Hufff, pufff, whew, just pushed my SUV here from home.
As discussed by Snopes Urban Legend page, why the Gas Out won’t work:
Claim: We should participate in a one-day “GAS OUT” to force down the price of gasoline.
Status: No.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]
THE GREAT AMERICAN “GAS OUT”
It’s time we did something about the price of gasoline in America! We are all sick and tired of high prices when there are literally millions of gallons in storage. Know what I found out? If there was just ONE day when no one purchased any gasoline, prices would drop drastically. The so-called oil cartel has decided to slow production by some 2 million barrels per day to drive up the price. I have decided to see how many Americans we can get to NOT BUY ANY GASOLINE on one particular day!
Let’s have a GAS OUT! Do not buy any gasoline on APRIL 30, 1999!!! Buy on Thursday before, or Saturday after. Do not buy any gasoline on FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1999.
Wanna help? Send this message to everyone you know. Ask them to do the same. All we need is a few million to participate in order to make a difference.
Origins: If we needed proof that it’s not only little kids who whine and stamp their feet when they don’t get what they want, here it is.
The average price of gasoline in the USA has been been falling steadily since 1990. Last year the average price of gasoline hit its lowest level (adjusted for inflation) in thirty years. (In fact, in December 1998, the price of crude oil and retail gasoline fell to historic lows.) Gasoline is far cheaper in the USA than in Europe or Japan (or most other parts of the world).
Now we’re told we should be protesting this condition. Why? Because gasoline prices have gone up in some places, and the little kids among us don’t think it’s fair we should have to spend more of our allowance at the gas pump. Nobody complained when gasoline prices hit an all-time low last December, of course – we certainly didn’t hear any expressions of concern that some of the folks in the oil industry (not everybody in the oil business is part of the ubiquitous “oil cartel,” after all) might be losing money or just scraping by. By when then pendulum swings the other way, everyone lines up to blame the big, bad, greedy oil company bully who’s stealing our allowance to line his own pockets.
The reality of the world is that gasoline prices are determined by a variety of factors, not mere oil company whim. Even in the absence of unusual circumstances, gasoline prices always fluctuate throughout the year, and they typically increase in anticipation of the summer driving season. OPEC recently cut production to try to reduce a global glut of crude oil, which drove the price of gasoline up about 8 cents per gallon nearly everywhere. In California, where gasoline prices are generally the highest in the USA, a confluence of events occurred that resulted in higher prices:
Fires and explosions shut down two Bay Area refineries, including one (Tosco) that produced nearly 10% of California’s refined oil. The operations of two other refineries in the state were also interrupted by equipment problems.
Gasoline inventories were already lower than usual before refinery problems increased demand even further.
California law requires the use of cleaner-burning gasoline than other states, meaning that sources to replace lost refinery output were not readily available.
The end result? More costly gasoline bought from foreign refineries. And like it or not, whenever there’s a shortage (or a perceived shortage) of gasoline, speculators who were smart (or lucky) enough to have a ready supply on hand are going to get all they can for it. When wholesalers and retailers have to pay inflated prices for their supplies, so do we.
But if we all hold a one-day “gas out,” that’ll show 'em, right? Show whom? Is not buying gas for a day going to convince OPEC to increase oil production? Is it going to “punish” the speculators who’ve already unloaded their supplies at inflated prices? Are we gonna stick it to service station operators, who aren’t really making any more profit than they did when prices were lower? (If the service station operators are truly the greedy ones, they need only jack up their prices on the days immediately preceding and following April 30 to stick it to the “protesters.”)
Even if the oil companies were wholly to blame for the increased prices, the proposed one-day “gas out” is absurd as an effective form of protest. It’s not going to hurt the oil companies, since drivers will simply be shifting the day on which they purchase gasoline rather than buying less gasoline. Oh, but our “gas out” is going to show everyone that Americans can band together and stand up for themselves, right? You bet. We’re going to let those oil companies know that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to defend our right to low prices, as long as we’re not actually required to sacrifice anything in the process. (Much like the recent fad for tag team “hunger strikes,” in which groups of protesters fast in six- or eight-hour shifts. Hey, I’ll take part in a hunger strike, but I ain’t actually gonna go hungry!) Marginally inconvenience ourselves by filling up our tanks a day early or a day late? Okay! Put ourselves out by taking the bus and not filling up the tank at all this week? No way!
The men who dumped tea in Boston harbor to protest what they considered to be unfairly high taxes understood that protest involves sacrifice – they risked their liberty (and their lives) for what they believed in. Cheaper gasoline may not be worth giving up one’s life for, but isn’t it worth giving up at least something for? If the answer is no, then the “gas out” scheme resembles nothing so much as a bunch of spoiled children deciding to stamp their feet in unison and demand a higher allowance from their parents without having done anything to earn it. The men whom Samuel Adams led on a dangerous raid of British ships in Boston harbor – men who understood the meaning of sacrifice – are probably shaking their heads in disgust. And the oil companies – oil companies who know from experience that only the outright unavailability of gasoline will goad Americans into curtailing their use of it – are probably laughing their heads off.
If we don’t like the price of gasoline, let’s try doing something meaningful about it, like setting aside some time on April 30 to learn about ways of using less gasoline, to familiarize ourselves with cleaner, more efficient energy sources?
Whatever you decide to do, please don’t send this message to everyone you know.
Update: What was a dead issue by mid-May 1999 has returned to the Internet as a new call to arms in February 2000. Our Gas Out 2000 page gives the details of this proposed protest set for mid-April 2000.
Last updated: 2 March 2000
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Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2000 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
I know I know, I should take the bus… but I can’t because of the times I work and the bus schedule)
Ouch! < Just kidding, dear, I’m still coming! >
