People.
Quite simply put: people never cease to amaze me with their utter stupidity. In between my wanderings I somehow manage to find a little bit of time to spend on Facebook. Shocking; I know.
During that time I have come across a couple of groups of Facebook that say something along the lines of "
15,000,000 for lower gas prices" or "
Amazing new way to lower gas prices!". I try to ignore a lot of the crap that goes around on facebook because otherwise I will have discovered a new way to rot my brain (I have enough of those thanks...) but it seems that more and more of my 'friends' are joining these groups and as such, showing up in my mini-feed.
When I first see these things I instantly think: pffft... like anyone is stupid enough to think that a facebook group can make a difference, let alone 15 million of them! But seeing this more and more often has driven me to click on the link and see what's going on. OVER 1.3 MILLION MEMBERS!?
Utter insanity. OK. So there are a lot of stupid people out there. But this is only the beginning. If you type in "gas prices" in facebook's search bar you get 500+ groups showing up (Facebook searches max out at 500 by the way) many of which have in excess of 100,000 members.
So what is inside these groups? Nothing. Perhaps something like: "description: If you think gas prices are too high Click on "Invite People to Join" from the menu on the right."
Really?! I didn't realise that was all there was to it. So if 15,000,000 people join this group oil companies are going to have this sudden epiphany: "Oh.... I get it now. People don't want to pay so much for oil products. I had no idea. Quick Bob, turn off the giant crude oil geyser that we use as a reading light on the oil rig at night!"
So while this is the largest group I came across I must admit that not all groups take such a simplistic approach. Some of them have an idea!
We need to take some intelligent, united action. (this is my favorite part)
How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. (this is my second favorite part)
But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.Try to buy from like Kangaroo, BP, Phillip's 66, Chevron, Shell, or Q-Gas.If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
Genius! In fact that is so intelligent I don't know why people even taking economic classes at university. They should just hang out with THIS GUY!
Because really that is the problem. Petrol stations are simply over charging consumers. They are getting away with it and it's getting worse and worse. It has nothing at all to do with suppliers, increased transport costs, conflict over supply areas, increased labour costs, inflation, inceased market demand and ultimately the cost of crude oil.
Sarcasm aside for the moment there is really only ONE thing that consumers can do about the price of petrol.
Buy less.I know it's a complicated notion to get around but I will try to make it simple. My very out-there theory is based on two principles.
1) If you buy less, you spend less and therefore you will have more money.
2) If people buy less generally then this will positively affect the supply:demand ratio and drive the price of oil down right up the chain of supply.
Sure it's a tough concept to grasp. Deal with it.
