Let’s Go to Buc-Ee’s
Have you ever visited a Buc-ee’s? The chain was founded in Texas in 1982 with a simple concept: clean restrooms, friendly service, and a lot of options. They claim to have the world’s largest convenience store and the world’s longest car wash.
My first visit to Buc-ee’s was in 2021, just outside of Houston. My best friend, Michael Snipes, and I were heading to 1 of our bucket list Alabama away football games — Kyle Field, home of the Texas A&M Aggies.
While traveling, we saw signs for Bucee’s everywhere advertising their next store. Needing some fuel and food, we stopped at 1. I’ve never seen so many fuel pumps. As we entered the store I saw shell corn for sale. I thought this must be a Texas thing.
The accountant in me took notice of the store layout. You know, numbers, details. Access to the restrooms was a huge space straight ahead and just past the checkout clerks. As I walked by the checkout stations, the employees said, “Welcome to Buc-ee’s,” with a very upbeat attitude and a service-oriented outlook. But I was on a mission to the restroom, which was spotless as I discovered.
Back on the main floor just outside the restrooms, I saw more fountain drink stations than they have at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. As I was filling up my gallon cup of Sun Drop, 1 employee shouted, “Fresh brisket on the board,” and the other employees repeated it.
This drew me over to the various sandwich options, some the size of small watermelons. I refrained from purchasing 1 of those, but I did buy a regular-size brisket sandwich, which could still feed a small family.
Buc-ee’s is proof that if you take care of your employees and they supply the customer with great service, people will patronize your business.
This model sounds a lot like the goal of a member-owned electric co-op: to provide outstanding member service and reliable electric service at a reasonable rate. Our employees don’t shout to members when they walk in, “Fresh electric service on the grid.” But we do pride ourselves on being friendly.
SAEC is a member of Touchstone Energy Cooperative. You may have seen our commercials on TV or the logo on SAEC’s building. There are approximately 900 electric co-ops in the United States, and about 750 of them are members of Touchstone Energy.
This July, Touchstone Energy announced that 18 of those cooperatives had received Top 5 ACSI Scores for energy utility services from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Your cooperative is 1 of them.
I am very proud and thankful for our team at SAEC. This ranking takes all employees working toward the goal of service to our members. Like any good American, we can always look for new ways to improve our service to you, the member. If you see our employees out and about, please thank them for supplying reliable electric service with a friendly attitude. And if there are any ways we can improve our service, please let me know.
After my first trip to Buc-ee’s, Michael and I continued our trip to Kyle Field. We enjoyed the Midnight Yell from outside the stadium since we weren’t brave enough to enter for that event. We took a walk around campus and the stadium, reading about the history of the 12th Man. The tailgating with the A&M fans was special.
Inside the stadium on game day, I never heard such cheering in unison. It was a special sight and event, but the outcome was not special. On that October night, after being behind early, the top-ranked Alabama football team lost to Texas A&M on a last-second field goal, 41-38. I guess the story of the 12th Man is true. But don’t be too sad for us because we stopped off at Buc-ee’s the next day on our way home, so all was well.