h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've always been intrigued as to why petrol stations sell sacks of charcoal. Do many steam powered vehicles pull up at petrol stations requiring refueling? In my local town there is a wonderful hardware shop which also sells second hand books and the odd occassional table. It's an interesting shop to wander around in.

although key cutters and shoe repairers(cobblers)which also sell locks, torches and zippo lighters in presentation boxes must surely be the backbone of british shokeeping and is the only exeption to the rule.

You would be surprised at what people ask for in petrol stations having worked in an all night service station for over a year Quite a lot of people do ask for drink,tin foil is a top request(we seem to sell a lot of kitkats to the people who ask for tin foil)

This may be why big supermarkets now have petrol stations attached, or rather petrol stations have realised that the best way to hold all the stock people require them to have is to have supermarkets attached.

It's a strange way of working but most petrol stations are small businesses that do not make money on petrol.
They do make about 1p in the £1 but that does not cover the costs of running the petrol station so the petrol side of the business makes money for the oil company's and the shop makes the money for the owner.However the oil companys still have the say on what they can sell how much they can charge were they buy it from and were they display it in the shop.

I suppose it's like most franchises. The only real winners/people that make money are the companies that the franchise is bought off. It makes me feel like organising a national charcoal week. Everyone in the country is encouraged to go and buy a bag of charcoal from their local petrol station just to boost the earnings of the owners.