were no gas pumps for loud, massive tractor-trailers blowing out smelly diesel fumes. Buc-ee’s specifically bills itself as not being a greasy truck stop, so there are no commercial trucks with horns blaring that people have to avoid in order not to wind up like dozens of squished armadillos we saw on I-95.
The Texas brisket sandwiches were hot, fresh and better than almost all found in barbeque restaurants throughout the South. Checkout was quick and friendly. They had both Southern staples, Sun Drop and Cheerwine, on tap in the soda dispensing section.
On the trip down to Summerville, we passed the tacky South of the Border, which is still one of the main tourist attractions in North and South Carolina, believe it or not. More than 8 million people stop there every year, outpacing most other theme parks in America.
Buc-ee’s made SOTB look like an aging, decrepit Mayan ruin by comparison. It seemed as if 8 million people would pass through the doors of Buc-ee’s the same day we were there.
There was a large billboard sign near the front door advertising job openings at Buc-ee’s. No wonder so many people want to come to America ― the “Jobs Available” sign at Buc-ee’s would convince anyone of America’s greatness as the lone remaining Land of Opportunity.
A general manager at Buc-ee’s can make $225,000 or more in annual salary. At one store. This is not the general manager for the entire state but for one local operation in Florence, South Carolina.
Care to guess what the cost of living is in Florence compared to Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta or Washington, D.C.? It is at least 30% lower, maybe 40%.
A person making $225,000 in Florence and surrounding areas would live like a king or queen ― except they would have to work for it and not steal wealth from the feudal peasantry.
An assistant manager could make $175,000 or more at the same Buc-ee’s. Well over half a million dollars in salary and benefits are paid to the top two employees. It is not major league baseball contract money, but in the real world, it sure seems like it.
There were all sorts of hourly wage jobs available at this Buc-ee’s, which operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week. All were well over twice the federal minimum wage of the $7.75 an hour liberals complain about all the time. Most started at $18 an hour.
Getting back to the “cleanest” bathrooms around, Buc-ee’s paid people $20 an hour to be bathroom attendants. That is $41,600 per year with full health benefits plus the ability to earn $22 an hour for overtime work.
Those bathrooms were clean enough to be in a hospital. Where else could a young person make that kind of money as a bathroom attendant in a part-time job and pay their way through college on their way to another career?
Less than half of all small businesses created survive past five years to begin with. Every time one of them fails, the very people the socialist left of the Democratic Party say they want to help lose their jobs.
Why not create an economic ecosphere in America where thousands of Buc-ee’s can succeed every year, hire average folks to be their general manager, and make $225,000 per year or clean bathrooms at $22 an hour?
Congress has the power to create such a dream world for America. All they have to do is keep taxes low, drastically reduce the number of regulations and let the miracle of the American democratic capitalist economy get to work again.
