Buc-ee’s: Free-Market Triumph or Simply Capitalist Oppression?

I’m not sure anything can prepare one for the Buc-ee’s experience. Mine came earlier this week as my in-laws and I drove into one in Colorado on our way to Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park.

We first pulled up by one of the countless gasoline pumps that assured us we would not be waiting in a long line to fill up our van. Then we went into the store itself, which one might describe as something akin to a traveler’s Costco.

When I go to one of the typical stops like Love’s or Pilot, those places have some pumps out front and a great choice of food and other goods inside their buildings. But what I saw at Buc-ee’s was well beyond the best of the rest. First, there was more food than I could imagine being in one place, merchandise, sweets, and hundreds of bags of beef and turkey jerky of all flavors.

I’ve never used a shopping cart at Pilot (which I do patronize whenever possible), but a cart was a necessity at Buc-ee’s, as I had no intention of buying just a few things. There were egg and brisket breakfast tacos, fruit, cups of yogurt and key lime pie, and, of course, coffee, lots of coffee and fountain drinks, not to mention a couple of Buc-ee’s pullovers and other merchandise.

Although my purchases at most road stops are well under $20 (not counting gas), I was not at an ordinary stop. No, this was Buc-ee’s and I needed to fulfill my duty to spend 10 times that much money, and I did it with no regrets.

Being an Austrian economist, I could not help thinking about the organization and work that goes into a place like this. I also told my wife that socialists would hate this place, and when I later searched the internet for examples of socialistic hating on Buc-ee’s, the socialists didn’t disappoint.

Indeed, socialists and assorted leftists hate Buc-ee’s. I mean, they really hate this place. One person posted the following on Reddit:

When we arrive, this enigma of a beaver was at an exit with a lot of traffic. Turns out, the beaver was generating it’s own traffic. A highway stop which created traffic. What sweet hell.

Upon arrival I witnessed not some gas pumps, but ALL of the gas pumps. More than I’ve ever seen in one place. Almost further than the eye could see with the road in the way. What? Why?

We stepped out of the car and my wife and daughter are gleeful, and I am looking on in horror as if I’m watching an Alien mothership descend upon the earth. Inside, there are so many people it looks like an amusement park on a hot summer day. Shoulder to shoulder with people thrilled that they can see someone dressed up as the beaver. I spent no less than $40 at this highway “gas station,” AND I DRIVE AN EV!

Now my main gripe with all of it is that inside this one building there were probably 10-20 different small businesses for a small American town which were replaced or never even had a chance to start because of this one company. It’s the worst example of runamok capitalism and consumerism I’ve seen directly with my own eyes.

That day I swore that these stores were monstrosities that in a just world would be demolished and never again allowed to thrive. I know my low level visceral rage at a company is absurd, but I see absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever in this company.

Not to be outdone, the socialist publication In These Times joined the attack on Buc-ee’s with the following missives:

The Buc-ee’s expansion has been welcomed by some local leaders, including in Mebane, who see a source of new jobs. It’s also been cheered by a devoted national fan base that gathers on subreddits and Facebook groups. It’s a Texas thing, about to become an everyone, everywhere, all the time thing.

The expansion has, however, also provoked a growing movement of detractors like Ward, who offer a sinister inventory of concerns: the loss of permeable surfaces near sensitive watersheds, the air pollution and traffic congestion associated with 100 gas pumps, the dozens of underground storage tanks full of carcinogenic toxins that can eventually leak, the company’s 24/7 water use and waste production — and the fact that these installations can bring some 10,000 cars a day to idle their engines at local traffic lights without stopping at local businesses. Bipartisan groups against Buc-ee’s have popped up in a growing number of small towns, including in Stafford, Va.; Palmer Lake, Colo.; and Oak Creek and DeForest, Wisconsin.

Of course, one would expect socialists to hate a business like Buc-ee’s. Socialists claim to hate “consumerism” (whatever that is) and the availability of inexpensive and plentiful goods all the while claiming that consumers are being oppressed by capitalists, who apparently are withholding goods from the market. (No, that doesn’t make sense, but when have socialists ever made sense when describing anything that occurs in the marketplace?)

At least some of the arguments against the presence of Buc-ee’s mirror the opposition to construction of data centers, as Connor O’Keeffe recently pointed out why some communities are fighting the location of such operations near their homes. The old canards of “traffic and pollution” are always thrown out any time someone wishes to open a business—especially a large one—in a new locality.

And then there are the accusations that Buc-ee’s abuses their employees. However, from our vantage point, the employees with whom we interacted were genuinely helpful and seemed happy to be there. People have complained about the prevalence of security cameras, but we live in an age of massive retail theft and businesses should have the right to protect their own property. (And socialists always claim that workers are terribly oppressed and can only be properly treated in a socialist system, no irony intended.)

While one can debate anecdotes all day, the real reason that socialists and leftists oppose companies like Buc-ee’s is that they hate any capitalist success, and Buc-ee’s, if nothing else, is a success. It caters to consumers by offering them many choices and makes them feel welcome. Furthermore, anyone who visited any socialist countries in the heyday of the Iron Curtain or communism in Asian countries knows how life can be under a system in which there is little or no consumer choice and where most goods—when they actually are available—are substandard.

It would seem that socialists and leftists object to the presence of Buc-ee’s not because the company makes life worse for travelers and employees, but because it is a successful capitalist story. That alone would make this company a pariah with socialists and their fellow travelers.