Full-Service May Be Coming To An End At Rod’s Exxon Converted One Island To Self-Service In The Late 1970s

‘Ding…ding” goes the bell at Rod’s North Wall Exxon.

The service station attendant hustles out to greet the customer, an elderly man driving an older-model sedan.

As gas pumps into the car, the attendant cleans the front and rear windows of the car, then inspects the tires and engine.

The elderly man pays for his gas, and that precedes the most important step of the sale: a thank you from the gas station attendant and a warm invitation to return.

But the invitation may no longer be open-ended.

It’s hard to say how many full-service islands are still operating in Spokane, but the city soon may have one less because Rod’s Exxon may soon get rid of its full-service gas pumps.

“The oil company may ask for a higher volume of sales,” said Glenn Tweedy, manager of the station at 9914 N. Wall. “If they do, that could be the end of our full-service island.”

Station officials hope to have an idea about the future of the full-service island by the fall.

There are two islands at the station. Regular unleaded from a self-service pump sells for $1.21 a gallon, while gas from a full-service pump is $1.51 a gallon.

However, out of approximately 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of gasoline sold each month at Rod’s, only about 2,000 to 3,000 gallons come from the full-service pumps, said assistant manager Loren Schaud.

“In the old days, I used to be chief, cook and bottle washer,” said Tweedy, who has worked at the station for 18 years.

“I might have walked five miles a day walking around putting gas in cars and washing windows,” he said. “And I never left this little parcel of land.”

The North Wall service station was built in 1921. Wall was one of the last streets traveling north out of Spokane to be paved, Tweedy said.

Rod Hoerner bought the station that sits at the intersection of Whitworth Drive and Wall Street in 1974. It was a typical full-service station then. In the late 1970s, one of the two pump islands was converted to self-service, Hoerner said.

“I remember the first self-service stations coming on the scene around 1970,” Hoerner said. “They were mostly small, independent oil companies.

“But the bigger companies saw that self-service was more profitable, and as is typical with this business, everybody went to doing the same thing at the same time,” he said.

Self-service proved to be cheaper for the consumer, and because it’s faster for individual drivers to pump their own gas, stations are able to handle more customers, and thus sell more gas, Tweedy said.

Service station profits have increased even more in recent years because most now sell food, snacks and drinks, Tweedy said. He said Rod’s doesn’t expect to get into the food business anytime soon.

“Full-service use is pretty sparse,” Hoerner said. “We only get about 10 customers a day who pull through that island.

“We’ve kept it for the elderly,” he said. “There are a number of older residents who live in the neighborhood, and they like the service.”

The station will soon expand, Hoerner said. Another island may be added and the service garage is expected to grow. He hopes to be able to keep the full-service islands intact.

However, he said a lot of that decision is out of his hands.

Hoerner owns the store, but Exxon supplies the gasoline. If the company requires him to increase his profits, 76 years of full-service gasoline sales could come to an end.

“It’s unfortunate,” Hoerner said. “The people who use this station live in the area and are loyal customers. But it’s a business, and you’ve got to keep up with the majority demand.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo