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Gas Price war

J

J_Romley

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:uzi: A friend emailed this to me. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out where to post this. I know it has nothing to do with herps, but we all buy gas. I honestly don't think it will work, but what the HELL! It's worth reading.

Subject: 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 whimp 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!!!


Again, 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


Birmingham, Al 35294-0007 Phone: (205) 934-6163 Fax: (205) 934-7360
 
Joseph, many of us go to the same gas stations all the time, I have gone to the same one for 20 years, and the gas station owner drives me home when I drop off my car for an oil change and we know each others families.

We talk, and I have found that when gas prices jump the extra money does not all land in his pocket. If I were to boycott him, it would harm a long term relationship; if many people together boycotted a few companies, competition for the companies that were being used would increase and as Ken says, gas prices would go up.

In my estimation, giddy simple solutions through fanout emails rarely survive close scrutiny. I do not fault you, as at first glance these emails sound good; and unified action can at times make a difference, but IMHO it just has not worked that way for me with the fanout type emails I have received.
 
Lucille, the other reason such a boycott would never work is that oil companies buy and sell from each other.

The gas you buy at your corner Mobil station may be from Mobil one week, BP the next, and Chevron the week after that.
 
Like I said, I didn't think it would work. I'm glad you two responded because it helps debunk these chain letters. I don't ever send mass emails. I wanted to get some input without bugging everyone in my address book. As for my own gas buying habbits, I stop at any gas station that's close by when I'm low. I have noticed that Mom and Pop station's gas doesn't run well in my boat. I have to go with Mobil, Shell or Chevron. I think the gas is the same, but the more expensive stations (by me anyway) may spend more to keep there holding tanks cleaner. One think I don't understand is that we have a huge stock pile of oil in Texas and Oklahome and now they want to drill in Alaska, but we don't use hardly any of this oil. Are we hording it in hopes that the middle east will dry up? $247 for the cheapest unleaded up the street. My Suburban costs almst $100 to fill up. Makes herping expensive.
 
the cold hard facts and the REAL boycott should be

the makers of those SUVs and big trucks ( not 18 wheelers ). But then I guess the general public would have no gripe on a fill up that will or does cost them $80 or more as my friend does on his big HUGE monster ford truck where it cost me still $30 for a fill up on my 34 gallon GAS powered AMERICAN car that goes as far as his truck does on a tank. I mean did anybody twist anybodies arm to buy that big truck or SUVs ? How about that B.S. tax free purchase of trucks and SUV guzzlers for businesses given out as an incentive by our government. And if you believe that there will be a MASS graveyard for SUVs ( as the old airplanes and outdated jets ) as people talked about the past years when gas went sky high, nope, it won't happen because as you have heard or should of heard by now, consumers with big trucks and SUVs said they don't really care how much gas goes to but might complain if it reaches $3.00 or more per gallon. Well get ready to complain you guys before this is over ! LOL !
 
Ken Harbart said:
Lucille, the other reason such a boycott would never work is that oil companies buy and sell from each other.

The gas you buy at your corner Mobil station may be from Mobil one week, BP the next, and Chevron the week after that.
Click to expand...


I didn't know that. (And me from the Lone Star State, jeez).
 
Mike C, you have a point about the gas hogging suv's. I think that the SUV's are to blame for this too. Opec complains that gas is being used at a all time high, which if vehicles were not getting 5-10mpg, then there would be no problems.


Oh, one more thing. Does owning a H2 hummer give people a license to be a jackass too? About 3 different H2's have went offroad to get around traffic and even blew through redlights, that i have witnessed myself.......
 
Bringerofdoom said:
Mike C, you have a point about the gas hogging suv's. I think that the SUV's are to blame for this too. Opec complains that gas is being used at a all time high, which if vehicles were not getting 5-10mpg, then there would be no problems..
Click to expand...

I wonder what the overall net MPG is, today vs. the 70's, or 80's. Lots of people buying gas guzzling SUV's, but I think the overall increase in fuel economy, especially small cars, helps even it out.

At any rate the all time high useage is more global than a bunch of people owning SUV's. China is going to have the bigger effect on our "way of live" because they are quickly becoming major players in the world, it was last estimated that their middle class population had grown to something like 250 million (don't remember the exact figures, but it was getting closer to the actual population of the whole US) and their fuel useage is getting close to our's and is poised to pass us, thereby the competion for OPEC oil will only get worse.
 
"globalization" of the world economy is a step forward...as much as the republicans shriek about trade and borders...we need to learn to adapt here...and certainly, not using H2's and the like, unless you NEED them is a good way to go !
I have a Rodeo that will be mothballed in Mexico this summer, because it only gets 18 mpg...will be picking up something smaller that is more in the 20-30 range...love the 4-wheel drive...but I don't NEED it !!!!
greg
 
What is likely going to happen is that people will cut out "optional" driving. The industry most likely to be hurt will be tourism. Then that will trickle down to all supporting industries.

People are going to be spending more time at home, I guess.

Which is going to have an impact on those gas stations at every corner. They will find that being out in the boonies where enough people driving by needing gasoline just isn't working out any longer. So that "last gas for 100 miles" will become "last gas for 400 miles" instead.

How long before propane powered cars become cost effective? It's a cleaner fuel anyway. Heck, the generator on my reptile and rodent buildings has a ford engine in it that runs on propane.
 
WebSlave said:
People are going to be spending more time at home, I guess.
Click to expand...


Which should be good for the pet industry. Since people will be spending more time at home they will be looking for ways to improve their home life. A new reptile or home aquarium can be a nice diversion. I know that in years with a long hard winter my sales are better come late January and early February because people a cooped up indoors and are looking for a little distraction. The last two years have been pretty mild and sales were off a bit. I know there were other factors involved as well but it is a part of it.

Bring on the $4.00 a gallon gas

Steve
 
sschind said:
Which should be good for the pet industry. Since people will be spending more time at home they will be looking for ways to improve their home life. A new reptile or home aquarium can be a nice diversion. I know that in years with a long hard winter my sales are better come late January and early February because people a cooped up indoors and are looking for a little distraction. The last two years have been pretty mild and sales were off a bit. I know there were other factors involved as well but it is a part of it.

Bring on the $4.00 a gallon gas

Steve
Click to expand...
It will not help there either. UPS, FEDEX and DELTA will all spank us with new higher rates, keeping shipping out of the question for people. Going to the good out of town reptile shows will be squashed too. Herp trips are already being cancelled or not even planned now.

And as a little note. I have noticed in my years it seems that the timeframe that people spend money on other things (late jan to feb), is because they are done xmas shopping for a while and have money to blow. Normally the 2 months before (November and December) are the crappiest, because of everyone spending their checks for xmas.
 
The price of gas sucks, that is for sure. A tank of gas costs me about $10 to $12 more than late last summer. With that being said, most places people go for vacations, weekend getaways, herp shows and other personal enjoyment trips are mostly within 2 tanks of gas or 600 to 700 miles away. Which equates to about $50 more for gas than last summer. At most. I know for me personally that amount of money is not going to stop me from enjoying my life and doing what I want to do.

Worse case scenario I will just be ordering a soda with dinner instead of a beer and I might pass on a couple of T-shirts that I would have normally bought. I mean when it comes to weekend trips, herp shows, vacations, etc is an extra $50 really going to make or break the trip?
 
The effect is already in progress with

lodging facilities going up ( some with that visitor tax deal ), shipping cost by truck-lines ( wal- mart is rumored a 4 % increase soon possibility ), out of the way places restaurants and stores, etc. I called my favorite lodging place in the boonies of Texas and they say they might have to raise the price because of fall off of tourism ( possibility ) and having to spend those bucks on increase gas prices for them to go to supply places that they use to operate their place/business. On the gas price web sites why is Canadas gas still under a DOLLAR ?
 
old guy said:
On the gas price web sites why is Canadas gas still under a DOLLAR ?
Click to expand...
Canadians buy their gas y the liter, not the gallon.

A price of $0.879 per liter works out to about $3.33 per gallon. Take the currency exchange rate into account, and our neighbors to the north are paying around $2.71 USD per gallon.
 
shrap said:
The price of gas sucks, that is for sure. A tank of gas costs me about $10 to $12 more than late last summer. With that being said, most places people go for vacations, weekend getaways, herp shows and other personal enjoyment trips are mostly within 2 tanks of gas or 600 to 700 miles away. Which equates to about $50 more for gas than last summer. At most. I know for me personally that amount of money is not going to stop me from enjoying my life and doing what I want to do.

Worse case scenario I will just be ordering a soda with dinner instead of a beer and I might pass on a couple of T-shirts that I would have normally bought. I mean when it comes to weekend trips, herp shows, vacations, etc is an extra $50 really going to make or break the trip?
Click to expand...


I agree mostly, my AZ trip is still on since we planned it a couple months ago, before the situation started. However, I am probably going to cut my planned herp expo trips in half, from about 6-8 trips to 3-4. You are right the increase may only amount to $50 extra for the trip, but you've also got to consider that the regular monthly gas expenses, driving to work, etc. will be going up, at a projected $4 a gallon here by summer, that means our gas bill will be more than double what it was a couple months ago. Where I am, in central CA as of 2 days ago, it was already hitting 2.90 a gallon for regular/self service. So the $4 a gallon projection doesn't seem to far off.
 
Pay with Pennies!

I would propose a PAY WITH PENNIES day, where everyone would pay for their gasoline with unrolled pennies. It would require patience, but would let the oil companies know how we feel. I got the idea one day when the dime compartment in my cash register was over flowing (trust me it was the only compartment) I rolled up $15.00 in dimes to take to the bank but I needed gas on the way home so I thought I'd pay with the rolled dimes. Well the snotty B!@#$ at the register told me "we don't take rolled change". Now I'm pretty easy to get along with but I didn't like paying $2.379 for a gallon of gas let alone her attitude. Now I'd already pumped the gas so she didn't really have any choice, but I told her I'd be right back. I took the change into the restroom and emptied the rolls into my pocket. Next I went back to the B!@#$ and put the dimes on the counter and waited while she counted out the change, no her attitude didn't change much but the look on her face was priceless. That got me to thinking if I walked into a gas station with about $30.00 in pennies in plastic bags it would really screw things up, if lots of people did it, it would effect them in many ways, it would slow down the rate at which they could fleece us, and rolling all those pennies would be a pain in the ACE.
On a side note I took $10.00 in rolled pennies to the same station a week later, and they were happy to accept them from me, imagine that!
 
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