Gas Prices!

[loribell]

I got this in an email today. Funny thing is I have been saying for over a year that gas prices should not even be at $1.50 let alone closing in on $3.00 a gallon. Living in an oil state and seeing all the wells that are going in just really irritates me.

Saying that I really believe this is something we should try out and what better way to reach lots of people than posting in a huge forum like the DIS. Exxon's billion dollar profit quarters need to come to a stop and the only way to do that is to refuse to use them.

Feel free to send this to your friends and family. Lets see if we can get someones attention!

Subject: Gas Wars- Don't Buy Exxon/Mobil READ THIS PLEASE




GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola
executive It came from one of his engineer buddies
who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your
consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action.

Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes
MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by
refusing to buy gas.&nb sp; It was more of an inconvenience
to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever
thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can
really work. Please read on and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us
to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their
gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.
How?

Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of
people!!

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 mill ion people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all! (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people....
Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.)

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we ca n make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL
THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK


Thanks for the vent!
Lori

 

[Todd&Copper]

This "gas boycott" won't work. From Snopes (dot) com website [discusses/busts urban legends]

This year's litany of complaints about gasoline prices is a re-run of the same program from years past: Gasoline prices in the USA are too high; gasoline is a unique commodity whose price isn't subject to the usual market forces of supply and demand; OPEC and greedy American oil companies secretly manipulate the market to keep prices artificially high; and a simple boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline will rectify all this.

Oil companies can manipulate their prices somewhat by controlling how much gasoline they produce and where they sell it, but they can't alter the basics of supply and demand: prices go down when people buy less of a good, prices go up when people buy more of a good, and prices go way up when demand outstrips available supply. The "gas out" schemes that propose to alter the demand side of the equation by shunning one or two specific brands of gasoline for a while won't work, however, because they're based on the misconception that an oil company's only outlet for gasoline is its own branded service stations. That isn't the case: gasoline is a fungible commodity, so if one oil company's product isn't being bought up in one particular market or outlet, it will simply sell its output to (or through) other outlets:
Economics Prof. Pat Welch of St. Louis University says any boycott of "bad guy" gasoline in favor of "good guy" brands would have some unintended (and unhappy) results.

. . . Welch says the law of supply and demand is set in stone. "To meet the sudden demand," he says, "the good guys would have to buy gasoline wholesale from the bad guys, who are suddenly stuck with unwanted gasoline."

So motorists would end up . . . paying more for it, because they'd be buying it at fewer stations.

And yes, oil companies do buy and sell from one another. Mike Right of AAA Missouri says, "If a company has a station that can be served more economically by a competitor's refinery, they'll do it."

Right adds, "In some cases, gasoline retailers have no refinery at all. Some convenience-store chains sell a lot of gasoline — and buy it all from somebody else's refinery."
A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won't result in lower overall prices. Prices at all the non-boycotted outlets would rise due to the temporarily limited supply and increased demand, making the original prices look cheap by comparison. The shunned outlets could then make a killing by offering gasoline at its "normal" (i.e., pre-boycott) price or by selling off their output to the non-boycotted companies, who will need the extra supply to meet demand. The only person who really gets hurt in this proposed scheme is the service station operator, who has almost no control over the price of gasoline.

The only practical way of reducing gasoline prices is through the straightforward means of buying less gasoline, not through a simple and painless scheme of just shifting where we buy it. The inconvenience of driving less is a hardship too many people apparently aren't willing to endure, however.

 

[babiesX2]

I snoped this chain email you posted. www.snopes.com
While your intentions are noble, this just isn't a good idea. Below explains why:

"The only practical way of reducing gasoline prices is through the straightforward means of buying less gasoline, not through a simple and painless scheme of just shifting where we buy it. The inconvenience of driving less is a hardship too many people apparently aren't willing to endure, however." Source http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

Edited: The above poster beat me to it so I deleted to avoid boring everyone. I left the info about how to truly "fix" gas prices.

 

[sandy6879]

Regardless of whether it will "work" some attention needs to be paid that ExxonMobil is profiting in the billions per quarter all the while saying that they aren't making money off the gas price increases.

Now, I personally don't know if the smaller gas stations are supplied by ExxonMobil but I'm all for not buying my gas from the main stations. If that in itself doesn't stop the prices then nothing short of government intervention will.....

 

[RADOPT]

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Lori

I remember when a Gas War was where the stations LOWERED their prices to get you to come to them

Maybe if they would stop speculating about the price, it would not go up as much. A few months ago the news stations were talking about how gas was going up by so much over night. Well, it did not but because of them some stations raised it because of what they heard on the news!

 

[T. Lynn]

I got that same email today. Boy it is really going around.

I've actually gotten that email last year as well. Gee, guess it didn't work...

 

[jennifer293]

I got that same email today. Boy it is really going around.

I've actually gotten that email last year as well. Gee, guess it didn't work...

I got that email last week ...and I got it last year!! Someone must have liked it so much they saved it from last year..

 

[cobbler]

Not even gov't intervention will work. How many politicians have stock in the oil business? They aren't going to do anything except talk a good game.

And yes Exxon execs are making a tremendous amt of $$. Anyone see NBC nighly news last night or the night before? The top exec made. NYTimes I believe broke down what he makes/made 630? some odd million dollars over the last couple of years to $100.44 a minute. Even while sleeping.

 

[spiceycat]

I agreed it won't work - not with China ready and able to buy all the gas that they can....

it is not only our economy that relies on gas these days it is China too.... not to mention Europe and just about every where else.

In the old days yes this would work. but those days are gone forever. It is a world economy and we have to pay world prices...

Now what would help if everyone did like we did in the 70's.....

speed limit 55, buy a gas saver car instead of a van or VCR....

like that is going to happen in this country.....

 

[deide71]

Actually the higher gas prices will eventually change behavior. I drive 30mi each way to work. I have a little sedan that gets 30mi/gal. Last month a co-worker of mine asked me if I would be willing to carpool with her. She has a Suburban that gets 12mi/gal, so 4gal round trip, 20gal per week. She pays me $5 a day. I drive.

Well, word got around at work, and now I have 2 more people in my carpool. They also pay me $5/day to drive them to work.

So I figure we are now consuming 40-50 gal less per week than we were a month ago. This is just one small example of how consumer behavior will change as gas prices go higher.

I realize China and other countries will continue to consume more oil, but the U.S. is still by far the largest consumer of oil in the world.

If the increase in prices is what it takes to get us to consume less oil, or get serious about alternative energy sources I am all for it.

 

[jenr812]

Actually the higher gas prices will eventually change behavior. I drive 30mi each way to work. I have a little sedan that gets 30mi/gal. Last month a co-worker of mine asked me if I would be willing to carpool with her. She has a Suburban that gets 12mi/gal, so 4gal round trip, 20gal per week. She pays me $5 a day. I drive.

Well, word got around at work, and now I have 2 more people in my carpool. They also pay me $5/day to drive them to work.

So I figure we are now consuming 40-50 gal less per week than we were a month ago. This is just one small example of how consumer behavior will change as gas prices go higher.

I realize China and other countries will continue to consume more oil, but the U.S. is still by far the largest consumer of oil in the world.

If the increase in prices is what it takes to get us to consume less oil, or get serious about alternative energy sources I am all for it.

You are making out

 

[Katie]

Good for you! I wish more people could do that!

My husband drives 60 miles each way to work. My son drives 35 miles each way to work. Neither carpool.

Husband is interviewing in our small town Thursday. If he gets that job...he can walk to work. We figure he can take a 10,000 cut in pay if necessary just to save gas/time/wear/tear ect. Plus he will be working in the same school our kids go to!

From University of Illinois, to small town school..don't see that much anymore!

 

[KimRaye]

I remember when a Gas War was where the stations LOWERED their prices to get you to come to them

AMEN!

 

[daughtersrus]

Originally Posted by RADOPT
I remember when a Gas War was where the stations LOWERED their prices to get you to come to them

Me too! My dad owned a Shell gas station while I was growing up. I remember waiting in line to get our gas when there was a gas shortage. This was in the 70's and the price was $.37 (9) a gallon! Oh, those were the days.

Originally Posted by deide71
Actually the higher gas prices will eventually change behavior. I drive 30mi each way to work. I have a little sedan that gets 30mi/gal. Last month a co-worker of mine asked me if I would be willing to carpool with her. She has a Suburban that gets 12mi/gal, so 4gal round trip, 20gal per week. She pays me $5 a day. I drive.

Well, word got around at work, and now I have 2 more people in my carpool. They also pay me $5/day to drive them to work.

So I figure we are now consuming 40-50 gal less per week than we were a month ago. This is just one small example of how consumer behavior will change as gas prices go higher.

I realize China and other countries will continue to consume more oil, but the U.S. is still by far the largest consumer of oil in the world.

If the increase in prices is what it takes to get us to consume less oil, or get serious about alternative energy sources I am all for it.

You may want to run this past your car insurance agent. When I was working for Spiegel many years ago, they relocated the Chicago offices to the suburbs. Many people decided to commute instead of looking for a new job. Many of them car-pooled. It wasn't a problem until one girl was in an accident and sued by two of the co-workers that she was driving. When word got around, many people had to quit because most of the car-pool drivers decided that they didn't want to take the risk of being sued. Many people had to quit because living in the city, they didn't own a car and the public transportation out here to the suburbs isn't very good.

 

[spiceycat]

My husband drives 60 miles each way to work. My son drives 35 miles each way to work. Neither carpool.

60 miles to work - that is what an hour probably more - that is at least 2 hours wasted each day - 10 hours in a week.....

I am so sorry!!!!

I am 2.5 miles from work. If it was level I could walk it - but it has big hills of both ends.... so I drive... (at present)

 

[jillyjoey]

Until US consumers change driving practices nothing is going to change. I hear people complaining about gas prices yet they are still buying the gasguzzling SUVs.
I was one of the many that had a gas guzzler. Last summer, we took a stand and traded a vehicle I loved for a more fuel efficient vehicle. Yes, I took a loss on my trade but I would rather pay Ford (Yes -- a US auto manufacturer) than pay Exxon. I am saving about $30 a week in gas (that was at 2.00 a gallon prices -- so now it is even more). My dh, kids and I carpool and have done so for 2 years now. Yes, it is difficult but I enjoy saving the $80 a week I don't have to put in his truck (which we have kept because sometimes you just need a truck -- that said he has had it for over 2 years and has not even put 6000 miles on it).

Next time you are out count the number of SUVs compared to more fuel efficient vehicles. Around here SUVs outnumber cars 6 to 1 my last count. Another ? -- why do people in the South have to have 4 wheel drive when it like never snows here?--- 4 wheel drive decreases fuel economy do to weight of the vehicle.

 

[carone0318]

I am so happy that I just got rid of my Kia Sedona (minivan) and now drive a Subaru Forester. My gas consumption has gone down considerably. With prices in my area hovering around $2.69 for the minute , it takes about $30 to fill my tank. In my van it would take $30 to get me just over a half a tank. We have to adjust to the size bacause it is smaller, but well worth it. Besides I work for Subaru, so all of my maintainence is at a reduced price so it was definitely worth the change for my family.

I do hope that the prices start to level off, but I won't hold my breath!

 

[jillyjoey]

Carone -- $2.69 you are lucky try 2.83 to 2.87

 

[jillyjoey]

Oh -- here's a tip for everyone if you don't know -- your vehicle has a "sweetspot" for increased mpg. Ford states my vehicle gets 27 mpg hwy. I can get 33 mpg at my sweetspot 61 mph. (A salesman graciously tipped me off when I took my car in for an oil change). If I toggle between 55 and 60 I always get 30 mpg. Of course, this is easier to do if your vehicle has a mpg readout. If not, you will have to take your average when you fill up using your odometer, which may not help due to city driving.

 

[spiceycat]

Until US consumers change driving practices nothing is going to change. I hear people complaining about gas prices yet they are still buying the gasguzzling SUVs.

I guess I was lucky. My brother got the family car (my father was dead) and he got a GTO....gasguzzler.....

I hated this car - every 3 days it had to be filled up. that took around 20 minutes - every 3 days....

now the car did go fast - but filling it up every 3 days got very, very boring....

so I have always had good gas mileage cars.

You also realize that you use up what 40% more gas at 80 mph than 55 mph....Now I hated to go 55mph on the interstate.... but it does save gas.

there are other ways to cut your gas prices than trying to make the the company change...