How to lower gas prices...

[Tarathilien]

Here's something my wifey got on her MySpace earlier today:

NEW GAS WAR - a new idea that WILL work

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 your
consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon
by the end of this 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 aninconvenience 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 on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking
gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently
$2.89 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 acttogether
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 just 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 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, then30 million
people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed d
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 REALLYWORK.

Sounds like it would work from me. Just don't buy from Exxon or Mobil. Buy from Shell??

[zipcat]

You know..the one product that doesn't follow the laws of Economy is gas. Even if we try to even competition by buying from one place. It's just funky like that. There's not really anything we can do other than buy cars that use less gas.

[Tarathilien]

Please explain why buying from one company wouldn't work. I took Macro- and Micro-economics and the theory seems valid. (P.S. I passed the classes, btw ;P)

[bow4lyf]

I buy from Petrol Canada.... >.>

[Huaying]

I buy from Petrol Canada.... >.>

Canada ftw!

[Agustus]

even if gas is bought from one place prices will remain the same since its an open market. there are so many different companies out there. buying gas from just one company will deplete the gasoline from that company (Supply and demand) once there out(and by going out they raise there prices(again supply/demand) neighboring stations will see the trend and rais there prices to (its only logical) you may think that they will lower there prices but hey if they do they lose money either way

[jadewik]

What do you mean it doesn't follow the laws of economics? It certainly does... the problem is the DEMAND is so high that they can raise the price to whatever... and for all those touting that there's a gas "shortage", there isn't... there's a plenty, we just can't refine it as fast because we're shutting those down... but that's a whole other discussion.

The reason Exxon and Mobil are suggested are because they're in control of the market... the microsoft of the gasoline world, so to speak. If you hit them hard, their stock will go down and they'll start losing money and obviously business... their demand would go down and they'd be forced to lower prices (where their supply and demand curves would meet) in order to gain business.

Whether or not the idea is from a cola executive or not, the man has a point... and a better one than "don't buy gas this day" (which always irritates me because of it's futility). This plan may actually WORK.

[zipcat]

Hrm..well, you may be right, all I remember is my teacher explaining that there was nothing we could do about gas and him mumbling why. I passed the class but probably didn't learn anything on the subject, so I'm probably wrong.

With what Jade said though it sounds good though.

[Joe]

I dissagree on a coule of points. One, exxon and mobile sell to many many different gas stations, not just one or two. It's not the exxon or mobile gas station you have to stop buying from for this plan to work, it's all the stations they sell their gas to. that takes a lot more effort to find the right stations than most consumers are willing to take. quite simply, there aren't enough people that will be willing to do this for it to actually be effective.

second, while yes, we have a surplus, it's not that the refineries are being shut down that gas prices are going up, it's market expectations. sellers look at trends and the war in iraq and see that the demand for gas is going to stay high for quite a while and therefore they keep extra gas in strorage, expecting the price to go up, therefore making a profit when they do sell it in the future. as soon as the war is over, which may be a long time, the market may flip and expectations may go down. with all the surplus at that time gas prices will probably reach closer to $1.50.

the problem is, $3.00 a gallon is cheap still. maybe not to younger kids out of highschool or in college who can't quite afford as much yet, but even still, the majority of us can afford it quite easily. it may cut down on some movies we go to or other entertainment expenses, but it really doesn't hurt the pocket book as much as we complain about.

the average weight of the automobile in america is higher now than it ever has been, this is in part because americans are willing to pay for both expensive cars and expensive (relatively) gas. if consumers stopped demanding heavy, gas guzzling vehicles and started demanding light, hybrid cars and the likes, that trend could much more easily send gas prices plummetting. only not using as much gas is going to send prices down. it doesn't matter which company we buy it from. the demand is the only thing that will change the price right now.

[jadewik]

I dissagree on a coule of points. One, exxon and mobile sell to many many different gas stations, not just one or two. It's not the exxon or mobile gas station you have to stop buying from for this plan to work, it's all the stations they sell their gas to. that takes a lot more effort to find the right stations than most consumers are willing to take. quite simply, there aren't enough people that will be willing to do this for it to actually be effective.

Erm... isn't the fact Exxon and Mobile sell so much gas the whole point behind focusing on Exxon and Mobile gas stations in the first place? They sell so much gas to so many different gas stations that if we focused on those two companies it just might make them take a hit in profit.

Furthermore, I tend to believe that IF it is really worth doing, that it is worth the effort to determine which gas stations aren't serviced by Exxon and Mobile gasoline. It's not a question of whether or not I can AFFORD the higher priced gas. It's a question of whether or not I'm willing to PAY that much for gas. Where's the limit? $3/gal? $4? $8? $20/gal?

(Hypothetically speaking) If gas really did cost $20/gal... that'd be $18/gal of money I'm saving up to buy a house I'd be losing EVERY time I gassed up my car. Maybe it's $18 of car payment or student loans I'd be forfeiting. It's $18 more I'd have to spend travelling... and $18 less I'd have per gallon for vacation spending money... it's $18 that could be spent somewhere else in the economy.

Personally speaking, I'd be OK right now if they hiked up gas prices. I walk to work and gas my car up maybe once every 2-4 weeks. I have a car for convenience... it's not ME I'm worried about. It's all the kids who can't enjoy the freedom of travel or the college kids who can't make the cross-country trips.... or the single income families... or the parents with +5 kids who are barely scraping by now.

... and I don't know if anyone else thinks this way, but if gas prices go up too high (not $3 or $4/gal but maybe $20/gal high) it'll effect more than just our pocketbooks. Min wages and taxes may also increase as people WILL need to buy gas to get to work and they'd need higher paying jobs so they can make money and support themselves and buy gas to get to work. Higher work costs mean an increase in inflation for other goods and services. Companies who manufacture items in the US may start exporting more jobs to compensate for the wage increases. Cars wouldn't be a convenience anymore, they'd be a luxury for the rich... etc... etc...

I find irony in this whole thing because I design roads for a living... the even bigger irony is with my degree I could go work for an oil company. Heh.

I don't care if people do this or not... but if we're going to debate over the suggestion's feasibility to impact the price of gas, then let's take everything into account... including how far the public will let the gas companies bend us over the hoods of our vehicles before we ask for a little grease.

[zipcat]

I'd agree with Joe that our main goal should be to demand less gas all around to lower prices. Another thing that'll help if you're worried about that extra 18$ is car pooling. Almost everyone drives by themselves, and really that's a waist at times.

Also..walking is great. It's what I do. Even in the heat (and our temperatures go over Death Vally's, we're just lying to everyone), it's nice to walk. You could take someone with you to the store or something; my niece is the fastest baby I know because she walks to Walmart on the other side of town with me every week.

And then there's bikes. They're cheap, easy to maintain, and faster. The town where I'm going to college in from the end of this week is built for bikes. There's a bike lain in nearly every rode even. If more towns did that I think not only would people would save more money, but they would be healthy and happy too.

At least that's what I think.

..I hope I never need a car.

[Curulan]

I think you all are forgetting one important fact. I shall let this image speak for itself.


Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/prices.html#Motor

[Tarathilien]

Hmm...

Belgium, Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany, and UK do they use more gas than US? I thought the UK used mass transportation.

[James]

What about Poland?

Er, I mean, China? Japan? More non-Europe countries?

Edit:

According to NationMaster (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_g ... ine-prices) the United states is rated a .77 for price and China is .66. This means that gasoline in China is 6/7 the price of the US'. I believe this to be so because they haven't quite had the time to get as many cars in circulation as the U.S., but I'm sure they're catching up bloody damn fast.

Japan has a rating of 1.74. That's quite a bit more than the U.S. and I'm sure that the demand there is much, much less. Then again, the supply to there must be much, much less because of the tight quarters giving way to more bikers and hikers than to drivers, plus there's the metro lines.

Japan is ranked #5 most expensive. China is #115, and the U.S. #102.

Nifty.

[Warscott]

Here are some of Warscott's information and 2 cents.

I have heard that Saudia Arabia has gas for like 70 cents a gallon. China currently is buying up more oil than anyone, especially from the African countries. China's demand for oil is outrageous by the news reports that I have read in last months.

Once in Columbus, Ohio about 6 or so years ago a gas station cut the price of their gas in half so that they could clean out the gas tank underground before replacing it. They were selling the gas for .50 a gallon to get rid of it quickly. The other stations thought the gas station was trying to undercut them so they all drop their prices to 50 cent or less a gallon so that they wouldn't loose business. This started a mob rush to Columbus. Lines as long as 2 miles to each gas station was trying to buy the cheap gas. People coming in 2 hours away to buy the gas with extra tanks in their car. This lasted for weeks all because a little gas stationed tried to clean their tank out so they could dig it up and replace it.

I had an expedition 2 years ago when the gas price hit 3.19 a gallon in my area. it was costing me $400 a month just in gas to go to work and back. I could not afford the gas. Almost a weeks wage just to come to work and where I live making 30k a year is a good wage and I make more than that. I immediately went a purchased another car which raised my car payments up by $100, but it dropped my gas by $250 and my insurance by $60 a month. The expedition got 13 mpg and had a 30 gallon tank. My new car (1 1/2 years old now) gets 25 - 30 mpg and has a 18 gallon tank. If I would not have gotten the new car, chances are I would have had to quit work because the cost to drive to it was too great.