| Don't Buy Gas on September 1st | |||
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| Netlore Archive: Variant of a variant of the 'Gas Out' chain letter, in this case urging consumers to boycott gas stations on September 1st, 2005 to 'send a message' to the oil companies' about high gasoline prices | |||
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Email example contributed by S. Lowe, 26 August 2005:
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IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 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 SEPTEMBER 1st HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT TO THEM " DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THESE TWO NATIONS 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 THE GOVERNMENT 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. SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE SEPTEMBER 1ST A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" |
Email example contributed by J. Jobe, 30 August 2005:
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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 SEPTEMBER 1ST HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR @$$ " 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 ADMIINSTRATION 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 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. |
Comments: If the above message seems familiar, that's because it's the same gas boycott chain letter that circulated one year ago, which was quite similar to the gas boycott chain letter that circulated the year before that, and the year before that, and so on, all the way back to the original "Gas Out" email of 1999, which claimed consumers could force oil companies to lower fuel prices by refusing to buy gas on a particular day in April.
As I noted last year, there are two glaring flaws in the approach:
- A successful boycott requires a sustained, organized effort by a large number of participants. Randomly circulating a chain letter amounts to no organization at all. And we know from past attempts that no matter how many people jump on the bandwagon, actual participation in email-driven boycotts is spotty and ultimately negligible.
- It's illogical. Refusing to buy gasoline on one particular day of the month won't affect the oil companies' overall sales or profits. Why not? Because everyone who skips buying gasoline on September 1 will be filling their tanks on the 2nd, or the 3rd, or the 4th of September. An effective boycott would require that a significant number of people consume less fuel on an ongoing basis, not just avoid purchasing it on one particular day of the year.
The claim that a one-day boycott would result in an industry loss of over $4.6 billion is a pure fabrication, by the way. According to Euromonitor International, the total sales of petroleum products for all U.S. gas stations in 2002 (for example) was $205 billion, which works out to little more than a half-billion dollars a day, not $4.6 billion.
Sources and further reading:
Conservation, Not Gas Boycott, Only Long-Term Fix for High Prices
Editorial, Bristol Herald Courier, 28 August 20051-Day Gas Boycott Is Just a Lot of Hot Air
Detroit Free Press, 18 May 2004Whose Pocketbooks Are Hit by $2 Gas Prices
Christian Science Monitor, 13 May 2004Gasoline Station Retailing in United States
Euromonitor International, October 2003U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices
Weekly updates from the U.S. Dept. of EnergyA Primer on Gasoline Prices
Fact sheet from the U.S. Dept. of EnergyEmail Urges Boycott of Fuel from Exxon Mobil
San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 March 2003Americans Use the Web for Gas Price Beefs
Dow Jones News Service, 19 October 2000Internet-Fueled Gas Boycott Fizzles Around Bay Area
San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 1999
Last updated: 08/30/05
