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Can some genius explain why this wouldn't work?

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Can some genius explain why this wouldn't work?

Old 04-14-2006, 07:48 PM
  #1  
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Default Can some genius explain why this wouldn't work?

Consumers certainly seem to be controlling the prices in our industry. We've all heard the "if we raise our prices $10 we will lose market share, blah blah blah". After reading, if you think the following would work....why wouldn't you comply???

An idea that might help cut the cost of gas. I sure don't like $2.65/gallon...

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work ?

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 our 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. This idea 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 totake 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 our! selves. 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 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.



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Old 04-15-2006, 06:49 AM
  #2  
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It won't work. The only real solution is to reduce overall consumption. If ever American took one trip to the store and bought a couple of weeks of supplies and then cut out all unnecessary driving for a couple of weeks, prices would come down. Unfortunately, as soon as driving built back up, the price of gasoline would also climb back up.

There could be one more solution, we the people could demand of our elected officials that the oil industry mergers of the last ten years be undone. The Feds have allowed oil industry mergers in the last decade or so, that effectively eleminate competition at the pump level. Exxon and Mobile merged. Conoco and Phillips merged. Etc.

The Feds need to emulate the Feds of 1911, when the Supreme court ordered the breakup of the Standard Trust owned by non other than John Rockefeller. The Standard Trust was broken into 34 companies. Eighty eight years later, the Trust was reunited when Exxon( Standard Oil of New Jersey) and Mobile (Standard Oil of New York) merged into the worlds largest oil company.

Big oil is a monopoly that exists with the quite acceptance of the US government.

The Dems are bad (witness the date of the Exxon/Mobil merger). The Repubs are bad (witness the current lack of action against the monopoly). Vote Third Party.

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Old 04-16-2006, 04:27 AM
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How we all forget the oil embargo of 1973, when gasoline prices soared above 50 cents a gallon. The demand from the driving public was for more fuel efficient vehicles. Imports satisfied the consumer that Detroit would not. Eventially Detroit got on the band wagon for more fuel effiecient vehicles too.

In the 90s came the SUVs... and higher fuel consumption.

A barrel of oil more than $70.00 a barrel. Where are the gas prices going to go? Enjoy those SUVs folks.
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Old 04-18-2006, 01:14 PM
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How about someone come in and start-up a LCC style gas station? Sell gas for 2 bucks a gallon as opposed to $2.57? I would drive a few extra minutes to pay 57 cents less per gallon. Probably not possible unless you can find a way to get the oil directly from the ground through the refinery process and into your store without going through exxon/mobil?
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Old 04-19-2006, 11:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Flyby1206
How about someone come in and start-up a LCC style gas station? Sell gas for 2 bucks a gallon as opposed to $2.57? I would drive a few extra minutes to pay 57 cents less per gallon. Probably not possible unless you can find a way to get the oil directly from the ground through the refinery process and into your store without going through exxon/mobil?
Gas stations aren't like legacy airlines..there's no fat to trim. Margins are so slim at the retail level there is no possible way those guys could reduce their prices and still afford to buy their own stock. The only stations that can sell a little cheaper are ones with lower rent (ie poor location) or ones that have mini-marts that subsidize the gas prices. The only ones who can charge outrageous prices above their own cost are those that are the only game in town. There's also a few medium sized towns that are notorious for price-fixing.

Last edited by rickair7777; 04-19-2006 at 11:15 AM.
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Old 04-19-2006, 11:47 AM
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Read yesterday's (4/18) WSJ, front page, bottom right. "Oil Settles Above $70..."

There's a particular quote,"The inflation-adjusted record oil price, set April 1980, equates to $97.21 in February 2006 dollars." We have't begun to suffer, yet. Remember, there weren't that many fuel efficient models to choose from compared to today.

There's more to this story than Exxon/Mobile, Conoco/Phillips, and Chevron/Texaco. Oil supplies are at an all-time high. The crude production is high. The world refineries are catching up from last summer. The Chinese are building there own refineries. There are numerous layers of producers, refiners, other middle-men and retailers. Each has a play here, but the most important factor that is always over-looked are the commodities investors that are praying on our fears. They are speculating and at every excuse they're driving the price of oil and all it's derivatives up. Do some research before expounding self-righteous.
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Old 04-19-2006, 07:03 PM
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Just drive less. Try walking or get a bus pass. Ride a bike. It will all be over soon enough when China starts selling us refined oil.
 
Old 02-26-2007, 10:34 AM
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Gas prices are determined well before they reach the pumps. As an individual consumer, you have very little to do with gasoline prices in a commodity market which is based on overall consumption / supply and what Bernanke ate for breakfast. Most of the profit for EXXON etc is at the commodity level, if they can't sell it to you directly, they'll sell it to another station who will sell it to you instead.

I know this post is old, but I saw it in the "recommended thread" section and couldn't resist!
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Old 02-26-2007, 03:17 PM
  #9  
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skybolt said:Big oil is a monopoly that exists with the quite acceptance of the US government.

Actually it is an oligopoly, few sellers, due to the huge capital required to run the research, exploration, drilling and many other functions required of an energy company.
The government actually makes three to four times as much as the oil companies on each gallon of gas sold. Government intervention in free markets, even those with few players such as the US automakers, has almost always resulted in very poor results for all involved.
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Old 02-26-2007, 08:35 PM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by jungle View Post
skybolt said:Big oil is a monopoly that exists with the quite acceptance of the US government.

Actually it is an oligopoly, few sellers, due to the huge capital required to run the research, exploration, drilling and many other functions required of an energy company.
The government actually makes three to four times as much as the oil companies on each gallon of gas sold. Government intervention in free markets, even those with few players such as the US automakers, has almost always resulted in very poor results for all involved.
Exactly right:

If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at Congress. 1/2 of the price of gasoline is taxes! Company A buys raw crude from (insert middle east nation here), ships it to a US refinery in a super-tanker. US owned super tanker? Pays taxes, increases shipping cost. Refinery: pays property tax, income tax, unemployment tax, social security tax, workers compensation tax, has to hire a legion of accountants to comply with 8,000 page Internal Revenue Code. Crude gets refined (refinery has to shut down every 2 months to switch gas formulas, because due to EPA regulations and various state regs, state X requires a different gasoline formula that state Y, and so on...). Gasoline gets put into trucks and shipped to your local quickie mart. Trucking company pays all of the above taxes. Quickie Mart sells you gas. Quickie Mart pays all of the above taxes AND the pigs in Congress tack on 18 more cents per gallon in excise tax and your state collects 15 to 25 cents per gallon in sales tax!

Oh by the way, India and China have about 2.3 BILLION people thirsty for crude. Get on your Huffy and pedal dudes!
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