Boycott Esso - A Solution??

[illusionS]

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Perhaps a mass e-mail is in order? [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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LOL.. I'm gonna assume you got the latest "Don't buy gas day" e-mail. I can't believe people were dumb enough to take that e-mail seriously and help circulate it. Was there anyone who honestly thought this was viable solution? In case you were one of the unfortunate souls (like many of my friends) who thought that by not filling up on Sept 1st you were actually accomplishing something, Steve Levitt explains how stupid this idea was: http://www.freakonomics.com/blog.php It's under his Aug 31st entry. If you didn't get the e-mail, there is a a copy of what I'm talking in his blog.

[jokerthief]

No it won't work. An exxon mobile station can have gas with oil that was bought from BP and vice versa. I just read a news article about this but am too lazy to dig it up.

[smokingrobot]

i'll try and find something out about it.

[Ringo_Mojo]

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Esso is not very prevalent in the U.S., but I like your idea. Perhaps a mass e-mail is in order? [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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What a great idea. Let me look in my inbox, i'm pretty sure i've got one we can just cut and paste. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Seriously, though my mom sent me one of these last year.

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Yea, except I think it needs more publicity than just emails, because most people just delete those before they even read them, or don't pay attention when they do. Anyone work for any company or organization that spreads information to the masses? I'm looking at you bison.

Seriously though, if this could get some really good media coverage, I think it might work.

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Did you read the link?
It wont' work because the oil industry doesn't work like you think it does...

The "gas out" schemes that propose to alter the demand side of the equation by shunning one or two specific brands of gasoline for a while won't work, however, because they're based on the misconception that an oil company's only outlet for gasoline is its own branded service stations. That isn't the case: gasoline is a fungible commodity, so if one oil company's product isn't being bought up in one particular market or outlet, it will simply sell its output to (or through) other outlets:
Economics Prof. Pat Welch of St. Louis University says any boycott of "bad guy" gasoline in favor of "good guy" brands would have some unintended (and unhappy) results.

. . . Welch says the law of supply and demand is set in stone. "To meet the sudden demand," he says, "the good guys would have to buy gasoline wholesale from the bad guys, who are suddenly stuck with unwanted gasoline."

So motorists would end up . . . paying more for it, because they'd be buying it at fewer stations.

And yes, oil companies do buy and sell from one another. Mike Right of AAA Missouri says, "If a company has a station that can be served more economically by a competitor's refinery, they'll do it."

Right adds, "In some cases, gasoline retailers have no refinery at all. Some convenience-store chains sell a lot of gasoline — and buy it all from somebody else's refinery."
A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won't result in lower overall prices. Prices at all the non-boycotted outlets would rise due to the temporarily limited supply and increased demand, making the original prices look cheap by comparison. The shunned outlets could then make a killing by offering gasoline at its "normal" (i.e., pre-boycott) price or by selling off their output to the non-boycotted companies, who will need the extra supply to meet demand. The only person who really gets hurt in this proposed scheme is the service station operator, who has almost no control over the price of gasoline.

If somehow you got this idea into everyones head, the only thing it would do is make Esso(or Exxon) a lot of money, because they would sell their surplus oil at premium prices to their competitors.

What most people don't realize is that gas is gas is gas. All the gas in your home town comes from the same tanks via the same pipes from the same refineries. The only difference is who trucked it from the local depot to their individual stations. The big oil companies buy, sell and trade gas continually to meet individual demands throughout the country.

[Jaskohouston]

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(my pick is Esso due to claims that it is the #1 global warmer in the world)

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Uh, what does that even mean? Is there a trophy for this? Where can I get the current world rankings?

[bravos1]

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I've thought about this a bit, and discussed it with a few people, who seem to agree if it could be organized, it would probably work. We all know that gas is being sold at prices well above market value right now, and basically the gas companies are f***ing us over. They are doing it simply because of our fears, and because they can.

If we could get everyone to boycott a single gas company (my pick is Esso due to claims that it is the #1 global warmer in the world), that company would be forced to reduce its prices in order to regain business. Everyone should refuse to buy gas at this company until it lowers prices. Repeat until we are satisfied.

So is this a feasible solution? What are the problems with it, and can they be worked around? How would this be organized?

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Get over yourself already.. be happy your not living in Europe where they have been paying 1.5 times what you are paying right now for the last 5 years +++

[Il_Mostro]

I think you need to read up on the reasons why oil is exepensive.