OIL PRICE INFORMATION SERVICE: April 30, 2010
LIBERTY BACK ON EXPANSION TRACK
Multi-state marketer Liberty Petroleum has extended its reach to additional states and new marketers, increasing its footprint in original core states of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, but expanding into new states as well. In fact, the company is actively pitching the private Liberty flag to Chevron marketers that will have to take down Chevron or Texaco flags this summer.
In the last year, the company has added a number of new sites in Tennessee and Louisiana, and will soon move into Kentucky. Longtime distributor Kentucky Petroleum Supply has signed up with the brand, as has House Oil.
Negotiations
with other distributors in that state as well as new-to-Liberty jobbers in Virginia and the Carolinas are ongoing.
The company's western reach now extends as far as Idaho where two Liberty flags currently fly. Liberty executive John Patrick told OPIS last week that the company has received tentative commitments from Chevron marketers in Middle Atlantic states. In the next few months, they'll be replacing the Chevron or Texaco brand with Liberty. The total nationwide site count for the jobber-owned company is 314.
All Liberty dealers are sold on a cost-plus basis with supply sourced from ten companies. Marketers generally can choose between wholesale prices tied to spot markets or to traditional rack postings or indices.
Surprisingly, part of the Liberty allure comes with the attractive credit card processing deals that are less expensive than those of major oil companies. The uncomplicated rate calls for marketers to pay a 5cts transaction fee plus the applicable interchange charge. Last year, the formulae worked out to an average levy of 1.5243% plus 5cts for Visa and MasterCard purchases at Liberty stations.
--Tom Kloza,
OIL EXPRESS: July 28, 2008
Liberty looking to expand brand presence; negotiates bottom line credit card fees
Liberty Petroleum is back on an expansion track, after a bit of a rough 2005-2006 period that followed
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and some admittedly tough supplier renegotiations. And the jobber-owned company
is pitching a package of merchant fees for marketers that top major oil companies.
For example, rates available to those with the Liberty brand are simply a 5cts transaction fee, plus the applicable
interchange charge. For Visa and MasterCard, that works out to an average 1.65% plus 5cts; with Amex at
3.25% plus the nickel. For Wright Express, the fee is 5cts plus the 3.5% WEX charge, and for Voyager, it’s 5cts
plus 3.4% interchange. PIN debit cards are priced at 8.25cts plus the various debit network fees.
While Liberty’s 300+ locations are most highly concentrated on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, the
company’s geographic footprint now extends as far west as Kansas with ongoing negotiations with distributors
in Louisiana, Tennessee and Montana. The company hired longtime multistate marketing exec John Patrick
last year to push the latest expansion as well as work on supply contracts for about thirty racks.
All Liberty dealers are sold on a cost-plus basis, with supply from 10 companies, and include simple rack
purchases as well as formulae deals tied to spot references. One carrot for prospective Liberty sign-ups: distributors with just one Liberty station can utilize the card at other sites that do not fly the flag.
--Tom Kloza
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