Foot notes in ordinance production .
The construction materials have changed some since 1840 but the structures and designs are static .
Grounds are everything , they are the first , last , and single most important part of the systems . Second is remote operation and isolated chambers with directive blow out walls .
The idea is to minimize damage , directing the blast wave away from the plant , people and other materiel . As long as everyone follows the SOP and there aren't any major aborations everything is all good .
I grew up in a small town that had about 6-7 gas stations and 3 tire shops that were owned buy I think 4 families . They all had coffee and breakfast together on Monday , and Thursday , Wednesday was out for the livestock auction .
A guy bought and Arco AM/PM franchise and built a new station that included about 8' of fill to park the tanks and raise the lot up to street grade . Like all new stations they were 20-30¢ under everyone in town and about a nickle under the bulk plant commercial 10,000 gallon price for over a month . So the godfather's all got together and had a little talk something to the effect of " you've made your point , secured a base , now come on in line ." To which they agreed and over the next couple of weeks their price moved up about dime , which was a big deal in 1983 . Another month goes by and the godfather's meet again and have another talk ...." Y'all are killing us get on board or access , new stop lights , new curb and sidewalk work could become troublesome and excessively drawn out due to labor and cost concerns and stuff" . Their answer was " we're held to the franchise contract that allows a 14% market adjustment from the standard price set and 5% over cost set . We are at the top of that limit now . There's nothing else we can do ."
The good old boys were stuck and had to back down to stay in the game . They did eventually find ways to force the Arco costs up and nickle and dime them but they had a sound attitude adjustment at the same time . I think there's only 3 families and 2 isolated stations now in town there now . The kids didn't want the stations or the tire store so when Dad was done only 1 of their 3 stations was sold and the tire shop just closed up . It was the same story with the Shell and 76 stations . Arco is long gone but Sinclair owns it now . I don't know what the Rez gas deal is but I flash my NA card for 33¢ off diesel and 35¢ on gas so as long as they're within a dime of the rest I don't care much .
AA&E is a similarly small world and I'd bet the big boys do coffee from time to time . If the upstart doesn't want to play ball and can't pull enough long game market they will get frozen out or bought up one share at a time until it's split up 30/30/31/9 and a take over will happen with a super conglomocorp puppet . Of course if they stay LLC Corp , greed is an ample tool to take care of that , and if that fails there's always road work , OSHA , and EPA complaints .
I hope they make it . I hope they hold on . I hope that they produce a product that will minimize our load reworks .
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