Gas price strategy This just might work.

@chertsy (3798)
United States
May 14, 2007 9:46am CST
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 worthy of your consideration. Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by summer and it might possibly 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 earlier! 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 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 $3.15 (3.30 in San Diego) 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, 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 2007, 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.
3 people like this
7 responses
@jmcafam (2890)
• United States
14 May 07
I had actually received this email before and I think it is a great idea. The gas companies know we rely on gas for everyday life so they know we will pay for it, even at the price it is now. I currently don't buy from those companies anyway so it will be no problem in our household to accomplish. It is all in our hands to try and make this work and accomplish the goal of them lowering gas prices.
2 people like this
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
14 May 07
We don't purchase gas from them either. We get ours either at our store's gas station or a Mapco here in the south.
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
14 May 07
Great idea. I'll pass it along to all my contacts. I hope we can get enough people to do this. If prices go much higher we will be eating ramen noddles every meal just so my husband can afford to go to work.
2 people like this
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
14 May 07
Thank you, more people doing this should make something happen.
@elisa812 (3026)
• United States
15 May 07
Wow, that is definitely a much better idea. I will try to pass this information along to people. That would work much better than a one day boycott. lol
1 person likes this
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
15 May 07
It made sense to me when I read the email. But as stated above, it might not work well with small towns or cities that don't have that many gas stations.
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
15 May 07
Boycotting an entire company for months does make more sense than boycotting everyone for a day in a way but I think this may very well be flawed as well. Competition also keeps prices down. If two "competitors" are eliminated there is less incentive to lower prices. I know this may seem like an overly simplified example to many people but many of us in rural areas are this limited in our choices. If there are 3 gas stations in "town", an Exxon, a Mobil, and Company X, Company X will be getting the majority of business because of this boycott. While that would certainly get the attention of the other two, Company X would have no reason to lower prices and may even indulge in some price gouging. As long as people were committed to this boycott, Company X would get away with it. And once Company X raised prices even higher than what they are now, say $4.00 as an example, we would be "thrilled" when the other two companies offered to sell us gas for "only" $3.00 a gallon if we would return our business to them. Another thing I have to say is that our Exxon is the cheapest gas station around here, even when they aren't having a gas sale. The big Mobil station is usually second cheapest. I'll pass this along anyway because I do think the theory behind it is better than the "one day boycott" but it would have to be tweaked some to work around here.
1 person likes this
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
15 May 07
That's the whole point, at least in my opinion. Boycott until the prices drop to a level that we are more willing to pay. But honestly, for the people that live in the small towns, this wouldn't help no one. Maybe in your situation, get everyone to boycott the expensive gas station, so they will be forced to lower there prices. These gas station owners act like they own us drivers, it should be the other way around. Any time a gas station starts in price gouging, they should be reported. Honestly, we need to find other ways of getting our cars going without using gas before we run out completely.
@lpipe0240 (1161)
• United States
14 May 07
I sent this on to at least 10 people and will try it myself. Hopefully it will catch on enough to make an difference...
1 person likes this
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
14 May 07
Every little bit will help I hope.
• Austria
15 May 07
okay i won't buy from them, BUT i ask you in return to simple drive less. unless you really have to, don't use the car, ride a bike, walk or just stay home. Not only good for your wallet but also good for the planet.
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
15 May 07
Only time I drive is to go to the market, which I hate because it's not close to my house like it used to be at my old place. Or to my daughter's school. Or to visit my parents which live an hour and a half away, we don't visit all the time. Having only one car, my husband uses it to go to work. I plan everything on his off days, to save from me from making an extra trip and wasting gas.
@dafnie (382)
• United States
21 Jul 07
i really like it. i think it could really work. i hope we can get enough people to do it!!