Alaskan Texaco stations converted to Shell

MAT-SU -- Herb Rosencrans has been selling Texaco brand gasoline since 1969. He used to lease a station from Texaco in Anchorage at Sixth Avenue and Muldoon Road, and he broke ground on his own station in 1979 on Knik-Goose Bay Road just a mile and a half out of downtown Wasilla. But because of a mammoth merger between Texaco and Chevron, Rosencrans is faced with the prospect of switching his red and black Texaco colors for Shell's yellow and red. Shell previously had a partnership with Texaco on the West Coast.

The merger that created Chevron-

Texaco -- a $100 billion company according to the new ChevronTexaco corporate Web site -- was announced in the fall of 2000, and part of the deal was that Texaco needed to sell what the industry calls "downstream" assets. That includes distribution and corporate-owned stations that were part of a company jointly owned by Texaco and Shell.

Rosencrans isn't anybody's downstream asset and neither is his gas station, he says, but the brand name he sells is. He said he expects to switch to the Shell brand because the company is making it available to him. He's not sure when. He's been to orientation meetings, and there are more meetings to attend -- but more meetings and paperwork will just have to wait until after hunting season.

"It's completely up to me," Rosencrans said. "In five or six weeks I'll know a lot more, but the way it looks to me, it'll be a plus."

A recent Shell press release said that up to 21 Texaco stations in Southcentral Alaska will be converted and "the majority" of 13,000 Texaco stations in the United states will be converted to Shell. The company has to couch those numbers in caveats because independent station owners may be loyal to the Texaco brand name or switch to another brand altogether.

Equillon, the company formerly owned in a partnership between Texaco and Shell on the west coast, has until June 30, 2006, to switch, but is switching faster.

Rosencrans said Knik Texaco will likely switch sooner rather than later. Corporate-owned stations like the one Rosencrans leased in Muldoon have already been switched.

Shell's press release also said the company will mail new Shell credit cards to approximately 17,000 Texaco card holders in Alaska. It's pretty obvious what the company is up to. They want to turn loyal Texaco customers into loyal Shell customers. The company is also planning an incentive program for card holders that sign up for a Shell Mastercard. The Shell Mastercard will pay a five percent rebate for fuel purchases made at Shell stations.

Knik Texaco seems to have its share of loyal customers. In an age when a filling station might be more likely to offer espresso than fan belts, this is a place that has hot coffee for free and a six-bay garage with mechanics plying their skills. Rosencrans doesn't like to brag about capturing customers, and he'll tell you that, but get this -- at his station there are pumps labeled "full service" where they pump the gas for you, still check under the hood if you ask them to and bring you credit card back to car for a signature. Full service the old-fashioned way.

"We do it at the self-service pumps, too, sometimes," Rosencrans said.

Mechanic Randy Custer is as loyal to Rosencrans as some of the customers. Custer has been turning wrenches in Rosencrans' shop off and on since 1984.

"We're honest and we pride ourselves on good service," Custer said.

Custer said he's seen customers who were ready to switch shops leave and eventually come back.

"They see the same faces every time they come back -- maybe that's why they come back," Custer said. "People want to see a clean shop and they want to see the same faces."