Breaking Down Gender Boundaries at Jiffy Lube

In the last century, when I first began my career at Jiffy Lube, my store, and virtually the entire industry, was completely male dominated.  This would have been in 1983.  The “Quick-Lube” industry was in its infancy in those days and you would have been hard pressed to find a female at a Jiffy Lube or any other lube shop across the country.  Not that women were turned away or banned from the industry.  No grand conspiracy here!   Apparently working at a Jiffy Lube “back in the day” just wasn’t that appealing to women.  

The Big Question - Part 3 (and this is it, I promise!)

So oil companies and their marketing arms are always looking to distinguish their line of oils from the next company.  I think we all get that.  And it’s OK to have a loyalty to a good name-brand oil if it has worked for you over the years.  But I submit to you that a big portion of the differences between oils (other than viscosity differences, i.e. 10W-30 and 0W-20) has more to do with marketing than it does with chemical engineering.  

The Big Question - Part 2

Over the years I have to shake my head when one more consumer “advocate” writes about the “3,000 mile oil change myth.”  Wow, you’re really breaking new ground with that one.  This has only been happening since 1996.  Nationally, the average service interval is between 6k-7k miles so I don’t really think legions of drivers are pre-programmed robots  that simply must get their oil changed every 3k miles.  And in fact, there are vehicles out there that still need to be serviced every 3k miles as per the owner’s manual.  The big rub is over “normal service” and “severe service”. 

The Big Question - Part 1

Years ago when I actually managed one of our stores, I was constantly being asked by customers “How often should I change my oil?” Should I poll our current managers I suspect they would get the same question on a daily basis. Indeed, there is much confusion over what we in the industry call “oil change intervals.”

Lessons From The Lawn Mower

Awhile back I happened to be over at Desert Greens Equipment here in Albuquerque, picking up some parts for my lawnmower.   I saw the owner and took a few minutes to visit with him.  I’m in there a couple of times a year it seems like for one reason or another.  He asked me about my mower and how it was running.  I told him it was running great.  He asked me how old it was.  I told him “18 years.”  He was impressed.  He told me that most owners (it’s a John Deere lawn tractor) get about 8-9 years of use from their lawn tractor before they die. 

From Lt. Dan’s Legs - Straight To Your Motor Oil.

How many times have you seen advertisements blast “NEW AND IMPROVED” in your face or a message similar to that letting you know “hey, this stuff is better than the stuff we sold you last time!”  Excuse me if I am a little jaded by all the claims. 

So when Conoco/Phillips 66/Kendall rolled out their “Liquid Titanium” addition to their line of motor oils awhile back,  I was a tad skeptical.   I have heard a lot of stuff has titanium in it, like golf clubs and such.  You may even remember from the movie Forrest Gump when Lt. Dan shows up at Forrest’s wedding and he is standing up.  Forrest says “Lt. Dan, you got legs!”, to which Lt. Dan says “yeah, titanium alloy, it’s the stuff they used on the space shuttle.”  So there you go.  From Lt. Dan’s legs (and the space shuttle!) straight to your motor oil.  I was still not convinced.

Jiffy Lube and Phillips 66 - Our Good Just Got Better.

As of June 1 of this year we at Lubricar/Jiffy Lube have changed our featured oils to Kendall products.  Keep in mind that Kendall is one of the brands owned by Phillips 66 and has been around since 1881. One of the reasons we went back to Phillips 66/Conoco/Kendall products that we used to feature several years ago is because of their product lineup.   In gasoline's and in motor oils we speak of “good, better, best” or in

other words, having a product lineup that offers choices in quality and pricing.  Most oil companies market a conventional oil with no synthetic properties, a synthetic blend which combines synthetic oil with conventional oil and then a full synthetic oil.  Full synthetic is typically going to be the best oil you can buy but also the priciest.  Conventional oils are always the least expensive.