This is how we can lower gas prices.

Renorei · Post by **Renorei** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:01 pm

I got this in an e-mail, and I thought I'd share. It sounds like it could actually work, so I thought I'd let you all see it. There's no way to know for sure, but given how high gas is, it's worth a shot. Please e-mail this to others and post it in other forums that you're a member of.

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola
executive It came from one of his engineer buddies who
retired from Halliburton. It's worth your
consideration.
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 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 on and join with us!
By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at
about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently
$2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. 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. 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 on me at this point ... keep reading and I'll
explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am sending this note to over 30 people. If each of
us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ...
and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10
=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!
Kerry Lyle, Director, Research Coordinator

Shadow Wulf · Post by **Shadow Wulf** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:53 pm

Haha!! Yes, I love the idea!!! Its pure geniouse. I should tell my dad this.

Silverclaw · Post by **Silverclaw** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:03 pm

Hmmm, could work...

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:11 pm

As a gas hauler, I can tell you it won't work.

Exxon has branded and unbranded gasoline.

Stores like "Billy Bob's One Stop" (I made that name up) can get unbranded gasoline from Exxon. So if you go to his store to fill up instead of Exxon, you're still getting gasoline from Exxon!!

Its a no win situation.

Shadow Wulf · Post by **Shadow Wulf** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:14 pm

Actually it can be a win situation, you dont have to do it to Exxon, just do it with another gas station that barely has any unbranned gas.

Silverclaw · Post by **Silverclaw** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:20 pm

Dang it!

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:23 pm

Shadow Wulf wrote:Actually it can be a win situation, you dont have to do it to Exxon, just do it with another gas station that barely has any unbranned gas.

And risk putting bad gasoline in your car?

No thanks.

Some of these old mom and pop gas stations can have rain water in thier tanks.

If you guys want to "hurt" Exxon by not buying thier gas, you need to find out if that "mom and pop" shop doesn't fill thier tanks with Exxon unbranded gasoline.

Renorei · Post by **Renorei** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:09 pm

Ugh. It won't work. Snopes even has an article on it.

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

DAMMIT!

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:22 pm

CRUD!!!

*goes back to work on his solar-powered car*

Short Tail · Post by **Short Tail** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:41 pm

I know I will catch some flack for saying this, but I hope those prices keep going up. Maybe once we hit the $6.66 to $7.58 per gallon range like it is in some parts of Europe right now, 2 nice things will happen.
1. People will realize that for the most part SUVs are not necessary
2. People will try to come up with alternatives as opposed to little fixes that have been made. (ford and chevy "green or yellow" vehicles)

*Ducks and covers*

Razo wolf · Post by **Razo wolf** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:44 pm

Maybe once we hit the $6.66 to $7.58 per gallon range like it is in some parts of Europe right now, 2 nice things will happen.

consider this though in europe u can get diesel and some gas cars that get really damn good gas mileage because of their not as strict emissions laws. If your in europe right now please verify or wrong this for me.

1. People will realize that for the most part SUVs are not necessary

True.

i dont think this is gonna work very well unless we get help from those people in the government.

Vuldari · Post by **Vuldari** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:06 pm

I don't see how anyone thinks this would work.

The price of Gasoline is decided upon the factor of "Supply and Demand"...and the SUPPLY is getting lower every day.

It's true that the suppliers are rationing the amount of gas they let out to keep demand always higher than the supply, which keeps prices up...but the supply is still LOW. TOO LOW.

Boycotting gasoline would just make the buisness of supplying the stuff no longer profitable. No matter what the consumers Demand, the suppliers can not afford to sell gasoline cheaply any more...and never will again. The supply is not comming back.

If gas was sold to distributors, like Exxon, cheaply, and passed on to the consumers at around $1 a gallon, with the supply restrictions taken away (make ALL of it available), we would have cheap gas for a few years ... maybe a decade or so, and then, suddenly ... NONE.

A world full of stalled automobiles on the sides of the roads, with no fuel to run on.

It is naive to ask for Cheap Gas. It's not going to happen. ...Ever...

The problem, thankfully, is allready on course to correcting itself.

As prices 'unavoidably' rise, gasoline powered vehicles will become less and less practical to drive and use. As more and more consumers get fed up with paying $3-5+ per gallon on their vehicles, consumer demand will make "Alternative" fuel sources more and more profitable, and once that reaches it's peak, non-combustion, synthetic/renewable fuel, and other technologies will finally get the support they need to advance to true "superior alternative" status...and one day we will look back and wonder why the HELL we continued to use that awful, expensive polluting petrolium as our primary fuel source for so long.

You wan't to do something to make the cost of transportation cheaper?

Invest in "Alternative" technologies. Drive a Hybrid, or an Electric, or some other vehicle using technology leading us away from petrolium permanently.

The day we ALL sit back and refuse to pay more than $1 a gallon will be the day the oil rigs shut down, and Gas Stations cease to exist.

...which actually sounds like an EXELLENT idea to me.

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:24 am

Vuldari wrote: The day we ALL sit back and refuse to pay more than $1 a gallon will be the day the oil rigs shut down, and Gas Stations cease to exist.

And I'll be out of a job.

Shadow Wulf · Post by **Shadow Wulf** » Tue May 02, 2006 6:38 am

Thiers always alternative fuel....like shuger cane, they work just as good as gasoline.

Morkulv · Post by **Morkulv** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:46 am

I don't have a drivers-licence so I don't care.

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:03 am

Short Tail wrote:I know I will catch some flack for saying this, but I hope those prices keep going up. Maybe once we hit the $6.66 to $7.58 per gallon range like it is in some parts of Europe right now, 2 nice things will happen.
1. People will realize that for the most part SUVs are not necessary
2. People will try to come up with alternatives as opposed to little fixes that have been made. (ford and chevy "green or yellow" vehicles)

*Ducks and covers*

*Ducks and covers as well*

I agree to some extent. Unfortunately, the people that buy the most gas (the SUV drivers) are usually the people that could care less about the price of gasoline. It's the economy motorists that will be looking for alternative sollutions, but all Suburban Soccer Mom cares about is that she has a bigger car than her neighbor.

Still, it will eventually reach a point that the majority are not going to be willing to pay for it and will be willing to make compromises to avoid it. The upper-class SUV drivers will continue to piss money away, but sooner or later a motor company will look at the discontent and see a market waiting to be exploited. We've already seen vehicles advertized based entirely on their fuel-efficiency. It's only a matter of time before one of them decides to push the bar further and flip off the oil companies entirely.

In the meantime, I trust we'll all find creative ways of flipping off the oil companies on our own. I've already seen plenty of people riding Vespas and motorized Razors where I live, but the local celebrity right now is a highschool student that actually works at a gas station -- he rides to and from work on one of these:

It costs him a buck to fill the tank.

Vuldari · Post by **Vuldari** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:27 pm

Figarou wrote:
Vuldari wrote: The day we ALL sit back and refuse to pay more than $1 a gallon will be the day the oil rigs shut down, and Gas Stations cease to exist.

And I'll be out of a job.

There are plenty of other things that need to by shipped via Semi-cab and Trailer.

Also...when the time comes that all of the cars in the world begin to be replaced, SOMEONE will have to ship all those parts, cars, fuel cells and whatever across the country.

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:05 pm

Short Tail wrote:I know I will catch some flack for saying this, but I hope those prices keep going up. Maybe once we hit the $6.66 to $7.58 per gallon range like it is in some parts of Europe right now, 2 nice things will happen.
1. People will realize that for the most part SUVs are not necessary
2. People will try to come up with alternatives as opposed to little fixes that have been made. (ford and chevy "green or yellow" vehicles)

*Ducks and covers*

You mean the big, oversized SUVs.

Not only that, the speed limit needs to go back down to 55 mph.

People should live closer to work. I have a few co-workers that has to drive for an hour just to get to work.

No unnecessary road trips. Some people will get in their car and drive to the convenience store when its only one block away. Others drive around for no purpose.

There are other factors. I just can't think of them right now.

Vuldari wrote:
Figarou wrote:
Vuldari wrote: The day we ALL sit back and refuse to pay more than $1 a gallon will be the day the oil rigs shut down, and Gas Stations cease to exist.

And I'll be out of a job.
There are plenty of other things that need to by shipped via Semi-cab and Trailer.

Also...when the time comes that all of the cars in the world begin to be replaced, SOMEONE will have to ship all those parts, cars, fuel cells and whatever across the country.

Yes, I could be hauling other stuff. But I'm not sure if I'm going to continue driving if gas hauling becomes obsolete.

vrikasatma · Post by **vrikasatma** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:01 pm

Hate to disagree with ya, Short Tail, but SUVs are necessary. They just aren't for poseurs who never go into the woods and aggro-complexes on a quest to "own the road." (BTW, a lot of pickup truck drivers do the "road hog" thing — I got honked, tailgated and flipped off by a big, evil diesel truck when I was slowing down to turn into a driveway).

Seriously, my little Navajo hauls more than a Tankigator, measured, and does it with half the gas (read: better mileage). *GASP!* An SUV getting decent mileage? Believe it. I average 17-20.

As for me, I and my mechanic are currently researching getting a flex-fuel pump installed in my beast. He's never done it before but he thinks it's a great idea and he's totally up for it. Flex fuel pumps only cost $100 which is within anyone's reach and burning E85 will a.) Stretch what gasoline we have left further and b.) Serve as a stepping stone to pure ethanol. We've done it before: I remember ethyl pumps in stations when I was riding in the back of Mom's station wagon.

Fig, you're the gas hauler: what's your take on E85?

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:42 pm

vrikasatma wrote:Hate to disagree with ya, Short Tail, but SUVs are necessary. They just aren't for poseurs who never go into the woods and aggro-complexes on a quest to "own the road." (BTW, a lot of pickup truck drivers do the "road hog" thing — I got honked, tailgated and flipped off by a big, evil diesel truck when I was slowing down to turn into a driveway).

I can forgive pick-ups for that reason -- because a lot of people need them. But lets be honest, out of the millions of SUVs currently on the road right now, how many do you think have ever been driven off of it (besides the ones shown in the commercials)?

Ideally, SUVs will not be scrapped, but will only be bought by people that need them. Ideally, manufacturers should market towards the people that go offroad regularly instead of marketing towards the suburban homeowner that just wants a bigger car than their neighbor's.

vrikasatma · Post by **vrikasatma** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:54 pm

Terastas wrote:Ideally, SUVs will not be scrapped, but will only be bought by people that need them. Ideally, manufacturers should market towards the people that go offroad regularly instead of marketing towards the suburban homeowner that just wants a bigger car than their neighbor's.

Couldn't agree with you more. When I bought my beast, first thing I said to the salesman was, "I want an SUV. I've done my homework already and I like your model. It will be USED. I don't have children and don't plan on it. It WILL NOT be used to toddle the cubs between school, the grocery store, soccer practice and then take me to the PTA meeting after dinner. It will haul trailers full of stuff, it will go camping, it will be used to get to hunting locations, it will haul wood, it will go on cross-country roadtrips. A diaper will never be changed on these seats, so stow the 'child safety features' schpiel." Basically I let him know I wasn't kidding around, and he sold me a SUV that has rocked my universe for fifteen years. And I'm embarassed to say, I'm one of two people in my circle of friends and neighbourhood that uses my SUV for its intended purpose

I think those stretch SUVs being touted by the limousine companies are abominations, especially the Hummers (IMO, those should never have been released to the public sector — our roads can't handle them). Where are you going, that trendy new nightclub on top of Mt. Pisgah? If they want to wage war, go ahead and enlist, go to Iraq and Afghanistan and take the heat for the privelege of driving a Hummer, ferevvinsake. We have a block bully further up the street who drives a big red one and all he ever does is roar around in it to show it off and intimidate people out of his way. He never so much as <i>thinks</i> about the turn signals and he only brakes for a stop sign. It's always gleaming and you can hear him coming a block away. I want to attack it with incendiary rounds from a Kalishnikov. :cyborg3:

Plan: Anyone that goes into a dealership to buy an SUV should have to show a hunting and/or fishing license, show an outfitter business license and/or farming/ranching DBA, or flash a membership card to a *real* outdoors group, like Thousand Trails or the NAHC. Weed out the poseurs and road warriors.

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:54 pm

vrikasatma wrote: Fig, you're the gas hauler: what's your take on E85?

Hmm...My take on E85?

As long as I can haul it.

Short Tail · Post by **Short Tail** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:25 pm

Short Tail wrote:1. People will realize that for the most part SUVs are not necessary

Just as my family has to have a pickup truck to haul things to and around our ranch, there are people who really do need an SUV. What I was refering to are the people you mentioned, those who live in the middle of the city and never leave it. They have no need for H2's. (infact I have yet to think of a scenario where you would need an H2) Kids around here feel the need to have an SUV or four wheel drive so they can go mudding for fun, a truly exhilarating sport where you *gasp* drive through mud.

Renorei · Post by **Renorei** » Tue May 02, 2006 6:11 pm

When my parents bought me my car (2002), I tried to persuade them to get me a hybrid of some sort. There were several on the market at the time, but they refused

. I'm not sure how much extra the price would have been, but I bet it would have paid for itself by now.

Kzinistzerg · Post by **Kzinistzerg** » Tue May 02, 2006 9:10 pm

Terastas wrote:
It costs him a buck to fill the tank.

Sweet bike!

I don't get why peopel can't use more motorcycles, moped, scooter, etc. We have six motorcycles. We use them as much as possible over using cars. Why? out little run-around bike, an XT-200, gets 85 miles to the gallon... in stop-and-go traffic. Sound good? our other bikes, which include a GS-550, an '83 interceptor, and a '99 VFR, also get upwards of 40 mpg at the least, and often more than 50mpg. Our two small not-road-worthy-or-street-legal bikes, two XR-100's, we can't tell how much mpg ythey get. but they aren't being driven far so it dosn't matter.

Note that none of these are Harleys. Harleys suck- choppers in particular (referring solety to qualities as a motorcycle, not as a pretty hunk of metal- they are pretty hunks of metal and have good artwork, but they drive like a barge).

Yes, there are times/ppalces bikes just wpoon't work, like

-carrring anytign more than two people or one person and a luggage bag or two
-too long a distance and your @$$ hurts.
-hitting somehting with a car? meh, scratched paint. hitting somehting with a bike = insta-death
-too cold, too hot, etc.
-ice and rain are not very nice driving surfaces

and so on. but a good rainsuit, and quality riding gear, and it' a 3-season, wather allowing ride.

and they're fun. and cool.