Gas station in the "hood"

Gas stations without them, are one of many subtle cues that you aren't exactly in a prime area of town.

I can see the headline in the Blade.....man robbed and beaten with squeegee

After hearing on Bob & Tom this morning about an assault with a pooper scooper, a squeegee assault wouldn't surprise me one bit!

If I had a choice between which item I'd be hit with, I'll pick squeegee every time. Every time.

Costo doesn't have them, either. They just want you to hurry up and leave. In the hood, I just want to hurry up and leave.

I have seen gas stations in better parts of town that lacked squeegees, while I have purchased gas in rougher parts of town that had squeegees. There is a hole-in-the-wall gas station near my house (Franklin Park area) that consistently provides minimal "extras," and the only time I go there is when I am in a hurry and the station fits my time window.

Generally speaking, I hink that you are more likely to find small proprietors cut service corners than larger chains like Speedway, although as JohnnyMac pointed out, some chains have different philosophies on efficiency and costs. I'll be willing to bet the owner of the place described by the original poster is having trouble scratching out a living, and the squeegee-less station is symptomatic of financial difficulties more than squeegee thievery by patrons.