NO GAS - GAS OUT .. on May 15th 2007.

[M.D. Holloway]

Hay, Check this out! Just got a few of these e-mails from some family and friends. Its starting to spread...

NO GAS .. on May 15th 2007.
Don't pump gas on may 15th.

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 internet users are asked to not go to a gas station and pump gas 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 internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies 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.

Pass it around...

What do you think?

[IROC]

I think people are gullible. My mother-in-law sent this around yesterday. I told her that if not buying it for a day would be good, that she shouldn't buy it for a month and then see what happens!!

She said, "But I'd run out of gas!". Exactly.

The only way to decrease demand is to not buy it in the first place. Skipping a day does no good. You just buy it the next day...

[M.D. Holloway]

True dat - but it would be reduced sales for that day. Anyone in business knows that a dip in sales - even for one day - drives them crazy to the point I would almost bet there would be a price decrease.

[notfarnow]

d'oh

I just had my veggie oil source dry up, I have to buy gas for the first time in weeks

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by IROC
Skipping a day does no good. You just buy it the next day...

Bingo.

If this was a "Do not drive" day, that would make a difference. Not buy a day's worth of gas at all. But to simply shift filling the tank by one day won't make a difference.

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Anyone in business knows that a dip in sales - even for one day - drives them crazy to the point I would almost bet there would be a price decrease.

The big sales the day before and the day after would make up for the one day's loss. The monthly total sales would not change.

[hardflex]

FTMF i'm in

[sammyg2]

Total BS, won't make any difference. If you don't like paying high gas prices you have a few choices:
1) Don't drive. Walk, ride a bike. But that would require giving up a very valuable and relatively cheap freedom.
2) start a campaign against the environmentalists who are keeping new refineries from beling built and are trying to prevent increasing capacity.
3) Talk to your elected officials about lowering taxes on gas.
If we increased refining capacity, the price would drop siginifanty but certain groups will not allow that to happen.
They want gas to get very, very expensive. If it does, then some forms of alternative energy will be able to compete.
The problem is, we don't want to pay $6 a gallon or more for gasoline or the equivalent alternative.

[hardflex]

I make adjustments every day. I've already stopped buying gas from those that I see my avg mileage drop. It can be 40-50miles per tank difference. I only fill up with the good stuff. I dropped Valero gas because I'm getting 40 miles less per tank.

[Z-man]

This is false. I suspect the originator of this latest "boycott attempt" feels pretty smug driving around in his Toyota Prius hybrid... his myspace friends will be proud of his impact. His biggest impact: wasting time and bandwidth on the internet!

First off, there is no evidence that gas dropped $0.30 back in 1997 when such a 'boycott' occurred.

Further, such a "boycott" would not be effective, since the consumers won't use any less gas just because they refrain from buying gas on a particular day:

From Snopes.com:
The premise behind all these messages is inherently flawed, because consumers' not buying gasoline on one particular day doesn't effect oil companies at all. The "gas out" scheme doesn't call upon people to use less gasoline, but simply to shift their date of purchase and buy gas a day earlier or later than they usually would. The very same amount of gasoline is sold either way, so oil companies don't lose any money.

Source of the above quote and more info here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
True dat - but it would be reduced sales for that day. Anyone in business knows that a dip in sales - even for one day - drives them crazy to the point I would almost bet there would be a price decrease.

But there won't be any dip in sales!!! Let's say that on a typical weekday, a run-of-the-mill gas station nets $10,000 in profits. (just a number - no real-world number). So on May 15th, that gas station will be out $10k. HOWEVER - on the 14th and 16th, there is a great chance that said gas station will net $15,000 instead of the typical $10,000. So the three day average will be the same.
Bottom line: there will be no dip in sales, since the sales will be offset to a day or so before or after the 15th.

Want to make a difference - then use less gas. Biodiesel today, hydrogen fuel cell technology tomorrow. Those two WILL make a difference. Gas/battery Hybrids won't cut it in the long run, IMHO -- they are just a stop-gap, green 'tend of the month' vehicle to get -- but they aren't as efficient as they claim to be.

If I happen to need to fill up on the 15th, no ineffective internet email boycott campaign riddled with inaccuracies is going to stop me from doing so.

-Zoltan.

PS: If you hurry and send this to 20 other people in your address book, spin around 5 times in your office chair, send 1,000 soda can caps to a boy suffering with leukemia in London, and make a wish to the internet faerie, you STILL won't get didly squat! And I can guarantee you won't wake up in a tub full of ice with a note beside you that your kidney has been stolen either...

[hardflex]

hey it's at least as effective as petitioning to get Rosie Odonell off the air.... LOL

[the]

LOL, you are the king of these goofy, old chain e-mails. Leave 'em for the housewives, where they belong.

[azasadny]

This myth email is really irritating me because of the number of clueless email idiots who forward on every one of these without doing the slightest investigation (Snopes, etc...) to see if they are authentic.

[scottmandue]

Granted it wouldn't hurt them financially but it would show them we are all tired of their $hit and we the people can act as a cohesive unit.

Wouldn't hurt us financially either to skip a day but it would be a tangible protest.

Naw... no doubt whining about gas prices on the Internet will make things change!

[Tervuren]

Originally posted by scottmandue
Granted it wouldn't hurt them financially but it would show them we are all tired of their $hit and we the people can act as a cohesive unit.

Wouldn't hurt us financially either to skip a day but it would be a tangible protest.

Naw... no doubt whining about gas prices on the Internet will make things change!

I won't be filling up May 15th...

Thats a Tuesday, and I practically NEVER go anywhere on a Tuesday.

The problem with this scheme, is it does nothing, nothing. First of all, its only one day not to fill up, doesn't affect anyone who would of filled up at some other time, or not even that week.

This scheme, if everyone did it, would cause prices to go UP. The gas lines on May 16th would be much longer, as everyone from the 15th is filling up as well. When a station sees such a long line in...you know...

To be truly affective, you would want to not use your vehicles for a day, or even better, a week or month. Simply not filling up on a specific day, has NO affect on sales.

The company I works for gets slammed with orders one day, and then might be empty the next, that doesn't really concern us, just so long as we can make the product, and have places to ship it.

[M.D. Holloway]

These stupid e-mails proe effective at a few things:
1) A simple form of entertainment - a way to whittle away a coffee/lunch break.
2) Provides discussion on something other than 'which oil to use in my Porsche' or 'Check out my new gun', although we could have more Tony Balony pics of his bangbuddy!
3) Gets my count closer and closer to the majik 7777! After which I shall evolve into another species...
and 4) It allows you some info to cut and paste in a reply when you get that e-mail!

[Shuie]

Thanks for the heads up. Im filling up on the 15th just so I don't have to sit in line with everyone at the pump on the 16th when they are out of fuel and on their way to work.

[Dave L]

a better approach would be to not buy the car wash and all the crap they sell in the little stores

[hytem]

Gas prices jumped in anticipation of high demand over the summer with vacation travelers. High prices just reflect high demand--the cost of a gas-guzzling SUV in every driveway.

How do you fight high prices? Drive less this summer. Lower consumption will lower prices. Everyone should pledge to take one less car trip. Take a train.

[creaturecat]

Isn't there something in the constitution that says Americans are entitled to cheap gasoline?
Expensive gas is the way of the world in other civilized countries.
The sooner people change their driving habits the better. This will not happen with artificially cheap gasoline.
I, personally, am sick of seeing self-entitled people cruising along by themselves in oversized SUV's.
I realize that most (usually fat) North Americans know that mass transit, bicycles and walking are for the lower class. Time to get over it.