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General Discussions Car People talking about something other than the Car Business – Is there life outside of the Dealership?

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Old 12-16-2015, 03:51 AM   #1
johnpico
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Default Ross Perot Backs New Company

Tired of Gas Pumps. Company delivers gas to your car.

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http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article49554930.html
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:51 AM   #2
XDCX
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Wow, that seems like a crazy idea, but then again I never thought people would pay for bottled water when that concept first appeared.

Here's a link to the story John referenced above - click here

My initial thought when I saw your post was to dismiss the concept because it's backed by Ross Perot but then I read that Microsoft's Paul Allen is also a backer. I have a lot of respect for Paul Allen so that opened my mind to the concept.

I still have a hard time believing that the business concept would be profitable. How many gallons of fuel is a driver going to deliver in the average day and how thick is the margin? Even if the driver was able to fuel five vehicles/hour with an average fill of 20 gallons that's only 800 gallons of fuel at the end of an eight hour day. If the business was working on a 40 cent margin that's only $320 in gross profit - hardly enough to pay your driver and cover the other expenses.

I've been wrong in the past but I'd bet against the success of this venture.
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Old 12-22-2015, 09:18 AM   #3
XDCX
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Default Ross Perot in the 1960s...

I was watching "Christmas through the Decades - the 1960s" last night and thought of this thread when they had a segment featuring a very young looking Ross Perot from the late 60s.

Ross Perot was already a multi-millionaire at that point and he embarked on a campaign to send Christmas packages and letters to American POWs held in Vietnam. The effort attracted a great deal of attention and thousands of Americans sent packages and letters which Perot loaded on to a chartered plane heading to Vietnam.

Sadly, none of the packages or letters were ever received - the Vietnam government would not allow them to be delivered.

In many ways I thought it was a well intentioned but poorly executed plan - a lot like his presidential campaign in the 1990s.
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