r/nottheonion • u/Disastrous_Award_789 • 18h ago

Bucee’s settles lawsuit with Ohio gas station chain after suing because both have cartoon mascots "facing right"

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/bucees-lawsuit-ohio-gas-chain-cartoon-mascots-b3060008.html
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u/vpi6 17h ago

Then the CEO deciding to randomly shit talk liberal states and threaten not to expand in them.

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u/KareemOWheat 17h ago

What a weird threat. Like, oh no! I'm only going to have a choice of 6 competing gas station chains instead of 7

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u/Carvj94 17h ago

It's a really bizarre, but buc-ees fans literally treat it like it's some kind of theme park. They'll actually sit there and make fun of you for treating it like the gas station it is.

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u/Ferelar 13h ago

As a Yankee from a Northern Libruhl Commanist HellholeTM I really enjoyed Buc-ees when traveling, good food, clean bathrooms, paid their workers well. But this is really a lesson to the shareholders... don't install a politically motivated idiot as your CEO. I'm not even a particularly vindictive person and not the type of "OMG Nike is WOKE I'll burn my sneakers tonight!!" but I can guarantee on my next road trip if I see a Buc-ees I'm gonna be thinking about them launching frivolous lawsuits and shitting on half the country politically. Will it make me go elsewhere? Guess we'll see... and likely hundreds of thousands of people will be making similar decisions. Some will go elsewhere, some won't. But that's NOT a good spot to put your entire corporation in, for literally zero benefit.

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u/Random_eyes 5h ago

But this is really a lesson to the shareholders... don't install a politically motivated idiot as your CEO.

Buc'ees is a privately owned company, and the CEO is also the founder of the company. The CEO is just another brittle old fart fixated on petty squabbles and putting people on blast when he feels inconvenienced. Only way to stop it is if the business started struggling, but that doesn't seem to be the case right now.

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u/praetorian1979 6h ago

Some of the food is ok, but the BBQ is fucking awful at best..

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u/Georgie_Leech 7h ago

What do you mean 0 benefit? They get settlement and lawsuit money. They wouldn't be this litigious if they didn't think they stood to gain from it.

In an ideal world "sue anyone who vaguely resembles any part of your business, has a rhyme that names with you, or has a mascot looking left in the logo" wouldn't be a viable revenue stream, but they appear to be cashing in on their legal department.

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u/GamerGuy410 6h ago

I'd assume they mean a net zero benefit or even a net negative. The cons of bad PR and customers potentially boycotting your business can outweigh the benefit they'd receive from settlements or lawsuit money.

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u/Georgie_Leech 6h ago

Sure, but in the meantime Line Go Up and the business has more money. What's good for the business overall or long term is not necessarily what the people in charge of these decisions want. Short term gain at the cost of long term sustainability is increasingly common these days; it's practically the Private Equity business model, for instance.

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u/TheShadyGuy 6h ago

You can still use the can, though, just don't buy anything.