ampm

The Mace Blvd AM/PM. The Russell Blvd. AM/PM.

Locations	Phone
705 Russell Blvd. (Russell Blvd. & Anderson Rd.)	(530) 753-1349
333 Mace Blvd (Mace Blvd. & I 80)	(530) 747-2000
Hours
Daily 24-hour
Websites
ampm
ARCO
Car Wash Coupons
http://daviscouponsonline.com/arcoampm expired

These are convenience stores which sell ARCO gasoline. One Davis AM/PM sits at the intersection of Russell and Anderson across the street from campus and Rite Aid. Another sits at Mace Blvd and 2nd Street near I-80. Sometimes called "The AM-P". Management is different for the two locations.

They're great place to fill up on soda and munchies (more on that below). The gas is usually much cheaper than other places by about 20 cents/gallon. Which of the two stations has the lower price fluctuates. There are some annoyances. Both the Mace and Russell AM/PM don't take credit cards, just cash and ATM cards. You're charged 25 cents to use your ATM card. Annoyingly, there is another 45 cent surcharge from the ATM vendor. Forties are not available at the Mace Blvd AM/PM). Note that the stores are sometimes locked for a short time late at night for cleaning, and the cash register is sometimes locked for a period of time.

You may be "shoulder tapped" for booze by freshmen if you in any way resemble a person of drinking age.

The Russel Boulevard store has a AM/PM video rental kiosk outside the front door.

They sell the usual junk food typical of gas stations. Forties are not available at the Mace Blvd AM/PM)
It's about as far as some clueless freshmen wander in search of something to do while procrastinating late at night.

• Freshly Baked Cookies and Pastries
  

• Nachos
  

• Hot Dogs
  

• Corn Dogs
  

• Chili Cheese Fritos
  

• Chips such as Flaming Hot Cheetos
  

• Icees

If you want nachos and the machine isn't serving the cheese or the chili sauce properly (and it rarely works right), take off the plastic shell from the top, pull the tubes inside forward a bit, squeeze, and turn the knobs (don't be shy; it's okay, really). The cheese should come flowing perfectly after that. Beware of filling up an entire tray full of cheese, as they have a 'extra cheese charge' they slap on the drunken chaps who try and take off with 5 times the cheese of the normal nacho consumer. Also, try putting jalapenos (found in the hot dog area) on your nachos!

If you're a fan of the McRib from McDonalds and are bummed out about how it is almost never available, their rib sandwich is a surprisingly good substitute.

The Russell Blvd. location features water that's always on. There's an "Air Charity" where a portion of the $1.00 charge goes to Feed My Starving Children, a Christian non-profit at www.fmsc.org. (Air and water are free by California law when purchasing fuel. The loophole in the law is that if you do not buy fuel, the gas station can charge you for using air or water.)

There is a $.75 charge for air and water at the Mace location. Annoyingly, there's no pressure gauge on its air pump, making it very difficult to tell how much air to put in your tires.

There's an lp gas fueling station next to the air/water.

There have been complaints that the squeegies are worn and the wash containers empty.

There's a car wash at the Mace location.

In 2007, the Bee reported that a criminal ring used fake card readers at AM/PM stations to gather card data and PINs. The scam hit stations from Sacramento to Redding, but apparently not Davis. Still, these fake readers apparently work exclusively with AM/PM's type of readers. Who knows how many of these devices are still out there.

ARCO, an acronym for Atlantic Richfield Company. ARCO and AM/PM are owned by BP, not nicely "British Prick". British Petroleum, a popular and lauded purveyor of shrimp seasoning, bought ARCO on April 18, 2000.