TULSA, Okla. -- At a sleek and humming QuikTrip convenience store at the edge of a burgeoning suburb, gasoline customers no longer have to leave their cars to get what they want from inside.
A fountain drink? A jug of milk? A pack of gum with that fill-up? Customers can get goods and groceries brought to the pump using touchpad technology and a delivery service as old-fashioned as ponytails and poodle skirts: QT carhops.
It's just a test on something we've never tried before, Mike Thornbrugh, spokesman for the Tulsa-based chain, [image-nocss] which operates 470 stores in nine states, told CSP Daily News.
The privately owned company won't say how much use the carhop service has gotten after more than a month of testing at one location, but QuikTrip has found a variety of customers willing to pay the $1 delivery fee.
I'll have a businessman who just doesn't want to come in. Or it's a mom with kids in the car who can't come in, said carhop Brittiany Barnes, who has seen orders on her shift vary in number from just a few in a week to three in one morning.
Orders have been as small as a pack of gum and as large as several cases of soda, Thornbrugh said. One pressed businessman regularly stops to order a chef's salad.
Only gasoline customers paying by credit or debit card can access the service. A prompt on the pump's touchpad asks if they'd like to purchase merchandise. Once the gas is flowing, a clerk in a headset takes the order through the intercom.
When the customer has finished fueling, a carhop in a bright orange safety vest immediately rushes out the order, along with a receipt showing the charges for the gas, the goods and the $1 delivery fee.
Carhops don't deliver anything that requires age verification, such as tobacco, alcohol or lottery tickets, Thornbrugh said. And they don't carry any cash because there's no need to make change.
Placards advertising the new service show a harried-looking woman with two squabbling kids and a couple of family pets in the backseat. But Thornbrugh said the company doesn't have a particular target in mind. You're seeing an awful lot of people that are just in a hurry, he said.
The store relies on its existing personnel to provide the carhop service, which is available between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. QT modified its existing touch-screen software to add the merchandise prompt, Thornbrugh said.
QuikTrip's carhop test comes just as the chain is expanding a major fresh-food initiative in Tulsa-area stores. But while the redesigned stores are offering a new selection of freshly made sandwiches, wraps and fruit cups, there is no correlation to the carhop service, he said.
The company has made no decision about whether to expand the carhop service to other locations. And there's no date set to decide whether it's worked here. QuikTrip on a daily basis is trying something different, Thornbrugh said.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.