Why a gasoline boycott won't work

[voivod]

The 'Don't pump gas on May 15' chain e-mail may be a natural response to record prices and profits, but experts say it'll do no good.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It's easy to hate Big Oil. Gasoline prices are at record highs, over $3 a gallon. Oil companies have so much cash they can't figure out where to spend it.

So when an e-mail arrives urging people to buy no gas on May 15 - saying it would take nearly $3 billion away from oil companies "for just one day" and promising a 30 cent a gallon drop in gas prices "overnight" - it's awfully tempting to go along, savoring that bit of guilty pleasure knowing you're sticking it to Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP or what ever oil company sells gas on your block.

Don't be fooled.

"A one-day boycott makes no sense whatsoever," said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy organization. "You're not reducing consumption, you're just buying on a different day."

The chain e-mail urging the gas boycott has been around for several years, surfacing most years in the springtime. No one spoken to for this article knew who started it, but it doesn't appear to have originated from any consumer or environmental organization.

"It's just one of those weird things that originates on the Internet," said Slocum.

Many of the numbers in the e-mail are either misleading or flat out wrong.

The promise of depriving oil companies of $3 billion dollars a day assumes all the Internet users in the country would normally fill up their cars on the same day, which is of course absurd.

And what about the 30 cent-a-gallon price drop, which the e-mail claims happened during a similar boycott back in April 1997?

"It's absolute urban legend," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks gasoline prices for the motorist organization AAA. "There was no such drop."

Kloza said he looked into prices for all of April, 1997, and said for the entire month they didn't move by more than a penny.

The reason prices didn't budge is that people will still use the same amount of gasoline for the week or month. The Energy Information Administration, which tracks gasoline demand every week, said they've never observed a drop in demand for any week in the spring that could be associated with the boycott.

And gasoline, being bought in bulk and traded on a futures market for deliveries arranged months in advance, is a commodity whose price is susceptible to long-term trends, not one day blips. If people don't buy the gas Tuesday, they'll simply buy it Monday or Wednesday.

What might not get bought are the coffees, newspapers or muffins that convenience store owners, who franchise the vast majority of the nation's gas stations and make very little profit off gasoline itself, rely on to keep their shops open.

Paul Fiore, a spokesman for the Service Station Dealers of America and Allied Trades, said his members were not concerned about the boycott because in years past not many people participated.

But Fiore said the boycott could be problematic if it took off.

"We hope citizens understand that they are not harming an oil company, but a small businessman," he said.

[Guitar Shark]

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

[Filthy 150]

My sister just sent me one saying the one day boycott won't work.


BUT... if everyone quit buying from Exxon/Mobil for long enough, all oil companies would be forced to lower prices. Since E/M is the largest company it would strongarm the rest.

This will not work. No boycott plan is going to work. The global demand for gas has increased to the point that the US will never have cheap gas again.

All one can do is buy an economical car...motorcycle...or ride a bike, or walk.

[ZeoBandit]

The ONLY way to reduce gas prices is actually quite simple. Quit using gas.

Walk to work. Ride your bike to work. Get a car that gets 30+ mpg instead of that big ass, hulking SUV that gets 15 mpg.

The sooner people start doing this, the sooner gas prices will go down.

[FORD]

My sister just sent me one saying the one day boycott won't work.


BUT... if everyone quit buying from Exxon/Mobil for long enough, all oil companies would be forced to lower prices. Since E/M is the largest company it would strongarm the rest.

True enough. But I can't help you there. I've been boycotting EXXON since they fucked up Alaska

[willy4pres]

If I didn't live 40 miles away from where I work I would ride a bike every day. I used to do that when I lived in North Carolina, seven miles each way and it was never a big deal. I did the same thing in Yuma for over two years, it was six miles each way. I had a nice moutain bike so the ride was kinda fun (though it got old sometimes).

I wish more people would ride bikes to work, at least those that work within ten miles of where you live.

Employers should offer some kind of incintive for people that ride a bike into work (or anything other then driving a car by themselves). But I know Yuma sucks ass for bike riders, it has almost no bike lanes and their cross walks leave a lot to be desired. Im pretty experienced so I can ride with traffic without any trouble, but it must seem pretty daunting to new riders, I know my wife hates it.

I payed $250.00 to get this bike for my wife:

http://reg.kost.ru/img/gt_avalanche2.jpg

It's actually pretty nice (hers is the disk brake version but it's basically the same). You can get a ton of bike for not a lot of money these days.

[cokemach1]

I hate to tell you guys, but we are just screwed. Pure and simple.

Until the auto industry comes out with a replacement for their archaic internal combustion engine (and there's really no incentive for them to do that any time soon), we are screwed. Shut up, good night, and take it up the ass. Think about advances in technology throughout your lifetime. How many still have the core design to them? NOT many. The internal combustion engine has seen improvements, but the core is still there. Not many other fields can you say that (thanks to technoligical advancement).

And now that China is getting going on using these types of fuels, it's going to get even more interesting about 20 to 30 years from now.

And yes, the auto industry is suffering. But that has more to do with competition, overhead and the expense of buying new vehicles for consumers today. The gas prices haven't helped (don't see too many people not getting a car they'd REALLY like because it only gets 25 mpg), but that is small change compared to these other factors.

We are these oil company douchebag's bitches. And until we REALLY want change, enough to where it will HURT (like, downgrading lifestyles, living closer to work, getting a job closer to home that may pay less that could lead to skipping a meal here and there - WHICH AIN'T HAPPENNING ANY TIME SOON), we are going to continue to take it.

AND DON'T WAIT FOR WASHINGTON D.C. TO DO ANYTHING! That would be like getting advice from a hooker to cure your nymphomania (not that there's anything wrong with nymphomania ).

[voivod]

[edwardv]

I have been driving 4 cylinder cars since the 70s and I have the money to buy
SUVs and 6 and 8 cylinder cars. If everyone did this it would work. Oh by the way, every president since Nixon is responsible for this mess and the OPEC funding of Muslim Terrorists with oil revenues. Both parties suk on this issue.

[3_6_9 time]

If gas was reasonably priced at $3 + a gallon that would be one thing but this is an ARTIFICIALLY inflated price. Oil companies have been reporting record profits for months, refineries are pumping at less than optimal levels for almost 2 years and now shady dealing skimming millions of barrels of oil in Iraq (thanks for those low gas prices Mr. President). We need to have a regulated oil industry where the public isn't raped daily.

[joey-tromollo]

Gas was around a buck when this asshole became president.Hes an oil tycoon
to start with.The oil scumbags made record profit.Plus we have all the oil we can take in Iraq.Remember thats why we are there..Gas should be 50cents
a gallon.. Impeach Bush (scum)

[onefootoutthedoor]

Gas was around a buck when this asshole became president.Hes an oil tycoon
to start with.The oil scumbags made record profit.Plus we have all the oil we can take in Iraq.Remember thats why we are there..Gas should be 50cents
a gallon.. Impeach Bush (scum)

Gas a dollar a gallon when GW became president? Try again.

[FORD]

Gas a dollar a gallon when GW became president? Try again.

Well, it wasn't too far above that. But it was Poppy Bush who put it over the $1 mark. And that should have been the first fucking clue. Or maybe the second, after the FAKE oil shortages of the 70's.

Problem is that oil is running out and one day there WILL be a real shortage.

We simply have to evict oil industry criminals from the White House, and KEEP them out. When the oil industry has been behind every Republican presidency since WWII and at least one of the Democrats (LBJ) then it's pretty simple to see why this government won't do a goddamned thing to shut down the oiligarchy.

[LegallyInsane]

Here are some related questions to ponder: How many different formulas for gasoline are required across the country? How many new refineries have been built in the past 30 years? Has the ethanol supply problem which helped drive prices up last year been resolved?

On a more personal scale, ask yourself these questions:
What kind of car do you drive? (I love seeing "Boycott Exxon" stickers on
big SUVs.)
Do you maintain your car? (A well maintained engine is more efficient.)
Do you maintain proper tire pressure? (Improper tire pressure = shitty gas mileage)

Among the more basic (and more likely to be effective solutions) is to consume less gasoline thereby increasing supply and lowering price.
My next car will likely be a hybrid; I'd like to buy it now but I am enjoying
not having a car payment for the first time in several years...

Regardless of your political persuasion, US Energy Policy has sucked for
nearly 40 years. We learned nothing from the Arab oil embargoes of
the 1970s, missed opportunities in the 80's and 90's, and have painted
ourselves into a corner. Oh well. I'll just wait for the "Mr. Fusion" to
come out.

[LegallyInsane]

Well, it wasn't too far above that. But it was Poppy Bush who put it over the $1 mark. And that should have been the first fucking clue. Or maybe the second, after the FAKE oil shortages of the 70's.

Problem is that oil is running out and one day there WILL be a real shortage.

We simply have to evict oil industry criminals from the White House, and KEEP them out. When the oil industry has been behind every Republican presidency since WWII and at least one of the Democrats (LBJ) then it's pretty simple to see why this government won't do a goddamned thing to shut down the oiligarchy.

Can you cite a source regarding gas prices under Bush 41? I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.