Lowering American Gas Prices a Smart Way

mc · Post by mc » 30 Apr 2007 08:41

- I was sent this on facebook. Makes sense to me.
- synopsis - boycott Exxon and Mobil, the two biggest oil companies, until they are forced to lower their prices, forcing the smaller companies to follow suit.

please read on. - mc

Instead of those "Don't Pump Gas on This Day!!" schemes that never work, let's try this guy out instead. I recieved this as an e-mail, and it is actually legit.

Invite your friends! Let's do it! Wewt!

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It 's worth consideration.

I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next 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 u s 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 on and join wi th us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 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 at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 =3D 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3D 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group 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. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.

THIS CAN REALLY WORK!!

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 30 Apr 2007 08:56

Send what to ten people?

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 30 Apr 2007 08:59

Important to point out that it will only work if oil supply remains the same.

shredzilla · Post by **shredzilla** » 30 Apr 2007 09:59

Heck, I'll tell at least 10 people today. That would be awesome if it worked, gas is 3.30 here!

Slowsis · Post by **Slowsis** » 30 Apr 2007 11:57

This is a good idea, but only in the capacity that it might make creating alternate fuel sources profitable.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 30 Apr 2007 19:27

Mobil/exxon dont determine gas prices. Im sure they influence them at least though.

Guest_1 · Post by **Guest_1** » 30 Apr 2007 20:08

Oil companies have such a wide moat this isn't possible

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 30 Apr 2007 20:48

i like that youre talking about "beating the system", matt.

unfortunately, where i live its impossible to not drive. i dont live close enough to the city to take a bus or the train or even a bike. my bike will get me to a mom and pop gas station, but thats it.

gas companies dont sell gas at the price they buy it for. they definately up the price to make profit. but i doubt their profit is more than 5 cents a gallon.

there is a kroger near my town that has a gas station connected to it. if you buy 100 bucks of groceries in a month then you get 10 cents off per gallon for the rest of the month with your kroger plus card.

i wish i could save the world... but i cant ride a bike for 40 miles to and from school, work, and home.

but check this out, we are moving in the right direction.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/04/humm ... ing-brand/

shredzilla · Post by **shredzilla** » 30 Apr 2007 22:33

Did you even read Matt's post? It says don't buy from Exxon and Mobil. Buy from other gas companies. It even specifies that you SHOULDN'T stop driving. That bugs me when people respond to a thread without even reading the initial post.

Haha also, your posted link was to an article about a concept car. If you read THAT article, you'd see that it is only an imaginary car that exists on paper. Neat idea, but how about inventing a green car that's feasible to mass produce during THIS lifetime.

Caleb · Post by **Caleb** » 01 May 2007 10:46

I'm going to be lynched in mere seconds for saying this, but I think gas prices should be even higher than they are probably. I have very little interest in politics so I don't know the answer here, but why is gas in Europe and Australia 10x more than in the US? I don't want to pay it either, but the country that consumes the most probably shouldn't be paying the least for a non-renewable resource. It seems like bad rationing.

I always felt that we were kind of a fake country because I see this happening in other incidents too.

dp · Post by dp » 01 May 2007 11:49

Not only is it not the responsibilty of the government to lower gas prices, I think it's their responsibility to raise them. In Europe I believe that the high gas prices is mostly taxes. The US should tax more on gas and put that money into mass transit.

shredzilla · Post by **shredzilla** » 01 May 2007 11:50

Pirate Man wrote:Not only is it not the responsibilty of the government to lower gas prices, I think it's their responsibility to raise them. In Europe I believe that the high gas prices is mostly taxes. The US should tax more on gas and put that money into mass transit.

Yeah, how come all the other 1st world countries have bullet trains that let you get from one end of the country to the other quickly? That would be sweet to be able to get to the other side of the country by train.

professor · Post by **professor** » 01 May 2007 18:37

The only problem with the plan is gas prices aren't determined by the oil companies. It's determined by supply and demand in the global market. So the only way to drop prices is to increase supply (drill in Alaska, find more oil, etc.) or decrease demand (alternate fuels, ride bikes, etc.).

Plus if you've noticed, not every Mobil or Exxon has the same gas prices. Some stations could have higher than average prices and some could have lower than average. It all depends on location and the demand at that location.

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 01 May 2007 19:09

reading this makes me feel depressed because it just gives me the feeling that the world is doomed to decend back into the unmodern stages of our history. the idea truly makes me mildly sad. (is there a keyboard for the wii yet? god damn...)

shredzilla · Post by **shredzilla** » 01 May 2007 22:48

professor wrote:The only problem with the plan is gas prices aren't determined by the oil companies. It's determined by supply and demand in the global market. So the only way to drop prices is to increase supply (drill in Alaska, find more oil, etc.) or decrease demand (alternate fuels, ride bikes, etc.).

That's not necessarily true. The prices are determined at the pump. If oil goes up a couple bucks a barrel, and the gas companies charge a dollar more a gallon, who do you think is making out like a bandit?

Yes, the price of oil fluctuates because of Saudi Arabia playing our market. But Exxon recorded a profit of 3 billion dollars more this fiscal year, and set an all-time annual profit record. You're telling me they have NOTHING at ALL to do with the price of gas?? Please.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 01 May 2007 23:20

Bullet trains are UnAmerican. You wouldn't be able to see the great of Heartland on a bullet train going from LA to New York because you'd be going too fast. The waves of grain would look like some abstract painting by a retarded 3rd grader.

It's the government's responsibility to lower gas prices because I don't like paying 3.30 at the pump. Actually, I can't even drive until I'm 21, so I don't know why I care. It does piss me off that the Oil Companie's are making record bucks though. I go back and forth between being a Libertarian Market Capitalist and an Anarchist. In this case, I wont to kill the heads of these companie's one by one.

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 02 May 2007 08:54

BainbridgeShred wrote:Bullet trains are UnAmerican. You wouldn't be able to see the great of Heartland on a bullet train going from LA to New York because you'd be going too fast. The waves of grain would look like some abstract painting by a retarded 3rd grader.

I spit up my drink when I read that. Thanks, asshole, lol. j/k. Now I gotta put my keyboard through the dishwasher... sticky buttons.

Bullet trains would be so kick ass in this country. I say they start taking out 50% of out checks for taxes and start giving everyone health insurance and bullet trains.

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 08 May 2007 14:00

Lets suppose that we get 100% of americans to comply with the brand based boycott.

The oil companies have two options :

1) Admit defeat, and lower prices to get customers back.

2) Bend the population over the rail, and show them what being a prisoner is like.

I suspect number 2 is the option the oil companies would choose.
How would they do such a thing ?
Simple.
They will sell their gas to the other stations until the boycott is shown to be ineffective.
Meanwhile the other companies will raise prices, because it will be deemed harder to meet the increased demand. After the boycott ends, the gas prices stay high, just because they can set the price at whatever they deem reasonable.

mc · Post by mc » 08 May 2007 15:43

fuck, I knew nothing would work. I guess if these huge oil companies weren't smarter than us, they wouldn't have all the money, right?

oh well, I'm just enjoying the ride. I love rollercoasters!

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 08 May 2007 15:59

I fight the man by embracing ethanol technology !

When I get home from work I consume some ethanol, thus keeping me from driving to the store for things I don't need.