For more than 100 years, from its founding in 1909 to when it went out of business in 2013, National Petroleum News (NPN) documented the rise of petroleum marketing and retailing in the United States. NACS, PEI and The Fuels Institute have catalogued the rich history of NPN in its entirety. Fuels Market News will look back at the history of our vibrant industry, through the eyes of NPN, to see how it reflect the issues, challenges and opportunities we face today.
By Keith Reid
Veterans bring a lot to the table as employees. They’ve generally been instilled with discipline, a solid work ethic, a stoic outlook towards difficulty and a sense of professionalism that is not always present in civilian circles. That’s not to say that all veterans meet high standards, but an employer likely has a better idea of what they’re getting from a performance standpoint.
That was the initial hook of an October 23, 1946, National Petroleum News article titled “The Veterans Take Over.” Of course, roughly a year after the end of World War II there were plenty of veterans looking for work at the time.
The company studied in the article, Macmillan and Cameron, based in Wilmington, North Carolina, was at that point ran solely by the Cameron family and included a wholesale and retail fueling operation, a Buick dealership, the Cape Fear oil terminal, Atlantic Navigation Co., Morris Plan Bank, Carolina Business and Loan Assn., among others.
Two brothers, Bruce Cameron Jr. and Daniel Cameron, were former majors in the army, with Bruce serving in New Guinea and Daniel in France. Their father, Bruce Cameron Sr., passed away while they were in service. Upon return, the brothers took over the family operation. One of the first things they did was hire 50 ex-servicemen.
They told the article’s writer, Herbert Taylor, that: “… properly selected ex-servicemen make the best type of help. They have learned how to give and take orders, as a rule are excellent housekeepers and, like the Cameron brothers, are young aggressive men looking to the future.”
The article noted that the “properly selected” portion was critical. At the time, the government was providing a variety of “on- the- job” programs, causing some veterans tended to see this as an opportunity to not take the position seriously and slack off since the government was paying a portion of the salary. The brothers generally avoided hiring people from this program.
The operation itself highlighted how critical flexibility has been in the industry since its inception. We had recent experience with supply chain interruptions during the pandemic, but those were nothing compared to the supply chain disruptions the domestic market faced during World War II. Virtually every significant manufacturing entity was placed into war production, in whatever manner possible. The result was a severe shortage of the traditional equipment that supported the domestic infrastructure including gasoline pumps and truck parts. While items such as tires, engines and spare parts were produced, they were only available for military vehicles.
Before the war began, Macmillan and Cameron had invested in a machine shop to help support its operations. This meant that it was able to keep fuel dispensers repaired and trucks on the road when many competitors were struggling. It was also able to rebuild grease guns, air compressors, gasoline pumps, heating equipment and any other equipment used in oil marketing.
Post-war, most of the work done in the shop consisted of rebuilding automobile and truck motors with an effective marketing radius of about 125 miles. Four salesmen worked the territory doing business with garages, repair shops, car dealers and other jobbers filling in where they came up short.
Many of the new veteran employees worked as mechanics in the shop operation, which was a natural fit. World War II was a fully mechanized war (at least for America) that involved numerous engine mechanics working in all branches of the service. They came back into the civilian workforce with an extraordinary amount of experience.
Peacetime was rapidly kicking up the economy (with a short post-war recession looming) and cars started to roll on the roads as gasoline rationing quickly became a thing of the past. The domestic automotive infrastructure to support this still lagged as the rest of the economy converted back, making the repair service even more essential and profitable. Macmillan and Cameron bought equipment from various war production plants in the area that were converting back to their original focus to expand their operations.
Still, time had progressed and so had technology. The article noted that: The Camerons are buying all the new equipment they can get and as newer styles and more efficient operating devices become available they will be purchased. Hose reel gasoline pumps at many outlets are on the program for the future, provided the few already obtained workout satisfactorily.
Keith Reid is the editorial director of Fuels Market News.
