I don't know how many knew of this or participated, but in my town there are several gas stations owned by the same oil company. On the day of the boycott, half of their stations went to 3.40 the other half stayed at 3.12 causing a panic among people to rush to the cheaper stations and fill up. Was this their way of saying "we are in control here" and is that not illegal, just like starting rumors in the stock market causing people to buy or sell stock at your gain?
2007-05-18 08:37:31 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Mr Taco, it would make a difference. There is so much fuel use that if no one pumped gas for a day let alone two days, their would be nowhere to pump the fuel and the reserve tanks would fill up. The price would have to come down quickly in order to sell before the oil distribution line bottle necked
2007-05-18 08:44:50 · update #1
The day after the boycott gas prices in my area (Louisiana) went up an average of 20 cents. The oil companies were definately flaunting their power in our faces. Exxon had the largest profit in their history last year.
Wal-Mart is upset because retail sales are down for last month....duh....don't they realize we buy gas first and junk later! I live in a rural are and without a car would be in big trouble. I am a 25 minute drive from the nearest (small) town. My doctor is 45 minutes away. There is no mass transit here and no way to car pool. They really have me over a barrel.
My hubby drives a big tank truck. He hauls ISO to gas plants in the area which is what they make gasoline out of. Everytime 'they' tell us there is a gas shortage...it is a ball faced lie! 'They' are not ordering ISO to be brought to the plants so they can starve the market and raise the price.
I've always thought gas prices should be lower in Louisiana than other states because we have the most oil refineries (18) of any state. We have to deal with ruined roads from the heavy trucks, heavy truck traffic and polution. But our prices are some of the highest in the country.
I wish there were a way to really hurt these companies. Like not buying gas for a month. That would put a real kink min their pocket change. But, people have to drive to work, the store and doctors, so that is impossible. There are a lot of highly intelligent people on this world wide web....I wish one of you could come up with an effective plan that we could use to stop the oil companies.
2007-05-18 09:09:17 · answer #1 · answered by justme 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gas prices fluctuate daily based on supply and demand. Reserves at the other stations may have been low due to higher than expected demand on the 14th. As to your stock market comparison, those who START the rumor are guilty of a crime...not everyone who profits from it. Unless the gas stations were advertising "we are proving a point", there's absolutely nothing wrong with what happened on the 15th in your town.
2007-05-18 15:45:49 · answer #2 · answered by evans_michael_ya 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Boycotting oil is stupid anyways. What difference does it make if you don't buy oil on the 15th if you are only going to buy it on the 16th. Not only that but these companies will probably only use the one day slump as an excuse to raise the price of gas even higher so that they can keep operating and not lose money or some such thing. If you don't like gas prices stop using gas, or at least use less of it.
2007-05-18 15:43:07 · answer #3 · answered by Memnoch 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What does it matter....I can't not buy gas. I live in an area where if you want a good job, you are going to drive at least 10 miles a day. I can't not buy gas....so the oil companies just have us by the b*lls....not a whole lot we can do except stop driving, which is not an option for many people.
What really funny is the oil prices are going down again, but gas prices are going up....that is funny to me.
2007-05-18 15:47:39 · answer #4 · answered by yetti 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If proven that this was the act of the oil companies and nor "independent owners" individual actions, it probably violates some FTC or SEC regulations. Trouble there is "PROVE IT".
I know nobody wants "BIG BROTHER" to interfere with anything, but the only answer I see is for the Fed to place caps on the price of crude or refined petroleum products being imported to the US. Aside from hitting everyone hard in the wallet, these exorbitant crude prices are making our trade deficit even worse than it already is with all the US jobs being outsourced overseas.
2007-05-18 15:46:25 · answer #5 · answered by Jim 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The only way to get back at BIG OIL is to cut back on your use. This means making do with less-than-the-biggest car and house. We are all acting as if cheap oil is a constitutional right when we have actually put ourselves in this situation by demanding too much.
2007-05-18 15:50:04 · answer #6 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps, but ultimately it made no difference. The boycott would have made no difference anyway, even if everybody had stuck to it, because they simply would have bought the gas earlier or later. Changing when you buy gas has NO impact on gas prices, because the companies get their money anyway. The only way to lower gas prices is to stop using so much gas.
2007-05-18 15:41:47 · answer #7 · answered by Mr. Taco 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Since it's May the 18th, I can honestly say that since May the 15th gas prices have jumped 20 cents where I live. Way to show them.
2007-05-18 15:52:23 · answer #8 · answered by Robert L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No station here changed a sign or a price.
2007-05-18 15:40:30 · answer #9 · answered by wizjp 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gas stations have successfully negated the law of supply and demand and actually raise prices when the demand goes down.
Stop sending the chain mail!
2007-05-18 15:43:45 · answer #10 · answered by Darth Vader 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋