Fight rising gas prices

Mike Koenig · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2004, 07:01 PM

Was just fowarded an interesting email from my father inlaw from someone who beleives we as consumers can start a price war against gas companies by not buying gas from the big two,Exxon and Mobil who are now one anyway. By doing so this will force them to lower their prices in turn forcing the rest to follow suit. Will it work? I dont know for sure, but I do know that by the summer they are already talking about $3.00 a gal. I for one would like my first summer that my car is complete spent on the road. My 460 will not be kind at the pump. So I am passing this along to you guys because what could trying it hurt (unless you own an Exxon or Mobil station) Might work if we all take part...
Bring Down Gas Prices The text from the email is cited below.

Dear friends,
I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer. 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 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 it and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.77 for regular unleaded gas in Riverwoods, IL. We all know that we're being screwed by the oil companies. Does everyone remember how they drove up the prices way past a dollar and got the gas prices to where they wanted them, claiming there was a shortage of oil. Well, there isn't any shortage now, and the oil is more abundant than it was 35 years ago when the price of a gallon of gas was 29 cents!!!
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- $1.75, 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 this year, 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.

csx4044 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-05-2004, 07:48 PM

One great thing about America is freedom of choice, so those who choose not to buy gas from Exxon or Mobil, that's OK. I do want to pass on some facts though.

The world consumes much more energy, ie oil, than it did when gas prices were 30 cents/gallon. There is not a shortage, but there is a match of supply and demand which keeps the price up. The "cheap" oil is gone. America used to produce over 12 million barrels/day, and now produces less than 6. If the business were so great here, and it was so abundant, why do we have to import so much?? Two reasons, it is extremely costly to find and produce. Companies are now drilling and producing oil and gas from water depths of over a mile down....figure out the engineering on that!!! It is super expensive. Add all the govt regs and environmental protection costs and you get oil that costs between $30 and $35/barrel. ie it COSTS almost $1/gallon for unrefined crude oil. Add transportation, and refining costs, and more transportation costs and you add more. Then add the govt take of 60 cents to 80 cents/barrel, and (you do the math), its a miracle that oil companies make any money!!

ExxonMobil has a return on Capital Employed of about 10%!! Look at most company annual reports and you will see that oil companies invest a lot to make a little in comparison to banks, newspapers, the networks that accuse the oils of gouging the public, etc.

Yes, I work for an oil company...ExxonMobil..as an employee, and I ain't rich!! I pay the same for you as gasoline, and I am glad we have it so "cheap" compared to the rest of the world!!

If I am sounding defensive, it is because I am just tired of people that pay $4+/gal for bottled water, $4+/gal for sodas, $8/gal for beer expect that gasoline should be cheap...ie 30 cents/gallon. In the 70s bread cost 25 cents a loaf, and it costs almost $2 now....and last I checked there was a huge surplus of wheat....not so for oil. Most of the folks complaining about gas prices dont want oil drilling or refining in "their neighborhood" either, but think its their "right" to have cheap gas. Mind boggling!!!

You, like me, have a Cobra. Enjoy it. The gasoline you put in the car for a day on the road is cheaper than a ticket to Disneyworld or Six Flags, and a lot more fun!!

Mike Koenig · #3 (**permalink**) 03-05-2004, 08:18 PM

Yes I know the days of .30 cents a gal. are long gone, and maby beating up oil companies are not the answer. In todays political climate tree huggers are running the asylum, my brother works for the oil company to, he tells them were to aim the actual drills. We can drill protected sites from 50 mi. away, but they dont want to hear it in liberal land. So we continue to support terrorist countries. I may be just a speck on the radar, and I am certainly not stupid enough to to pay $4.00 fo a bottle of water, but I will not stand for $3.00 a gal. of gas. We still aint Europe (thank god) I will fight back whith what little power I have left in this country.

xlr8or · #4 (**permalink**) 03-05-2004, 08:47 PM

My problem with the rising cost of gas is that the station down the street gets fuel delivered every Friday and Monday night. Watching the prices I noticed they raised prices twice a day for 3 days straight. By Friday we were paying $.22 a gallon more for gas from the same delivery. That has nothing to do with supply and demand or the cost of goods. It's pure bull**** and greed.

csx4044 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 06:05 AM

He raised his prices to be able to pay for the next delivery as oil prices, and therefore bulk gasoline prices were rising. His prices should also drop between deliveries if oil price is going down.

I know its hard to believe but our average margin (profit) per gallon of gasoline is 3 cents! We make more on a cup of coffee than we do on a tank of gas, that is why almost every service station now has a "convenience" store. The competition in retail gasoline sales is ferocious.

Ron61 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 06:34 AM

Ok, my two cents worth. Our gas here is always in the $1.50 to $1.65 range at its lowest. A week or so ago it jumped by over 55 cents a gallon and now the lowest is $2.29. Also we have the additional 45 to 60 cents a gallon they add every year for the tourist trade. Having talked to three of the major brand station owners, Chevron, Texaco, and Shell I get the same answer. We need to make as much as we can. Another point in case. A Chevron station in a small town 15 miles South of here was shut down for about 7 weeks for major repairs just after he had filled all of his tanks. When they got everything going he was selling the gas at the price he had it for then. He was contacted by Chevron reps who informed him if he didn't raise that gas to over the $ 2.20 range they would see that he never got another delivery. This was gas that he was selling at the time of the breakdown for $1.29 per gallon. I don't care what they pay in the rest of the world, everything in this country is dictated by greed and corruption. We have a refinery shut down suddenly for repairs and gas goes up $50 cents a gallon. Funny how as soon as the price is raised the problems in the refinery are mysterioulsy solved and it is back online full time. Funny thing was, a person that I know who works at that refinery said it had never even been shut down at all. So put the dam gas at the $4 dollars a gallon they want and then let them drink it.

Ron

Edbo · #7 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 06:40 AM

Another major price factor in retail gas that nobody seems to have mentioned is federal, state and local TAXE$.
The county where I live decided, several years ago, that they really would like some mo' money, so they gave us our very own special extra 10 cents/gal tax.
Total tax take here is about 50 cents/gal (I think). Gas stations here used to be required to have a sticker on each pump showing total tax per gallon, but a several years ago the stickers all mysteriously disappeared overnight. I guess the government thought John Q. Public was being overinformed.

Ed

jerry w · #8 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 06:46 AM

I live in upstate New York. On top of the price of gasoline we have: New York state sales tax, county tax and then a federal surcharge on top, which amounts to taxing the product and the tax. At one time Gas stations were required to post the tax on a gallon of gasoline, but they are not anymore. I have the feeling if people knew how much tax was on one gallon of gas they would hang the politicians. The local paper printed an article that when gas was $1.50 in our county .60 cents was tax! And I hope no one responds to this post telling me we need the tax for roads. In New york we pay tax on: oil, tires, auto-registration, county road tax, town road tax, tolls.....yadda,yadda,yadda it goes on! All SUPPOSIDLY for our roads. Most of the taxes collected to not go into a dedicated highway fund, they are dropped into the general fund. The road I live on looks like a testing ground for army tanks because of all the frost heaves, pot holes, and general deterioration. Oil companies have a right to make a profit, oil is a comodity that will fluctuate with supply and demand. I want some tax relief! I think we all understand an accept this fact.

I will now get off my soap-box.

Jer

Bruce Edwards · #9 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 07:55 AM

After reading all of your post on this matter I have a few questions. How do you vote? For freedom and low taxes not just at the federal level but at the state and local level?
Or like to many people in this country do you vote for the person that claims he will screw someone else out of their money to help your area? Just how long can you rob Peter to pay Paul?
You want lower prices vote for people that think like you do. You want a safer country that will stand up for it's self and it's people vote that way. If you really want to see a HUGE drop in every item you pay for get in touch with your reps and start pushing a National Sales Tax bill to get rid of the IRS.
How many of you know how much money you really make not just take home pay?
And one more little thing, I do not like high fuel cost but have any of you figured inflation into the cost of gas since the 60's till now? Hate to tell you but it is less when figured in with inflation now than it was then. Why not stop buying milk for our kids or bread? I remember buying milk for less than a buck not long ago or bread for less than .50 so what happened?
Only partly sorry for the rant but politics is another passion of mine.
I just so wish the people of this country would stop voting in the short sighted way they have been, me first and hang the rest of them, and start voting for what is best for everyone of us. Less taxes and less government in our life.

Bumpster · #10 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 09:42 AM

Not a bad idea, Bruce, in fact a damn good idea. Now, just how do we find a candidate for office (ANY candidate) who will accomplish the goal of lower taxes and less government? We'll be inundated this summer with campaign promises that will sound great and will be forgotten as soon as the candidates are elected. I wish I could be less skeptical, but every election I have seen in my lifetime has gone this way and I don't see how it can ever change. People become short-sighted when they vote, as you pointed out, because it seems that all they can hope for is some benefit for themselves from whoever they elect. They have no hope of changing the "system".

You pointed out the problem very well. What is YOUR solution? The Libertarian Party might accomplish something, or maybe an unconventional candidate like Jesse Ventura is the answer. I am open to suggestion.

Bumpster

wilf leek · #11 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 09:53 AM

You guys have it easy.

UK gas price is around $6 a gallon, of which 85% is tax.

Anyone fancy a 12mpg Cobra in the UK?

Ron61 · #12 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 09:56 AM

Bruce,

I try to vote for whom I think is the best person running for all offices, but if you can tell me a way to determine who is lying and who isn't when it comes to running for office I will be more than happy to consult with you before voting again in any election. I stay out of political arguments because like religion and the SB/BB argument, there can't be a winner. I would really like to know how you can determine from what these liars say when they are running for office, what is true and what isn't. I have travled from Nothern Calif. where I listened to several campaign speeches to Southern Calif. to listen to the same three liars and they said exactly the opposite down there that they did up here. They just say what they think the people want to hear.

Ron

tfarhood · #13 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 03:29 PM

The biggest problem with campaign promises are that they have to be lies. Each candidate knows exactly what he/she wants, and what their agenda is (good or bad). Problem is, they have to be elected before they can carry out the agenda. Therefore they have to say what they think people want to hear at every campaign stop or they don't stand a chance to get elected and therefore can't implement their real agenda. You must get elected first no matter how honorable your agenda is or how much of a lying crook you are. Who you really are doesn't matter if you can't get elected in the first place. Plain and simple.

trularin · #14 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 04:20 PM

Okay, I'm in.

No more Exxon or Mobil.

I get the mobil one for free, Does that mean I have to give it back? LOL

Ron61 · #15 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 04:35 PM

Trularin,

Keep the Mobil card and use it at your local Circle K or whatever you have around there and let them bill Mobil for your gas. If that works let me know.

Ron

Bruce Edwards · #16 (**permalink**) 03-06-2004, 06:10 PM

Ron61,

That is why you have to hold their feet to the fire.
Sorry you are still living in the land of fruits and nuts. I moved out that way in 80 and moved out in 81. To much left wing stuff going on for me. How much more can the left coast take until it winds up like New York? Your taxes and property cost are already threw the roof. How much longer till it all comes crashing down. I know the new Governor is doing his best and wihs him well but with the folks he has to work with believing in tax and spend I am not sure it will turn around before it all falls apart.
I wish the folks on your coast all the luck in the world. With everything that has pulled that state closer to communism I only hope they can pull back out.
Holding back your money from Mobile or Exxon is not going to get you any place. It will only hurt the store owner. All of the major oil companies share refineries and they all fill the tanker at the same tap for the most part. If you really want to make a change vote for one. Vote to get ride of those folks that do not wish for us to be self sufficient. We have the oil here in the US if we could only go after it.

Excaliber · #17 (**permalink**) 03-07-2004, 12:43 AM

I've had a "company" gas card for over 10 years, never really paid much attention to what gas cost........

Well now I "contract" my services out and being "self employed" I actually have to BUY my own gas! My gawd, how have you people been doing this? It's an outrage! It cost 40 dollars to fill up my Jeep!

Ernie

Aloys · #18 (**permalink**) 03-07-2004, 01:57 AM

We are still better off than the Brit`s, I paid 5,20 USD for the gallon one hour ago...
We had the same situation you decsribe in that thread starting here about 10-15 years ago. Despite all the reactions of us customers prices went up continously, strongly helped on by state taxes of now about 2/3th of the whole cake! About 50% of the gas-stations were closed in the last 10 years, only the BIG ones are left over. We were told that the spot-price in Rotterdam made our gas-price, it was calculated in USD an the USD was high.When the EURO came into the game and went up and the USD down, prices did not drop. Now were told that the gas-hungry US and hard winter there would keep the prices up.. This all lead to the production of cars using less gas. The average family-car in Germany with about 1800-2000cc and 60-95 hp uses about 7 litres, 2 gallons per 100 kilometers.
I strongly believe that this will be your long future too.

Ron61 · #19 (**permalink**) 03-07-2004, 05:12 AM

Ernie,

Better start using the motorcycle. Just stay off narrow trails.

Ron

Bruce,

I have to agree with everything you said in your above post. I have looked at property in other states for the past three years. My problems are age,health, and all of my family being buried here. That I could overcome by having my body shipped back, but the others are out of my price range and physical ability at this time. But who knows.

Ron

Bruce Edwards · #20 (**permalink**) 03-07-2004, 06:40 AM

Ron,

For what you can sell your home for in Cal you could by a very nice home in sunny Florida. No state income tax and 6 to 7% sales tax in most areas. Just stay away from our left coast MIAMI.
My family is buried all over this world from New York to Canada to Texas to England to Delaware and God only knows were else.
Sorry to hear your health is not all you wish it to be. I know how that one goes as my hands and other joints are turning on me. Makes it a bit hard to work in my field some days.