Idea I received to bring gas prices down

[SharonRB]

I know most people on DU are already not purchasing Exxon Mobil gas, but if this idea spreads, it could be HUGH!!!!! My uncle just forwarded this e-mail to me. I'm going to post it here, in the lounge and in GD. Here's the e-mail:

I never send out mass emails, but given the message below, it seems like
>this one could work and that it is in all of our interest to send this to 10
>0r more people on your distribution list. Just pick out a few names and
>makes sure that you get some geographic distribution to the ones you pick.
>And adhere to it.
>
XXXXXXXXX

I'M VERY WILLING TO GIVE THIS A SHOT, HOW ABOUT YOU? I JUST SPENT $43.00
> >>ON GAS YESTERDAY.
GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next 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 justlaughed 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. 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 ct together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two iggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not elling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they yeduce 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.

THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

[WolverineDG]

1. That was passed around on my work email

I already buy Citgo. Viva Chavez!

dg

[SharonRB]

2. We buy BP or Sunoco.

Usually BP now. I haven't used my Mobil card in ages.

[Berry Cool]

3. You and everybody else on DU and in the world got this email.

It suggests something that will not work, yet it continues to go around every single time gas prices rise as if it were something brand-new.

Next time you get one of these, read Snopes first. This is only THE most popular spam email out there right now:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

The simple fact people don't want to face is that gas prices won't go down until people start using gas less. No other games we play with gas purchasing will make a bit of difference. The only way to make the price go down is to reduce the demand.

[SharonRB]

4. I didn't post it to get flamed.

I had never seen it before and was just trying to be helpful. If you don't agree with it, don't do it. I, for one, haven't been buying ExxonMobil for over a year now because I don't want to buy Arab oil.
We don't all have time to check out Snopes or do research before we post something. This was harmless and could just be ignored. I wouldn't have posted something inflammatory without checking it out. I thought posting it on DU would get it to the most people possible at one time.

[RevCheesehead]

5. You might want to check out this discussion first....

I don't have 100% faith in Snopes:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=983344&mesg_id=983344

[SharonRB]

7. Thanks, Rev.

Looks like everyone doesn't think this is a bad idea.

[WolverineDG]

6. You've obviously never seen a gas boycott in progress

Back in the late 70's-early 80's, the price of gas went up unexplicably in my hometown, but no similar spikes were seen in neighboring areas. People were up in arms over it because for some unexplained reason, we were being gouged. Since many gas companies have wells in the area, our prices should have been LOWER than the national average, when in fact, they were HIGHER.

There was no hurricane, no disaster, no gas shortage. Just gas prices going up by the minute. So, people stopped buying gas in my town. They bought it anywhere else they could, but not my town. My parents would fill up in Mexico on our weekly jaunts across & if they had to fill up on this side, they'd fill up in another town. The local farmer's co-op & several growers opened up their pumps to locals so they could fill up at saner prices.

It took about 2 weeks for the prices to suddenly come back down. The Circle K's & other convenience stores were hurting because if no one was buying gas there, they weren't buying anything else there either. The message got across loud & clear. If everyone sticks together, this kind of boycott works.


dg

[Berry Cool]

8. I didn't post this to flame anyone.

I posted it only to point out that this email has been spread around the world since at least 2002, and that an authority I continue to respect still does not believe it will have any effect on anything. It is spreading around DU, where many people are willing and ready to jump onto any plan that sounds like it's going to "stick it to the man," like a virus right about now. I saw it on "Latest" posts I don't know how many times over the past few days.

And I'm saying: I don't believe it will work. I have read Snopes for years, and to my mind they are truly "fair and balanced," and pass judgment on what they see based on evidence and fact. Therefore, when they say that a plan like this will not work, I tend to believe them.

I think it's possible to bring down gas prices in a small locale (such as one town) by boycotting the local stations and buying only out of town. After all, that's fairly easy to do, and the local stations will notice flagging sales after a while and assume that people are buying their gas out of town. But I don't think it works the same with simply refusing to buy from a particular company.

Also, in today's world, it's pretty much impossible to completely boycott a company of any kind. Even if you refuse to buy ExxonMobil gas, how do you know if some plastic packaging, or some plastic label, on something in your refrigerator right now, wasn't made by them? They make plastic, too. They sell it to companies that make plastic packaging and labels. And you're not going to be able to tell where the companies who package the things you buy bought the raw materials from.

Talking boycott is a whole lot easier than doing boycott. You can try if you like; no one is stopping you. But despite what anyone else on the other thread had to say, I don't think it will work.