Marathon Oil Company owns I think over 60% of Ashland Oil which in turn owns Valvoline.To find a Valvoline sticker under a Marathon sticker probably would'nt be a real big deal.I heard on the news Sat. that one reason that gas is so high is because of all the oil companies merging and only keeping a small amount of gas in storage.We now have:Marathon-Ashland,Chevron-Texico,Exxon-Mobil,Shell-Pennzoil-Quakerstate,BP-Amoco-Castrol,Conoco-Phillips and so on.This is not even the full list of mergers.No wonder gas is so high.

 

I believe the Shell monster merged with the Texaco monster also. A few Texaco's around here are now Shell stations, even on the same intersection.
Soon we'll be getting inbred gas & oil.

 

fact is folks that say the brand names have more addtives dont have any evidnece or any valid information at all. they just think because it more expensive its better....there wrong.

 

That was the old news. Over a decade ago Royal Dutch (Shell), Texaco and Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company) formed a joint venture called Equilon to handle refining and marketing in the US. Shell and Texaco were basically the same from a consumer point of view.

When Chevron merged with Texaco, Equilon was dissolved and Shell was given a certain number of years to close the Texaco stations or convert them to Shell. That is what you see. ChevronTexaco and Royal Dutch (Shell) have not merged.

Jim

 

Long live "cheaper is better"......we all know those pennies will make us rich someday.

 

Just because something costs 2-3 times more doesn't mean it is better.Does the name Firestone mean anything? They are having trouble now with tires that are on ambulances and other vehicles,nice to be in an ambulance and the tire come apart on the way to the hospital.I don't know all about this but there is an older woman in my town and she supposedly bought her home with pennies she saved over the years.Now she is retired and has a new home.Cooper Tire is a somewhat small company when compared to Goodyear,Bridgestone etc.but they have some of the best tires you can get.I have used them and know from experience.They were also tested and did as well or better than I think Michelins they were compared to in the truck tire area.To make a point only,BlueRanger drives a Ranger.The Ranger may be cheaper than say a Toyota,does that mean that BlueRanger has an inferior product?According to his thinking it sounds as if he does.Just because a person pays less for the same SL rated and certified product doesn't mean they are getting and inferior product.It is certified and has to meet API standards to be certified just as Pennz,Castrol etc.We hear that this or that oil has more of this and that added to it.If so,does it really mean that all the extra stuff beyond what is needed is better? SuperTech oil has put up good numbers and yet people keep putting it down.Why? If the ST had a Chevron etc. label on it they would say it was great.I used to work at a food manufacturing company.This company had products that went to several states.The label would it was a taste of that certain state when the recipe was the same for all states,same product.We also sold under different names,some costing more because of this but they were exactly the same.Price doesn't mean everything.Sorry for the long post,just trying to make some points.

 

motorguy222:
My comment was meant as a joke..... There are too many people in this world who fall into the two categories.
"cheaper is better" and "expensive is better"
The middle ground is the place for me.

 

I believe that one of those characterizations was aimed at me.

I have never said "cheaper is better". I have also never denied that "more expensive is better" is often true.

My point, obviously missed by many people, is that sometimes, cheaper is "good enough".

 

I have to agree with jschira about things being cheaper being good enough.As I stated in an earlier post,even if something has beyond what is needed does it really make a difference.

 

i think that too many people have the "what i use is the best" additude

 

No one has touched this yet, so I'll throw something in on it. I have some Northland grease out in the garage, but it's from the 80's. It still says Waterloo, Iowa on it. I think they've moved out of Waterloo, and just maintain an office here. Not entirely sure on that though.

 

jschira: Those characterizations were not aimed at you. I dont know how you could think it was about you. You had not posted in this thread before.

 

Oh, that makes more sense than not I guess. Kinda maybe.