Bye-Bye, Charge It

Few marketing gimmicks have ever been able to touch the gasoline credit card. With more than 36.4 million such company-issued cards in the wallets and purses of American motorists, stopping for a fill-up has rarely been much tougher than pulling into a station, whipping out the plastic and announcing, "Charge it!" The gasoline credit card was, indeed, one of the first mass-marketed charge cards, appearing as long ago as 1914 when Texaco, then a young company, began distributing them to customers.

Now, when oil companies are looking for new ways to lure drivers to their pumps, the once thriving company card may become an endangered species. Last week Atlantic Richfield Co., the eighth largest American gasoline retailer, an nounced that it was getting out of the credit-card business altogether. After April 15, Arco gas stations will accept neither its own blue-and-gray cards, which are held by more than 3 million people, nor those of Visa, American Express or other credit companies. Industry experts predict that other big gasoline retailers will eventually drop out of or cut back on the credit business. The most widely held cards now used are those of Amoco (7 million) and Exxon (6.5 million).

Although oil companies only a few years ago were mailing out cards to anyone who asked, and even to many people who did not request them, they have become more restrictive in giving out cards during the past two years. Major companies like Exxon now grant only about half of all credit requests. One of the reasons is the problems they have with stolen or lost cards.

Oil companies also complain about the high cost of maintaining the credit service at a time of skyrocketing interest rates. Last year Arco spent more than $73 million to administer its credit-card accounts. Texaco, which has also been plagued by rising credit-card costs, last November started levying a 3% sales surcharge on dealers who accept the Texaco cards for payment. Exxon has launched tests in selected areas to see if a 40-per-gal. discount will reduce credit-card use. The company is now considering introducing the plan nationwide.

About one-third of Arco's patrons currently pay for their purchases by means of Arco cards, and company officials concede that some people could drift off to other gasoline brands once their charge cards are no longer accepted. The company, though, thinks that drivers will keep pulling into its stations because Arco will be passing on its administrative savings to customers. The company says that it will be able to slash gasoline prices by as much as 30 per gal. in the coming weeks as a result of abandoning credit cards. If Arco's sales spurt as its prices dip, other companies will probably follow the lead and hasten the demise of gasoline credit cards. Any station owners who look around their back lots are unlikely to find the signs that were discarded half a century ago. Those read: CASH AND CARRY.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.