Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: November 29, 2013 03:53AM

Yep, the reason oil does what it does is 'cauae it's actually made up of ball bearings on a microscopic scale

Wanna hear somethin even stranger? Back in the early to mid 90s I was workin for a Shell distributor. Another distributor in Okla. was taken to court over the possibility they wee sellin another brands 15W40 as Shell Rotella T 15W40, and since the distribiutor couldn prove what they sold was indeed a Shell branded product, they lost the case.

Shell's response was to insure such a defense would never again be in question. How, might one well ask could that be proven without a doubt?

Shells engineers came up with a way to display the Shell logo or Shell pectin (sea shell) in the inividual molecules of Shells branded products, ending once and for all any such claims







Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 29/11/2013 04:10AM by Mrkim.

woberto Report This Comment
Date: November 29, 2013 06:01AM

No freakin' way dude...

BlahX3 Report This Comment
Date: November 29, 2013 03:21PM

Yeah right. I am sure that even if it is a possibility Shell didn't, wouldn't and couldn't pay for it being done, especially not on that scale. IBM did make their logo out of individual atoms though.

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: November 29, 2013 05:16PM

Hey, I was only relaying info that came out in a Shell release to all its distributor network, which when quizzed about it, our own Shell rep said yes, it was true.

Shell had for years always discouraged distributors from handling multiple lines of similar products in bulk for fear this type of allegations could be brought up, or that unscrupulous dealers could then use their Shell repackaging agreements to sell 5gal buckets, 55gal drums or bulk deliveries of less expensive and inferior product as Shell products.

In another example of judicially foisted craziness, another Shell distributor was sued by a customer claiming they were being shorted in the 55gal drums they were sold by the distributor.

During a random spot check of all the drums the distributor had in the warehouse inventory revealed they were almost all overfilled (drums are usually closer to 58 gals in capacity to allow for expansion), the judge then ruled that if they would overfill drums that they would also be just as likely to underfill them, though no such instance in their investigation proved that to be the case. They found AGAINST the distributor who was actually hurting their own bottom line by giving away free oil, or at least more than the customer had paid for!

This lead Shell to require all members of their distributor network with repackaging agreements to purchase and install scales to be used to weigh each filled container of product since the weight never varies, while the volume does due to heat and cold.

Sadly, if this same logic were extended to fuels we'd all be much better off, or at least get what we're paying for all year round when we purchase fuel. In warmer climes or months we're actually shorted on what we're sold as it's sold by a volumetric measure, which can vary, compared to it's weight, which again is constant

BlahX3 Report This Comment
Date: December 01, 2013 04:36PM

Interesting stories. I don't necessarily believe them but interesting nonetheless. I do believe the weight vs volume stuff though because that is scientific fact. I could believe the judicial one because that kinda shit has been know to happen but without something to verify it I have some doubt about it actually happening and it lies within the realm of urban legend for me. I don't believe that Shell found some way to molecularity imprint their logo on the oil at all. I do believe that a Shell rep said it did but I chalk that one up to corporate lies/rumors. Even if possible it would be prohibitively expensive. It would make more sense if they added some other identifying component, such as an inert dye.

woberto Report This Comment
Date: December 02, 2013 04:37AM

From www.nist.gov
L&R Committee 2012 Final Report
Appendix B – Item 232-4, Method of Sale and
Item 237-4, Uniform Engine Fuels and Automotive Lubricants
"AOCA developed its own bulk oil delivery guidelines back in 2006 because no one wants to prevent bulk motor oil distribution fraud more than fast lube operators. Should a product quality problem occur with packaged goods, it’s relatively easy to trace the goods back to the manufacturer. However, this is not the case with motor oil transported in bulk; it all looks alike, it may have “changed hands” numerous times before reaching the fast lube facility, and even with testing can be impossible for a fast lube to verify because oil companies use chemical markers that only they can identify. Since motor oil specifications have become so precise—and so expensive—fast lube operators stand to lose thousands of dollars every time a distributor delivers a lesser product. Moreover, when a distributor delivers the wrong"

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: December 02, 2013 03:39PM

When I was in the industry I never saw or heard of an example of a bulk oil distributor willfully substituting a cheaper/lesser branded product and passing it off as a more expensive product, though I'm sure it happens.

To the point of prepackaged lubricants being easily traceable, honestly that's not as cut and dried as one might think either.

It was common knowledge and an ongoing joke in the industry that one brand in particular changed who blended and packaged it every time the individual containers or case configuration changed, which often took place at least twice annually.

Working for a Shell distributor I learned from the drivers who delivered our bulk Shell oil that Shell facilities were themselves the cleanest and most demanding of all the oil bulk load out facilities. Shell utilized electronic sniffers that they would drop down into bulk tankers before loading and if a trailer was considered contaminated they had to get out of line and go have their tank washed out, then reinspected before they'd be allowed to load.

As we also were open to the public and sold all the major brands of oils used by truckers, along with complete air/fuel and oil filters for over the road trucks, we had a lot of owner/operators as customers.

One such customer hauled mostly drilling pipe to remote drilling facilities and claimed again Shell was the pickiest of all such customers, requiring that each stack of pipe had to have wood layers between the pipe, the whole trailer had to be tarped and lastly that they would inspect the ID bores of the pipe to insure cleanliness before allowing him to unload it at a Shell drilling rig.

BTW, Shell oil in the US is no part of Shell in the rest of the world. They bought themselves away from the international Shell consortium many years ago and operate completely independently from them.

One last interesting fact about Shell in WWII. Prior to the war Hitler was seeking a lubricant/fuels supplier for his reich machine and Shell was headed by a Hitler sympathizer who told the board at Shell he intended to BE that supplier. The board was in shock and did not want such a deal, but fate stepped in and within a week or so of the deal being penned by Hitler and Shell, the CEO died and Shell withdrew the offer