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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe People Behind the Joe Biden Sticker That Has Colonized America's Gas Pumps
The stickers first started showing up on gas pumps across the country last year: pictures of President Biden, usually placed to look like he is pointing to the price of the gas, with the words I did that! beside him. After first spiking in popularity online months ago, the stickers are hot once again these days, thanks to recent sharp rises in gas prices$4.33 on average for a gallon of regular. With some consumers mad enough to become sticker vigilantes and Bidens approval ratings in the dumps, theres only one real winner in this situation: the sticker profiteers themselves.
Its been ramping up for a few months, said Javier Estrada Ovalles, whos been doing brisk business in I did that! stickers at his online store catering to car enthusiasts as well as his brick-and-mortar store in El Monte, California. But in this last month alone, once the prices of the gas really started going up, I started getting bulk sales twice or three times more than it was before. He said he went from getting 20 to 30 individual orders a day to 80 a day, and those 80 are often for packs of 10 or more.
The stickers are also moving fast at the Patriotic Products, an online shop run by an Oklahoma-based young man named Keenan. (Keenan declined to give his last name or specific age, saying that hes under 21. He was suspiciously unavailable between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.) Over the past week, Ive noticed an increase of organic sales, meaning Im not having to do advertising, Keenan told me. He estimated that hes sold about 1,500 stickers in that time, which is pretty good, but small potatoes compared to Augustthat was the first month he started selling I did that! stickers, still very early in the trend cycle, when he claimed he raked in $40,000 in sticker sales alone. The field was clear then, but now he has dozens, maybe even hundreds, of vendors to compete with.
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As the stickers have become popular, gas station employees have complained about the difficulty of getting them off the gas pumps or the worry that they might rankle some patrons. Estrada Ovalles protested that he doesnt make the stickers for people to stick on gas pumps, but acknowledged that they end up there anyway. Because of that, his stickers are made of vinyl, he said: If you try to remove em, they will fully come off. Wherever they might end up, its not a pain in the butt to clean up.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/joe-biden-i-did-that-gas-pump-stickers-prices.html
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Demovictory9
(32,320 posts)Tickle
(2,461 posts)gas going down? That would be fabulous. I have also seen those stickers at my local gas station
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)anchor outside of refineries? Gas lines? Odd and Even days?
Until we actually run out of it, or don't need it any more, it will always fluctuate. That's the ways commodities are.
MichMan
(11,778 posts)I thought it was greedy oil companies gouging people just because they can ?
SergeStorms
(18,882 posts)where it starts hurting the bottom line, they'll either pump more oil or lower prices. Either way prices will go down.
People need to start conserving gasoline again. They'll start car pooling again. They'll make fewer unnecessary trips to the stores. There will be more "staycations", rather than driving hundreds of miles for a change of view.
This goes against the grain of America's love affairs with their cars, but they've done it before and they'll do it again. They'll have to.
Even at current prices we're paying much less than other countries, and that was before the sharp increases.
It would be a shame if Americans learned how to conserve for a change.
Beachnutt
(7,187 posts)and say "Genius at work"
RockCreek
(738 posts)I want Putin face stickers, to put over Joe's head.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,773 posts)Hav
(5,969 posts)It would be great If Repubs could be shamed for blaming Biden instead of Putin.
Would require a huge chunk of the US populations to get educated on global markets and fluctuating prices.
Mike Nelson
(9,903 posts)... I have not seen one, yet. From the stuff I've seen, people are more concerned with gas prices than the price of milk or the war in Ukraine. I do think they will want the prices to stay high for the November midterms. I will try to use less gas. If we could start a national movement to use less gas, the supply/demand will change... until then, Gas Corps and Republicans will benefit from high gas prices.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Granted we are both retired, but I really slowed my gas consumption down when it hit $1.20 a gallon many years ago. Trips are combined, needless outings are skipped or wait until they can be combined into necessary trips. I use a 2008 Toyota Yaris for most of errands, so there isnt much more I can do to cut back.
Im hoping that this recent spike will eliminate a few of the road hog gas guzzlers out there and people will shift to more efficient transportation.
Mike Nelson
(9,903 posts)... I moved a couple years ago and made it a point to have everything close. So, I'm lucky... also, I car pool. Two people in Burbank don't have to take two cars to meet a group for dinner in Santa Monica. But with COVID, I think I go to the gas station about twice a year...
Demovictory9
(32,320 posts)Lived in North.hollywood long ago
Takket
(21,421 posts)Ive seen this a couple times. Tried to peel one off and they used the kind of stickers that do t peel. You know what I mean lol. I scratched the head off. That sounds terrible lol but at least Bidens face was off it.
Emile
(21,886 posts)for a short speech from Donald Trump push here.
SergeStorms
(18,882 posts)but I've seen stickers from gas station owners saying, "Do Not Place Stickers on Gas Pumps", so apparently people were putting Biden stickers on the pumps before.
Vandalism, pure and simple.
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)Or, a single-edge razor blade...
Ferrets are Cool
(21,057 posts)Big fines, and televised by the local news stations will deter this bigtime.
MichMan
(11,778 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(21,057 posts)Akoto
(4,261 posts)maxrandb
(15,188 posts)Democrats ignore this shit at our peril.
I removed one, came off easy. The other one I had to scrape with my nails, leaving a shredded unrecognizable mess.
Anyway, it pissed me off for two reasons.
One - it's fucking bullshit, not based in any reality.
Two - it's a smart, inexpensive and simple way to get a message out to vast amounts of Americans.
I am sure that the Ivy League educated Dem campaign and political advisors will say it's an ineffective way of messaging, a waste of time, and a waste of resources that could be used to "educate Americans about the complexities of the commodities market and the nuance of supply chain issues".
These would be the same advisors that were convinced Donnie Dipshit couldn't win.
It is time to face the fact that there are a lot of decent, fair-minded Americans that are either dumb as a sack of hammers, or too damn busy to listen to a 15 minute explanation of the economics of gas prices.
We shouldn't write off those Americans. The Retrumplicans sure don't.
Are these stickers juvenile and idiotic? Sure!
Can they resonate with juvenile and idiotic voters that can make a difference between electing fascists, or sane government? Damn Skippy!
Anyway, what I wouldn't have given for a box of stickers with a picture of Donnie Dipshit kissing Putin's bare ass, with the phrase "I KISSED IT" emblazoned across it.
Retrumplicans know how to appeal to simpletons. Dems should take this page from their book.
We may think it's silly, but sometimes, silly works.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)"It is time to face the fact that there are a lot of decent, fair-minded Americans that are either dumb as a sack of hammers, or too damn busy to listen to a 15 minute explanation of the economics of gas prices.
Hotler
(11,353 posts)renate
(13,776 posts)I quit going to a particular station specifically because of it, and two other people I told about it have quit going too. Gas is gas, I can get it wherever.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)It's the idiot patrons. Add their antics worked, you punished the gas station.
renate
(13,776 posts)So they absolutely know the stickers are there and have chosen to keep them there. They see them dozens of times every day.
Catherine Vincent
(34,485 posts)If they catch anyone with the stickers, they should be fined. It's destruction of property.
If I come across one, I'll take my business elsewhere.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)If you see a sticker, instead of informing the gas station or just removing the sticker yourself, you'll punish the gas station and not the moron who put the sticker there? Makes perfect sense.
Catherine Vincent
(34,485 posts)I'll go elsewhere. My prerogative.