ALBANY, Ore. -- Company president Rick Mikesell said Cummings Oil Co., Albany, Ore., has been sold, according to The Albany Democrat-Herald.
John Jackson of Boise, Idaho, bought the company, then sold the commercial fuel and lube segment to Carson Oil, Portland, Ore. Jackson Oil operates more than 300 gas stations and convenience stores.
Mikesell will continue to operate Cummings Transfer Co., which was founded in Albany in 1901.
Earlier this year, Cummings Oil Co. was named Oregon Business magazine's 33[image-nocss] rd largest privately held company. Annual sales are between $350 and $400 million, said the report. Employment fluctuates between 250 and 300, Mikesell said. All but a handful of those employees will retain jobs with Jackson Oil, Carson Oil or Cummings Transfer, he told the newspaper.
The profit margin in the commercial fuels industry is less than 1%, Mikesell said. It's a really tough industry, he said of his decision to sell. We went through a stretch of tough years from 1999 to 2002, it was touch and go. We made some big acquisitions of the Chevron stations in Salem and Eugene and turned the corner. I felt we were at the top of our market.
Mikesell said to remain competitive, the company would have to expand outside of Oregon. I've got four kids and I want to spend more time with them, not less, he told the paper.
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