Yet Another “Boycott” of ExxonMobil Gas Stations

Maybe you’ve seen this e-mail that people are passing around. I’m posting it in its entirety just so you can make sure you have ALL the facts.

THIS IS NOT A “DON’T BUY GAS FOR ONE DAY” MESSAGE, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.

This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please.

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! It’s worth your consideration.

I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher! Want gasoline prices to come down?

We need to take some intelligent, united action.

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 on and join with us!

By now you’re probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $3.49 for regular unleaded in my town, Seattle , WA .

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 wimp 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 30 people. If each of us 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 group 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 e-mail 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 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. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Keep it going

Notice how it must be “good” because it came from a “retired Coca-Cola executive” not, by the way, “a retired Enron executive” or “a former President of Bear Stearns”. I’m surprised they didn’t use a “retired Disney executive” in the e-mail.

And, yes, the evil HALLIBURTON must also be mentioned. Good cop (Coca-Cola) and bad cop (Halliburton.)

Once again, it is similar to the one day “boycott” of gas stations from last fall where people were told to just not buy gas on a certain day.

What a concept! “Punish” those evil oil companies on that day.

I know- I’m sarcastic- but I can’t help it.

All of these “boycotts” are silly. Everyone needs gas. And nothing the consumer does can change the price.

EXCEPT- maybe they can.

Gas demand HAS been dropping. Just yesterday, MasterCard reported a 6% drop from the same week a year ago in gasoline charges (people using their charge cards to fill up.) Maybe the high prices are changing consumer behavior? Maybe people actually ARE driving less?

Gasoline at $4.00 won’t be fun. We all drive or take transportation that uses gasoline. It’s going to hurt us all in the pocket book.

But let’s stop blaming the companies that are getting it right - and that includes ALL of the big oil companies. They’re doing their jobs in an era when they now have to drill 2 miles into the ocean floor to get the crude. It’s not easy and only recently did engineering advances make it feasible and possible.

Let’s salute the oil companies for actually keeping the prices LOW for the last decade.

Compared to our European or Australian counterparts, our gasoline is cheap. They pay at least 30% more a gallon than we do.

Yes, I’m a shareholder in several large oil companies (if you can’t beat them, join them.) But that’s not why I’m writing this post. After all, the oil companies will continue to make money with or without someone buying gasoline at Exxon gas stations versus Marathon gas stations.

Look at your own life and make changes.

Do you drive a Prius or some other hybrid car?

Have you sold your gas guzzling SUV?

Do you live close to your place of work?

Do you kids walk or take the bus to school?

Can you walk to the grocery store?

What alternative fuels are you using to save energy? Do you have solar power in your home?

There are many things consumers can be doing to cut back on oil and energy consumption.

Let’s start there. It’ll be much more effective than yet another e-mail “boycott” and outrage at Exxon.