Does it make sense to boycott BP gas stations?

[bluestateguy]

I'm just asking, and I would appreciate polite, non-snarky replies. Would it make sense to consciously not buy gas from BP stations, or is it pointless?

[Demeter]

1. I don't see why not.

They may not notice, but then again, they might.

[OhioChick]

38. I agree n/t

[ShortnFiery]

2. Hell to the "yes!" eom

[taterguy]

3. Not if you drive extra miles to avoid BP

But that's just my opinion.

[Cal Carpenter]

4. Not really

as others have posted, BP has their hands in various parts of the industry so even oil purchased at a different station could very well be BP oil. Conversely, it could very well have been one of a dozen other companies behind the disaster.

A boycott would be mainly symbolic, and frankly the disasters we see these days require more than symbolic action.

Boycotting BP would be like playing whack-a-mole. With a feather.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Most gas stations are independently-owned, and gasoiline is fungible.

In other words, the gas you buy at a BP station might not have been obtained from BP wells. So it's doubtful that boycotting a BP station would do anything more than hurt a small business owner and his employees.

[Mother Smuckers]

6. No. Boycotts are never useful...very few people will put principle above profit

(or saving a nickel) If every DUer (or hell, every Democrat for that matter) stopped buying gas from BP stations, they'd still sell every gallon they could deliver to the station. I'm not applauding the fact, just stating it.

[Bluzmann57]

7. I won't buy gas at their stations

But I may buy beer, pop, or other things at the convenience store often with the gas station. See, the problem with a lot of boycotts is that it ends up hurting the working stiff who's just trying to make a living. So I figure that if I am in need of something quick and there is a convenience store which sells BP gasoline, I'll just pop in and get what I need without buying gas there. That way, the clerks can keep their jobs and heck, it may even make their jobs a bit easier since they don't have to worry about gas sales.

[Mother Smuckers]

18. Convenience stores (which actually are about the only gas stations now) only make a few cents

profit from gas. Whether you do or don't buy fuel from them is pretty much inconsequential.

[Bluzmann57]

23. Ok. Thanks

I wasn't real sure how that worked. But I rarely buy gas from BP stations anyway because it is usually the most expensive.

[Mother Smuckers]

28. Many years ago (like 55) when I was a kid of 12 my dad bought me a gas station.

Yes, true...I was in 7th grade and I walked to it from school every weekday to work there. I learned how to do a BUNCH of automotive stuff (I could still fix an inner tube with a Camel patch if need be
:D)

But even in those days, when gas was 15 to 20 cents a gallon, we never made any money from it...the term was TBA (tires, batteries and accessories) which was still the mainstay for profit by 'service stations' for many years until 'self service' was invented (I would love to know who dreamed that up so I could terrorize his grandchildren) :D

[Submariner]

8. I have not bought EXXON gas since the Valdez spill

I know it doesn't hurt their pocketbook, but I at least know EXXON/MOBIL won't ever get a penny from me. It's just a personal choice.

[MiniMe]

37. Me either, unless I am traveling and it is the only station around

But if I have a choice, I never buy Exxon

[Statistical]

43. Exxon gets plenty from you.

Oil is fungible.

Oil is imported and combined and then refiners crack it to make gasoline.

Exxon supplies roughly 30% of oil in US thus 30% of gasoline in US comes from Exxon oil.

It doesn't matter what "brand" you buy all of them are made from same oil.

[flvegan]

9. I was going to make an OP earlier. The BP station near me was EMPTY.

But the Sunoco station was busy as ever. Both on my way out and on my way home. Coincidence? Very well could be. Or maybe, folks (at least in this immediate area) are paying attention.

[sandnsea]

10. Does boycotting AZ make sense?

Boycotts work.

The only problem with boycotting BP right now, is that they'd love nothing better than to file bankruptcy to avoid paying for this mess.

I would love for us to get together and bankrupt one of these major corporations. Just one. Only way we will ever understand the power we have.

[Mother Smuckers]

19. Boycotts do NOT work. They just give the people who support the boycotted outfits

all the more incentive to patronize them. It's a zero sum (and zero intelligence) game.

[sandnsea]

22. Watch Arizona. That is all. n/t

[Mother Smuckers]

26. I shall. And I hope it does impact them but 'boycotting' a geographical area is a lot different

from refusing to buy a product that virtually everyone wants and needs. We shall see.

[sandnsea]

29. Grapes, tuna, KFC, Nike,

boycotts work.

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/Boycotts/successfulboycotts.aspx

[Mother Smuckers]

31. Ah, I completely overlooked the fact that grapes are not sold any more, or tuna, and that

Nike and KFC went out of business.

Thank you~

[sandnsea]

35. They changed the behavior, duh

Why do people take such glee in being intentionally stupid.

[Mother Smuckers]

36. A most excellent question. One to which I have no answer.

...

[defendandprotect]

40. Nonsense . . . if you feel strongly about the Ariz crap -- or the spill --

how could you be comfortable doing business with them?

:eyes:

[Mother Smuckers]

44. It's not a spill, it's a serious leak and if you think BP (or anyone else) deliberately allowed,

let alone engineered this disaster, we have no common interest. The Arizona thing will resolve itself over time and it's peripheral to this discussion anyway. If we need to evaluate every supplier of everything we want or need for political correctness we'll either accept it or do without. It isn't rocket science...especially for anyone who really is dedicated to their principles.

[defendandprotect]

48. No one but YOU has suggested that BP did this purposefully --

All it took was greed and looking at the bottom line -- dollars!!

Does Halliburton screw up purposefully, or do they basically not care about

anything but money?

Again -- No one but YOU has made any such suggestion ---

That "leak" is SPILLING out into the Gulf . . .

Nit pickick for what purpose, except to try to defend BP and the oil industry?

The Arizona thing will not resolve itself -- and it's good to see so many Americans

and Latinos enraged with this openly racist move by the GOP.

If we need to evaluate every supplier of everything we want or need for political correctness we'll either accept it or do without. It isn't rocket science...especially for anyone who really is dedicated to their principles.

Your comparing this horrific oil spill with "political correctness" would be mind-boggling,

except it is so desperate on your part as to be sick.

At least to anyone with principles!

[MrModerate]

11. Not sure whether it would do any good but . . .

This is only one example of their corporate ineptitude. They're also wildly unsafe in their refinery operations, risking worker and general-public deaths on a daily basis.

So you gotta ask yourself this: "would you buy dinner in a Halliburton cafeteria?"

[Billy Burnett]

12. My local BP sells Citgo.

Saw a Citgo tanker truck offloading the other day... then again... who knows what was in the tanker. :shrug:

[doc03]

13. Most all the gas in this area no matter what brand comes from a

distributor Hartley BP.

[Inspired]

14. I don't know. My locally owned closest convenience store sells BP gas.

Who would end up suffering? BP...hardly. The convenience store? Most definitely. Not by the loss of the gas sale but the other things they sell when people come to their store to fill up their tanks.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. I don't think so. Most organized boycotts are temporary and ineffectual...

but they make some people feel good. And, like that cockup of Proctor&Gamble being run by Satanists, some are just plain stupid and cause pain for no good reason.

[seabeyond]

16. dont we want them to be able to pay the clean up bill? nt

[FirstLight]

17. I got tons of snark for suggesting this...

But I am with you 100%

these bastards need to get a VERY strong message of the public being fed up with these safety-regulation-ignoring corporate asshats...and we could also push for cleaner energy at the same time!

[Scuba]

21. The message needs to be delivered in the courtroom, not at the pump

[defendandprotect]

42. We did both with ExxonMobil . . .and remember how much of the fines/penalities were

overturned and/or negotiated away?

Supremes also gave a lot of help there, as I recall???


No difference between the oil industry and Mafia --

[defendandprotect]

41. We need to NATIONALIZE the oil industry -- You know, the Saudis

were opining about 20 years ago -- my estimate -- in an brief article in the NY

Times that, when the time came that because of Global Warming they would have to

cut and/or stop oil production that they would like to be subsidized.

No one owns natural resources -- they are to be conserved, not squandered and should

always be under government control -- not private control.

[Mother Smuckers]

45. Make it part of the Post Office. They have an impeccable record of providing a product

with no rate increases.

[defendandprotect]

46. Prime example of destruction of social services . . .

Right wing has done everything possible to increase and protect the private

competititon.

Cater to big business and cut their rates by increasing rates for public.

In fact, I understand we were supplying PO personnel for some of the big corps --

on site!!

Where could you possibly be looking to find anything to praise about any corporation?

Maybe the Health Care/Insurance industry?

Big Pharma? Monsanto?

If not, maybe Wall Street?

[Scuba]

20. No it doesn't!!! Don't punish the innocent!!! Because...

... because neither the manager at the BP station, nor the minimum wage cashiers there are responsible for this mess. Who you gonna go to anyway? Exxon?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

24. It makes sense to cut back on your petroleum products consumption

Perhaps this horrific event will make more people think about how many petroleum products they use on a daily basis. It's important to keep perspective. Gasoline isn't the only way we're feeding the problem.

[Shell Beau]

25. Their gas is crappy anyway.

[Mother Smuckers]

30. Heehee...I knew I had read this somewhere

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5497114#5497334

[iamtechus]

27. Please don't!

Don't do anything to hinder BP's payment for the cleanup and judgments arising from this.

[Mother Smuckers]

33. Oh dear, yet another dilemma.

It's beginning to look like a game of musical chairs with no chairs.

[xchrom]

32. We haven't been 'citizens' for a while now -

We are 'consumers' - consumers of politics, healthcare,
petroleum, etc - if we don't vote with our wallets when we can -

Nobody is going to much listen.

[City Lights]

34. Whether it's pointless or not, I buy almost all of my gas from Citgo.

I haven't even slowed down in front of a BP or ExxonMobil station in years.

[defendandprotect]

39. Yes!! And, I just commented ....

to my husband my shock at seeing cars turning into BP in southern NJ today!

He said, some people just don't make the connection.

I think people are taught NOT to make any connections -- it wouldn't work well for elites!

ExxonMobil after Valdez -- I never went back to any of their stations, anywhere!

[Mother Smuckers]

47. Even if you have a job that's ' local' like baby sitting or mowing lawns, the chance your money

originates and ends in your own locale is zero. It's damn near zero even if you're a secretary at a nearby school. The world's economy is a hundred percent global/interconnected/interdependent. You can't eat a donut at the local diner without subsidizing somebody in a 2nd or 3rd world country and you DAMN sure can't buy a car without doing it to a VERY big degree.

Sit back and think how your husband could bring in the first dime without any part of it coming from some place outside the borders of the USA. Not possible. You can boycott Exxon or Starbucks or Sears and Roebuck...it doesn't make even the tiniest hill of beans in the grand scheme of things. We have what we have...and anyone who thinks a handful of idealists can change it is just ..well, nuts.

[defendandprotect]

49. That's why I am stating we should NATIONALIZE the oil industry . . .

PLUS, supporting Main Street does make a difference -- at least in our town!

Local bike shop -- local restaurants -- local hardware stores -- original owners.

We need to control corporations and put them back in the box . . . in a position where

they SERVE the public again -- not exploit them!!

"Corporate personhood" is farce -- just as privatization of natural resources is farce.

[shugsb]

50. Hit them in the wallet

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=103855806326335

boycott!