It’s called a promotion for a reason. And Sheetz certainly seems to have scored on several levels with a gas-price promotion that had consumers taking up to an hour out of their Fourth of July holiday to fuel up.
For just one day, the convenience retailer reduced its gas prices for all grades to $1.776 a gallon, commemorating the year when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
“We hope this discount helps our customers keep a little more change in their wallets as they travel to celebrate the Fourth of July with friends and family, with an obvious nod to our nation’s birthday,” President and CEO Travis Sheetz said in announcing the promotion.
- Sheetz is No. 12 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by company-owned store count.
While announcement of the promotion was embargoed until 6 p.m. EST on July 3, the news earned attention across Sheetz’s markets, including reports by the New York Post and Fox Business, as well as numerous local news outlets. And with the holiday a traditionally slow news period, several news outlets staked out Sheetz stores to report on the hubbub.
While customers called the stunt pricing “crazy” (in a good way), they were happy to wait in line for 10, 20 or 45 minutes, in some cases up to an hour.
“[The savings are] really crazy,” one consumer told WTAP outside a store in Parkersburg, West Virginia. “I saved myself probably $35 filling up.”
“The prices are insane,” another driver told WSOC TV outside a store in Hickory, North Carolina.
In Ephrata, Pennsylvania, a store was out of 89 and 93 octane fuel by 2 p.m. but had 87 and Flex available, according to a report by Lancaster Online, an eventuality Sheetz had prepared for.
“We have drivers come in every hour or so,” a Sheetz tanker truck driver told WSOC TV. He had just filled the tanks of the Hickory, North Carolina, store with nearly 9,000 gallons. “They won’t run out of gas.”
The promotion came as a record number of motorists were expected to take to the roads for the holiday. AAA predicted 50.7 million Americans would travel 50 miles or more from home this Independence Day weekend—43.2 million by automobile—setting a new record for the holiday. Meanwhile, average gasoline prices across the country were $1.30 less than a year ago.
A CSP inquiry about the results of the promotion was not immediately answered.
Sheetz has a history of offering promotional pricing at the pump. In April, Sheetz reduced the price of E85 to $1.85 a gallon yo raise awareness of the biofuel blend. In March, the retailer cut prices on premium, midgrade and ethanol-free fuel grades in a March Madness promotion, and over Thanksgiving 2022, Sheetz cut the price of Unleaded 88 gasoline to $1.99 a gallon.
Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz operates 670 convenience stores across its six state footprint, which includes Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland.