Gas Prices - Fight Back!!

[Guest ncm2169]

I'd post this in the other gas prices thread, but it won't load. x(

 

I got this via email today. Read it carefully and then please pass it on. The power of the internet could just make this happen!

 

 

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. 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 over 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 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.

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 can 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.

 

Kerry Lyle, Director, Research Coordinator

[Guest ReturnOfS]

If I got a dollar for every time I've seen this message I could afford to put gas into my car :+ LOL

 

I kind of do what this message says anyway because I always go to where the gas is cheapest. In my area that has neither been Exxon nor Mobil. I usually go to one of those gas stations run by the local major grocery store chain. Besides that, I also find that Hess has good deals from time to time.

[Guest ncm2169]

< If I got a dollar for every time I've seen this message I could afford to put gas into my car LOL

 

Yeah, but have you put it to work?

[poiuyt]

Well, you've got everybody in the SF Bay Area on your side, since neither Exxon nor Mobil sell any gas here.

 

Since there's very little difference between brands of gas, the price is largely based on supply and demand. There's a little manipulation here and there on a shortterm basis (I used to have a dumb job in Chevron's Comptroller's Dept, so I have an idea of what goes on), but not much. Anyway, the big oil companies make by far most of their money upstream (extracting and selling oil from the ground), rather than downstream (retailing refined products). Oil companies were so eager to get out of the refining business in the US (except Valero) that we currently have a shortage of refining capacity relative to demand, which is having a nasty effect on current prices.

 

You can't do much about supply, but you can affect demand. Shifting when or from whom you buy gas won't have any affect on total demand. Instead, start taking a bus every now and then, or a train, or ride a bike, or at least sell your SUV or truck and buy a fuel-efficient car. You're going to anyway, so why wait until gas hits $30 a gallon?

[kevininsa]

From Urban Legends website:

 

Comments: If this invitation to participate in a "Gas War" against Exxon Mobil seems familiar, that's because one version or another of the text has been in constant circulation since 1999. Unfortunately, this "different approach" to addressing rising gasoline prices is no more likely to succeed this year than it was in 2004, 2003, or any other year the message has circulated.

 

Economists say it's unlikely that any form of consumer boycott could have an appreciable effect on gas prices nationally. Furthermore, it is hard to conceive of a less effective way to "organize" such a boycott than passing around an anonymous, randomly distributed chain letter like the one above. Past attempts have shown little or no results.

 

"It's hard for a call to boycott to work," Monroe Freeman, author of a book on consumer boycotts, told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2003 when a previous version of this message was spreading via email. "These often are 'Johnny One-Note' efforts which don't have the money, the organization and the sustainability to succeed."

 

A representative of Exxon Mobil echoed Freeman's analysis, characterizing the effort as unrealistic. "Unless total demand is reduced for a particular market area, as opposed to shifting purchases to other companies' stations," the spokesperson told the Union-Tribune, "retail prices are unlikely to decrease — unless, of course, there is an increase in supply to that market area." The major oil companies have consistently denied that consumer boycott attempts have dampened national sales. Service station operators say their pocketbooks are hurt by surging gas prices no less than consumers'.

 

Government sources say the current uptick is a result of the demand for crude oil outstripping production capacity and ongoing political instability in oil-producing regions of the world. U.S. gasoline prices are expected to remain high from now through the end of summer.

 

KevinInSA

[Guest ReturnOfS]

As I said, I'm not buying gas from Exxon or Mobil:-)

[Guest ncm2169]

Good idea or not, we can't stand much more of this:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/business/13exxon.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1144968691-BuCMlYDAkzoS6TS56xeZoA

 

It's a fuckin outrage. x( x( x(

[Guest Dan]

>

>A representative of Exxon Mobil echoed Freeman's analysis,

>characterizing the effort as unrealistic. "Unless total demand

>is reduced for a particular market area, as opposed to

>shifting purchases to other companies' stations," the

>spokesperson told the Union-Tribune, "retail prices are

>unlikely to decrease — unless, of course, there is an increase

>in supply to that market area." The major oil companies have

>consistently denied that consumer boycott attempts have

>dampened national sales. Service station operators say their

>pocketbooks are hurt by surging gas prices no less than

>consumers'.

>

>Government sources say the current uptick is a result of the

>demand for crude oil outstripping production capacity and

>ongoing political instability in oil-producing regions of the

>world. U.S. gasoline prices are expected to remain high from

>now through the end of summer.

>

 

Uh, huh. Yeah, right, sure. The only part I believe is that because of the way wholesale gas is priced that the station owners don't make any more money off of gas when it's priced higher. They make their money off of cigarettes and beer. As for the "supply" and "demand," they are nothing more than manipulations of the oil cartel/oligopy/cartel. Take your pic.

 

Dan Dare

http://www.geocities.com/dandare_laca/DanDare4Hire.html

[JamesK840]

You really can Fight Back!!

 

I already go out of my way to not buy gas from the big corporations whenever possible. Costco often has the best prices anyway, there's a couple small chains around SoCal (though I think public sentiment against the oil companies may be having some effect because one of them, United Oil, is actually just a front for one of the bigger companies) and Arco which is owned by a liberal south american government if I remember right.

 

I firmly believe the industry is way too deregulated and that there is no reason why one company should be able control the supply, refining, transport and sale of a critical national resource, especially without meaningful government regulation. With prices going up and up and one of the many BS reasons being refining capacity (especially in CA--how dare we make them reformulate to reduce smog...) Chevron recently shut down a linked oil field and refinery which were still productive... so it was profitable at $20 a barrel but somehow isn't at $60+?? Bullshit, they're just doing their own OPEC with refining capacities. If you look into it they already do something similar to keep the independent gas stations down.

 

The profits made since big oil (among others) bought the White House should be criminal.

[Guest CTguy]

RE: You really can Fight Back!!

 

I keep hearing that the price at the pump is going up because it costs more for the big oil companies to produce the gas. If that is the case why are the big oil companies reporting record profits?? If their costs are going up as much as the price of gas wouldn't their profit margins stay the same??? It sounds like the price is going up a lot more than the costs.