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Everyone's "not purchasing a drop of gasoline for one day" will not
cause oil companies to "choke on their stockpiles." Oil companies
run their inventories on a weekly basis, and since the "gas out"
scheme doesn't call on people to buy less gasoline but simply to
shift their date of purchase by one day, oil company stockpiles
won't be affected at all.
Next, merely shifting the day of purchase will not "hit the entire
industry with a net loss of over $4.6 billion." Consumers won't be
buying any less gasoline under this "gas out" proposal; they'll
simply be purchasing gas a day earlier or a day later than they
usually would. The very same amount of gasoline will be sold either
way, so the oil companies aren't going to lose any money at all.
By definition, a boycott involves the doing without of something,
with the renunciation of the boycotted product held up as tangible
proof to those who supply the commodity that consumers are prepared
to do without it unless changes are made. What the "gas out" calls
for isn't consumers' swearing off using or buying gasoline, even for
a short time, but simply shifting their purchases by one day.
Because the "gas out" doesn't call on consumers to make a sacrifice
by actually giving up something, the threat it poses is a hollow
one.
Not buying gas on a designated day may make people feel a bit better
about things by providing them a chance to vent their anger at
higher gasoline prices, but the action won't have any real impact on
retail prices. An effective protest would involve something like
organizing people to forswear the use of their cars on specified
days, an act that could effectively demonstrate the reality of the
threat that if gasoline prices stay up, American consumers are
prepared to move to carpooling and public transportation for the
long term. Simply changing the day one buys gas, however, imparts no
such threat, because nothing is being done without.
Moreover, the primary potential effect of the type of boycott
proposed in the "gas out" messages is to hurt those at the very end
of the oil-to-gasoline chain, service station operators ha the people
who have the least say in setting gasoline prices. As such, the "gas
out" is a punch on the nose delivered to the wrong person.
Gasoline is a fungible, global commodity, its price subject to the
ordinary forces of supply and demand. No amount of consumer
gimmickry and showmanship will lower its price in the long run; only
a significant, ongoing reduction in demand will accomplish that
goal. Unfortunately, for many people achieving that goal would mean
cutting down on their driving or opting for less desirable economy
cars over less fuel-efficient models, solutions they find
unappealing.
An event like a "gas out" can sometimes do some good by calling
attention to a cause and sending a message. In this case, though,
the only message being sent is: "We consumers are so desperate for
gasoline that we can't even do without it for a few days to
demonstrate our dissatisfaction with its cost." What supplier is
going to respond to a message like that by lowering its prices?
Those who really want to send a "message" to oil suppliers should
try not buying any gasoline for several months in a row.
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Mike South
It's No wonder I took up drugs and alcohol, it's the only way I could dumb myself down enough to cope with the morons in this biz.
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