Gas Price Gimmick Hits RV World
As well it might, what with the price of gas at the $4 a gallon mark (apologies to our foreign readers for our pump shock). A quick digression… I love salesmen. Yes, they invented the word oleaginous. Yes, they are, in the main, morally compromised individuals. But there are very few other members of our society who're paid to be optimistic– especially in the face of disaster. That scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, where loser salesman Del Griffith sells plastic curtain rings to passengers at the bus terminal, is a perfect illustration how a salesmen can go from zero to hero in a heartbeat. Now, when I got a press release "RV Rental Firm Takes the 'Bummer' Out of Summer with Gas Rebate Promotion," I sensed the hand of a master. So I called Rob Tischler, President of Allstar Coaches, and stuck it to him. The resulting interview explains why Death of a Salesman is a comedy in Russia. If you know what I mean. [apologies for the audio quality]
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
He said "we really just want to give back" at least twice in the interview and he always be selling. The most painful part of RV'ing isn't gas prices, it is having manage your own sewage. And +100 bonus points for working in the bee's knees into an interview. The RV Rental industry is really the cat's pajamas.
We used to take our RV (not nearly as nice as these giant diesel pushers) all across the country when I was a kid and I thought it was great. The big problem was once the RV/coach is over a year old everything on it will start to break, so every trip you have to 'expect' that your fridge is going to malfunction, or water is going to leak, or your pilot light will keep going out, or your sewage is going to clog. We sold it right before 9/11 on the prediction that gas prices were going to go way up and we couldn't afford to keep it.