This post will resonate with anyone from Texas and hopefully, open the eyes of some of you that reside on other places.

I have done mystery shopping for the past twenty years as a way to learn what companies are doing in terms of customer service and marketing (and get some free stuff along the way.) It is little side hobby that is useful for my marketing business is a good write-off and the free meals, travel etc. is a nice perk.

These companies send me dozens of available shops every single day so I can be pretty selective. The problem is that because they have my location as Texas, they send me everything in Texas – regardless how far. It seems that these companies have no concept of just how big Texas is.

I will get an email asking if I want to do a $5 gas station shop in Van Horn, Texas. It’s in Texas so surely I might be interested? Well, Van Horn is 562 miles away! We are talking about a 8+ hour drive!

I get it – these companies are in areas where 8 hours will drive you across seven states – they have no concept.

So how big is Texas?

  • Texas covers more than 268,000 square miles, which is more than 7.4 percent of the entire surface area of the United States.
  • Brewster County in Texas covers 6,208 square miles, which makes the county itself larger than Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and nearly 10 times the size of Washington, D.C.
  • King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas, is nearly the size of Rhode Island.
  • Corpus Christi is closer to Cuba than it is to Denver.
  • The longest straight-line distance from North to South in Texas is 801 miles.
  • The distance from Houston to Dallas is about the same distance from Paris to London.
  • El Paso is closer to Needles, California than it is to Dallas.

Seriously, Texas is BIG y’all!

by Chris Doelle