Stick it to the man with a "Gas Out!"
Lets just start this one off with the email in question in case somehow you haven't received it yet. It goes as follows (grammatical and spelling errors left in):
|
Last year on April 30, 1999, a gas out was staged across Canada and the U.S. to bring the price of gas down, and it worked. It's time to do something about it again. Only this time lets make it for three days instead of just one. The so-called oil cartel decided to slow production to drive up gasoline prices. Lets see how many Canadian\American people we can get to ban together for a three day period in April, NOT TO BUY ANY GASOLINE, during those three days. LET'S HAVE A GAS OUT. Do not buy any gasoline from APRIL 7, 2000, THROUGH APRIL 9, 2000. Buy what you need before the dates listed above, or after, but try not to buy any during the GAS OUT. If you want to help, just send this to everyone you know and ask them to do the same. We brought the prices down once before, and we can do it again. Come on North America lets stand together. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Even if you receive this 100 times keep passing it around, this way you know everyone is being informed and no one will forget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
As the above email mentions something similar to this circulated around the Internet last year. Did it work? Of course not. I remember driving around on that day (it was a Friday if I recall) and observing the gas stations as I passed. I didn't see one station that looked like it was being affected by this urban legend. I did see a co-worker of mine get fired for sending the message to the entire user list of the company that I was working for at the time (about 10,000 people).
So, you may be wondering, if it didn't work last year - why should we try it again this year? Well, the email neglected to mention that last year's "Gas Out" had no discernable effect on gasoline prices. If the person (or persons) that started this email actually believe that a temporary boycott will lower oil prices, he or she cannot rely on facts to prove his or her point. In this situation it is far better to rely on emotional terms such as "ban together" (I would have used "band together," but hey, I'm not here to judge). Personally, I doubt that the originator of this email even believes that a "Gas Out" will change anything, but simply enjoys seeing the email spread all over the Internet.
So why won't a "Gas Out" lower gasoline prices? If you think about it, it's really quite simple. Prices in most markets are driven by supply and demand (whoops there goes my vow that I would forget everything I learned in Economics after the class ended), and the prices are set by the suppliers. By varying the day that on which we purchase gasoline - we do not affect the quantity of oil that is demanded at all. We're still buying the same amount of gas - we just happen to be buying it on Saturday instead of Tuesday. Besides making some funky looking revenue charts for the guys in accounting - this does not "hurt" the gas companies, because they still get their money. The only thing that we could do that could possibly have some effect is to actually alter our gasoline consumption. We would have to carpool, ride the bus, or even (dramatic pause) ride a bike to work. And lets face it - how many Americans are going to give up their cars? Personally, I'd keep driving if gas went up to ten bucks a gallon.
Interesting side note to this article - the Gas Out rumor has attracted a rumor of its own! There is a email circulating around the net alleging that the dates for the boycott have changed. Check out this email (mistakes are again intact):
|
Subject: Fw: Attention..Gas Out Dates Have Changed Oil ministers from Venezuela,Mexico,and Saudia Arabia announced today that oil producing countries should boost crude oil production to bring the price down again, which are the highest prices in nine years! They have come to an agreement to boost output but the details of their meeting will be kept secret until march 27th.... ...The three day "Gas - Out" dates have been changed to March 24, 25, & 26th . Please DO NOT BUY GASOLINE ON THESE DAYS! Please forward this message to everyone that has the old dates in April !!!!!! Let's give them naughty bad Oil Ministers the 'ole..... "up yours" fellas!!!! |
The webmaster at the Gas Out homepage states that this is just a rumor. You can almost taste the irony.
Related links: