In a small southern California town near the Mexican border John McNeece opened the second service station in the town of El Centro, California. He borrowed five thousand dollars from his aunt in the Boston, Mass. Area to construct his dream station.
This was the beginning of 105 years of petroleum marketing for the McNeece family in Imperial and Yuma Valleys. During the first several years independent stations such as this would handle several different brands at one location such as Pan American, Shell, Texaco and Tidewater Associated, just to name a few.
In 1948 John sold his half ownership to a cousin Who had been a partner since the early 1920’s.
At that time an older brother to Paul and Bob McNeece, Bud [B.J. McNeece}, purchased the Shell Oil Distributorship in El Centro. From 1948 to 1958 Bud, Paul and Bob began their early education of marketing fuels and lubes both on a retail and commercial basis. At this time gasoline was delivered on commission, cents per gallon, to several dealers in the Imperial Valley area. When Shell began the Ranch Style Concept nationwide, some of these dealer units did not meet Shell’s image specifications and were replaced with more modern Ranch Style concepts, eliminating a distributor’s need to service small units with small tanks.
In 1959 Paul and Bob McNeece purchased the Shell distributorship from their brother Bud.
As the distributorship grew another Shell distributorship’s was purchased in Imperial Valley, which broadened the marketing area.
Shell Oil approached McNeece Bros. in 1964 with a program called “The Chico Building Plan” to see if it would be feasible for a distributor to economically become a commercial jobber. As 1 of 5 picked for the trial program it proved successful for the McNeece Bros. Oil Co.
In 1967 McNeece Bros. purchased the Gulf Jobbership in Imperial Valley bringing their sales into McNeece Bros. Shell volume.
As the company grew over the years, Shell offered an Industrial Commercial Jobbership contract becoming the first conversion of this type west of the Rockies. This was the beginning of a new era of marketing for the McNeece family.
In 1972 another expansion came after purchasing a Shell distributorship in another state, Yuma, Az. In 1975 the Phillips bulk plant and the Phillips Jobbership was purchased to give a larger volume basis for the Yuma area.
In 1984 good fortune struck again with an opportunity to fulfill a lifetime of dreams to become a Shell branded full line Jobber. A new challenge, Shell had always projected a company image of excellence and quality. If Shell would put its trust in McNeece and have them represent Imperial and Yuma counties, it was an image that McNeece family could be proud of
In 1993 another opportunity came along. Pacific Pride Cardlock {commercial fleet fueling network} was added to the McNeece Bros. portfolio. This added several fueling locations in the Yuma and Imperial Valley’s for commercial account fueling on the national level. As of today we have seven different locations to serve our customers.
Brand appearance, Service and personnel are what make McNeece Bros. a successful Company. The McNeece Bros. Oil Co. strives on a daily basis to achieve a program of excellence.
McNeece Bros. feels it is the employees that make the customer feel that they have experienced a great difference.
When Paul and Bob McNeece started out in 1959 there were only 2. Today McNeece Bros. employs 65 personnel to serve the petroleum needs of the farmer, industrial accounts, aviation fixed based operators, municipalities and the Shell branded stations in both valleys. Along with the Shell logo McNeece Bros. also puts in the geometrical triangle that brings the total picture together, that is the customer, Shell and the McNeece Bros. make’s for a successful Shell full line Jobbership.
In 1978 two Sons joined the company Mike McNeece [Paul’s son] Robert [Bob’s son], Robert graduated from Cal Poly, Mike from Southern Oregon. Both of these gentlemen have worked in the business since their teens. Robert operates the Yuma operation with Mike operating El Centro business.
In 2010 Mann Oil Company was purchased in Brawley Ca.
In 2014 we expanded our Yuma operation to a new office and warehouse located at 240 Wellington Street. We also added a new line of lubricants becoming a distributor for D&A, another company with a history starting back in 1919 with quality products!