Want to do something small to protest the obscene oil company profits?

[progressivebydesign]

Here's an article about a small, largely unemployed community in Washington state. It's about two men who are trying to take on the obscene oil companies, and their multi-billion dollar profits in the first quarter of this year alone. Can we try this? Can we spread the word around?

http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?id=31213

<<GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY - We're all paying record prices at the pump. And two consumer groups say 75 percent of profit from the price jump goes right to U.S. oil companies -- not to OPEC.

Well, two local men are tired of complaining about those prices, they're trying to hit back>>

snip

<<They decided to take on the oil companies themselves and hit them where it hurts. They're starting a once-a-week boycott; asking every driver, every Monday, to stay away from gas stations.

They say to fill up the day before or the day after, but on Mondays, stay away.>>

[democracyindanger]

1. I appreciate their effort, but

what difference do they think they're making? In the end, the oil companies are going to get their money anyway, either a day early or a day later.

Wanna make a real statement? Take the bus. Walk. Bike. Get a scooter or motorcycle.

[No2W2004]

4. Motorbikes

I just had to fill mine up today.

Another 4 bucks, another 80 miles. :D

[democracyindanger]

7. me too hehe

8 bucks, 100 miles, but I pay California prices and have a thirsty V-twin ;)

[ForrestGump]

21. Yep -- they're not getting much out of me...

My bike's got a 6.2-gallon tank and gets 45 mpg (sometimes even more, but usually less around town).

[JPJones]

2. Even better, carpool or turn your SUV into planter n/t

[MI Cherie]

3. My something small would be to ...

... use a charge card for any amount, preferably less than $3-$5. Then, pull ahead to the next pump and do it again! It costs them to process credit cards, so they don't make quite as much profit.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Well, it depends...

In most cases you're just hurting the retailer. The oil company has made their money by the time the delivery truck fills up at a refinery rack. Not all oil companies actually sell gasoline at the retail level, and those charges for the credit card processing are assessed on the retailer. Some that do are certain Shell stations, BP, Texaco, etc. However, be aware that often the presence of the oil company logo simply means that store accepts that company's credit card and sells that company's refinery product. If that is the case, you'd actually be giving more money to the oil company.

If you do this, please make sure you're buying your gas from a store owned outright by the oil company itself or one of its subsidiaries. Many convenience stores are either privately owned or operate as franchises. If that is the case, your tactic has no effect whatsoever on the oil company. It does however have a huge effect on the retailer, who makes a miniscule amount on gasoline sales.

I've managed three stores that sold gas. One made no net profit on gasoline sales. One netted about 2 cents per gallon, which was considered pretty good. The other was more difficult for me to determine since it was part of a large chain of privately owned stores. Some individual stores netted as much as 5 cents per gallon, but others made nothing. We tended to be cheaper than most stores in the area, selling a penny or two above market cost at any given moment, and thus essentially didn't even make a gross profit on gasoline sales. But of course because we were so cheap on gasoline and so well located for sales, we made enormous profits on "inside sales." The average consumer has no idea what the markup on a fountain drink is. It's absurd. Talk about price gouging.

Sorry to be so long winded on this. This is a viable tactic, but it has to be done with care to make sure it targets the right people. Do this at a "mom and pop" store, and it just hurts mom and pop.

[MI Cherie]

19. Good points ...

... but there aren't too many "mom & pop" stores left around here any more. If they have a fair price, I'll fill up and pay cash, if possible. (No drinks or snacks though!)

Mostly in this area: Amoco, BP, Marathon, Mobil, & Shell. So far, I've only fantasized about my menial protest. I just got really ticked off the other day when it hit $2.10/gallon!

:grr:

[DUreader]

5. It does not seem to add up

You will use the same amount of gas and may just cut some folks work week by one day.

I hear the station owners make more profit on their food-marts than

the gas

[LynzM]

9. You're right

I know people who own several stations. They usually sell the gas at or slightly below cost even (very competitive highway market here) and make the $$ off of food. 'cause how much does a can of coke really cost, wholesale?

I may be wrong, but I believe it actually the station owners who pay the processing fees, not the overall companies?

[RoyGBiv]

14. Yes...

See my previous reply.

OnEdit: Just a note that in some states, selling below market cost is illegal. This is figured on an average, so some people can get away with it for a time, as long as they make it up and even things out later so that, on average, they make a least a 1/4 cent gross profit.

Gasolines sales are not by themselves profitable. Simplisticly speak, that's why few full-service stations exist. In order to make a profit, they have to sell the gasoline at a much higher markup than what the public will generally tolerate or offer other high volume, high markup services. Gasoline is a "draw" to pull people into the store so that they will purchase items with a high markup also sold at the store.

[progressivebydesign]

6. I forgot we're all so beyond that stuff here..

.. I thought it was kinda of sweet and naive that they were trying this... Oh okay, better to be snarky about unemployed people who are trying to do something. Oh.. and where they live, there really isn't any kind of public transportation to speak of, and you wouldn't want to be riding a scooter most of the year there. These people have to drive.

[Career Prole]

8. I'm in...what the hell.

I never fill up on Mondays. Payday's Friday, money's gone after the postman drives by Saturday.:)
I'd look at it more as a show of unity than an economic boycott, anyway.

[democracyindanger]

10. My bad

I thought I was supposed to take their protest seriously and assess it accordingly, but shame on me for not seeing it as sweet and naive. I guess I should've just posted, "Aww, how cute," and let it go at that.

And FWIW, I lived in the rainy part of Oregon for years, and rode a scooter year round. It sucked for 9 out of 12 months of the year, but it got me where I wanted to go.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. I used to live in the Pacific Northwest

and when I was in Corvallis, Oregon, where the climate is very similar to Gray's Harbor, I rode my bike year around. It's much more feasible to ride a bike in western Washington or western Oregon than it is in Minnesota, for example, but I've learned that there are dedicated, year-round bike commuters in both the Twin Cities and Chicago.

If it rains, you just wear a poncho and carry a plastic bag to put over the seat when you park the bike. :-)

[DUreader]

18. Why not help them organize alternative energy?

If it is a symbolic feel good action, fine. Don't sweat the fact that

people will analyze the idea.

[El Supremo]

11. No.

Who profits from these prices? Mostly widows and pensioners. And also the workers - in job security. This is how a free market responds to changing conditions.

What you should be asking is when will this country do something to insure our energy independence? When will we stop being a slave to oil?

[keithyboy]

15. I can do that. And I ask that everyone stay home on Memorial Day week-end

The prices will be jacked up once again for the Memorial Day holiday week-end. Stay home and enjoy you families. Do anything but don't drive and don't shop! Just think what a message that would send!

[keithyboy]

16. Try walking to anything that is within a three-mile radius of your home.

It's healthier, you will save money, do less shopping, and meet your neighbors.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. I do, for the most part

I live in a neighborhood with lots of stores, and I walk to either of the next two shopping districts, which takes either 20 minutes or 30 minutes.

When I get my bike fixed... (she said for the umpteenth time in six months)

[Gold Metal Flake]

20. A better boycott.

Need gas? Get it from a gas station.

Need milk, oil, newspapers, Mentos, condoms, rolling papers, Zagnuts, Slurpies, hot dogs, air fresheners, Vienna Sausages, beer, water, cigs, Lefty Frizzle's greatest hits 8-track, toothpaste, whatever? Get it from a store without a gas pump. Gas companies make a mint with retail shit. AM/PM advertising is exclusivly about retail crap, not gas.

Wanna send a message? Transfer your revenue stream away from the gas companies as much as possible. We gotta buy gas at the gas station. Get your other crap someplace else.

Nothin' but gas.

[lostnfound]

22. Perhaps this is really a sign of denial -- Kurt Vonnegut story

Kurt Vonnegut essay (addict comment at the end):

I once had a high that not even crack cocaine could match. That was when I got my first driver's license! Look out, world, here comes Kurt Vonnegut. And my car back then, a Studebaker, as I recall, was powered, as are almost all means of transportation and other machinery today, and electric power plants and furnaces, by the most abused and addictive and destructive drugs of all: fossil fuels.

<snip>
Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.

And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we're hooked on.


It's a great essay -- also mentions how Christian bible belt wants 10 commandments posted every where, but not the Sermon on the Mount --
"Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!