You've gotten the email, or heard about it in the checkout line, or around the water cooler. "Don't Buy Gas On May 15!!" it sez, with much ranting and pent-up fury and a, sadly, entirely fictitious claim that "this was done in 1977 and gas dropped 30 cents the next day!!" and the like.
Hey, I'm all for it. Not because it will bring down the price of gas though. Nothing will bring down the price of gas except a reduction in the consumption of gasoline in this country. But the call to arms for the Ides of May is still possessed of some merit if only because it gets people talking and thinking about the subject.
Boycotts are not as hopelessly eye-rollingly futile as people would like you to believe. Collective action is never wasted. There was a "boycott" of meat, or more accurately beef, back in the '70s when the price skyrocketed. This was around the same time as the Gas Wars, and caused by it in large part.
People ranted, and switched from steak to hamburger, and from hamburger to chicken, and from chicken to beans and rice a couple nights a week, etc. And ya know what? The price of beef came down. Not to where it was before, alas, but if you allow for overall inflation it's probably not as high as it was then.
I hate to sound all Andy-Rooney-hey-you-kids-get-offa-my-yard-dammit like, but there are a lot of things that in a rational society (unlike ours) should cost more. They in fact do cost more if all expenses are figured in, like dividing the cost of the Iraq War by gallons refined and paying that at the pump.
What transportation "should" cost is to some extent a philosophical question but personal-transportation-powered-by-fractionated-hydrocarbons is unquestionably too cheap in the US even by contemporary standards in the rest of the world. We bitch but otherwise don't bat an eye when the price goes up $1/gal/yr so long as it goes to the gas companies and thence to terrorists like the Saudis, yet every politician from every level is convinced, no doubt rightly, that they would be killed on the spot and then voted out of office if they put so much as a dime on to pay for alternatives like transit.
Figure out a way not to use gas on May 15, and then just a little bit less the rest of the week and month and year, and then change will come. No torches and pitchforks even needed.
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Let's keep the pitchforks
...to help produce hydrocarbon-free local organic produce - tripling the fuel reduction impact!
Start a gas price war
This is an edited version of an email my brother sent to me:
"INTERESTING CONCEPT. - GAS WAR, an 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.
Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. ________ offered this good idea.
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. Texaco too. 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."
It then suggests a viral distribution champaign to enlist broad participation.
The problem I have with it is that I believe the gas that the various stations around here pump comes from whatever storage tank the truckers choose on the basis of price and convenience that week. One week the Citgo station is pumping Mobil gas, and the next week it might be Shell. So, I think it is likely that the intended target of this actually has a supply system that would buffer the effect and might eliminate it altogether, except for the effect on the local gas station owner.
Wrong
Okay, here's the deal. gas is expensive, I realize that. But what consumers don't realize is that you are not reducing the profit made by large oil companies. You are reducing the profit of small businesses. If you don't want to buy gas because you think it makes a dent in their profit, you're wrong. They will pass down that loss to convenience store owners and ultimately you will see an increase in prices based on that so called loss. They don't fight fair and you can't win by protesting against your neighbors and friends who own small businesses. If you want to make a difference, buy from the small businesses everyday and quit trying to save a buck driving to god knows where because they are 2 cents lower. The only way to make a difference in the corporate world is to quit giving them money everyday - not just one day.