Mays-Shedd Sales Co. started in 1930 and has gone through many transitions as times have changed to the full-service company it is today. The high quality service has stayed the same through the decades and will continue to remain a top priority as our products and services continue to change.
History
1930s
Mays-Shedd Sales Co. started in 1930 when the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio (SOHIO) purchased Dayton-based Refiners Oil Co. Refiners Oil, along with The Dayton Electric Light Co. (later DELCO), developed for the General Motors’ fuel additive tetraethyl, which reduced knock or pinging in “motorcar” engines.
Bernard W. Mays (known as Barney) was an employee of Refiners Oil Co., so in 1930, he went out and as he stated it, “I went into business for myself.” Barney was quite successful and was awarded a Pennzoil Distributorship in March, 1935 for the Dayton area. He also sold Sinclair light products and over the years he owned 20-30 service stations in Montgomery, Darke and Miami Counties in Ohio.
1950s – 1960s
On January 3, 1957, Barney Mays and Albert P Shedd formed Mays-Shedd Sales Co. to operate solely as the Pennzoil Distributor in Montgomery and its surrounding counties. Barney retired in September 1959, sold his interest in the company to Thurston W. Carlson, who then became the sole owner on January 1, 1965.
1970’s
Don and Jim Shroyer acquired Mays-Shedd Sales Co. from Carlson on August 1, 1972. John (Joe) Benton started as a driver in May, 1960 and eventually rose to become the company’s General Manager. Joe, a legend in the field, worked in this position until his passing in early 2015.
In the mid 1970’s, after the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, the company’s sales efforts focused on new car dealers, independent garages, tire stores, and retail stores and away from the independent service station operator which had been the backbone of the company’s business for almost 40 years. Jeff Shroyer became a salesman in February 1976 to help with those efforts. The retail gasoline business had forever changed, as at that time, the independent service station operator had great difficulty getting fuel due to the embargo. Jim Shroyer headed the company’s Service Department in the early 1970’s, which served as the foundation for changing the focus to the car dealer, garage and tire center market. Biff Shroyer started in 1978 as Jim’s field man and helper in the Service Department and Biff eventually took over as head of the Service Department.
1980’s – 1990’s
The company grew quickly in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and along the way, acquired lubricant distributorships for Kendall, Chevron, Castrol, Texaco and Mobil, in addition to the bread and butter brand of Pennzoil. There were many major oil company mergers in the late 1990’s as crude oil prices stagnated for five years. During that time, Mays-Shedd lost their distributor rights to Mobil and Castrol, but became a major Shell and Service Pro lubricants distributor. Mays-Shedd Sales Co. continued in the Shroyer family as Jeff and Biff Shroyer bought the company from Don and Jim Shroyer in the 1980’s. Greg Kinsler joined the company as Service Manager in July 1989 and remains a key, steady employee for over 25 years.
Current
Today, Mays-Shedd Sales Co. is proud of its 80+ year heritage with the Pennzoil brand, first with Mays Oil and now Mays-Shedd Sales Co. We are proud to be associated with, represent, and repackage our great brands of Shell, Pennzoil, Chevron, Kendall, Conoco and Service Pro lubricants in southwest Ohio. John Shroyer joined the company in 2014 as a salesman, marketing, and internet specialist. Our biggest assets are our customers, our relationships with our customers, and our great, loyal, long-time employees. The common thread of our 80+ year history is SERVICE! Greg makes sure that all of our employees never lose sight of the fact that SERVICE, a department started over 40 years ago by Jim Shroyer, is what has brought Mays-Shedd Sales Co. through the years to continue serving all of our customers today.