76 reverting to orange?

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76 reverting to orange?

Post by storewanderer »

I noticed the 76 in Penryn, CA is reimaged to an orange scheme back in November. I wasn't sure what to make of it and figured it was some sort of one off situation...

Last week, I also noticed a 76 at the Milpas offramp in Santa Barbara is still red, except the pumps have new orange imaging similar to what I saw in Penryn.

I guess it is safe to say 76 is moving back to the orange colors. I wonder how much this will cost...?
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by submariner »

storewanderer wrote:I noticed the 76 in Penryn, CA is reimaged to an orange scheme back in November. I wasn't sure what to make of it and figured it was some sort of one off situation...

Last week, I also noticed a 76 at the Milpas offramp in Santa Barbara is still red, except the pumps have new orange imaging similar to what I saw in Penryn.

I guess it is safe to say 76 is moving back to the orange colors. I wonder how much this will cost...?
Not sure, but it's nice to see it back. They have a page on their site going on about their "New Look":

http://www.76.com/newlook/
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by Alpha8472 »

76 needs to refresh their image every once in a while. With so many gas stations to choose from, gas companies need to do something to bring back those customers from time to time.

Faster gas pumping is one of the new improvements. I have noticed that newer gas pumps do indeed make refueling much easier. People are in a hurry and if a gas station has super fast pumps, I will definitely return. I also noticed that newer gas pumps are also easier to use. Some gas pumps weigh a ton. I have seen many old ladies struggle with heavy gas nozzles. Evening pulling the trigger is a struggle for them as they are made out of stiff metal and are very hard to squeeze. New gas nozzles are light and easy to press.

Investing in these improvements will pay off as more customers will patronize these refreshed stations. You need to invest money in order to make money. Letting stations decay and look rundown will only make customers go somewhere else.

The orange colored ball was what made 76 a classic gas station. I remember crossing the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge as a child and there was a very tall building decorated as a giant Union 76 Gas Station clock tower. The tower had been branded 76 for more than 50 years. I still remember it to this day. It was a sad day when it was transformed into the Bank of America clock tower. Eventually, the building was demolished.
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by storewanderer »

The new imaging is orange and gray. I don't care for it. It looks cheap and not overly professional. Also, not overly clean. The gray color looks drab and run down. Maybe it will work in dark places like WA but in CA it just looks depressing.

Chevron, Mobil, Shell, and even Arco have much better imaging than this...
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by Brian Lutz »

I've seen a handful of stations up here going back to the orange 76 logo, but the vast majority are still using the red logo right now. This makes sense as the red 76 logo was the result of being merged into ConocoPhillips, and now that they have been spun back off they are reverting to the orange again. I'm guessing this will be a gradual process.
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by submariner »

I've seen two stations here. One in Simi Valley with a modest resigning, and one in Fullerton with a much more dramatic change.

On the colors, I think it works when seen in the full package. It makes the orange color stand out more.

Also - Some stations seem to be getting a brand-new version of the classic ball sign - bonus points for that!

The 'faster pumps' may be more marketing than anything. both stations kept the old units. I can assume one of two things - The pumps already dispense at the 'faster' rate, or the internal mechanics were replaced versus the entire assembly (that'd make sense from a cost standpoint).

Anyway, here are some photos from the Fullerton location at Commonwealth & Gilbert:

Image
Orange is the New Red by dirtyblueshirt, on Flickr

Image
Orange is the New Red by dirtyblueshirt, on Flickr

Image
Orange is the New Red by dirtyblueshirt, on Flickr

Image
Orange is the New Red by dirtyblueshirt, on Flickr

Image
Orange is the New Red by dirtyblueshirt, on Flickr
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by Brian Lutz »

There is actually an EPA regulation that specifies that a gas pump can dispense fuel at a rate no higher than ten gallons per minute. Most gas pumps around here don't seem to go anywhere near that rate. I would guess that 6 or 7 is more common, but I've seen as slow as 3 or 4 (although that's usually not intentional, mostly the result of clogged filters in the pump.)

http://www.epa.gov/oms/regs/ld-hwy/evap/spitback.txt
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by submariner »

Brian Lutz wrote:There is actually an EPA regulation that specifies that a gas pump can dispense fuel at a rate no higher than ten gallons per minute. Most gas pumps around here don't seem to go anywhere near that rate. I would guess that 6 or 7 is more common, but I've seen as slow as 3 or 4 (although that's usually not intentional, mostly the result of clogged filters in the pump.)

http://www.epa.gov/oms/regs/ld-hwy/evap/spitback.txt
It could be that 76 also had a 'minimum standard' that they increased for station owners. In the end, it's all marketing, since "faster pumps" is a deliberately ambiguous claim.
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by jamcool »

The 76 reimaging is called "The Wave". Owner Phillips 66 is changing its station image also....

http://www.cspnet.com/industry-news-ana ... rand-flags

There is a 76 branded convenience store just north of Gallup NM on US 491-complete with a red 76 ball. New Mexico is not a 76 marketing area-NM is Conoco and brand owner-Phillips 66 country.
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Re: 76 reverting to orange?

Post by storewanderer »

Meanwhile as they market fast pumps (meaningless due to the reasons already mentioned here), the 76/66/Conoco sites turned on the "zip code prompt" last November in locations where it makes zero sense to have the prompt turned on. They basically established a blanket policy that in center states all locations will have the zip code prompt, period. But in some locations out in the middle of small areas, no other gas stations have the zip code prompt turned on, there is little to no fraud, and this simply is nothing more than a hassle to the customer. Locations such as Erie, KS or Hawthorne, NV. Zip code prompting may be common in California but elsewhere outside large cities you don't see much of it. Their zip code function seems to be the worst of the major oil companies since it shows as ***** on the screen rather than showing the numbers as you type them in as most other gas stations do so you can see if you type it in incorrectly... and to make matters worse, if you type the wrong zip code in, the system automatically fails (but puts a pending on your card for $75-$150), unlike, for instance, the Kroger stations where if you enter the wrong zip code, it has a "re enter zip code" prompt and doesn't automatically fail and tie up money on your card (until you type the wrong one in three times).
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