Reduce Petrol Prices.. Perhaps a way forward.

[Florence]

This has been posted on ISPr by a Moderator I am spreading his Words to see what you all think.

By Creative
Had this sent to me on email.. makes sense in some ways..
 We are hitting 95p a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with paying £1 a litre.

 Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea: This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join in! Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace not sellers.

 With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:

 For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...

 Keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more
(30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!

 If those three million get excited and pass this on to 10 friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (And not buy ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten or more people within one day of receipt all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

 PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE. It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP and Esso.


See what you think and pass it on if you agree with it:.

[Nugget]

I suppose that, as ideas go, it's not a bad one (although I only get petrol from the supermarkets anyway, 'cos I drive past on on the way to and from work).

However, I suggest that the guy who came up with this re-thinks his maths a little - while it's all well and good wanting to reduce petrol to 69p a litre (or whatever), how is e-mailing 300 million people going to help?

There's only 60 million (ish) people in this country (including kids and non-drivers) so the remaining 240 million people probably couldn't give a monkeys about how much we pay.

[Pø†øƒGøLÐ]

I found an easier option... leave the car at home and take the train to work. I guess it's not practical for everyone tho

I stopped buying fuel at "big name" companies years ago when it became apparent the supermarkets were consistently cheaper (and I got points to spend on groceries).

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Pøâ€Â*øƒGøLÃÂ�

<snip>I stopped buying fuel at "big name" companies years ago when it became apparent the supermarkets were consistently cheaper (and I got points to spend on groceries).

Pretty much the way I look at it

[liamboyle06]

If we cycled everywhere, that would really hit all Petrol companies, not to mention everyone becoming generally healthier.
Or if a car is really necessary, start car pooling, taking numbers to reduce the volume of cars on the road, leading to less cars needing to be filled up.

[punky]

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP

But petrol IS cheap. It's just that thieving toerag Gordon Brown who isn't.

I read the other day that France are going to give people back money because the recent increases in fuel mean the amount of tax has gone up ridiculously. Seems like a nice idea, but Brown wouldn't do it, not when he has a chance to milk us dry.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by liamboyle06

If we cycled everywhere, that would really hit all Petrol companies, not to mention everyone becoming generally healthier.
Or if a car is really necessary, start car pooling, taking numbers to reduce the volume of cars on the road, leading to less cars needing to be filled up.

Actually, there was something on the news this morning that said cycling may not be as healthy as we all think - apparently, diesel fumes can affect your heart in as little as an hour.

With regards to car polling, it's not always possible. Out of all the people who i work with, the closest to my house is about 6 miles away, so it's not really convenient to share cars.

It is true that the Treasury is going to benefit from an unexpected windfall as a result of rising oil prices - equivalent to 1p off basic rate income tax apparently. I hope that money's spent wisely. It's well documented that I'm no fan of indirect taxes because of their indiscriminate nature. However, we must also do something to curb our appetite for a fuel which is going to run out and is destroying the planet. It's a conundrum, albeit one exacerabated by our woeful lack of an integrated transport policy and an unseemly love affair with road building.

Of course if you want to hit the oil companies, send out an email to 3m people telling them to buy a Toyota Prius.
__________________

Originally Posted by Nugget

Actually, there was something on the news this morning that said cycling may not be as healthy as we all think - apparently, diesel fumes can affect your heart in as little as an hour.

With regards to car polling, it's not always possible. Out of all the people who i work with, the closest to my house is about 6 miles away, so it's not really convenient to share cars.

Not just cycling, but walking too. Of course this is not caused by cyclists and walkers, but the tiny particulates emitted by engines which are so fine those face masks provide no defence against them. Another reason for curbing vehicle use and reducing such emissions.

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Actually, there was something on the news this morning that said cycling may not be as healthy as we all think - apparently, diesel fumes can affect your heart in as little as an hour.

Those same fumes also affect people in cars,I've seen an article (and I wish I could remember where) that suggests it is in fact worse inside the car because it is an enclosed space. Also, if more people are cycling then the level of fumes decreases.

I walk - catch train - walk to work.

[Stuart C]

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

Those same fumes also affect people in cars,I've seen an article (and I wish I could remember where) that suggests it is in fact worse inside the car because it is an enclosed space. Also, if more people are cycling then the level of fumes decreases.

I think it's probably because the air intake for the car is usually pointing straight at the exhaust of the car in front. Not only that, but if you turn the fan on, you are then blowing that polution into the car.

I walk - catch train - walk to work.

Same here.. Costs more, and is occassionally inconveniant, but it does have the advantage I can do pretty much what I want while I am travelling to work: sleep, read, play games (although I don't do this - going through Lewisham holding anything remotely valuable is asking to be mugged) etc.

[BBKing]

1) Where do you think the supermarkets get their petrol from? There aren't oil rigs out in the North Sea or Saudi with 'Tesco' written on them. They get the stuff from whichever major oil company offers them the best deal, which is quite possibly Esso, Shell or BP.
2) If you want to reduce the price of something in a free market, reduce demand. That means drive less, drive more economically, swap your 4x4 for a Smart Car or a motorbike, walk, cycle, get the train, work from home. Merely changing your supplier will not do this.

As for why prices are going up, what do you expect when demand is increasing (thanks China), supplies aren't increasing at the same rate, there's a pointless war in one of the key supply areas interrupting supplies and oil companies are an effective cartel who know we're addicted to the stuff and they can keep jacking it up with no action taken. Whatever the Treasury do is fairly pointless - if they reduce taxes, we increase our usage, increasing demand, increasing prices (and buggering up the environment). We still pay but the money goes to the oil companies (who are doing quite well enough, thanks, look at the FTSE100 this year) rather than the government, which either has to increase other taxes or cut something, neither of which is going to be popular.

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

I walk - catch train - walk to work.

I roll out of bed, switch on my laptop and log on to CF (sorry, correct that last, I immediately start working very, very hard! )

[BBKing]

Put some clothes on, you degenerate liberal. Don't tell me you don't wear a suit and tie when working from home? What is the world coming to?

[SMHarman]

 We are hitting 95p a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with paying £1 a litre.

True, but the primary reason for this is that HM Government puts a fuel duty on the cost and then puts VAT on the total of fuel duty and the cost.

 Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea: This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join in! Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace not sellers.

Buyers do control the market place, it is about supply and demand, buyers create the demand and since demand is outstripping supply as places like China start to embrace the car price will not go down.

 With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:

I'm listening

 For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...

Well lets start with the fact that Esso and BP are not the same company, Esso and Exxon are two names of the same company (they dropped the Exxon name in Europe soon after the Exxon Valdes disaster), BP is another major oil player and Shell is the other one we all know. So we can establish that the writer of the mail does not know much about the oil industry. Next, petrol in the UK is the cheapest in Europe, possibly the world, they petrol companies make about 3p/litre (it might even be 3p/gallon) on selling petrol, this is why forecourt shops are expanding at a mighty rate and Tesco etc are moving in, they make their money on convinence sales, not selling petrol. Independant petrol stations are closing at a phenominal rate as they cannot compete with the supermarkets and major players, often they are buying at a price that is higher than the local tesco is selling for.
Finally as others have pointed out, where do you think Tesco and the like get their fuel from. If Esso are not selling it at their stations, they will find that the demand for fuel at the local tesco they supply is increasing. Fuel is shipped from the nearest refinery / pipeline / tanker fueling point to the petrol station. Stand by a refinery you will see Tesco, Sainsbury, Esso, BP, Shell trucks leaving in no particular order.
The only people this is likely to hurt are those who stich themselves up when the local Esso closes as all the trade has gone to the local Tescos. Realistically Fuel sales are a 0 sum game, there is a finite amount to sell each year unless people all suddenly change their travel habits at once (so perhaps 7/7 increased the sale of petrol in London), it is just who gets what share of that pie.

 Keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more
(30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!

So its a pyramid scheme

 If those three million get excited and pass this on to 10 friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (And not buy ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten or more people within one day of receipt all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

and if each of the people who you send the mail to send me £1 and so on we'll all be millionaires ((c) delboy trotter)

 PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE. It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP and Esso.

Aint' gonna happen until Gordon Brown reduces the Duty, and being as all other tax take is down (more unemployment, fewer house sales, etc) the windfall fuel tax is keeping his numbers in line.

See what you think and pass it on if you agree with it:.

What do I think, well I'm suprised I can't find this on Snopes yet, thats what I think.

Originally Posted by BBKing

Put some clothes on, you degenerate liberal. Don't tell me you don't wear a suit and tie when working from home? What is the world coming to?

It gets worse. Unshaven in my Jesus Loves Trikes T-shirt, new My Computer CD on the old dansette and surrounded by the debris of a fine weekend. Oh well, at least in theory I'm classed as a 'Professional' And an ecologically sound professional at that!