THERE would be very few farmers in the Garah region who haven’t called Reg and June Riley for a tank of fuel they desperately needed.
After 40 years in the fuel industry, Reg and June have just announced their retirement from delivering fuel on farm to their community and surrounding districts, which they’ve been doing since 1976.
A long lasting career was first started 41 years ago, when Reg and June started running a fuel truck for their first fuel company.
In 1980, Lowes Petroleum Service bought out that business and kept Reg and June on as employees, where they have stayed ever since.
For the last 37 years, Reg has been driving his fuel truck to most farms across his district and June has been servicing the two fuel bowsers at their house, as well as keeping books for the business.
The couple has been two of the longest employees of Lowes Petroleum Service and were recently given an award for excellent service by the company.
Back in the late ’70s, Reg had been working on a farm until it was sold and he was looking for a job to replace his old one.
It was then an opportunity came up to start delivering fuel, which he had never had any experience with, but decided to take it on anyway.
This was the start of a great career for the Rileys, who said it had been a very enjoyable few decades.
During most months, the Rileys would deliver between 20 and 30,000 litres of fuel to their clients on farm, as well as through the bowsers.
The community they have been servicing is a very agriculturally productive area, with cropping one of the area’s main enterprises.
In any rural town, fuel services are at their busiest during sowing and harvest time, which was especially true for Reg and June, who had clients hundreds of kilometres away from bulk fuel services.
Reg said when the season was good, sowing and harvest were extremely busy and he’d take fuel to as many as 45 customers in only a couple of days.
Last year was one of the couple’s biggest harvests, where at one stage they delivered and sold 50,000 litres of fuel in just 12 hours.
“We normally do about 50,000 litres a month in our busiest time, but this was an exception,” Mr Riley said.
With storage, the couple was able to hold 88,000 litres at the depot and June said they had to wait for more a couple of times during the busy time.
With customers from Garah, Boomi, Moree and Mungindi, the Rileys have become very well known across the district.
Over the years, they said they’ve helped hundreds of customers on their last few drops of fuel, whether they’ve been in a header or a car travelling through town.
Reg said the best part about his job was how social it was and being able to build a rapport with very loyal clients.
Because the Rileys have been at the fuel game so long, they’ve serviced generations of farmers across their career.
Mrs Riley said when they first started, they were delivering fuel to some of the same properties they’re dealing with now, only they’re dealing with the farmers’ sons and daughters.
Last week, the couple’s retirement was celebrated by their company, community and family.
About 100 clients and friends gathered at Garah to give the Rileys a proper send off from the fuel industry.
Lowes Petroleum Service gave the couple a free trip to Sydney to watch their favourite National Rugby League teams play each other.
It's been an extremely rewarding career and we're both going to miss it very much
The fuel depot at the Rileys’ house will now be turned into an automatic fuel system, where people are able to use their key card to pay for it.
Both the Rileys said they would miss their jobs very much, but they were looking for some well deserved rest and relaxation.
“It's been an extremely rewarding career and we're both going to miss it very much,” Reg said.
Lowes Petroleum Service northern NSW sales manager Brandan Munn has been dealing with the Rileys for the last 13 years and said their dedication to service was second to none.
“The level of service that they’ve provided is not just exceptional, but probably something that can’t be replicated,” he said.
Mr Munn said it would be impossible to put a dollar figure on how important it was to have loyal, long-term employees like the Rileys for a company such as Lowes.
He said having Reg and June in the community was very important for farmers and businesses as if they needed fuel, Reg and June could get it to them quickly and professionally.
Lowes will continue to service customers in the Garah and surrounding districts.
