Reckless Driver in Jewel-Osco Lot

It's getting so that you take your life in your hands, when you shop at the Jewel-Osco in Woodstock. Sure, groceries cost an arm and a leg, and the price of gas to get to Jewel is almost enough to cause a heart attack.

But should you have to risk your life just to navigate the parking lot and find a parking place?

The driver of this old, rusty, Dodge Ram pick-up truck (license 17 999R) was quite impatient this afternoon and was apparently having trouble finding a parking place. As I stopped at one of the stop signs and allowed customers with shopping carts to pass in front of me, he exited a row and turned in behind me. (Although he stopped closely behind me, I was most appreciative that he didn't hit my car.)

I turned into the next parking aisle. As I pulled into a space, he "gunned" it and took off for the end of the aisle, then whipped a left U-turn and hit the accelerator hard, causing his tires to squeal, and headed back toward the store. Then he pulled in sharply and braked to a stop, past the dividing line between facing cars in the parking lot.

As I walked over to get a picture of his truck, the driver of the car next to the truck was backing out, and that driver spoke to me about the pick-up truck driver's speed and carelessness. He said he was glad his kids had not been in his car and that the truck had almost hit his car, when the driver pulled into the parking space.

Tire-squealing is actually an element of a Reckless Driving charge. The thought crossed my mind that two of us (the driver in the other car and I) might tilt the odds in favor of a conviction in McHenry County Traffic Court. At any rate, the pick-up truck driver got a pass today.

Maybe one of Woodstock's Finest will observe this driver operating recklessly on City streets and find a way to invite this driver to pay a visit in Traffic Court. Let's hope so.

© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT

(Used-to-be) Free Air now $0.75

Imagine my surprise when I pulled in at the Jewel Express convenience store this morning to buy some of the gasoline they like so much ($4.18/gal.) and check my tires. Fortunately, I pulled up at the air machine first, remembering that air at the Jewel Express is free from the last time I was there.

Surprise! Now the price for air is $0.75, and you'd better know how to get air into your tires quickly, before the meter runs out and you're standing there with an "empty" air hose and staring at a tire that is half-flat.

Hopefully they have installed a nozzle that really works. Quite of number of times in the past I have stopped at Jewel to add air to a tire, and more air comes out than goes in. One time I even had to go to Goodyear on a soft tire, because I couldn't get air into the tire from the air hose nozzle at Jewel!

It's not so much that I'm too cheap to blow $0.75 to pump up two tires that had lost air over the last three weeks, while my car was parked and I was touring around the southeastern U.S. on my motorcycle. There is a principle here. It's called 'added value." It's sort of like when the customer is lucky enough to get a smile and a Thank You out of a cashier or customer service agent.

Sure, Jewel is trying to squeeze every penny of profit out of every operation and to cut every possible cost. When they want to squeeze me for $0.75 for air, that's pushing it. The phone number of Albertson's/Jewel customer service is 877-932-7948. If you think that Jewel is pushing things too far, just give them a call, too. And be sure to ask the CSR to indicate on her complaint record that Jewel's penny-pinching at the air machine might just affect your decision to purchase gas or convenience-store merchandise. It certainly affects my decision, and I drove to Clark today for my $45 worth of gas.

Air is still free at the Clark station on Lake Avenue, toward beautiful downtown Woodstock from Route 47 when you buy gas there.

The gas-purchase requirement is fair enough. The air machines aren't free. In fact, Jewel doesn't even own them. They are installed and maintained by a vendor to Jewel. But Jewel could pay for the rental of the air machine. After all, how much could it be? And they ought to be able to figure out how to make a positive selling point out of it, because it is so hard now to even find an air machine.

You can get your tires checked (and you don't even have to get dirty doing it) at Goodyear, right here in town. The employees are happy to check the tire pressures for you. And why should they be? Because it gives them a chance to spot a nail and a bulge in the tire and sell you a tire repair or, better yet, a new tire. Or to inform you that your wheels need alignment to prevent abnormal tire wear. Or to jump up and down on the front-end and tell you that your shocks need replacement. Or to spot fluids leaking from your braking system.

And there are probably other places here in Woodstock which will provide the same service.

© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT