In This Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180,000

[brooklynite]

Wall Street Journal

Pete McGarity opened Headlines Barber Shop in Odessa in 1998 and has ridden the boom-bust cycle before. This time around he decided to capitalize on it.

In 2017, Mr. McGarity spent about $25,000 to retrofit a trailer into a custom, mobile barber shop. That October, he drove it about an hour west to Pecos, Texas, and parked in front of the town’s only grocery store, hoping to catch oil field workers between shifts. It was an instant success.

“It was crazy, it went berserk,” says Mr. McGarity, 48. “I’d show up around one o’clock and we’d cut until after midnight.”

These days Mr. McGarity sends the trailer to Pecos, which is closer to the oilfields, six days a week with five barbers, who cut hair all day long. A cut costs as much as $40, more than the $25 he charged before the boom. There is usually a long waiting list, but patrons can cut the line if they pay $60, or $75 with a shave, a popular option with oil workers.

[mr_lebowski]

1. Good for him ... though he's not just a barber, he's the owner of a beauty shop ;) (nt)

[brush]

2. Mostly cash payments, too. And then tips as well.

[theophilus]

3. It is nice that as we commit suicide as a species the boys can look nice. But don't

ask any of them to be taxed more. No siree. That's socialism. If you don't want to suck that poison out of the ground you are their enemy. Gee, I don't know how to feel about this stuff? Actually, I do. This sort of overspending and gouging is sprinkled all throughout the history of our great country.

The problems would arise if some competition came into town charging much less for hair fixin'. Might they be kerplowed by the overcharging barbs? Who knows. Everyone get back.....it's a HAIR RUSH!

[JCMach1]

4. Good for him, but Odessa is still the armpit of the world...

When I moved there for a job in 1995, that's one of the first things someone asked me... Why would you take a job in the armpit of the world...


I will never forget that... It's also very, very true.