New Survey: 1 in 9 Americans Worked at a Convenience Store

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One in nine American adults has worked in a convenience store and they say that the experience gave them valuable experience in how to work with people, how to manage processes and how to run a business, according to a national consumer survey released today by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

Overall, 11% of adult Americans say that they have worked at a convenience store or gas station and 3% of all Americans say that it was their first job, according to a national survey of adult Americans.

Those who have worked at convenience stores found the experience to be valuable: 87% say that they learned a lot about how to work with people, 85% say that the experience that they gained was valuable, 82% say that they learned a lot about the world of work and 80% say that they learned how businesses are run.

Those who said their first job was at a convenience store were even more positive about the experience: 96% say that the work experience was valuable and 95% say that they learned a lot about the world of work.

The business value of the experience was cited by those who held a convenience store job in college: 88% say that they learned a lot about how businesses are run and 89% say that the job offered a flexible work schedule that allowed them to schedule work around other things in life.

Adult Americans who had never worked in a convenience store were equally positive about the potential opportunities available to employees. Overall, 86% of Americans who have never worked in the industry say that convenience stores offer good first jobs for those looking to enter the industry; 86% also say that convenience stores are great summer jobs for high school and college students. Also, they see jobs as a potential path toward managing or owning a small business; more than two of three non-convenience store employees (68%) agree that it's common for workers who work hard to become managers or eventually own their own businesses.

"Convenience stores conduct more than 160 million customer transactions a day and fuel 80% of the vehicles on the roads today. None of this would be possible without the 2.2 million employees that serve half of America on a daily basis. These jobs also provide opportunities — whether learning valuable business experience as you are earning an income, or to eventually grow your own small business," said NACS President and CEO Henry Armour.

Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates LLC conducted the nationwide survey of 1,111 consumers.

Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS (nacsonline.com) is the international association for convenience and fuel retailing. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 151,000 stores across the country, posted $696 billion in total sales in 2013, of which $491 billion were motor fuels sales. NACS has 2,100 retail and 1,600 supplier member companies, which do business in nearly 50 countries.

SOURCE National Association of Convenience Stores