I received one of those call-to-action emails today... this one titled "The War On Gas Prices". The basic idea is for consumers to boycott Petro Canada, thus forcing this former crown corporation to reduce prices. This action will then force the other gas companies to follow suit, supposedly because consumers will then come swarming back to Petrocan once they lower prices...?? I copied the full text of this pie in the sky idea below.
You might have guessed that I don't agree with the idea of a 'war on gas'. It's not that I'm advocating the price-fixing actions of big business, but this notion flies in the face of basic economics.
For some reason people have this false sense of entitlement to low gas prices. Why do people believe that gas prices should be low? It's not like gasoline is some sort of utility that is regulated by the government. Energy is produced by corporate enterprises, and if these enterprises don't make a profit then why should they produce gas? This is just like forcing price caps at your local grocery store... if this were to happen then Loblaws may as well be taken over by the Ontario government and converted into the Ministry of Food Distribution, since only tax revenues could support the running of this operation at a deficit.
Here is the real issue: Millions of people have built their entire lifestyles around the availability of cheap gasoline which, for some reason, the people have always thought would remain within their means to purchase on a weekly basis.
I got rid of my car a long time ago and ride my bike everywhere, so I can't say that I sympathize too much with car drivers. I would love to see a call-to-action email suggesting that people reduce their fuel consumption. You know... reduce emissions... cull climate chaos... but that will never happen. People simply want to keep their suburban car-fueled lifestyles and will do anything to ensure that they have a supply of cheap gas on hand to support them... even if they do know deep in their hearts how unsustainable that lifestyle is.
> >> >War On Gas
> >
> >
> > This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It
> >came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's
> >worthy of our consideration.
> >
> > Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $1.50 a
> >litre by summer and it might possibly go higher! 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 earlier! 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 $.79/litre is super cheap. Me too! It
> >is currently $1.10 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
> >litre of gas is CHEAP at $.79 - $.99, 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:
> >
> >
> >
> > Starting June 1 of 2007 DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the biggest
> >Company in Canada. Petro Canada ! If they are not selling any gas, they
> >will be very quickly inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their
> >prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. Think about this.
> >Petro Canada has 1500 retail locations and the entire country consumes 68
> >million gallons a day. Yes per day. And Petro Canada is Canada's largest
> >gasoline retailer, then doesn't it make sense that the consumer can bring
> >this giant to its knees and force them to lower their
> >prices.
> >
> > But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Petro
> >Canada gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out 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 sends it to at least
> >ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more
> >(300
> >x10 = 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 pass it on to ten friends each, then 30 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 30 million and all you have to do is send
> >this to 10 people....
> >
> > 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 30 MILLION people could
> >conceivably see this within the next 8 days!!!
> >
> > 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 Petro Canada
> >UNTIL
> >THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO A REASONABLE PRICE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.