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The roots of our company can be traced all the way back to 1937 when my grandfather and our founder Leonard Hartl
purchased a used oil truck and took over a delivery route in the area as an agent for Spencer Co-op. In the spring of 1938 he left
the co-op and became an agent for Blenker Oil Co. He thought it would save a lot of time as he could then purchase his fuel closer
to home. He also ran a portable hammer mill at the same time and would grind feed for many local farmers. |
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In 1950, and after 13 years, he thought it was time to venture out on his own and start his own oil company. That's
when Auburndale Oil Co. was born. He also gave up the feed grinding business shortly after and would then concentrate entirely on
his oil business.
Now, he worked alone until the spring of 1970 when he could no longer run his growing business without help. That's when he would
take his daughter Jeanette and his son-in-law Fritz Berger, Jr., into the business with him. This would prove to be a wise move as
he always wanted family to someday take over his business and would give him a few years to break in the new help before he would
retire.
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Well during this time business went on as usual and in 1976 it was time for Fritz and Jeanette to take over and for
Grandpa to slow down a little. He worked until 1980 until his health forced him into early retirement.
Fritz and Jeanette ran the business alone but always knew they had a son Randy that had shown a lot of interest from young on. At the
age of 10 he was filling cars with gas and washing trucks and anything a 10 year old could do. And in October of 1985 they hired him
as a delivery driver.
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During the 80's we were busy growing the business as much as we could, always trying improve in as many ways as
possible. In 1987 a new bulk plant was built at the present site and in 1991 the area's first unattended Cardlock Filling Station was
built. This added many new customers. All the while our founder looked on with pride as he saw his business always improving.
In 1994 it was time for another change in ownership. Randy Berger and his wife Kim would now be the third generation owners of the
family business. He brought with him many ideas to continue improving our services.
During the 90's we spent much of our time growing our customer base while always continuing the level of service our customers had
come to expect. In 1999 Fritz and Jeanette would retire and for the first time in our history we would hire workers from outside the
family. We feel fortunate to have employees with great work ethics that share our same values.
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In 2001 we added propane to our list of services and this also proved to be a great move for us. We're not sure what
our next addition will be but we have a few ideas in the makes. Many things have changed around here over the years but one thing will
always remain the same, and as my Grandpa always said, " Always do your best to provide your customers with all the products they
need at fair prices and give them the best service they can get and you will always be successful." We still live by those words
today.
Thanks Grandpa.
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