Don't pump gas on May 15th. 2007

[rback33]

Let's see. Instead of making $10,000 on Monday and $10,000 on Tuesday, they will make $20,000 on Tuesday. Yep, that'll teach 'em.

Whining about gas prices is a recurring topic on TBN. Happens every spring and every fall. It also happens right after the trilateral commission meets and the black helicopters get airborne.

And here I was thinking it would be $15,000 on Sunday and $15,000 on Tuesday... Where did I go wrong clairvoyant one??

Seriously though...like others have said.. until we change our habits, these things do no good. My wife and I have changed our habits some, not enough, but some. We carpool to and from work together a lot more now than we used to. (she goes right past my office on the way to hers) It's not always convenient or easy, but we see it as needed. We save at least 3/4 of a tank fuel each week by doing this. (it did until my wife creamed a deer last week anyway) If we all cut our overall consumption the supply would be higher than demand.... I think I remember learning about that in grade school....

oops.. I checked the calendar too.. 15th is Tuesday... so the extra buying is on Monday and Wednesday rather than Sunday and Tuesday...

 

[California]

I looked up APATHY...

Then I looked up CLAIRVOYANT and look what I found...

Here gentlemen is the real reason oil companies jerk us around. They know that most people have either one of these attitudes, so they can just pull our strings

Seriously guys, what would it hurt to not buy on the 15th - even if we're the only 20 people on the planet that don't buy on the 15th.

Kendall, I really think if people reschedule their customary purchase to another date it will have no impact at all on the oil companies. They already know what we think. They have PHD's guiding them who study public opinion, estimate potential governmental control, combine this with engineering estimates of future production capacity, and then plan a future course of action considering all available information. Perhaps the most famous of these PHD's is former exxon director Condoleezza Rice. (...and if you claim she doesn't know anything, then we're in a heap of trouble!)

As I see it, increased competion from China will continue to force prices higher, and these companies understand that process as their fundamental operating environment. Letting the oil companies know we don't like higher prices seems pointless.

I think a better response at both the personal and national level is to improve efficiency and economy of everything that burns fuel in order to reduce our costs. This has the added benefit of reducing the huge amounts of cash sent overseas to unstable foreign regions to buy oil. Let China deal with that headache. I don't think it's in our interest to continually outbid them, when you consider where all the money goes.

 

[RonMar]

Is your real name Thomas Malthus?

Interesting, but No, I am just an observer of my environment...

Kendal69, it is not that it would hurt anything to not buy gas on the 15th, it is just that it won't help anything or have any effect on the oil companies bottom line. Any added effort you might put into changing a normal routine that included getting fuel on the 15th would be wasted effort on your part.

 

[patrick_g]

What a load of BS. Next time Chicken Little claims the sky is falling, ask to see some decent sized samples of chunks of sky for independent analysis and confirmation.

I have a female cousin who falls for all this crap and emails it to me and each time I send her the URL for Snope's.

Oh, lets all save our pop tops from aluminum soda cans so that...


Pat

 

[WhyNot]

one thing i'd like to add to your post about those "chain stores" as compared to a "mom & pop" store...service is night and day. would i stand in line for 15 min behind several people playing the lottery, that arent buying anything from the store? probably not at a mom and pop store, but ill be darn if you dont encounter that problem at almost EVERY convinience store these days. i stand in line waiting to pay for a drink, gas, or something the store will make a profit on while i wait on lottery players that should have a SEPERATE line to begin with.

There must not be any WaWa's near you I feel for you if that is the case

 

[MikePA]

Seriously guys, what would it hurt...

What would it help?

Yep, someone proposes a pointless, inane activity, something that's been floating through email inboxes since 1999 and if you don't agree you're apathetic.

Activities like this are meant to make people feel good and make them feel like they're accomplishing something when, in fact, they are not, just as the Snopes article mentioned.

There have been plenty of effective suggestions in this thread that result in permanent reductions in fuel usage and will save people real money.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Possibly this is a good opportunity to list the most worthless attempts at getting something done:

#1 Crap chain emails
#2 Cute wrist bands
#3 Cute ribbons on vehicle radio antennas, or elsewhere on vehicle
#4 Candlelight vigils (that do not raise a 3-wire bale of money for a worthy cause)
#5 Run/walks (that do not raise a 3-wire bale of money for a worthy cause)
#6 Turning on or off your vehicle or home lights at some prescribed time of day.

And, another thing, the cost increase of Copenhagen eclipses the wildest dreams of any man ! Where the heck is the outcry at the high cost of name-brand snuff !?

 

[hazmat]

OK folks - I think everybody has said everything remotely productive related to this topic so I'm going to close it before it takes a nose dive into political discussion.