SHUSTER OIL COMPANY ACQUIRED BY MERIT OIL
BLOOMINGTON, CA. —Merit Oil Company, based in Bloomington, CA., has acquired Shuster Oil & Chemical of Escondido, CA., in a deal which closed November 16. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Bob Shuster, who served as president of Shuster Oil for over 50 years, and Arlene Shuster said they initiated the sale last year.
"We went to Ron Nuckles," the president of Merit Oil, explained Arlene Shuster. "We like him, we like his organization, we like how he does business. Bob is 89 years old and he wants not to be responsible for something he cannot oversee. He doesn't want to think about government regulations. He wants to relax and not worry about it. It was time."
She continued, "We proposed to Ron that he move into our community and take over our business. He took 12 hours to think it over and called us back and said yes. That was in July.
"The problem was the land where we have our bulk plant, next to the railroad. That railroad has been there since 1926. We needed to transfer the lease and there was a group of activists that did not want that to happen. It took them four months and several thousand dollars to look at this thing. We finally had to enlist the help of our Mayor, our Supervisor, and several land-use attorneys. It kept getting drawn out, longer and longer. Finally, we were going to walk away from the business entirely if they didn't reassign the lease to Ron. They finally did that. And the end result was worth the effort. It transferred with no changes to the property —it's just the way it was."
"We've dabbled into the North County area," said Nuckles, "but this allows us to have a beachhead into the San Diego area in general. It complements what we do —small quantity fuel delivery —and we're handling for-hire carrier work out of that area. It allows us to expand geographically and economies of scale kick in."
Merit Oil plans to keep the Shuster Oil staff in place; Bob Shuster, Arlene Shuster, and Richard Shuster, who had been serving as Vice President of the company have retired as of the end of the year.
"I know they're both very happy and Bob is enjoying retirement," said Nuckles. "My hat is off to both Bob and Arlene.They have left big shoes to fill. They've been very active in the community, with organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club and they're well regarded in the industry. They've set the bar high and we hope to do them right and we hope to continue with the high level of service and positively contribute to the communities we operate in, including in our new home in Escondido.
"We have good staff down there and a lot of good things happening," Nuckles continued, "We're deploying more trucks into that area and continuing to look at growth opportunities. We're always interested in looking at opportunities that fit with our business."
It was a busy year for Merit Oil. Nuckles explained, "In 2022, we embarked on a journey of selling our company to an ESOP [Employee Stock Ownership Plan]. We closed on the Shuster deal mid-November and we closed on the ESOP in mid-December, so that was quite a project in and of itself. There were a lot of moving parts. The fact that both of these went off very smoothly —I really have to thank my staff. I'm blessed and fortunate to have the staff I do.
"Now both Merit Oil and Cool Transports are now certified 100% employee owned and we're all very proud of that —I'm proud of it as well. It's thrilling." He added, "The employees are the ones that make the magic happen."