About a year ago people on the web were trying to get everyone to stop buying gas for one day to get the price lower. It didn't work!! Unorganized and people need gas. Some of us were hashing this over and came up with what we think would possibly work.

If we got together and quit buying gas from ONEcompany until they lowered their price to a set amount; say $2.50 a gallon; they would eventually have to lower their price.Now say that company was Mobil. Everyone could buy all the gas they want----just not from Mobil----until they lowered the price. The other companies would have to follow suit.It would have to be one of the big companies; wouldn't want to cause small companies to go out of business. (future competition) I don't think it would take too long for the CEO's to notice the sales decline.

With the power of the Intenet, this could spread really fast and start having an effect. It would kind of be like the Boston Tea Party. The people taking a stand and saying "no more gouging". I think $40 Billion profit is a out of line!
OK, what do ya think about the idea? Where is the downside? Wouldit work?

 

I think one downside would be that even if something like that could be done on a large enough scale to matter and i was the company being held out on i would just sell my gas to the other companies untill the sad little demonstration was over. You see i can hold out longer than you can because i (being the company) have more money and less needs. I (being me) only drive to work 2 times a month so bring on the 5 dollar gallon. Gas up, pay up for me.

 

Demand sets the price of gas. That and oil speculators, refining formulas, worldwide geopolitical conflicts, weather, China's growth, lack of refineries, mandated blended fuelsand a million other reasons.

You're only going to hurt the small time owner and workers of the gas stations if you do this. They are making pennies on the gallon and small percentages on grocery items, cigarettes, gumand booze.

You don't want set prices just as you don't want someone to tell you that there's a set profit on what your house can sell for.

The fact is that there hasn't been a refinery built in this country since 1979 and there is lawsuit after lawsuit from granolas and other environment wackos who won't stand for reasonable drilling in our own back yard. This prevents the industry from getting oil and refining in our own country.

Oil company profits are about $.09 a gallon. Taxes are about $.50 a gallon. China and other countries are creating HUGE demands that are keeping prices high. We have an all time record demand.

Years ago when oil companies were losing money, laying off workers nothing was said or done. Now that they make record profits because, wait for it...there is record demand, there's an outcry.

You want artificial prices again? Remember 1979-1980? When there were gas lines, 8 gallon max fillups and stations shut down by noon each day? That's what happens when you set prices.

When Harley was breaking sales records each year, they were making more profits each year as well. Now they will make less profit because they are selling less. That's business. That's capitalism. There are cycles. You sell more, you usually make more. Demand is high and so prices adjust. That's econ 101.

You couldn'tbuy a Harley for MSRPseven years ago. Why? Demand outpaced supply. Higher prices. Now? Supply has met and exceeded demand for Harleys. MSRP, financing deals, no more selling your used Harley two years later for what you paid new.

People pay almost as much or more for silly bottled water and then complain about gas prices (I'm not saying you pay for silly bottled water).

Are gas prices high? Sure. Adjusted for inflation, they are what they were in the early 1980's during the Iran-Irag war and domestic recession.

There's an all time demand and many other factors. Hurting the station owner and their employees will do nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 

The only effect this would have would be to hurt the local Mobil franchise operators. Mobil's profits may suffer in the short term, but the next companies would increase. First of all we need to realize that while $40 billion profit sounds like allot, the oil companies are still only making a 9% profit which is average to below average for today's economy. Even Exxon only makes around 5 cents profit off a gallon of gas, so if they waived 100% of thier profits gas prices would still be high. We won't even go into the fact that there are around 55 cents of taxes on every gallon. The media fails to print that while Exxon makes a record profit, that they also had record sales, paid record taxes, had a record payroll, and had record expenditures. They also fail to print where those record profits go..which is to the shareholders and if you have a 401k, an IRA, an investment account, a pension, or any other savings vehicle then you are one of those shareholders most likely.

There are only two ways we can reduce the price of gas, increase supply and decrease demand. There is a huge demand worldwide for crude oil, so any efforts to increase our domestic production would be a benefit. Drlling in ANWR would help as would opening parts of the Gulf of Mexico for drilling. If you do not realize it, other countries are in the Gulf drilling as we speak, but our companies are not allowed to due to environmental regulations. Next we need to increase our refining capacity. No company has been able to build a new refinery in this country in 40 years. One company, Arizona Clean Fuels, has been trying to obtain all the permits for over 20 years but has not succeded so far due to lawsuits from environmentalist, Indian tribes, the State of California (denying them a pipeline rightaway), and a host of other lawsuits.

The most impact we ourselves can have is to reduce our demand. Every person will have to conserve gas until improvements can be realized on the supply side of the equation. Perhaps things like tax incentives to live close to your work, buy smaller cars, carpools, flex work hours to eliminate the congestion at rush hour, more telecommuting, and other conservation techniques may help. Its difficult to readily change where you work or live, but instead of sitting back and blaming the oil companies perhaps our efforts would better be served by conservation efforts. Make a suggestion to your company that all or some of the employees work 6 to 3 instead of 8 to 5 so they can drive to and from work in less traffic, see if you can set up a carpool with some of your co-workers, combine your shopping trips together to minimize the miles you drive, stop eating out so much, plan local vacations instead of traveling t

 

The best way to reduce gas demand is to get this country ( like so many other counties in the world) to get on board with everybody riding high MPG motorcycles. We are one of the last counties to use motorcycles as our mass form of transportaion. We're still convinced that we need to be on the road by ourselves with all the other drivers that are by themselves in big SUV's and trucks. Yes I own one, an old one that gets about 10( on a good day) MPG. Thats why I ride even when its 3 degrees out when I leave for work. Even cars that are getting 20 - 25 MPG are still useing twice as much fuel as a bike.

I know it would be difficult to ride to work with a Starbucks in one hand and the cell phone in the other while riding, but, GET OVER IT. Imagine how many fewer car versus motorcycle accidents/ fatalitiesthere would be if there were morebikes than cars on the road.

Just think, if you had some old beater truck, cuz everybody needs a truck, instead of that brand new $40 -$50,000 SUV or worthless(insert any brand here) import car, how many bikes you could own. An electra Glide for commuting, stock motor stock pipes, Bluetooth in your helmet so you can still talk away, getting 50+ MPG. Then you could build one bad *** Street Glide for weekend riding, all out custom paint lots of chrome mild motor, still getting over 40 MPG, then youd still have enough left over to build one ***** to the wall bar hopper for meeting up with the buddies once a week. Still getting 30+ MPG. Average it out and your still reducing the demand by half of a high mileage car!

Just a thought, I was under the impression that we rode because we love to ride. What better way to do it than have a bike for all occasions. Loose the overpriced new car with high insurance, get more bikes!

BTW in case someone was about to ask, you can still get the kids to soccer, karate, football, basketball, or whatever else it is they are doing in that beater truck. It worked for decades before the mini van was invented!

 

AZ Rider is absolutly right!

 

I say every American Citizenshould be calling and writingtheir Elected Officials in every branch of Government. We should informed them , that the Government needs to take away the tax breaks these oil companies receiveand break up these monoplies.We should be taking the Oil from Iraq , since we paid for it in American blood.

 

It is not the oil companies causing this problem. It is a combination of oil speculators, lack of oil refineries in the US, and the refusal to harvest our own oil (thanks to the liberals and tree huggers).

 

AZ Rider and HOG doc are absolutly right. Just to point out to the oil company bashers, ExxonMobil, is the largest publicly traded oil company but only the 14 th largest on absolute size, they produce about 3% of the worlds oil.There are13 orstate owned oil company's that are much bigger (Saudi ARAMCO, PDVSA, PEMEX etc etc), not exactly stable of effecient countries. The solution is to expand production here and abroad in other stable regions as well as reducing consumption i.e. a Harley in every garage. Read Adam Smith please, the invisible hand is an amazing process.

 

And just another thought, I have read the new energy policy proposals coming from DC, they want to tax American oil companies but cant tax profits on foriegn companies stated above, this is insane, it will only make us more reliant on the middle east and their fanatical royal families. It is as if the Saudis wrote these policies, I am talking about the congress and the presidents for the past 20 years so its both parties that are stupid.