straightedge

I've seen several friends post this on MySpace.com over the last few days. The idea seems a bit misguided to me, buying gas the day after, theoretically means MORE money would be spent that day to also pay for gas used on the protest day, just my two cents

"in April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices.
Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all myspace members are asked to not go to a gas station in protest of
high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the myspace network, and the
average car takes about 20 to 30 dollars to fill up.

If all myspace members did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take
$2,200,000,000.00 (that's BILLION) out of the oil companys pockets for just one day,
so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the
Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

If you agree (which I cant see why you wouldnt) repost this bulletin repost it with
'Don't pump gas on May 15th"

Icycle

I agree. This is a silly idea. If people really wanted to do something about the high prices of gasoline, they should take measures to make real long term reductions in their usage. If enough people did that, it could conceivably reduce demand and prices. A one day protest will do nothing.

super-douper

a no-drive day would be a better way to stage a mass protest. or, a no-buy-gas week.

but how would the masses get to work?!?!

I-Like-To-Bike

They could instead spend the week posting dopey ideas on the Internet!

TimJ

"Middle Eastern oil industry"?

May 15th is a tuesday. How many myspace members are real people, first of all (if there's 70mil accounts maybe, I dunno, there are actually 40 million idividuals represented), and second have a car and would be going to the pumps on tuesday, May 15th in the first place? I would guess that number of people would be statistically insignificant compared to how many gas-buyers don't go to the pumps on any given day anyway. So it's silly just based on the numbers logic.

It's also silly because even if 70 million actual people who were going to buy gas didn't buy gas on a particular Tuesday, it wouldn't effect the price of oil. The price of gas? No, it would do anything to that, either. There's a long chain of in-betweens from crude oil to gas and the gas station is at the end, somewhat isolated. The biggest determinate of gas prices is crude oil prices, the demand component from 70 million car-driving end users on one day is nothing. In order to effect the "Middle Eastern oil industry" you'd have to effect the price of oil, and to do that on the demand end would take something way more monumentally big than 70 million people not buying gasoline for one day.

As a symbolic thing to make yourself feel good, sure, whatever. But there's no possible way it could effect anything. These kind of things bug me because I feel they allow people to tune out, a sort of selective ignorance. People I know who usually pass these sort of things around get really defensive and angry if you point out it won't actually do anything. Often the attitude is something like "at least I'm doing something" or "it would work if everyone were just as active as I am". It's not false hope, it's false reasoning, and wasting time on completely pointless activities convinced you're doing something that would or could effect something really huge, like the oil industry, is a dereliction of duty as a citizen, if you ask me. Basically because it's unreal and it's a fantasy. If you care about changing the world for the better then you need to know enough to realize myspace members not buying gas on a tuesday isn't going to do jack squat on any level.

Wogster

Hmmm, let's see, well there is the bicycle and walking is still possible, you could skateboard on the downhill and flat sections, walk the uphill ones. My brother-in-law roller bladed to work several times one summer, he biked a lot last year, and did so again today. If you really want motorized travel, there are trains and buses in many places.

fat_bike_nut

Meh.

I've been seeing stuff like this ever since my senior year of high school, and even back then, in my undeveloped, 17-year-old mind, I knew this concept of a "gas protest" to be complete and utter BS. So people stop buying gas for an entire day. Big deal. The oil companies don't care when you buy your gas, because they are still going to get your money, you bunch of dummies

Besides, HONESTLY...how many people would actually be willing to give up their cars, even for a single day that they normally drive? Not many.

Ganesha

If I was a gas station owner, and no one bought gas for a day, I would raise prices the next day, knowing even more people will be nearly out of gas.

Dahon.Steve

Exactly.

These boycotts are nothing more than wishful thinking, hoping the gas corporations will lower the price of fuel due to a glut. What they don't understand are the days of inexpensive motoring are coming to an end. The high cost of car ownership left them so broke, small fluctuations in fuel prices destroy their finances. This is why the majority of those on this forum including myself became car free.

Personally, I didn't even know the price of gas was back up to $3.00 a gallon.

priu

The funny thing is that, if the movement gathers enough people, the gas stations will be packed the day before. NOTHING will get changed unless they reduce the number of miles they drive - otherwise the boycott is complete junk.

manual_overide

a no drive day would have great effect as people would treat the 16th as the 15th in terms of buying gas. Don't buy gas, sure, but then don't drive either. THAT will have the desired effect as every participant just extended their TBFU (time between fill ups) by ONE whole day.

Alekhine

Exactly. You travel the same amount of miles, you use the same amount of gas. I'm pretty sure the oil industry billionaires aren't exactly going to cry over this completely useless and idiotic "protest."

Platy

As compared with years past, the U. S. gasoline supply this season is roughly a million barrels a week below the demand. That's 6 million gallons a day. To get prices back to, say, 2003 levels they'd need to have a few million motorists go car free for the summer season. The current hope is to make up for the shortfall by importing more finished gasoline from places like France and Japan. Last year they were required by treaty to supply us with gas out of their strategic reserves. This year they aren't. Will it happen? How much will it cost? Stay tuned.

I-Like-To-Bike

There isn't anything too funny about a "movement" based on naivety and ignorance.

kc9eog

"in April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices.
Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight."

Gas prices were around $1.00 a gallon here then, this message starts out by lying to us...not to mention how dumb the whole idea is!

fat_bike_nut

Once again, I ask, how many people, on days that they normally drive (to work, to run errands, etc.), would be willing to give up driving completely on just one of these days? Not many.

If people can drive, they won't take public transportation. Heck, I'm guilty of this, too...despite the fact that my school has a system of setting students' ID cards to be used as FREE bus passes, I tried it for 2 entire weeks and hated it. I went back to driving, despite the increased price in usage. Based on "hours lost" from driving (including the working hour costs to maintain, fuel, and pay insurance on the car) vs. "hours lost" from riding the bus, both forms are still about equal, even when my car gets stuck in a traffic jam.

If people can drive, they certainly wouldn't ride bicycles everywhere. Too much effort, and "bikes are just toys." Well, I'd ride if I had a bike

rajman

Why protest high gas prices? Instead spend less on gas - reducing demand is the only way to have the desired effect.

If you don't like high prices, use less gas, and then you'll be doing your part to lower them, AND save money at the same time. If they really wanted to reduce what they spent on gas they could try alternative transport, shop at a local store rather than big-box Wallyworld, wait until they can group several errands together on the same day (shop and go to the dentist at the same location/same day), carpool, and so on.

Or are these protesters just asking for a subsidy? If that's the case then it's all of our tax dollars down the drain for their habits (just like what happens in China, etc)

rajman

I guess it depends on where you live - in my experience driving results in little or no time savings or extra travel time vs. subway, streetcar, bus, cycling, or walking. Did you consider parking lot crossing times and so on in your calculation? On UofCalgary campus thousands of students park at a football stadium and walk twenty minutes to campus - resulting in a net travel time disadvantage for some vs just walking, transit, cycling or whatnot. Even for those parking on campus, at busy times there are lineups for parking lots where I've seen people waiting 10-15 minutes at the lot just to get in - doesn't even count the time in the lot looking for the single available space.

The car's main advantage IMHO is the superior towage capacity vs. bikes (100's of lbs vs 50 or so for my bike - also capable of much bulkier transport). The main disadvantage is cost $15k for car, $500 for bike, $0.10/km for car, $0.01/km or less for bike $2.00/ride flat rate for transit (no ownership costs make this very cost effective vs car).

fat_bike_nut

rajman: Yes, I added in parking costs, too. It still comes out about equal between the car and bus. My area has no subways, but if there was one, I'd try it out, too. Orange County's bus system is reliable in that the buses do arrive and take you to your destination, but I think that it is blatantly ridiculous that it takes 90 minutes to go 12 miles. I'm basically wasting away 3 hours everyday if I take it. You live in Toronto, which is not set up like a suburban area. Suburban areas tend to be built around the car first, and I'm living in a suburban area.

lyeinyoureye

They always have that stuff... Useless, since the drop in demand will just be soaked up in the next day. Otoh, if everyone in the states drove 55mph on the highway for at least 6 months, I think world demand could drop by ~5%. But most people have too much cash to bother thinking about stretching any of it. The irony being, gasoline/oil is so inelastic, a 5% drop in demand over a couple quarters could send the price through the floor provided suppliers didn't constrict supply at the same time, which I doubt they could, since there's that whole chain to deal with. But, they could, eventually, keep pace w/ every increase in driver efficiency, so even if every driver was very efficient, dropping production by a third to keep prices where they are would be relatively simple.

Roody

Well I plan on boycotting gas on May 15.


And every other day of the year.

Dahon.Steve

Good one.

I didn't know it but my boycott is now going on over 5 years!

In Absentia

This "boycott" is perfect because the problem isn't our reliance on a destructive, finite resource. The real problem is the evil "Middle Eastern oil industry" charging too much for it.

MarkS

The new version of the boycott is not to boycott on a certain day, but to boycott Exxon/Mobil everyday. Amazing that so many American capitalists suddenly believe in centrally controlled prices.

bragi

I hope this isn't true for diesel as well, or even us carfree people are going to start paying through the nose for just about everything.