May 15th - Don't Buy Gas

It does no good not to buy gas on one day.

If you want to make an impact, get a lot of people to stop buying gas long term.

 

What does not buying gas on one day get you? Oil companies know you will be back in a couple of days. Now if we could get people nation wide to give up personal gas and use public transportation to get to work and if necessary at least carpool but no driving except for work. Do that for a month and see what happens. One day is pointless when the company know you depend on their product. But just one month low gas sales will drive them nuts.

 

As anyone who understands the energy market will tell you, the only effective boycott of oil is a reduction in total demand.

Not buying oil on one day is worth nothing. It is like a crack addict saying, "I'm through with you, drug dealer! I'm boycotting you!" It doesn't bother the dealer, since everyone knows the addict is coming back tomorrow to buy twice as much.

Likewise, avoiding particular gas stations does not have an effect on how oil is sourced. The way the oil market works, it is impossible to have any 'selective' boycotts. The market is global, and totally self-adapting. It is the most sophisticated market in the world. As long as you are buying ANY oil, you are supporting the entire system.

I'm all in favor of spreading awareness of how our energy market is not set up to be favorable to the citizens, but don't bother with useless boycotts. They make people feel like they are doing something, when in fact, they aren't. Useless activism is sad, because it tricks people into thinking they are helping. If you want to change the energy industry, the only thing to do is reduce your total demand.

peace,
sam

 

Won't work. A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won't result in lower
overall prices. Prices at all the "good guy" outlets would rise due to the
temporarily limited supply and increased demand, making the original prices
look cheap by comparison. The "bad guy" 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 "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.

Also, oil companies do buy and sell from one another. If a company has a
station that can be served more economically by a competitor's refinery,
they'll do it. 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. 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.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jenayroux @ Apr 30 2007, 09:05 PM) [snapback]432906[/snapback]</div>

Wth? Gas prices are not high. What do you spend on chewing gum; bottles water; vacation; premium ice cream; etc.? Until fuel prices affect your spending habits, it ain't high.

On the same topic: why do so many poor people have cell phones?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jenayroux @ Apr 30 2007, 08:05 PM) [snapback]432906[/snapback]</div>

Do you think you can help out on Global Warming and breathe only once every two minutes?

 

No offense, but this is a lost cause. As noted by others, the price cannot be impacted unless demand is truly decreased. No one company can be singled out either. Gasoline and crude oil for that matter are extremely liquid assets (no pun intended). This means the gasoline produced in company A's refinery can be and is sold in any number of other companies' stations.

On to bigger and better things. There are many very good reasons for the price of gasoline to be as 'high' as it is. One being: the gap between supply and demand is virtually non-existent at this point. Gasoline in the US is still ludicrously cheap compared to all other western, industrialized nations.

The volume, or lack thereof, produced in any given region, such as Louisiana, has almost nothing to do with the local price. Transportation cost of petroleum is almost nil in comparison to refining cost. The price of fuel tends to be fairly steady nationwide because excess supply in one location can be readily transported and sold in a location with a relative supply deficit. The high price prevails.

Don't get me wrong. I feel for people who are getting pinched by 'high' gas prices, but change hurts. Better to deal with a little pain now while gas is still relatively cheap than to put off the change in behavior until adjusting (a nationwide shift to consumption habits) is impossible. I estimate that very few people who drive GIANTSUV (fill in any one you wish) actually need them, but they often complain the loudest about the price of fuel. For these folks, I have little sympathy.

 

I'll do what I always do on "don't buy gas day": Go the most expensive gas station in town, and fill up my SUV.

Wanna cut comsumption? Join me, fill your other car with Premium at the priciest station you can find on May 15.

Nate

 

Oh, no, not again.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmann @ Apr 30 2007, 10:55 PM) [snapback]433000[/snapback]</div>

What is your definition of "poor people"? Prepaid cell phone are relatively cheap, as in the $10 range.

I want to know how people who can't afford health insurance can afford to smoke? In NJ, brand name cigarettes (Marlboro, Camel, etc.) are wll over $5/pack.

As far as boycotting gas stations on one day, it will not do much of anything. There are more long term ways to reduce your reliance on oil, which many of the posters here have suggested or actually practice. No harm in suggesting it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 30 2007, 09:13 PM) [snapback]432915[/snapback]</div>

You mean if I don't buy gas for ONE week . . . then buy 2X as much gas, the next week, it doesn't help?

 

OK, I did my part and didn't buy any gas yesterday. Did it help?

 

Ok so here is what we are really going to do. No one buys a new car for 1 year unless the car is zero emissions. No one in the cities uses their car (unless it is zero emissions) and we all demand that public transportation be hybrid, electric, or zero emissions. We start putting solar panels on out homes and work places etc. we do that for a year and gas prices will be very low because we will not really need our cars all that much after that. everyone has to participate not just some small group off the internet. If we actually did that do you know what the major car companies would do. Suddenly within that year gm would have the ev back and not just one model the other companies would follow with ev cars etc.

 

This is how brilliant this plan is. Don't buy gas on the 15th! So then everyone fills up the day before, or day after. The oil companies lose nothing.

 

Gm would probably come out with a suburban and an big 3500 pickup that can go 1000K on one charge and tow 12k etc. they would say oh yeah it was s sudden break through in battery technology we were not keeping this a secret.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmann @ Apr 30 2007, 09:55 PM) [snapback]433000[/snapback]</div>

How are gas prices not high? I remember just 10 years ago when it was $1 a gallon, it's 3 and a half times as much now, and only getting higher by a nickel a week. I remember paying $20 a tank 3 years ago for my corolla, it's $35 now with my Prius...That's $15 more about every 3 weeks, that's $350 a year that I don't need to be spending on gas.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jenayroux @ Apr 30 2007, 06:23 PM) [snapback]432929[/snapback]</div>

It isn't better than nothing when the premise is to "lower the price of gas." This keeps people in the mindset that lower prices will solve some sort of problem. Cheap gas is what got us into this mess.

Figure out a way to boycott consumers, and then you'll have something. The only way to make a difference is to use less. Not to fill up on Tuesday, skip Wednesday and fill up again on Thursday. Why does anybody think this will make any difference? And if it DID make a difference, what do people think it would help?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mywhitenoise @ May 1 2007, 08:22 AM) [snapback]433233[/snapback]</div>

How much was a house worth ten years ago? Mine is worth 4x what it was worth ten years back. How about a stay at a hotel? The cost of electricity? A postage stamp?

in 1965, my mom bought her first home for $17,000. First class postage was 5c, a pair of Levi's cost $4, and the price of gas was 35c. Her house is worth $900,000 today, Levi's sell for over $30, etc. Don't forget to account for inflation. Gas is still relatively cheap for what you get - and the price at the pump is still artificially low. We are paying for all kinds of stuff through our taxes that end up being subsidies for oil.

Do you really expect gas prices to stay the same as the resource is used up? You expect gas prices to stay the same when everything else (except electronics and a few other natable exceptions) goes up? The oil companies can only charge what people are willing to pay. If you need it, you're going to pay for it. Same as with food and water. If you can do without it, then you win.