Don't buy gas on the 15th! (Tomorrow)

[flipjargendy]

Fill up today. i got a text message saying that if no one purchases gas on the 15th then the gas companies will lose about 2 million dollars. My guess is that gas is going to do another big jump. Spread the word!

Don't buy gas tomorrow (the 15th)

[gruven]

One day isn't going to hurt them. Why not just buy less in general? Stretch this out over a week or two. That will get their attention. One day isn't even a glitch.

Honestly, I don't know the price of gas, since I last filled up over 2 weeks ago. 50 mpg is just great.

[bidi]

This thing has been around the internet for years, why do people still insist on believing it will ever do anything? Does it really matter if you buy gas on Tuesday or Wednesday? You're still buying the same amount! Not to mention I've seen this e-mail at least 5 times to-date.

[oz]

It seems to me that if people continue to travel, they'll use the same amount of fuel whether they buy it today, or another day, so rather than not buy gasoline on any given day, I'd think it would work better if people simply buckled down and stayed home for a number of weekends (and weekdays when possible).

Refusing to travel should cause a surplus in fuel, which might bring the price down a bit.

[smolloy]

i got a text message saying that if no one purchases gas on the 15th then the gas companies will lose about 2 million dollars.

I don't understand why you'd want them to lose money. Sure, people should travel less, use less oil, etc., but picking on the companies that sell you stuff that you want to buy doesn't make sense. If your intention is to lower the amount people travel, then petition your elected representative to raise taxes on oil based products.

Anyway, not buying petrol on the 15th will only cause a glut (and associated queues) on the 14th and 16th.

Sorry -- I admire your sentiment, but not your method.

[fingal]

I don't run a car. I think my method works better than yours.

[techieMoe]

Sadly, there's very little (if anything) that consumers can do to really hurt the oil companies at all. Stunts like this are completely ineffective because they don't cut the amount of oil we're using, they just shift the time that we buy it. The oil companies will still get the same amount of money from us a day or two later (and at the rate gas prices are rising, you may be giving them more money in that time).

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Don't Buy Gas on May 15

Instead of worrying about ineffectual "boycotts" we should all be focusing on how to really lower our consumption of gasoline. I recently moved to an apartment that's much closer to the bus stop I take to work. It reduced my daily mileage from 40 miles round trip to 3. I fill up my tank half as often and that saves me money, as well as reducing my dependence on gasoline in general.

For small trips now I'm able to take my bicycle, which of course doesn't use any gasoline at all. I understand that not everyone can do things like this, but everyone has something they can do to reduce the amount of gasoline they use.

[flipjargendy]

I don't run a car.

Either do i. Only on distances of 35+ miles. i walk to work and bike anywhere else i can. i live in St. Paul, MN i only drive when i go up north to visit my wife's parents or my parents.

i've never heard of this May 15th Boycott before. i assumed prices were going to go up drastically or something.

[techieMoe]

i assumed prices were going to go up drastically or something.

Oh, they will. It's summer, and that's when most people do more driving, thus the gas companies make the most money. If prices follow last year we can expect them to reach a peak around July 4th due to "supply issues" and magically go back down around Labor Day (first Monday in September) since that's when people generally end their vacations and get back to work.

It's a case of "screw them when the screwing is good," pretty much.

[liuxianyu]

ride the bike