Are you buying fuel from BP?

[undeterred]

Poll question: Are you buying fuel from BP?

[polichick]

1. Remember, it's BP Amoco now. There's a station close by but I won't be...

...going there again.

[undeterred]

2. I haven't heard anyone call it that since the accident

happened. I thought maybe they dropped "Amoco".

[polichick]

3. Still says it on the receipts and some signs, though technically they've dropped it. nt

[TexasObserver]

4. No, I am boycotting them

[NYC_SKP]

5. ARCO, BP Gas stations, Amoco, Castrol Oil, others.

I think I've got this right.

On the West Coast, it's ARCO stations, I never use them.

From the "boycott BP" Facebook page:

Boycott BP stations. BP brands to boycott include Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm, Amoco, and Wild Bean Cafe

:patriot:

[undeterred]

7. Thanks!

[polichick]

8. Thanks for the whole list - our signs say BP Amoco. nt

[Bluzmann57]

6. Haven't bought fuel from them for quite some time

1-usually their gas is more expensive than others and 2- I haven't forgotten about the pipeline deterioration up in Alaska a few years back and their total lack of responsibility taking for that. However, if there is no place around to buy a soda or some beer, I may stop in one of their convenience stores. Rarely, but sometimes I do. There is one here in town that has a good beer selection so sometimes I go in there.

[rox63]

9. The BP station I pass every day on my way to work has been pretty empty lately

Most days, I see no cars there at all. Occasionally, there has been one car there gassing up. I think a lot of people 'round these parts are also boycotting them.

[polichick]

10. That's good - I'll have to take a look here; usually that station is packed. nt

[Wilber_Stool]

11. Yeah, I'll still

buy the gas. They're a global company. You wont hurt them. The only one you'll hurt is the franchise owner. It's not his fault.

[undeterred]

12. I do feel bad for the people running the gas stations

but not bad enough to buy there instead of somewhere else. They make their money more from the convenience products than the fuel, I'm told.

[Colonel Bat Guano]

25. This is a good point...

With boycott talk, I figured individual owners of gas stations, who are totally blameless here, would be hurt more than BP.

Solution: don't buy BP gas at the station, but pick up some beer or cookies or something at a BP station store. The small station owners will be collateral damage in a (well deserved) boycott of BP fuel.

[newscott]

13. I'm pretty sure they all pull up to the same spigot at the holding facility

It's what is put in them at the gas station that makes the "brand" no? So, in a sense, we all HAVE to buy from BP. We have no choice. Am I right on this?

[taterguy]

19. No, you're not right that we all HAVE to buy gas

Well, we all have to buy some gas, but most of us could drastically cut back how much we buy, if we put enough effort into it.

[Oregone]

14. It really doesn't matter

Theyll sell the same amount as long as global demand stays constant.

[bigwillq]

15. It doesn't matter

They're all crooks.

[skepticscott]

16. Hate to break the news to you

But you would have no idea whether or not you're buying gas from BP. Oil companies swap product all the time and sell to independent stations, so you have no idea what you're getting. Same goes for kerosene, lighter fluid, and the fuel that goes in any jet you fly on. Just because you're not stopping at a BP station doesn't mean you're not buying their product.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NYC_SKP]

24. Well, you are only partly right.

All product is sent from refineries to distribution points.

Until then it's all the same all the same in the same pipe. A Chevron Station, for example, may be getting product from a ConocoPhilips or BP refinery.

So it can be hard sure that the fuel you buy under one brand didn't come from a BP refinery. You'd have to track it backwards from the pump to the refinery.

BUT:

From that distribution point the trucks that roll out will roll with specific brand product with their brand additives, ie "Techron" and delivered to gas stations.

Boycotting a BP station will hurt them, because that's still a profit point.

Boycotting product from one of their refineries would also hurt them, in theory, but difficult to do in practice.

AND:

The company makes more profit from non-petroleum sales at their ARCO AM/PM outlets than from fuel sales, so don't buy ANYTHING from them if you want to have an impact.

:patriot:

[skepticscott]

34. Well. I'm not sure about the company

but the people running the station don't make diddly from gas sales, maybe a penny a gallon. Pretty much all of their profit comes from the convenience store (without which, gas stations really can't survive).

[TroglodyteScholar]

17. Other: Can't boycott someone you never did business with in the first place n/t

[harkadog]

18. The gasoline distribution network in the U.S. is mixed

with companies buying and selling gas to one another depending on geographic area. Even if the gas you buy does not say BP but another company it may be coming from BP depending on where you are. http://www.aaanewsroom.net/Assets/Files/OldFiles/distribution.pdf

[Mari333]

20. plastic is made from oil

you dont know if you are inadvertently buying from them or not if you use any plastic.

[JuniperLea]

21. Here's a short list of petroleum products...

Ammonia, Anesthetics, Antihistamines, Artificial limbs, Artificial Turf, Antiseptics, Aspirin, Auto Parts, Awnings, Balloons, Ballpoint pens, Bandages, Beach Umbrellas, Boats, Cameras, Candles, Car Battery Cases, Carpets, Caulking, Combs, Cortisones, Cosmetics, Crayons, Credit Cards, Curtains, Deodorants, Detergents, Dice, Disposable Diapers, Dolls, Dyes, Eye Glasses, Electrical Wiring Insulation, Faucet Washers, Fishing Rods, Fishing Line, Fishing Lures, Food Preservatives, Food Packaging, Garden Hose, Glue, Hair Coloring, Hair Curlers, Hand Lotion, Hearing Aids, Heart Valves, Ink, Insect Repellant, Insecticides, Linoleum, Lip Stick, Milk Jugs, Nail Polish, Oil Filters, Panty Hose, Perfume, Petroleum Jelly, Rubber Cement, Rubbing Alcohol, Shampoo, Shaving Cream, Shoes, Toothpaste, Trash Bags, Upholstery, Vitamin Capsules, Water Pipes, Yarn...

Your keyboard is plastic...

[readmoreoften]

22. Really? Do you think a consumer boycott is going to solve this? Do you think

Shell (who assassinate labor activists), Chevron (who support the fascists in Burma), and Exxon (need I say anything at all) are "better sources" for gasoline?

[Kitty Herder]

26. There is no bp in my area, but...

if there were, I still wouldn't buy from them.

[DireStrike]

27. I see no reason to boycott them.

Every one of these companies is just as bad. BP just got caught holding the hot potato.

[Scuba]

28. Don't punish the minimum wage clerk at your local station...

...BP will have no trouble selling their oil.

[taterguy]

30. I don't like NC State athletics

Am I "punishing" concession workers at the RBC Arena by not going to games there?

[Scuba]

32. Interesting analogy...

...my point is that boycotting your local BP station will only punish the everyday people in your neighborhood. The fat cats that are stealing - and ruining - our country won't feel your boycott one iota.

[tinymontgomery]

29. Not if I don't have to

but some times I don't know who I'm buying from because it doesn't say

[City Lights]

31. No. Haven't purchased gas from a BP station in years.

:thumbsdown:

[Change Happens]

33. No, and I have always avoided them, tend to be the highest prices

in my area...