With national gas prices recently topping $3 per gallon and soaring toward $4 in parts of California, many Americans are seeking a way to slow the relentless rise.
A tidal wave of MySpace bulletins and messages circulating recently asked people to take part in yesterday’s “gas-out” by purchasing no gasoline for the entire day. According to the messages, this would cost the oil industry billions of dollars in sales in a single day.
If this were true, it might have sent a powerful message to oil companies: we’ve had enough and we are united in our demand for relief.
Unfortunately, it just isn’t so.
You see, the messages made no mention of car pooling, or public transportation, or reducing your driving time for the day or anything that would lessen the actual amount of gas being used. They simply asked MySpacers not to go to the pump on May 15.
The problem here is that participating drivers most likely filled their tanks Monday in preparation for the “gas-out,” driving up sales on that day. If they didn’t, then they probably headed straight to the closest gas station this morning, thereby raising profits today as well.
As a result, it is likely that sales went down slightly on the day of the “gas-out,” since it was discussed in the media after weeks of circulation on MySpace. But that profit just shifted to the days surrounding the day on which profits were dented.
The truth of the matter is this: if you don’t reduce the amount of gas being used, you can’t actually impact the gas sales or profits. All this accomplishes is a minor shift in which day the profits were made. The end result is unaffected.
In order to have an impact on sales, people must find a way to reduce their fuel use.
Here’s an idea that’s a lot easier than it sounds.
Keep track of the amount of money you spend on gasoline for an entire month.
Then, make an effort to spend $5 less next month, which can be as easy as finding a way to drive about five fewer miles per week.
That’s a mere 2 percent of the average driver’s total mileage.
Ride with a friend when you go to the mall. When you’re going to the store, ask your family, friends or co-workers if they need you to pick up anything. Even the smallest effort can save you or someone else a few miles of driving.
If we could get all of California’s 22 million licensed drivers to make an effort to save themselves five dollars, that would amount to more than $110 million in losses in one month, just in our state.
In a year, it would be more than $1.3 billion.
Factor in the drivers nationwide and the oil industry could lose more than $12 billion in sales annually.
Five miles a week, $5 a month, at least $12 billion in losses for the oil companies. That’s a powerful impact.
Anyone want to try for $10?