SEPTEMBER 1st...don't buy gas!!

[2fast4u]

   Just a reminder of the gasoline protest/whatever....to NOT buy gas Today!  I bet hardly anybody does this...AGAIN!!  To many people worried about gettin' their tanks filled before the price jumps again!   

[4402tuff4u]

This was tried before, but it really does not work. Think about all the businesses that have fleets of vehicles. They are going to ahead and buy gas. It would be nice is some came up with a synthetic type of gas. That we dont have to rely on foreign source.

[Khyron]

I can't afford gas today anyways

[41husk]

if no one buys gas it would have a negative short term affect as prices would need to remain elevated to cover overhead loses for that day.  It is supply and demand, and they know Americans are going to buy gas even if it is $5 per gal.  Picking a particular oil co.( the one with the largest proffit margin) and refusing to buy from them reguardless of sales gimmics to attract customers for a long term  period, say one month, would have a greater effect

[1970440RT]

Just heard a report on the news about refining the oil trapped in shale in Utah and Colorado.  Apparently gas prices need to be around $3.00 a gallon in order to make it profitable.  I have heard this story before and I would gladly pay $3.00 a gallon for DOMESTIC oil.  OPEC I'm sure knows this and will not let gas prices stay over $3.00 for long.

[Troy]

I'm sure we've covered this. I'm going to go waaaaaaaaay out on a limb here and say that nothing will be different. You aren't going to lower prices going in to a holiday weekend just after a hurricane wiped out about 1/4th of the country's refining capacity. It would have a better chance of working with different timing (but it would still fail).

I have always wondered.... do other countries go through this as well? Some people (the people who write and forward those goofy emails) must think that everyone in the world caters to the wants and needs of the average US citizen. News flash: they don't. I'm sure we've covered this topic before...

Maybe I'll go fill up all my cars today since there won't be anyone else at the pumps?

Troy

[RD]

Maybe I'll go fill up all my cars today since there won't be anyone else at the pumps?

Troy

[MyMopar]

if no one buys gas it would have a negative short term affect as prices would need to remain elevated to cover overhead loses for that day.   It is supply and demand, and they know Americans are going to buy gas even if it is $5 per gal.   Picking a particular oil co.( the one with the largest proffit margin) and refusing to buy from them reguardless of sales gimmics to attract customers for a long term   period, say one month, would have a greater effect

This is the best way to implement a don't buy gas policy.  Buy from only ONE reseller to force the other to lower prices.  Imagine if everyone only bought from teh Exxon/Mobil brand and let all the others just sit on their stock piles.  Either gas stations would go out of business or they would lower their prices ASAP to prevent any more loss.

[Troy]

if no one buys gas it would have a negative short term affect as prices would need to remain elevated to cover overhead loses for that day.  It is supply and demand, and they know Americans are going to buy gas even if it is $5 per gal.  Picking a particular oil co.( the one with the largest proffit margin) and refusing to buy from them reguardless of sales gimmics to attract customers for a long term  period, say one month, would have a greater effect

This is the best way to implement a don't buy gas policy. Buy from only ONE reseller to force the other to lower prices. Imagine if everyone only bought from teh Exxon/Mobil brand and let all the others just sit on their stock piles. Either gas stations would go out of business or they would lower their prices ASAP to prevent any more loss.

In a perfect world, yes. However, gas stations and othe gas companies buy/sell/trade from each other. For example, if no consumers buy Exxon at the pump then they lower their wholesale price. At some point, that price is cheaper than what it costs BP to make and ship their own so they buy up all of Exxon's surplus and sell it to you. This also happens when a company has a station that is closer to another reseller. If it's cheaper to have someone else deliver gasoline then they do it (no matter what the brand). Boycotting ONE company is almost as useless as a one day boycott on all gas.

Troy

[Dale The Bold]

Boycott today = longer lines tomorrow.

That is all.

[The Mad Scientist]

I said it before on the last identical thread.   I'll say it again on this one.   The only way to save money on gasoline is to reduce the amount of it that you buy.   This can be done a number of ways which I listed in detail on the "stick it up their behind" thread.

The gist of it is.   Gas has been steadily rising since before I was born (82).   The summer I got my driver license was a rare treat gas was 95 cents a gallon.   I could fill that Aspen Wagon of mine for under 20 bucks.   Until the average American citizen can prove that we can live our lives without gasoline (alternate fuels) we'll have to reduce our consumption.   Forget about the losses in one day.   Imagine what would happen if every single driver in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico got by with 3/4 of the gas they used to buy.   Yes if we cut back our consumption it's likely the price of gas will rise some more, unless OPEC says "Oh by the way...   Sorry."   call me a pessimist, but I say prices are going to go up anyway and that's why I have a deal going to acquire a friends old Ford Tempo.   See what this gas crunch has done to me???   I'm going to be driving a Ford.  

So if you're tired of getting screwed at the pump.
carpool, walk, alternative fuels, plan all your weekly errands for one day, fuel efficient car, etc look up the other sept first stick it up their behind thread for more ideas, better yet e surf, I'm sure there's wiser people than me out there that think of ways to save money on gas.   In fact, I'll put money on it.  

[69bananabeast]

boycotting one for gasoline like lets say Exxon will not lower gas prices.  Then all of the other little gas stations will  have  no one to compete with therefore they will not lower their prices.

I think we should all just start runnin on MoonShine 

[41husk]

Heck with runnin it, lets start drinking it

[Steve P.]

I'm hearing on the TV that North Florida IS out of gas.. More is coming!! But it's hard to find up there..

On the radio news this morning I heard that distributors are rationing gas to be able to supply as much to everyone equally..

Another caller said he is the owner of a small fleet of dump trucks. His trucks are ALL in the yard until diesel makes it to the stations close enough for him to get his trucks to them.. He was calling from just North of Tampa..

Also heard that some places in Georgia are only selling $20.00 worth to each customer..

Veggie oil sounds damn good to me.. Yes, I am looking for a diesel...

[Silver R/T]

well its not just business, think of all the people, esp retired people, welfare people etc. (people that do not have to worry about buying gas, unless theyre going to store for beer or cash their food stamps)
i mean if we were really into this i would bicycle my way to work...to contribute for gas saving, but Im not gonna bust my ass to save gas if some bitch drives escalade

[XXSpiralXX]

  This aint gonna work. I like how they jumped the prices last night just before this..............  Fuckers.

[Troy]

i mean if we were really into this i would bicycle my way to work...to contribute for gas saving, but Im not gonna bust my ass to save gas if some bitch drives escalade

Which is exactly why gas companies aren't stressing out about the prices, why car manufacturers can't sell fuel efficient cars, and why we're using more oil than at any time in history. Keep blaming everyone else - it's worked well so far hasn't it?

Troy

[Troy]

This aint gonna work. I like how they jumped the prices last night just before this.............. Fuckers.

It wasn't gonna work before so why would the prices have anything to do with it? Ever taken an economics class? That little storm just wiped out 11% of the nations refining capacity which was already tapped out. I know! Lets *lower* gas prices so we run out even faster...

Might be nice if you'd watch the language as well.

Troy

[Telvis]

I was watching the O'Riley Factor earlier. Bill O'Riley mentioned that if Americans stopped buying gas on Sundays it would make a serious dent in oil consumption and in turn might get OPEC to lower their prices. I'm no expert but it sounds like it might work. What do you guys think about that idea?

[Troy]

I was watching the O'Riley Factor earlier. Bill O'Riley mentioned that if Americans stopped buying gas on Sundays it would make a serious dent in oil consumption and in turn might get OPEC to lower their prices. I'm no expert but it sounds like it might work. What do you guys think about that idea?

Only if we didn't make up for it on Monday. It doesn't matter what day you buy it on if you still use the same amount each week. OPEC only controls about 40% of the world's oil and, at this point, prices are driven by demand. The refineries here are maxed out so it doesn't matter how much crude is sitting there if you can't turn it into gas. I just read that Canada is volunteering to leave some of its refineries running instead of shutting them down for yearly maintenance but even they are running at capacity already (and the whole NAFTA thing won't allow us to import any more than we already do). The scary thing is that the prices are usually cheaper when refineries run at capacity because it's more efficient (imagine Ford only building cars 18 hours per day but still keeping full shifts). However, the best way to get lower prices is to reduce consumption and, so far, I haven't seen too many people willing to do it.

Troy

[2fast4u]

   Sounds like a good idea Telvis...I'd do it!!

  As for all you others response to this post...thank you guys!    I agree on it not makin' a difference with it being just one random day....but every sunday....might work...take a while, but it might work!

2fast

[RD]

i didnt buy gas today! well its because i filled up before the prices went nutz.  and well, i wont need to fill up for another 2 weeks now, so i am helping the cause hehehehe (where is that sarcasm detector) j/k 2fast, no harm no foul.

[The Mad Scientist]

I was watching the O'Riley Factor earlier. Bill O'Riley mentioned that if Americans stopped buying gas on Sundays it would make a serious dent in oil consumption and in turn might get OPEC to lower their prices. I'm no expert but it sounds like it might work. What do you guys think about that idea?

Troy is right, if we can not buy X amount of gas on any day and reduce the amount we use every day...

It's like dieting.  Sure you can lose the weight, but can you keep it off?

[4402tuff4u]

Actually if all the truckers were to stop hauling merchandise and bring the nation to a halt (park the big rigs in front of the Whitehouse), the goverment will be forced to do something - maybe??. I think the french did it, the whole nation went on strike!!

Funny, this morning I posted the same idea of isolating a brand of gas and see if prices would go down. But Troy makes a good point that alot of these large companies wholesale gas to smaller brands, therefore that really would'nt work.

[Troy]

Actually if all the truckers were to stop hauling merchandise and bring the nation to a halt (park the big rigs in front of the Whitehouse), the goverment will be forced to do something - maybe??. I think the french did it, the whole nation went on strike!!

Funny, this morning I posted the same idea of isolating a brand of gas and see if prices would go down. But Troy makes a good point that alot of these large companies wholesale gas to smaller brands, therefore that really would'nt work.

What would the government do? It's fine to force the government to do something but there needs to be a viable solution or they will do something that has no benefit or hurts us in the long term. The French have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and the large bulk of their gas prices are taxes (and a large chunk of their income goes to taxes as well). It's a different situation. Our country is also slightly larger so shutting down the entire trucking/delivery system would mainly cause harm to only you-know-who (us - the people who can least afford it). Do we shut the airlines down as well? How about shipping? Construction? Public transportation? School buses? People need to use less fuel - high prices will take care of some of the waste but everyone complains. If the government could get the ok for more refineries then private industry would fund them. All they have to do is get past the environmentalists and people who don't want a refinery in their back yard. It's still not a quick solution. The fastest way to lower prices is to use less but no one wants to be inconvenienced by smaller cars, fewer trips, shorter drives to work, or giving up recreational vehicles for a while.

Troy