A Five-Gallon Kindness
When I take long road trips, I bring a gas can with me.
Gas is expensive in big cities, but it’s even more expensive out in the middle of nowhere. A reasonably efficient car can take you a very long way on three or five gallons of gas, and it’s nice not to be held hostage to gas stations on the side of the road. So part of this habit is just good economics.
From time to time you find stranded drivers, out of gas on unfamiliar roads. I’ve coasted from station to station, raiding the dregs left in the hoses, and pulled into an all-night gas stations with the needle scraping bottom, so I know how it can feel. It’s a very uncomfortable, helpless kind of feeling. With a gas can, I can pull over and offer a little assistance. Even if I’m low myself, splitting the can will usually take someone to safety (unless he drives an H2 - then it’s his own fault). I never take money for the fuel, just a promise to buy a gas can and make the roads just a little bit safer, just a little bit friendlier.
Pay it forward.
The seals on my old plastic can have been degrading and I don’t feel comfortable with it anymore, so I looked around for a new one. Justrite Manufacturing makes a fantastic Type 2 safety can, one with a vent hole to relieve pressure and make pouring easier. It’s a fairly pricey can, more than twice what I paid for the plastic one it replaces, but the safety features are fantastic. I couldn’t be happier with the construction.
The greatest thing, though, is Justrite’s service. As it turns out, I bought a slightly different can than I needed - mine came with a 1″ nozzle, which turns out to be slightly larger than the average car is actually designed to accept. The nozzles are detachable, so I emailed them about the possibility of ordering and fitting the 5/8″ tube and nozzle to make refueling just a little bit easier.
Monday evening I checked my mail and found that they’d sent me the parts I needed, no charge, no questions. It was just their friendly way of standing behind their product and taking care of me, of making sure that it was as safe and effective as they promised it would be.
Given the reasons I carry one, that seems appropriate, somehow.
You know, my sister experienced something like this in customer service not so long ago herself. She and her husband received a very nice blender as a wedding present a few years back and it has a glass pitcher. Unfortunately there was some kind of mistake or accident in a recent move and the pitcher broke.
My sister sent an email or letter to the company asking about how to go about replacing the pitcher. A week or so later a new pitcher arrived in the mail for her, free of charge and questions.
This kind of service (because it’s so rare) is very nice to find in a company.