In general, in the petroleum marketing industry a jobber is an independent business person who purchases gasoline, fuel oil, or other refined products from a refining company and, in turn, resells the product.

Often, a jobber owns a bulk plant, as well as gasoline stations or C-store. The fuel purchased from the refiner is stored in the bulk plant and delivered from there to stations or C-stores.

Jobbers also frequently resell refined products to commercial users, government agencies, and industrial accounts.

A jobber who displays at his retail outlets the brand name of the refining company from which he has purchased products is referred to as a branded jobber.

The term jobber has largely fallen into disuse in the petroleum and petroleum equipment industries. A jobber is thought of as a middleman-someone who stands between the manufacturer and ultimate consumer. Because middleman, hence, jobber has a negative connotation, most companies, today, avoid its use.

Resellers of petroleum products, once called jobbers, now refer to themselves as marketers. The trade association long known as the National Oil Jobbers Council is now named Petroleum Marketers Association of America. The association once known as the National Association of Oil Equipment Jobbers is now the Petroleum Equipment Institute.