Tom,
While a great idea in concept, it has one major problem...Mobil and Exxon
produce petroleum products for a host of other companies, so in the end,
they are still going to get money.
The thing that really *&^%$ me off is that gas is going up in price, and so
are the petroleum company profits. If the gas price increase is due to a
shortage of gas, then why are profits so high?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Emerson [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 12:44 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: OT: Gasoline prices and what consumers are doing about it
>
> The price of gas has jumped 20 cents since the last time I filled my tank!
> While I don't know all the causes, reasons, or rationalizations the
> various
> petroleum companies are pawning off on us for the latest increase, I do
> know of a solution that may work [well, at least it may get some
> attention]
>
> I received an e-mail from a friend suggesting this, and I have to agree it
> does have merit, but at the same time it might be a ploy by one of the
> other companies to grab market share -- you be the judge...
>
> Basically, my friend pointed out that Mobil & Exxon, which in reality are
> one and the same, holds the largest market share. The "idea" is simply to
> not buy gasoline from these companies. (it would be great if we didn't
> have to buy gasoline in the first place, but we know that's "not possible"
> (*), so the next best is simply to not buy from the biggest) The
> rationalization behind this move is that if enough people stop buying from
> Mobil/Exxon, they will be forced to drop their prices. Being the largest
> company, other companies would be forced to drop prices as well "just to
> compete".
>
> Of course, for such an idea to work in the first place enough people have
> to stop buying from them to make them notice, and this is where the
> internet/e-mail/newsgroups/etc. get into play -- this is the fastest,
> easiest, and least expensive way to reach a large number of people. Think
> of it as "spam with a purpose" rather than "spam for the sake of spam" :)
> I don't know exactly how the numbers work out, but I understand that with
> a
> few people each [like 10], in half a dozen iterations messages like this
> would reach a million people, and a million consumers "not buying" would
> make an impact. (of course, I've cheated and sent this to a few
> thousand "of my closest and best friends")
>
> Tom
>
> (*) Personally, I'm bucking the "it's not possible" idea and I'm looking
> to
> buy a fuel-cell powered vehicle, but they just aren't out on the market
> yet. Till then, I'm on-the-list to get a "hybrid" vehicle -- using both a
> gasoline engine and electric motor in such a way that the engine always
> runs at peak efficiency and the motor "fills in" for times when the engine
> would be "wasting" gas. [starting & stopping, low speed, etc.]
>
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