Be an SC and Boycott Gas!

[Mara-chan]

My last post reminded me of a really stupid customer.

A few months back there was an SC who would rant to anyone in the store (customers and employees alike) about how the gas was going to be $5 a gallon soon (it was $3 at the time) and it was the gas companies fault. So she was organizing a boycott of the gas stations...

...but only on the 15th and 16th of the month. That'll show em!

I guess it never occured to her that it would solve NOTHING because if people needed gas on those days, they would either buy it on the 14th or 17th and the gas companies would still get their money.

The best part of this was I watched as she left the store. Guess what she drove?

YUP! An SUV! And it wasn't a hybrid!

Go ahead and boycott and complain because it's people like you driving SUV's that CREATE gas shortages! I'll stick with my little car and fill it up only once a month.

[Greenday]

Facebook had a boycott like that. They did it like twice so far. It's so obnoxious. As long as people buy the same amount of gas, the oil companies won't care. And all the gas that isn't bought on that specific day will be bough the day before or the day after. In fact, I'd raise my prices the next day because I knew that many more people needed gas and there'd be nothing they could do about it.

[MadMike]

I've gotten the same thing in my email a few times. I just shook my head, deleted it, and moved on.

[Belari]

That makes me roll my eyes too. I think boycotting gas period is dumb. But IF you were going to go about that, you'd have to boycott for MONTHS to make an impact. Basically you'd have to switch to bicycles and walking to avoid using any gas for long enough.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

I feel the same way about Buy Nothing Day. Not that I'm all for consumerism and whatnot, but nobody is really going to want to Do Without. They certainly won't go without groceries. If there really was going to be a big boycott on Buy Nothing Day, my Black Friday would have been relaxing. Of course, Buy Nothing Day was worse than ever, if I recall...

[Bright_Star]

The only way that would ever work is if people gave up their cars & started to walk everywhere or ride a bicycle. That'll never happen cause most people assume that they couldn't function without their cars. The gas companies know this all too well & essentially don't care what the consumer says.

[Rapscallion]

A tank lasts me two weeks. I wouldn't even notice a boycott for two days.

Rapscallion

[Pedersen]

I've seen one variation on the "Boycott Gas" that might work. Basically, boycott one particular gas station (They had picked Exxon for this). Keep boycotting until Exxon is forced to drop their prices sufficiently (I think the target was something like $2/gallon), then we can use them again. And since Exxon has to lower their prices, the other gas stations will have to do the same just to keep getting business.

I can see some holes in it that I don't feel like exploring right now, but it's a possibility at the least.

[Hyndis]

The only way that would ever work is if people gave up their cars & started to walk everywhere or ride a bicycle. That'll never happen cause most people assume that they couldn't function without their cars. The gas companies know this all too well & essentially don't care what the consumer says.

The problem is that most of our cities were built in the 1950's, back when they kept on talking about the automobile of the future, a robot in every household...

So our cities are laid out for cars. They're designed for cars, not for people. Go to Europe or some of the really old cities in the US and they're built for people. You don't even need a car there, but if you live in one of the newer cities mass transit is just a bad joke and everything is too spread out to effectively walk/bike.

Blame the civil engineers of the 1950's.

[earl colby pottinger]

Proof

And the proof of the pudding, is now that the average joe does not know if they have a job next year they are cutting back on unneeded trips/driving and the demand for gas has fallen for weeks. And now we see gas price go down by a good percentage.

[Hyndis]

And the proof of the pudding, is now that the average joe does not know if they have a job next year they are cutting back on unneeded trips/driving and the demand for gas has fallen for weeks. And now we see gas price go down by a good percentage.

The drastic drop in fuel prices are probably mostly due to the stock market collapse. A very significant chunk of the price of oil was from speculators. Since the stock market crashed all of those speculators lost a whole lot of money and have fled the oil market, thus, lower prices.

[Gawdzillers]

I'll stick with my little car and fill it up only once a month.

Once a month?
I have to fill mine every week.
What do you have?

[blas]

The OP most likely works right in town or doesn't have to go very far to get groceries or whatnot. I wish I had that convenience.

I think I picked a perfect spot to live, as I'm just blocks away from gas stations, grocery stores, a mall, etc....I could never imagine having to drive 15+ miles just to get groceries.....and yes, I have a teeny weeny car that gets excellent gas mileage, yet I still need to fill up once every week or sometime once every 10 days...depending on how much I drive during the weekend.....I work 15 miles from home.

Now that it's winter and I have to warm my car up for several minutes before I leave and the sheer cold....makes mileage not as perfect and gas doesn't last as long.

[Bootlegger]

I've seen one variation on the "Boycott Gas" that might work. Basically, boycott one particular gas station (They had picked Exxon for this). Keep boycotting until Exxon is forced to drop their prices sufficiently (I think the target was something like $2/gallon), then we can use them again. And since Exxon has to lower their prices, the other gas stations will have to do the same just to keep getting business.

I can see some holes in it that I don't feel like exploring right now, but it's a possibility at the least.

Doesn't work. Unfortunately you are missing one vital piece of the puzzle. This action, if carried out in large enough numbers for a long enough time, would only hurt the station owners and not really impact the pockets of the oil companies. The company would end up with surplus supplies of fuel which it would turn around and sell to the other oil companies to offset the deficits in their supplies caused by every one using stations not carrying the logo of the boycotted company. The station owners have small leeway(think pennies) in what they charge for gas(petrol for europeans), most of their profits come from what is sold in the convenience stores. Thus, in the end, the only ones hurt by the boycott would be the independent owners of the franchise stations.

[Katwyld]

Doesn't work. Unfortunately you are missing one vital piece of the puzzle. This action, if carried out in large enough numbers for a long enough time, would only hurt the station owners and not really impact the pockets of the oil companies. The company would end up with surplus supplies of fuel which it would turn around and sell to the other oil companies to offset the deficits in their supplies caused by every one using stations not carrying the logo of the boycotted company. The station owners have small leeway(think pennies) in what they charge for gas(petrol for europeans), most of their profits come from what is sold in the convenience stores. Thus, in the end, the only ones hurt by the boycott would be the independent owners of the franchise stations.

Yes, but how much do the gas station owners really make off the gas, what with the taxes and all that... Honestly, there are a few gas suppliers out there that I will not buy gas from, period... but will still stop there for drinks, smokes, whatnot... Yeah, a percentage might still be going to the company but not as much as the gas, I don't think.

As far as people with SUVs... we have one in the family.. the husband needs it for work (he's forever having to haul around LOTS of parts, and we're not talking little stuff... there's been more than a few times that it's been hard to see out the back of the thing), and we also drive from Tennessee to NY at least once a year to see the family, and take our dogs with us (the smallest one is 72 lbs, but he's also 3 ft tall at the top of his head). Necessary evil and all that.

My car is an old '85 Buick LeSabre... but before anyone gets on me about having a 'gas guzzler'... it gets between 18 and 20 miles to the gallon, and I drive 5 miles a day, round trip... Fill my tank, and I'm set for almost a month. Getting a newer, more fuel efficient car for me would cost me more money with the price of the loan, and then eventually maintenance on the thing (I can do most of the mechanical work on the car myself, thus saving myself a ton of money).

And I've known people that have an SUV to be able to carry lots of stuff, and drive about as much as I do, so... However, I will agree... if you're driving a lot, and complaining about the price of gas, and you have one of those... and don't need it,... bite me.