Why a gasoline boycott won’t work.

I’ve gotten several emails in recent days telling me not to buy gas next Tuesday. Here’s an example:

NO GAS…On May 15th 2007

Don’t pump gas on may 15th

In April 1997, there was a “gas out” conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that’s almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and let’s try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

If you agree (which I can’t see why you wouldn’t) resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, “Don’t pump gas on May 15th”

Let’s pick apart the statistics first:

There was no “Gas Out” in April, 1997. I researched and found a similar email campaign telling people to buy no gasoline on April 30, 1999. According to the United States Department of Energy, the average price of gasoline (Regular unleaded gasoline, retail price) in the Rocky Mountain Region on 26 April, 1999 was $1.192/gallon. The average price of the same gasoline in the same region on May 3, 1999 was $1.196/gallon. If there WAS an overnight drop of 30 cents per gallon, there was a quick spike of 30 cents per gallon soon thereafter. So much for the big boycott of 1999.

The letter says that there are 73,000,000+ Internet users in the United States. This is apparently another statistic that was pulled out of… um… nowhere. The “+” is really really big, because according to nielsen-netratings.com, 69.6% of the population of the United States uses the Internet, meaning that there are more than 210,000,000 Internet users in the United States.

I couldn’t find statistics on how much gasoline is sold each day in the United States, but I’m betting that it’s less than the $2.292 billion (closer to two billion than three billion) that would supposedly come out of the gas companies’ pockets. Such trustworthy statistics here!

But the real issue is the idea of a one-day boycott. In the outside chance that 200 million people decided not to fill their tanks on May 15, they would still be driving their gas guzzling SUV’s to work, dropping their kids off at school, and going to baseball games and other activities. If their tanks were low on the 14th they would fill up then. If their tanks were low on the 15th, they’d wait until the 16th to fill up. The net result is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF GASOLINE PUMPED.

In order to make a REAL difference, these 210 million Americans would need to find ways to drive less, and not just for one day. They would need to park the big urban assault vehicles and drive smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and not just for one day. The thing that would make a real difference would be to consistently use less gasoline over a long period of time. Judging from the number of large vehicles filling up when I paid more than $30 for a tank of gas for my Saturn this week, these prices over $3/gallon aren’t yet painful enough for Americans to change their driving habits.

I’m going to fill up my gas tank on 15 May whether it’s empty or not.