THE LOVE AFFAIR

[Music] la [Music] la [Applause] [Applause] [Music] most people hate by bu gasoline perhaps more than anything else they buy they can't see it feel it taste it or hear it yet they must pay for it they can only smell it at times and some of them find that offensive there's no record of anyone buying Uncle Charlie a bottle of gasoline in a gift WRA de caner and no one has ever asked for gasoline for his birthday all people know is that for this seemingly non existant necessity they must literally throw money out the window I'm John Macau and this is a look at the attitudes of some of the people who buy and sell gasoline on credit I'm one of them I'm a golf dealer and I've been a golf dealer for over 11 years there is one thing that has eased the pain most people endure when buying fuel for their vehicles the travel cart the travel card is a chance for the motorist to get back at the humiliation he feels when paying for something he never sees the travel card means that he can pay with money the dealer can't see the motors is now able to bask in the comforting satisfaction of paying for non-existent gasoline with non-existent money a small plastic card has evened the score I uh I use credit s exclusively well because we do all our purchasing to credit card years ago when we were doing about 30,000 gallons we're doing almost 60 right now so I know that the credit card has helped our sales considerably everything goes on the credit card with me just just for the records uh I have no question to when my last uh set of tires was purchased for example because I have credit card records they buy more when they have travel cards for the simple reason don't have to pay out now well one thing I can drive in when if I don't have the cash on me why they a will take my credit card uh I find that every month at the same time I receive my statements from the company and wonderful thing for the service station business it's broughten a lot more TBA service into us and with the new credit card imprinter it's made it a lot faster and better and more accurate and uh with the golf travel cards uh it's uh you get to know the person a lot better and it's a lot easier to keep a customer too well uh you treat him good uh you treat everybody good but you treat him uh a little better because he has a car and you want to keep him you know he's steady customer he's not going to go no other gas station convenience in case of emergency or something you always have it there you know break down the road I'm a Salesman and uh works out good for me about batter the PS everything they need for the carp and they buy more when they got CR well because a lot of times it gets everything all on one thing and I don't have to have the ready cash for ready purchasing for they're using it more and more and I don't think a guy could really get along without a travel car we found when we went on vacation this summer we were in a small town in Pennsylvania in the mountain and we couldn't find uh those stations that we usually use but we found gol stations and little thing birs where back to Vacation my the credit card has been a lot easier to work with where years ago we had to U write everything out take time from the customer now we just take the car stamp it out everything's in print we don't have any problems we both can have a car I don't know we started it when we were in business for ourself a year or so ago and we just kep it up and uh being a Salesman I have to have it so I can uh use it on my income tax reports I don't I don't spend I don't pay for anything to change uh in in the service station at all customers they love them well I don't know he just likes golf Gast that's all I can say I like best because the fact that I can use it in any part of the country well for one thing it avoids carrying a lot of cash on trip uh many times I travel and I stay at holiday ends and use my credit card and uh just general overall conven uh for one thing I'm glad that they have them and I wish more people would get them well the credit I like quite well it's uh as good as the credit I believe that an individual can have go best guys I've also when the customers come in now with the credit card and if they need tires gas o I've had tuneup work done shots batteries everything I've bought I've bought credit card here well I get good mileage from your gasoline it's non-expiring a that answer go question the travel card has been very practical and very helpful financially mostly for the dealer this is about the only credit we have is the golf cart we don't believe in buy it on CB I think golf is the the best card not only for gas but for traveling and everyone as far as I'm concerned there isn't another C that you can get that will give you that kind of service most people call it a credit card golf has more accurately described theirs as a travel card because it has become much more than merely a plastic security blanket for gasoline buyers n [Music] in addition to that elusive autof fuel it provides a wide range of travel accommodations from motel rooms and meals to mufflers and [Music] tires they use the golf travel card at holiday ends great card for trips well yes I've used it the holiday in I've bought food and lodging we were up in Chicago last year and uh we uh spent uh we spent $600 on a trip and it was all in the golf credit Cy gol hasn't offered gift WRA gasoline yet but the travel card merchandising program does indeed permit travel card users to buy cameras watches sporting goods and so on all with their golf [Music] card implementing and Main maining this system cost golf oil millions of dollars and while the end result is increased business to the golf dealers they are not charged for this service there is only a small nominal charge by golf for the addressograph imprinters there's no comparison with it to the uh Master charge where you have to pay a carrying charge cost me 4% on uh on cards where on golf it doesn't cost me a cent so I'd rather have the golf anytime the vast majority of small businesses comparable in size to a golf dealer seld them get a system as efficient as golfs and even when they do they must pay for it sometimes as much as 6% of the amounts charged I've thought about one of those credit card systems um through the banks but they want to Discount your collections and uh well in this business every dollar counts is the travel card the solution to all the dealers problems will it make him a millionaire overnight is it some sort of magic card trick that transforms a passing motorist into an eager buyer the answer to all these questions is of course no marketing in today's society requires a complex mixture of skills remember the good old days when that personal Service formed a permanent bond between Merchant and customer it still does card is so important those happens to be these two particular people that run the station wow it's quite convenient to uh have the golf card and uh uh I especially like the these gentlemen here that I'm dealing with it's fast um efficient service service I like the people to run the station well I like the [Music] service with the exception of the front windshield the average motorist spends more time looking out his back window than any other window on his car [Music] it has been said that service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy on Earth if this is true then the best way to increase our space on Earth is to increase our service petroleum marketers were among the first who learned long ago the wisdom of this what do they call their retail outlets service stations service isn't selling gasoline and tires you get paid for this give the customer something he isn't paying for like clean restrooms courteous treatment and service for his car and he'll keep coming back back while the dealer is doing this he's adding value to whatever the buyer is paying for obviously the travel card has become a necessary tool for dealers as important as any other of the many tools used daily but like the other equipment we have our credit system requires proper usage and maintenance if we expect to get the most out of it mere knowledge of the total system does not of itself in Ure success we must put certain procedures into practice as habit but a basic understanding of the system is important this Travel Card application is used for customers and Prospects who do not yet have cards it can be mailed by you or by your customer directly to golf when a card is issued to the customer it becomes a part of the Dealer's system when the customer presents a card which is bent worn or damaged it pays to fill out a request for a new one because the card is expected to do a writing job with the imprinter less glamorous but no less important is the invoice it is a two-part form the Top Copy goes to the customer and becomes his receipt the bottom copy goes to the golf Travel Card Center the impression made on the bottom or hard copy of the invoice must be clean and properly positioned this is important because this copy is what carries the information into the computer smudges and other marks will make no sense to the computer writing inside the imprinting area will likewise render that invoice useless this is where care pays off Travel Card statements are made up daily sent to golf along with invoices promptness here means better bookkeeping reduced chance of loss due to misplace invoices keeps the customer Satisfied by prompt billing and last but not least gets the dealer his [Music] money the golf Travel Card Center at Houston receives over 100,000 new applications each month and this amount is constantly growing we want every responsible customer to have a card and this takes time a little patience here pays off in the long [Music] run a computer cannot think creatively it is dependent upon man to feed it accurate information if it is to produce accurate results oddly men who are technically oriented enough to repair and replace complex parts of an automobile somehow find it difficult to make a relatively easy imprint on a piece of paper with an imprinter all this sophisticated equipment this massive system does not cost a dealer one cent not a penny yet despite the benefits in dollar volume and steady customers many dealers still find it difficult to master a relatively simple mechanical task a significant number of these cards are rejected by this machine this means that they cannot be entered into the computer system without going through time consuming and error producing effort [Applause] handling these invoices manually means increased cost slower billing to the customer and slower payment to Gulf if we can't read it we can't bill [Applause] it golf makes no compromise with security when you you're working with invoices you're working with cash a good thing to remember especially in guarding the blank [Applause] [Applause] invoices if this system is to continue to be provided free of charge we must do what we can to keep cost down by permitting the computer to do the job of a large staff setting the date Wheels is a once daily task during each transaction the procedure Begins by filling out the invoice with the items purchased prices license number and total dollar amount of the sale if it's an out ofate purchaser the state is entered he then places the travel card face up in the imprinter places the invoice on the top of the card and uses the levers to set the amount of the sale in the imprinter the imprinting handle is then moved across and back it prints the top portion of the information going to the right and the bottom portion as it goes back to the left the invoice is then presented to the customer on the clipboard for his signature and his card is returned and don't forget to thank your customer like you really mean it the customer is given the top copy and the bottom copy is stored in the lock compartment of the imprinter if it's a sale involving more than $15 you have an number to call this puts you in touch with the computer center cards are very easy to check as far as the checking the customer credit all we have to do is call the operator National Data and it takes us about less about 3 minutes to do the whole thing we can tell right away if the credit card is is okay and if we can go ahead with the sale or if the card is rejected or for it's on a pickup for he will give us a number and protect the customer and the dealer after you give the customers information and purchase them out the computer makes an instantaneous search and an operator responds with an okay that includes the authorization number which you put on the invoice this is a fast and painless procedure taking about 30 seconds taking your phone off the hook in these instances takes you off the hook this time payment invoice is used whenever the customer wants extended terms where humans are involved errors are always possible but the addressograph imprinter reduces them to the irreducible minimum the money amount levers must be reset each time an imprint is made this forces the attention of the attendant on the keyboard it keeps you from recording the amount from the previous sale golf oil has been a real good company to do business with as far as uh being up to date on everything they've improved the station considerably they've uh been awful good to me here well I think gol is a good company to deal with oh um they're very good to me they're real good to me and uh I'm happy to be with them I don't know I've never been with no other company so I don't know but they've been good to me and I'm happy here so that's the main thing if a person's happy way that's half to battle one can measure man's progress by the tools he has developed to do his work and ease the burd of daily toil there are those students of merchandising sociology who predict that we will eventually achieve a cash Society where everything is purchased on credit and where the average American will receive a statement of credit to an account rather than a paycheck all spendable through the use of plastic cards imprinters and computers one thing is fairly certain he will give up all his cash before he relinquishes his love affair with the automobile it is up to the golf dealer to keep that love affair running smoothly [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] [Applause] [Music] what la