Got this e-mail about gas prices..pretty interesting.. could work

[Toots]

Gas War

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the 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 it and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.09 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 about thirty people. If each of you 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 generation 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!!!

gain, 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. PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. Kerry Lyle, Director, Research Coordinator

Interventional Cardiology Research Laboratories Division of Cardiovascular Diseases
932 Ziegler Research Bldg
703 South 19th Street University of Alabama @ B'ham

[politicat]

1. No change here...

We only use the local co-op or Shell. Period. I haven't used Exxon since 1988, and haven't used Mobil since about the same time. Gave up Texaco 7 years ago.

Hell, I'm ready to give up gas entirely; I just need to pay off the last credit card so I can save that dough and buy my diesel Jetta cash.

[Goblinmonger]

2. But

States have laws about the minimum price that gas can be sold for. Not sure what it is based on but my guess is that is has something to do with the price of a barrel of oil.

I don't think this would do jack.

[SnoopDog]

7. No they don't....

States have nothing to do with prices except their taxes..

Please provide a link where you found this info...

[Spike from MN]

21. In Minnesota they do. Stations are required to sell gas at a price

6 percent higher (or up to 8 cents per gallon) above the wholesale cost.And from what I have seen on the news, they definitely do enforce the law. The law for controlling the minimum price of gas was passed in 2001 but State Senator Charles Wiger is introducing legislation to repeal it. Here's a link:

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/caucus/dem/membernews/2005/dist55/20050330_Wiger_Leg_to_relieve_gas_prices.ht

On edit: I don't know about other states but MN definitely does have price controls on gas.

[Goblinmonger]

24. This morning

the local news talked about a guy near Green Bay that also owns a gas station in Anoka, MN that is being charged in both states with selling gas at too low of a price.

MN and WI often have similar legislation. Maybe it is just us.

[mhr]

3. Gas Prices Are High Because Of Peak Oil

They will not be coming down.

Saudi Fields In Decline - More Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1388371

[SnoopDog]

8. No, Mobil and Exxon are enjoying RECORD PROFITS EVER

Not earning but profits.

The oil/gas companies are ripping us off and of course bush is doing nothing about it.

Once again we are being screwed.

[mhr]

11. Price And Profits Are Not Necessarily Tied Together

Oil price is determined by bidding in the commodities markets.

That bidding is based on competitive bidding.

As oil depletion continues, the commodity price goes up - more demand, smaller supply.

Profits are based on final product price - operating expenses.

The oil company operating expenses have not gone up hence there profits have risen.

[SnoopDog]

12. What?

From $1.75 a gallon to $2.50 or $3.00 gallon and you think is is not based on price?

Price and profits are most directly tied to profits...

You all don't care that we are being ripped off? For no reason other than the greed of oil companies?

You must have stock in Mobil/Exxon... and don't drive.

[mhr]

20. Commodity Price Rises - Gas Price Goes Up

Gas is not like a pair of socks that may have been made last year.

Gas is consumed very shortly after it is refined.

Hence, when the underlying commodity rises in price the final product rises in price soon thereafter.

[SnoopDog]

22. If the oil companies' Cost of Goods (crude) is going up and up...

why is their profit going up as well? Inflated gas prices started last year and these oil companies are making record profits .

It would follow that if they have to pay more for crude there profits would be lower or the same...

[mhr]

25. Because Their Fixed Costs Are Not Changing

Their variable cost is fluctuating rapidly - crude oil prices.

If they were making money before the crude price rises then they will be making money afterword as well.

Their is no law that requires them to price according to the costs. In other words, if they can lock in contracts lower than their competitors then they can charge what their competitors must charge and reap the small difference as additional profit.

[tubbacheez]

4. Not gonna work.

If our collective demand for gasoline remains constant, there will be no net effect whatsoever.


Exxon/Mobil will simply start selling their gas to the companies that aren't boycotted.

The companies that are boycotted, having less competition from industry giant Exxon/Mobil, will need to absorb the total demand. As a result, they'll see demand go up and have an easier time raising prices.






Total reduction in demand would have an impact. But simply redistributing demand will not.








(on edit)

Also, people should keep in mind that retail gasoline is only part of our total demand for oil.

Oil is also heavily used for commercial transportation of both passengers and freight. Oil is also heavily used for agriculture, both as fuel and as raw material for chemicals.

[Peregrine]

26. All a boycott will do is hurt the independent owner

A boycotted oil company will just sell their reserves to another company. They are all in this together. The major companies divided up the country a decade or so ago.

All a boycott will do is hurt the independent owners of the stations. So if the point is to hurt a small business man, then boycott.

[maxsolomon]

5. yeah right keep dreaming

washington state doesn't even have the option of boycotting exxon & mobil.

we have shell, 76, arco, and chevron. i already boycott chevron bcuz they cancelled my credit card back in the 80's when i was a week late on a $30 bill.

don't you get it? the american dream? ITS OVER. dreams aren't real.

[Psephos]

6. A fly in the ointment

Once Mobil and Exxon stations lower their prices even a few cents, there will be defections to the cheaper gas. Few will stay with the selective boycott once the price difference reaches ten cents. It only takes a trickle of defections before the urge to also defect, and not be a sucker, becomes almost irresistible. In other words, the market will self-correct the imbalance. Human nature. I see a lot of Volvos and Prius's in the parking lot of the local Sam's Club (Wal-Mart). Even progressives find it hard to avoid cheap prices, despite knowing that their cash ends up in China.

One more thought. Many Mobil and Exxon stations are franchises, not company-owned stores. The Mobil up the street from me has been run by the same family for 20 years. They fix my mom's car and "forget" to charge her for little things...great people.

Boycotting these stations will hurt a lot of small business owners.

Peace.

[Mrs_Beastman]

don't mean to hijack the thread but...

Most gas station make most of their profits from point of sale items(coffee, cigs, chips, lotto tickets)not gas. I think we could make an impact by boycotting point of sale items.

[SnoopDog]

9. I for one agree with you...

If no one buys their gas - they will lower the price. The price is inflated only for their greed - and we let them?

[lectrobyte]

10. Right... The only thing that could possibly work like this is to

maybe cut down gasoline consumption as much as possible. Otherwise, the non-boycotted brands would just raise their prices even higher.

[Berserker]

16. If you stop buying gas from them

you WILL buy gas elsewhere. There are refineries that produce gas for more than one company. In other words tanker trucks from many different brands get there gas from the SAME source. So to stop buying gas from them will not do a single thing but move your business elsewhere.

[carnie_sf]

13. It's already

$3.00 a gallon in Frisco

[Warpy]

14. I fill my 4-chipmunk Ranger with Mcgas

only every few months. My other car is an electric moped, and I use it for all short trips that don't require my hauling more than two big grocery bags full of stuff. The moped costs about half a cent a mile, which makes it very economical. I ride the thing wherever I'd ride a bicycle if I hadn't gotten too decrepit to ride a bicycle.

I use the Ranger for hauling firewood, building supplies (I have a fixer upper), and masses of groceries.

And I never go to a brand name gas station.

[burn the bush]

15. someone suggested not buying any of the convenience items

from the gas marts. Get your grocery items from the grocery store. Don't buy your cigs, cokes, milk,paper at the gas stations.

sounds good to me. will it help?

[northzax]

28. but since most gas stations are independantly owned and operated

that just hurts local businessmen and women, in favour of Kroger?

to the OP: $1.30 a gallon? Oil is sold by the Barrel, right? there are 42 gallons of crude oil in a bbl. one gallon of oil, if it is the lightest grade and refined to the lowest standards, produces as much as .67 gallons of gasoline.

As of CoB yesterday, a bbl of oil was selling for $54/bbl. That is $1.29 for a gallon of oil. but, since you only get 28.14 gallons of gasoline (max) per barrel, the real cost is $1.92/gallon gasloine.

add 15 cents in federal taxes (ignore locals), and if they're selling it at 2.30, they only have 15 cents for refining, transport, r+d, and profit.

[kentuck]

17. Once a week, buy from one company that is not so global...

I think CITGO might be a good alternative on Fridays or Sundays... If we can take money from the biggies just one day a week, that will be billions of dollars...

[Ironpost]

18. A couple years ago

We poured concrete at a distribution center for gas in Tulsa. Trucks from every brand sold locally were getting their gas there.

[Berserker]

23. That was my point Ironpost

Most people don't know this fact.

[BiggJawn]

19. Oh, yeah! i'm REALLY gonna get 'em! BP, and Shell, and Phillips, too!

And Citgo! and Sunoco! and Esso! (whoops, that's part of Exxon)

I don't buy gas from ANY of the "major" brands, in fact, I think people who do are stupid sheep.

Down the road from me, there's a "Gas Murrika" across the street from a Phillips 66. Gas Murrika sells it for $2.23, and Phillips sells it for $2.33.

Now, you'd think the "66" would be empty, with cobwebs on the pumps, right?

WRONG.

Same people who buy the $2.49 "premium" also buy $400 power cords for their CD players because they "believe they can hear a difference" too,

Gasoline's gasoline.

[madinmaryland]

27. I got an email espousing this view yesterday.

While it is a "quaint" view on what could happen, in reality there is no way that this could affect the price of gasoline. The price of gasoline is here to stay. The best way to compensate for the is to conserve, but for some reason no one wants to believe this. (Didn't Chaney say that "conservation is for girly-men"?). This is just more babble, without actually confronting the real problem, which is our exhorbitant use of energy.

[yankeedem]

29. Here are some real solutions to high gas prices

http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/exxon.html

Here's something to try- if you want something that will work, try to not buy gas anywhere.

- Live too far from shopping? Move closer, or along a public transit line. Other than food, you can probably buy everything online anyway, and the whole neighborhoods shopping can show up on one truck.

- Work too far from home? Move closer to work, or get a job closer to home. $2.30 gas prices are in part because many travel 60 miles each way to get to work every day. To paraphrase Sam Kinison- "Live where the jobs are. We shouldn't send them cheap oil, we should send them moving vans, to live where the jobs are."

- Take mass transit- Yes, I know it takes longer, and you can't control the AC, but a full bus defacto gets 275 miles to the gallon. And you don't have the stress of traffic.

Don't want to do any of this? That's ok, even without these measures you have accomplished exactly what boycotting Exxon/Mobil accomplishes. NOTHING.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

30. It's a wonderful idea and I wish it could happen.

I happen to think though, the real solution is to just drive (buy gas) less. Not to stop going to one or the other, but to lower our consumption altogether. Petroleum usage is one of the root causes of many of our problems. From greenhouse gases to massive crude oil spills to our current debacle in Iraq, all created by the lust for gasoline.
I can hear many people saying "but I HAVE to drive". Perhaps you do. I am only suggesting that a method needs to be figured out that lowers or eliminates the need for refined crude oil. Maybe it's called smaller sized cars/engines, less 'road tripping' or more car pooling/mass transit using. All I know is, the root cause is consumption of gasoline and trying to manipulate the sellers into lower prices doesn't really DO anything to get us out of this mess........:shrug:
What say you?

[Psephos]

31. You nailed it perfectly. n/t