posted 03-09-2004 09:05 AM         

A pretty simple plan to take the power back.
Read on....Subject: GAS WAR!

Join the resistance!!!!

I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer. 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.

BUT,
whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really
work.
Please read it and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super
cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.97 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 to take
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 ourselves. 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 whimp 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 about thirty people. If each of you 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 generation 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 email 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 I 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. PLEASE HOLD OUT
UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS
CAN REALLY WORK.

1) Exxon and Mobil hire tons of Americans. As one who was in the oil industry for a long time, when times get tough, they just lay off folks. That would be more Americans out of work. Bad idea.

2) Where do you think all the little mom and pop no-name gas stations get all of their gas from? They have their own little refinery? Wrong. They buy from the majors.

3) The majors sell gas/crude back and forth with the others so, if everyone decided not to buy from Exxon, Exxon would simple sell theirs to Shell. Problem solved!

4) The price of gas is not dictated by greed, it's by costs. We buy most crude from the Saudi's and they dictate the market price. If they are selling for what equates to $3 a gallon, there is no way Exxon or Shell or "fill in the name" can sell it for $1.3 a gallon.

Regardless where it comes from, we are a nation that is totally dependant upon gas.

These types of emails are also started by the leftists who hate corporations and private transporation and want to see us all get around like the Chinese. Is that what we all really want???

posted 03-09-2004 04:31 PM         

It was me. I've posted a couple of times that most gas stations/c-stores are dealer owned or chain group owned and are NOT owned or operated by a major oil co. Some are, but most are not.

Most of these businesses are already struggling and not stopping at a person's place of business just because he/she happens to sell ExxonMobil products will only harm this businessperson and not the intended major oil co.

I too am frustrated by the cost of fuel (my inventory cost have increased 60% over the past 7 months), but boycotting retail facilities won't accomplish anything but force a struggling business to close and limit competition even more.

Bandwagon time.
The mindset of many people in this country has forced dependence on foreign oil on all of us. Many want to consume more at the same price, but don't want to increase domestic exploration and refining. I'm all for clean air/water, no drilling in my backyard, no pipeline through my farm and fair gas prices too, but it's unrealistic to think we can have it all without sacrifice. Once the next two sets of environmental regs go into effect (2006 & 2008) far more refineries and retail sites will shut down and no telling what the price of gas will be.

I hope I haven't offended anyone by my commentary.

posted 03-09-2004 05:00 PM         

And I am not sure if your comments were directed at me but if so, I have a Job! Been with the same company for 35 years plus 4 year in the Air Force.

RC thanks for the insight.

posted 03-09-2004 05:04 PM         

I know from experience in the last 15 years of driving Wisconsin to Texas at least once per year, that Always, Always... Wisconsin has among the highest prices and Arkansas the lowest..... and the difference is the state tax....

posted 03-09-2004 06:34 PM         

You guys are right on. Sure, the big companies want to make money (as do the little companies and the little guys). The bigger issues are consumption and lack of domestic supply.

posted 03-09-2004 07:03 PM         

Just making a point that if you are complaining about gas prices this year, you probably should have been complaining for the last 30 or more years too... because it's not that much worse now when you convert it all and compare in today's dollars.... Early 80's was much worse than it is now - when you adjust the price to today's $ value.

We've still got it pretty good here in America. I spent 6 months in england in 1997... For the first time in my life, I spent over $40 (in american $$) to fill a gas tank on a small sedan (and when adjust to today's $$$, it was probably over $50). I still have not paid that much here in the US to fill any tank - even the 25 gallon tank on the F150.

4.55 x 25 gallons = $113.75 = This is how much it would have cost to fill my F150 up in London last year.

quote:

---

Originally posted by BeWare:
YF, I can see most of your points, but there is no way on earth that you are going to convince me that the major oil companies are not artifically inflating gas prices. There is greed going around, and the oil companies have the corner on it. JMO

And I am not sure if your comments were directed at me but if so, I have a Job! Been with the same company for 35 years plus 4 year in the Air Force.

RC thanks for the insight.

I guess it was a bad idea.

---

BeWare, wasn't directed at you, more to the point, directed at those that write these silly "everyone send it to 10 folks" emails. You were just passing it on.

Sorry for any confusion.

What alot of folks don't realize is that the government makes more money off of each gallon of gas then the oil companies do and they don't produce, make, refine, advertise, or do anything for it.

posted 03-10-2004 06:32 AM         

This graph (the red line) shows the cost of gas using "1996" dollars. Looking at this graph, then $1.50 in 1996 dollars is a typical cost we've been paying over the past 2 decades. Today's cost, when adjusted to 1996 dollars is in that same ballpark.

When you look at things in perspective... we get gasoline dirt cheap compared to the rest of the world, excluding of course, the middle east.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ed monahan:
There is gouging going on. How can gas go up 25 cents a gallon every Thursday and go down 25 cents every Monday. Do all gas stations get their gas on Thursdays and Mondays? What is already in the ground was paid for already, (or at least the price was determined). Every gas station here raises the gas price at the same time. It is not all new gas.
Somthing is wrong with this picture. I don't have the answer for it.

---

Gouging? If you fill up with 20 gallons you are only talking $5. This is $5 going to the little guy mind you, not the oil company (they have already been paid).

The oil companies make only something like .35 cents profit a gallon. The US government makes something like .65 cents a gallon (probaby more today, my figure was from several years ago)

The government realizes that we all need to buy this stuff so what beter audience to tax.

So the litle guy makes .25 cents a gallon (usually less), the oil companies make .35 cents (for drilling, refining, distribution, advertising, ....) and the government makes .65 cents a gallon (for doing nothing).

Who is the one gouging???

posted 03-10-2004 07:45 AM         

25 cent increases each Thur. and 25 cent decreases each Mon.? Wow, that is strange. In all my years in the gas biz I have never seen or heard of such. Something indeed APPEARS to be wrong in your area. But, there are oddities in pricing such as, many Exxon retailers do a weekly "Thrifty Thursdays" promotion where they sell Prem. for the same as Mid-grade.

No, deliveries are not on each Thur. or Mon., they are on an as needed basis. With the cost of a load of gas today ($15,000+), no one is going to ordered until it is absolutely necessary.

Gas inventory in the ground is just like any inventory. The same as widgets on a shelf. A retailer's cost is want it was at the time it was picked up at the terminal. The strange thing in the gas biz is that retail prices actually move slower than wholesale cost, so margins are squeezed when gas prices are going up and are widened when prices are going down. Result - Distributors (like me) and retailers are seen as villians or gougers in times like these when we are actually having a pretty rough time of it. Low margins and selling below cost are common now. Conversely, we are heroes when prices are falling and these are times when we are making up for the bad times. There will be many bankruptcies in this industry over the next 6 months by those who can't weather the storm until good times come back. Thank goodness we have the diversification of fuel oil/propane/trucking/lube oil and understanding knowledgable bankers or I would be in a fix right now.

Your observation about all the prices appearing to change at once was right on. There is probably no collusion going on there though. Gas sales are extremely sensitive to posting of retail prices. Station managers are required to gather price surveys of their competitors 1 to 3 times a day. Many managers are given full authority to meet the price of their most common competitor immediately. So, one location makes the move, they all do. Contrary to common opinion, retailers do not move prices up a fast as they move them down in fear of losing precious sales volume.

The nuances of the gas business are many and easily misunderstood if you are not in it.

I hope this helps.