Gas boycot

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Gas boycot

August 31, 2005, 09:27:22 PM

I am hearing everywhere, and had e-mail tonight at work asking everyone to NOT buy gas tomorrow. It is said that this will cost the industry billions of dollars (if enough people will partite). They are also asking everyone o limit travel Labor day weekend as this is another reason for the hike. If we all do our part, will it really make a difference?

Dave

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #1 – August 31, 2005, 09:35:36 PM

That is quite an old e-mail forward. It won't change a thing.

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #2 – August 31, 2005, 09:37:45 PM

Opp's I Just Filled Up Two Of My Truck's Today At $2.65 After I Paid And Was Pumping They Changed The Price To $2.85 Just That Fast. This Really Hurt's Me Being I Am In The Lawn Care Buisnes Therfore Im Using Gas And Oil All Day Every Day.. I Dont Know What To Do I Guess I Can Pull My Trailer With My Bike

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #3 – August 31, 2005, 10:20:15 PM

Quote from: BEARMAX

I Dont Know What To Do I Guess I Can Pull My Trailer With My Bike

I have one better for you.

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #4 – August 31, 2005, 10:33:15 PM

yeah i got that email too...

great pic of the mower btw... lol

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #5 – August 31, 2005, 10:36:45 PM

gashiznit $2.89 here planning to walk to work until it goes back down

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #6 – August 31, 2005, 11:01:46 PM

i think im gonna invest in the inner tube my bike needs. at least i can have fun riding to work again. back roads. curbs. cut threw traffic. redlights . stop if safe then go.

but i also dont think that a boycot will work. to many people depend on their cars for the way they live and such. also if we tryed to make a dent in the oil companies now for one day. i belive that it would come back worse they would simply raise the prices just wait for winter when the real wattered down gas comes in. and the oil men get even richer

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #7 – August 31, 2005, 11:09:06 PM

the cheapest place i seen on the way home from work today was $2.95 gal.another place a seen was $3.09 gal.

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #8 – August 31, 2005, 11:21:46 PM

A one day boycott would not work because we'd all buy our gas today or Friday. At the end of the week there would be zero difference.

Now if we could somehow get people to boycott a single company (I nominate Petro Canada here in Canada as they're always the first to raise their prices and the last to lower them), and let the companies know that those who raise their prices would be brutally punished it might make a difference, but not much of one. They're screwing us and the only way we can reduce it is to burn less gas. I know this is not possible for many, but it's the sad truth.

One thing that really me off is that the oil companies seem to be immune to anti-gouging laws. After a disaster it is against the law to take advantage of needy people by raising the price. For example, if a tornado rolls through a town it is against the law to raise the price of plywood. If a blizzard buries a city it's against the law to raise the price of snow shovels. If a prolonged power outage happens it's against the law to raise the price of generators and batteries (this was actually enforced here in Halifax after hurricane Juan, when several small store owners jacked up their prices on batteries and such. They were bitch slapped, heavily fined, and publicly embarrassed). So why are oil companies getting away with raising the prices due to a disaster that temporarily limits the supply? I guess when you've got enough oney and influence you make your own laws...

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #9 – September 01, 2005, 12:35:56 AM

I'd go for the boycott petro canada idea. In Man. they often try to raise their prices first, but unlike what I hear from you, we have some price competition in Rural Manitoba. For example some stations are still selling for 99.9 cents a liter. The norm here is about $1.05.

Around here, we are all part of a fuel cooperative (Red River Co-op) who supplies our fuel. You must buy shares of the cooperative to become a member. At the end of the year the profits are divided between the members. I usually get back about 10 cents a liter, but still pay the same price (or less) as the other stations. In a way I see this as boycotting the major fuel retailers (shell, petro, esso, husky, fas gas etc...) because I only do business with the coop.

The payouts really kick in for bulk diesel purcases for works equiptment :)

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #10 – September 01, 2005, 12:47:10 AM

Quote from: Thunder Chicken

A one day boycott would not work because we'd all buy our gas today or Friday. At the end of the week there would be zero difference.

Now if we could somehow get people to boycott a single company (I nominate Petro Canada here in Canada as they're always the first to raise their prices and the last to lower them), and let the companies know that those who raise their prices would be brutally punished it might make a difference, but not much of one. They're screwing us and the only way we can reduce it is to burn less gas. I know this is not possible for many, but it's the sad truth.

One thing that really me off is that the oil companies seem to be immune to anti-gouging laws. After a disaster it is against the law to take advantage of needy people by raising the price. For example, if a tornado rolls through a town it is against the law to raise the price of plywood. If a blizzard buries a city it's against the law to raise the price of snow shovels. If a prolonged power outage happens it's against the law to raise the price of generators and batteries (this was actually enforced here in Halifax after hurricane Juan, when several small store owners jacked up their prices on batteries and such. They were bitch slapped, heavily fined, and publicly embarrassed). So why are oil companies getting away with raising the prices due to a disaster that temporarily limits the supply? I guess when you've got enough oney and influence you make your own laws...

the difference between generators, and batteries and such, is that the cost to produce them doesnt change in time of disaster, duracell doesnt say "they got hit by a hurricain, its costing more to produce batteries, lets jack up the price", the oil costs rise and fall with the market, so the gas station prices rise and fall

while i do agree that the stations are gouging, my dad was telling me that he saw a thing on TV, where one station was asking 3.55 a gallon for regular, and a block down the street, it was 2.73 or something like that for regular

gas stations will gouge, but you gotta consider that some of it is due to the rise and fall of oil prices

if only we had more refineries, we wouldnt have so much of a problem...considering we havnt had any new refineries since the 70's

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #11 – September 01, 2005, 12:47:17 AM

The real way is to only boycott 1 company, the largest, forever. If everybody just stopped buying Exxon/Mobil, they would seriously drop pricing. So, everybody stop going to Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, and any other gas station that uses their fuel. Ever.

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #12 – September 01, 2005, 12:49:14 AM

Quote from: Aerobird Motorsports

The real way is to only boycott 1 company, the largest, forever. If everybody just stopped buying Exxon/Mobil, they would seriously drop pricing. So, everybody stop going to Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, and any other gas station that uses their fuel. Ever.

honestly, i doubt that they would lower prices, because they cant pull all the customers back, but there are loyal customers that will come and buy certain gas for whatever price, i always try to run Exxon in my car, because its the only gas that performs as well as it does in my car, and i dont mind paying a cent or 2 more for it

hell, they might raise prices trying to recoupe for the loss of money in case of a boycott

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #13 – September 01, 2005, 12:50:25 AM

Wish I could ride a bike to work, my daily one way trip is @ 35 miles. Been looking for work closer to home, figure I could take a $200 month cut with the difference in gas savings. Not much luck yet.

Re: Gas boycot

Reply #14 – September 01, 2005, 10:02:27 AM

Quote from: Tbird232ci

the difference between generators, and batteries and such, is that the cost to produce them doesnt change in time of disaster, duracell doesnt say "they got hit by a hurricain, its costing more to produce batteries, lets jack up the price", the oil costs rise and fall with the market, so the gas station prices rise and fall

...etc...

That may be true, but considering that the crude oil prices actually DROPPED yesterday while gas stations were raising the prices more than 25% it leaves oil companies with some questions to answer... that is if the governments were interested in answers.

Yes, overall the price of crude over the past week is up (it started the week at $65 and was at $68 yesterday), but that 5% increase in crude costs does not add up to a 25% increase at the pumps. There was a so-called "independent oil buttstuffyst" on TV yesterday that was just stammering for answers as the localk news anchor was asking him questions.

Steve Murphy (the news anchor) asked "Why does the gas that's already in the tanks under the stations cost 25% more"
The buttstuffyst had no answer.

Steve said "Why did the prices go up on a day that the price of crude went down?"
The buttstuffyst started with the typical "well, it takes awhile for reductions in prices to trickle down, and a drop of a dollar a barrel only corresponds to a few cents at the pumps..."

Steve interrupted: "Wait a minute - if it takes awhile for the changes to trickle down to the retail level why did gas skyrocket almost before the hurricane was even finished?"
The buttstuffyst had no answer

Steve then asked: And if a dollar change only adds up to a few cents at the pumps, why does a three dollar change result in a 25% jump at the pumps?"
The buttstuffyst, at this point, finally (but very carefully) conceded that "some oil companies may be taking advantage of the perceived shortage".

Now then, we Canadians know which ones those "some oil companies" represent. Petro Canada, Imperial Oil, and Irving oil refine all of the gas we use in eastern Canada. They refine it, so they get to set the prices. They also own individual stations and jack the prices up there. And since they control the wholesale prices (even their competitors must buy the bulk gas from them) even their competitors must raise the prices, because they can't sell for less than wholesale.

That sounds like good ol' gouging to me. I think the s should be strung up by their intestines and put on public display so the people can spit on their disemboweled corpses.