Success of National Gas Boycott Day hard to measure
UCAN In the Media
E-mails Promote National Gas Boycott Today
Chain Letter Advocates Getting Payback At Pump
Mari Payton, NBC 7/39 Reporter
May 15, 2007
SAN DIEGO -- Tuesday, many frustrated consumers will try to send a message to the oil companies by not buying gas.
An e-mail campaign is promoting a national gasoline boycott Tuesday to protest gas prices that are approaching $4 a gallon at some San Diego gas stations. Many drivers are frustrated and want to do something about it, but so far, few have been willing to stop driving. That's why a symbolic one-day boycott is appealing to many.
"I wasn't going to buy gas," said one driver from Clairemont. "I wasn't going to do it. I would have stayed home all day."
The e-mail chain letter claims a boycott will cost oil companies $3 billion. But will it work?
"The two big problems with boycotts are you can not verify whether they are effective, so you never really know, and the oil companies will never tell you," said Michael Shames, with the Utility Consumer's Action Network, a consumer group.
Some drivers said they didn't think a one-day boycott would hurt oil companies, because drivers who don't buy gas Tuesday will have to fill up sooner or later.
Don Patt has been a florist for over three decades. He needs gasoline for his local deliveries. And national gasoline boycott day is no different.
"We fill the tanks the same as we always did," he said.
Even though gas has gone up, his delivery prices are the same.
"I don't think it makes one iota of to do these national boycotts," Patt said, "You have to get from point A to point B. I don't care whether you buy gas last night or this morning or when."
Down the street, it was business as usual at the Spirit gas station in Pacific Beach. The station's owner, Frank Esho, said regardless of a boycott he is losing money. When prices go up, people stop coming or they are more selective on where they shop. He said the big gas chains for higher prices.
"Most people don't know who's doing it. They think it's the government," Esho said. "I know it's the major brands, because that's who controls the fuel."
Esho supports the boycott, but doubts it would make a difference. He said, "The major brands would never take a loss cause they buy the fuel so they get the fuel at a good price."
Some people said a boycott could work if everyone participated and if it lasted longer than a day.
But Patt said high gas prices are a new reality that consumers have to deal with.
"We have to live and have to adjust," he said.
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Gas Boycott
In order to have a real and lasting effect this has to be an ongoing effort. My attempt in canada below...
START A GAS WAR!! BOYCOTT SHELL NOW!!
WHAT CAN YOU DO? 1ST JOIN THE BOYCOTT (see below)! 2ND - E-MAIL THIS TO EVERYONE YOU CAN THINK OF - INCLUDING LOCAL MEDIA!!
Time to do something now. Even the news organizations realize we are being taken advantage of (see below). 1 day boycotts do nothing. There is only one way to really affect the price of gas. Boycott one company at a time until they drop the price.. That's right! Not 1 day, 1 week or 1 month - only when they drop the price to a "reasonable" level. What is a reasonable level?? A current news story suggests we are paying 15 cents per litre more than we should be (considering today's market forces). SO - BOYCOTT SHELL UNTIL THE PRICE DROPS 15 CENTS PER LITRE.
Why Shell?? Why not? We have to start somewhere and they need to know where (as each of us do). If you are worried about your local gas station operator - don't - they are protected by a minimum profit margin in the case of gas wars - just ask. What next? When Shell stations drop the price to 15 cents below the current price in your area BUY FROM THEM and boycott ESSO!! NEXT = PETRO-CAN, HUSKY, MOHAWK, and so on..
Then start again - until the gas price at the pump is reasonable for the current market and the time of year. How will we know when the price is "reasonable" then? I suggest that everyone (including the local media) keeps an eye on this site http://www.gasgouge.ca/ . It has a "Gasoline Price Gouge Meter" to check your area and what you should be paying.
http://startagaswarnow.googlepages.com/
RECENT ARTICLES:
The Toronto Star: "Gas costs 15¢ too much: Report"
OTTAWA–Canadians are being gouged at the gas pumps, paying in excess of 15 cents a litre more for gasoline than justified by costs and historic petroleum industry profit margins, says a report being released today by a think-tank.
CBC News: "Pump prices jump overnight"
Consumers are aggravated by an overnight spike in the price of gas that's forced motorists to pay as much as $1..28 per litre in Vancouver and $1.18 in Montreal on Tuesday.
"Consumers are exhausted and frustrated," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada.
"We've got no satisfactory explanations as to why these huge price rises take place year after year," he said, noting his group fielded hundreds of calls from angry consumers"
CBC News: "1-day gas boycott won't make prices fall, analyst says"
Consumers frustrated with the cost of gas have launched an online campaign urging others to boycott gas stations on Tuesday, a movement that analysts say will not likely force prices to drop.
An e-mail circulating in Canada and the U.S. urges consumers to hold off topping up their fuel on May 15 in an effort to force oil companies to lower their prices. According to the website snopes.com, which explores urban legends, the first boycott was organized in 1999 with several others rolling out since then. The national average for a litre of gasoline in Canada has reached $1.149, according to the gas monitoring website gasbuddy.com
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