A novel idea whose time has come....Gas Pricesand How to Bring Them Down

[whistle]

I hear we are going to hit $3.00 a gallon very soon! (perhaps some places already have). 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. 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 it and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.75 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 whimp (sic) 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 about thirty people. If each of you 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 generation 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 million 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 and DON"T purchase ANY gasoline from EXXON and MOBIL. That's all.

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email 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 can make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

WJH

"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. What alternatives do you recommend?

What other gasoline stations are there that provide the high quality gas and the number of gas stations as Exxon and Mobile?

[flying_wahini]

2. a great idea,

but $1.30???????????? are you kiddin' me?
it'll never happen, but I'm with ya, baby.........
i know i'm screwed when i say that $2.00 gal sounds good.....
just bending over....

[pstans]

3. How about walking or riding a bike or car pooling instead?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. But that would make sense.

.

[Redstone]

4. That's a really, really stupid idea.

If you don't buy from company X and/or company Y, but don't cut back on your usage, you'll still be buying from some other company. How fucking hard is that to understand?

Therefore, the demand will still be there, and it doesn't make the slightest difference how many companies the demand is spread among.

God, how many more times do I have to say it: The only way that consumers canhave any effect on gasoline prices is for everyone to use less.

Period.

Wild-ass, "we'll-fix-the-bastards" schemes won't do it.

I heard ALL this kind of nonsense back in the 1970s. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.

Redstone

[whistle]

9. When in Rome, do as the Romans do Redstone, the U.S. economy

...is based on competition and boycotting one giant conglomerate oil company like Exxon and Mobil even if it's for a short time like 30 to 45 days will certainly get their attention. Just don't buy gas from those two company stations.

I have avoided Exxon/Mobil for the last 15 months and I believe other people have also. The Mobil stations are fewer and far between and I'm also seeing Exxon stations closing in our area. This will just speed things along. As for alternatives as far as transportation, I have managed to drive far less then I did a year ago, in fact I've cut my driving in half, but price4s are still going up. My sacrifice seems to have ended up in another's gas tank. If I could eliminate driving altogether sure that might make a difference. But as I walk to the grocery store, I see hundreds of automobiles zipping by me. So why not try the company boycott route.

Maybe, everyone should just go to the same retail outlet to get their gas. Let's all try Sunoco for two weeks. There are new Sunoco stations opening every day in Orlando, I could do that. Just line up at Sunoco stations and fill up for the next two weeks. Make a lottery out of it. At the end of two weeks change stations, CitCo for two weeks. Then Shell for two weeks. But no Exxon or Mobil at all during that time. Just watch the power of the marketplace.

[Redstone]

10. Not going to happen. As I said, I heard all this nonsense

30 years ago. Didn't work then, won't work now.

The ONLY thing that will work is for a large number of Americans to use less gasoline.

Wild-ass schemes won't do it.

Furthermore, promoting "chain e-mails" is a lousy idea. I get enough of this crap in my inbox as it is (as do many others), so PLEASE don't do us any favors by inciting more useless spam.

Restene

[skipos]

18. A large number of AMericans using less gasoline

sounds like more of a "wild ass scheme" to me. I don't know to many people joyriding nowadays. Most people use gas because they have to.

[northzax]

19. dirty little secret of the gasoline industry

it's all the same gas. The stuff you buy at MobilExxon, and the stuff you buy at Shell, and the stuff at the local cheapo place is all the same gas. it comes from the same place, the same local wholesaler
ExxonMobil makes their money from production and wholesale, not retail. they don't care, one way or the other, if they make their money from selling gas to an Exxon station or a BP station, they make the same amount of money you can boycott CVS but you're still buying the merck drugs from walgreens. They don't really care. or buying dr. pepper instead of schweppes ginger ale hoping to lower the price of ginger ale. it's the same company, and the same local bottler, they don't care which you buy, as long as you keep buying.

did you notice, after Katrina that the cheap, cash only places, were more expensive than the branded guys? good reason for that, they buy gas on the short term spot market, from the same wholesalers, the branded places have contracts that create a more stable price scheme.

By the way, this could, in fact, work. As long as you can somehow ensure that every station in your area buys from a different wholesaler, and you, and everyone else, only went to places that bought from one wholesaler. but since there is generally one wholesaler in every region it will never work. only a dramatic reduction in demand or an increase in supply will change things, and neither is likely.

ever notice all the places that sell gas that aren't oil companies? WaWa? WalMart? Safeway? etc? did they build a refinery somewhere, or buy it from someone else?

[Lugnut]

24. You're right.

My b-i-l had a service station and heating oil business until the late 80s. While at the bulk plant to pick up a tanker load of heating oil he would see gasoline tankers from several different companies lined up nose to tail to load from the same gasoline platform.

[eallen]

5. It won't work.

If you're in the vicinity of a major university, ask any economics major to explain why it won't work. (Here's a hint: you're discussing two different roles, the brands that franchise retail stations, and the companies that distribute fuel to them. Do you know for a fact that the different brands on opposite street corners actually come from different sources?)

[Redstone]

7. And furthermore, "chain letters" are extremely annoying and stupid.

Even if they're "chain e-mails" instead of actual letters.

Redstone

[whistle]

12. Do you have Exxon/Mobil stock you need to dump Redstone?

...What do you personally have to loose by trying what has been suggested? And would you care to share with the rest of us just what sacrifices you have made during the past twelve to fifteen months to cut back on your personal energy usage?

I'm driving over 50% less than I did last year at this time and using over half the gas. I am using 35% less electricity than I was 15 months ago because I made a conscious effort to conserve by setting my thermostat higher in the summer (84F) and lower in the winter (off except for days when the temperature outside becomes unbarably cold). Cooler showers, more clothes drying on the back porch.

Fewer washes, I've been doing it. And I'll do more if I can find other ways to accomplish more efficiencies. I'm consuming much less in the way of products also as I know that every little bit helps there. Recyling, doing it. Turning out lights, fans, avoiding unnecessary cooking (use the toaster oven instead of the large oven, etc.) I'm all ears, show me what else I can do by example.

[Redstone]

16. No, I do not own stock in either company (or any other company either).

My "stock" is in gold coins, buried in the backyard, in fact.

My purpose in arguing with you is threefold:

1) To save people the trouble of getting all hot & bothered about "schemes" that simply will not work.

2) To especially save people from a flood of such "great ideas" that didn't work 30 years ago, and won't work now in their email inboxes, like they used to get in droves of their fax machines.

3) To try, once again, in yet another tilt at a windmil, to make people understand that "clever collusions" and "internet campaigns" that promise an advantage without any individual sacrifice will not work, any more than their fax-based progenitors did.

Last time, and I'm not entering into this discussion again: The only way for consumers to drive gasoline price down is to use less. Not with clever campaigns "against the majors," not with "viral e-mails," but ONLY by the majority of Americans using less gasoline no matter who they buy it from.

If you can't understand that simple concept, you'll never be part of the solution.

By the way, did yo get the wording of your original post from an e-mail? I bet you did.

consider the source, my friend, consider the source.

Redstone

[Redstone]

17. PS: You've made what's known as an "ad hominem" attack; a well-known

logical fallacy.

The steps I've taken to reduce my energy usage have nothing to do with the viability of your plan. And to attack my argument by asking me how much Exxon-Mobil stock I own is a classic "straw man" tactic, which is a logical fallacy as well.

Get a grip. I suspect that you're young, and easily excited about "subversive plans that will definitely work and bring the corporate bastards down if we all just work together."

Idealism isn't a dog that will win this fight. Sacrifice and responsiblity, in the form of EVERYONE using less gasoline, will work. Conspiring as to from whom to buy it and from whom to not to buy it will not.

Furthermore, these "let's stick it to one or two oil companies" ideas are lazy and selfish. Park your car, walk more, ride your bike. These are the things that will lower your energy costs.


Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's theway the world works.

Redstone

[Obamanaut]

8. Not too novel - it's in Snopes

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

[whistle]

13. Well then nationalize the oil industry and control consumption

[Obamanaut]

15. My point was that this is a chain email from as far back as 2001

[IDemo]

11. artificial maneuvers to force gas price changes will not work

This has precisely the same validity as any other internet chain-email scheme: none.

If you want to lessen the impact of high fuel costs on yourself; walk, bicycle, use public transportation (where available), telecommute (again, where available), purchase locally grown produce whenever possible, raise a garden, insulate your house better, use energy-efficient heating, turn the thermostat down in winter and up in summer,,

[insane_cratic_gal]

14. But what companies does Exxon own?

BP? Citgo?... what about the little local station who supplies his gas?

What about Sheets? We know that big companies neutralized the whole Price war by buying up the competitors?

[northzax]

20. the average profit margian for a gas station

is in the neighborhood of 8 cents a gallon. there is a couple of cents wiggle room, but not a buck fifty's worth, as mentioned here. individual operators basically break even on gas, they make their money in the mini-marts.

[phylny]

21. Ridiculous, and it won't work.

ExxonMobil is making most of its profits in crude and from exploration and overseas.

In any event, there's just so much gasoline in our nation. If you buy only from Sunoco or Shell or Citgo or anyone other than XOM, those other companies will end up having to purchase product from XOM anyway. In fact, depending upon where you live, your gasoline at the Shell station may well have been refined and supplied by XOM. And, depending upon where you live, that Mobil or Exxon station may NOT be owned by Exxon or Mobil at all. During the merger, the company was forced to sell of many stations. In a few years, the Mobil station down the corner may be "Valero" or some other brand. It'll happen soon - I forget the number of years the brand rights have been retained by those who bought those stations.

As someone else said, there's a better explanation at Snopes.

And yes, I have stock in XOM. However, feel free to buy your gasoline anywhere you choose :)

[berni_mccoy]

22. You'll exhaust one company's supply...

within 2 months... then you'll be forced to switch.

I don't think this shifting of provider will have much impact because of the way the fuel supply chain works...

I'm not saying it won't 'dent' one company's revenue stream for that time period, but it won't be enough to affect the quarterly earnings significantly for that company.

What's worse, the company you are hitting hard with demand will slowly start raising their prices when supplies start getting low.

I think it is a creative approach, but I don't think it will work.

Try again though.

[northzax]

23. no, they'll buy from the other guy, if they can't get any more

so you're still supporting XOM