East Kootenay economics: secret gas sales, ostriches THERE WAS once a Chilcotin $25,000,000 in the sweepstakes. rancher who won When people asked him what he was going to do he said ‘“‘! guess Vil just keep on ranching until it is all used up.”’ That man has soul-mates in the East Kootenay country. Economic theories work here, but they are different theories from those used in most of the rest of this world. We shali begin with car gas and the East Kootenay pricing system. As you drive down the valley of the Columbia River from Golden, on the Trans-Canada Highway, you will be delivered into Radium Hotsprings, a community com- posed almost entirely of gas sta- tions, motels, ice cream parlors and Alberta licence plates. (The Japanese are buying almost everything here and the Albertans are picking up the scraps.) Wheeling into the Chalet Gas pumps you say to the man ‘Did you know thcre’s a mistake on your big sign?’ ““What’s that?”’ “You are advertising premium gas for the same price as regular gas. They are both 49.9 cents.” “That’s not a mistake. We sell premium at the same price we sell regular."* “If they’re both the same price, why doesn’t everybody buy the premium?’ Some, he says, buy one kind and some buy another. As he explains it, the company buys excess production from the refineries, who occasionally get their production schedules confus- ed. “‘We could be selling exactly the same gas as Exxon or Shell across the road. It could be premium. It could be regular. It doesn't mat- ter. We’re doing OK.”’ Exxon, Shell and the others at this highway cluster happen ta be selling at exactly the same price as Chalet Gas on this day. But there is a further complication in the pricing system. When it comes time to pay for a tankful, it turns out that Chalet Gas costs 47.9 cents a litre, not the 49.9 that shows on the sign. “Why does your billboard say 49.9. when you are selling at 47.92" Because, the man says, that is the way things are done in East Kootenay. “If we advertise 47.9 we could start a gas war. Who likes wars? Do you like wars?”’ “But how do you attract your customers if they don’t know that your price is lower?”’ “Peopie who know us know,’’ he says. When you are next in this part of the country, drive into Chalet Gas. Tell them Joc sent you. They will look after you. Our next exploration of East Kootenay economic life is 20 minutes down the road at In- - vermere Ostrich Ranch. Jim and Karen King, who do other things too, have penned up some of the Diggest, ugliest, stupidest dirds the world hes ever known. The Moa was stupider, but it’s extinct, which tells you something. These ostriches lay eggs that make the biggest damn cmelettes you have ever seen. When they determine eggs to be inferiile, the King family have huge late breakfasts. To hard boil an ostrich egg takes one and a half hours. Also one of the birds suicided by breaking its neck on a fence, the sort of simple, involuntary suicide often practised by sheep. Paui St. Pierre PAULITIGS & PERSPECTIVES They ate this one and found the meat red, low in fat and cholesterol, mild, tender and simi- lar to veal. This appears to be the future of ostrich ranching in North America — selling the drumsticks. But, as to the economics. An adult, male ostrich, weighing in at 160 to $80 kilos and a couple of Finding Your Storage Space Unmanageable? ¥; SUMMER MINI-STORAGE SPECIAL With this ed. 2nd month FRZE. Offer expires Sept. 191. Applies to certain sizes, subject to availability. New rentals only. Cannoi be used in eonjunction with any other discounts. . WORTH VANCOUVER MINI STORAGE LTD. 219 MacKay Road, N. Vancouver, ¥7P-3NG Behind Capilano Mall WEST VANCOUVER * KERRISDALE @ ROBSON STREET @ WHITE ROCK | A 9- 2113 hens almost as large will cost you $10,000 to $70,000. They will raise chicks that grow and wali fetch $3,000 at three months, $4,000 at four months and so on and on and on. Those drumsticks are going to be too expensive for Mcdonald’s or Col- one! Sanders Kentucky Fried. So far, however, says Mrs. King, ostrich ranchers in East Kootenay, as in other places, are not into meat production. Everybody so far is producing ostrich roosters and ostrich hens to sell chicks to other ostrich ran- chers who will raise them to be hens and roosters. Who is to say that this is not economic wisdom? Not me, that’s not whom. I remember secing the first Presto fire log hit the market in 1946. | laughed. Who, I said, was going to buy artificial firewood in the province of British Columbia? The Presto fire log salesmen are on their se- cond yacht and fifth mistress at the Riviera today and I am still here, buying the odd Presto log for the fireplace. As with ranching in Chiicotin, gas selling and ostrich culture in East Kootenay may be wise, pru- dent and far-sighted economic wisdom in ways not readily visible to some of us. CT wv LOW RATES v GREAT LOCATION wv ELECTRONIC GATE ACCESS wv RESIDENT MANAGER ON SITE w VIDEO SURVEILLANCE Visit the Horth Shore's ecologically friendliest mini storage today! Office Hours: 9asn-9pm Mon.-Frt. Sam-Spm weekends 50% OFF Ze | Selected Items | Hurry! 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