An email is circulating calling for
a one day boycott of gas stations on May 19, 2004. There have been several such
emails circulating, so the question is: Do these boycotts have any real effect?
Boycott Watch contacted the American Petroleum Institute, the API, to get some
answers.
According to the API, a one-day oil boycott
will have no effect on overall gas sales. If you buy gas one day as opposed to
another, you are still buying the same amount of gas. Boycott Watch agrees with
that - one-day gas boycotts have no effect. As for interrupting the supply
chain, API Chief Economist John Felmy points out that inventories are
relatively low at this point, and therefore there is plenty of capacity for
extra storage, thus the desired effect would not be achieved.
Mr. Felmy further explained that the $4.6B mentioned
in the email is "absurd…gasoline prices are the most known prices on
earth, but nobody knows what our costs are." The cost of gasoline includes the
per-barrel cost, refining costs, transportation and storage, plus federal
taxes, and that's just to get it to the local distribution point. From there,
the gas has to be re-formulated to comply with EPA rules for the local area,
trucked to gas stations to be resold, and then state and other taxes are added
on get to the final retail price.
In conclusion,
one-day gas boycotts have no effect on anyone except the retail clerks you see
when you buy a cola. Incidentally, the cola costs more per gallon than the
gasoline, even at today's all-time high prices. |
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| Start Of Original email: |
(BW Note: The original text included the
Capitalization and colors below. Only the bold type and italics were removed to
make the email more readable.)
IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN
THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT
THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.
AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY
WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF
THE OIL COMPANIES.
THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED
"STICK IT TO THEM DAY" AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS
NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.
THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS
E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD
OUT.
WAITING ON THIS ADMINISTRATION TO STEP IN AND
CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND
CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?
REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE
GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES,
TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON
EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS,
MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!
WE
CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO
IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. |
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| End Of Original email: |
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