Combating the rising price of fuel

[Nev62]

Now here is an idea. I received the following email the other day. Although it is a little old, the idea is outstanding............



This initiative does come from Barry Minster, worth calling and chatting to him if you need reassurance.

Apparently we are going to hit close to $1.35 a litre by the winter. If this happens the prices will flow on down to the price of every thing we buy! Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. 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.

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP at .89 / .95 cents, 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: BP and Mobil). 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 BP/Mobil petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!!

Now, don't wimp 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 grouping of people, we will have
reached over THREE MILLION consumers!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (and not buy at BP and Mobil) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! 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 80 cents a LITRE RANGE.

It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Caltex, or Independent Outlets and drive past all BP and MOBIL Stations.

Barry Minster
State President
Ex Service, Service & Veterans Party
www.esvp.asn.au
http://www.esvp.asn.au/

[RV80]

i put that up last night, in general chit chat.

[built4thrashing]

is a good idea but the buyn it from independants wont help as they quite often buy their petrol from the big boys.

[Begbie]

It is futile. Only Federal Gov support can have ANY effect.

And that aint gonna happen cos you all voted Liberal!

Have a google and see what you find out about the oil we are stealing from Timor - this should give you some insight into the types of bastards you are up against.

[DAZZ]

It is futile. Only Federal Gov support can have ANY effect.

And that aint gonna happen cos you all voted Liberal!

Have a google and see what you find out about the oil we are stealing from Timor - this should give you some insight into the types of bastards you are up against.

And Labor and other parties are gunna drop the price of fuel!!!!!!!





MMMMM right!!!!

[ludacris]

I emailed my ten you chickens. If you never try you will never succeed.

[Nev62]

It is futile. Only Federal Gov support can have ANY effect.

And that aint gonna happen cos you all voted Liberal!

Have a google and see what you find out about the oil we are stealing from Timor - this should give you some insight into the types of bastards you are up against.

And Labor and other parties are gunna drop the price of fuel!!!!!!!


MMMMM right!!!!

Not me, gave the ORP a go. At least those guys are anit-green (not anti-environment) and try to keep some tracks open.

[Nev62]

i put that up last night, in general chit chat.

Sorry dude, don't often check-out the Chit-chat area (should do I guess).

[dumbdunce]

it is a truly ridiculous proposition, all petroleum products in Australia are supplied by only 2 suppliers, BP and Caltex (?)

it is not true that buyers set the price - supply and demand sets the price of everything, and the petroleum products producers know exaxtly what demand there is for their product. no matter what the price of fuel products is, people will continue to pay, they have no choice.

[.:Dave:.]

yeh but if everyone is buying it off... say shell, then bp will drop thier price to try to get some business - even if they dont make as much profit.


a little profit has to be better then none at all.

[dumbdunce]

yeh but if everyone is buying it off... say shell, then bp will drop thier price to try to get some business - even if they dont make as much profit.


a little profit has to be better then none at all.

the problem is, which "brand" of fuel is sold at a given servo will be determined by the proximity of a refinery or storage facility, or possibly buld deals with transport companies and/or refineries - not the brand on the sign out the front. The only person you hurt by boycotting a certain brand is the owner/franchisee of that particular service station. The suppliers always win, no matter where you buy from.

[.:Dave:.]

i dont want to repeat myself, but my only reply is to rewrite my first post again,


assuming that shell petrol stations are using shell petrol and thier shell truck, the end result will be a price war (hopefully)




(either way this idea doesnt affect me - i only use shell anyway)

[bogged]

yeh but if everyone is buying it off... say shell, then bp will drop thier price to try to get some business.

you would never last in business

[.:Dave:.]

If so - explain why

[dumbdunce]

assuming that shell petrol stations are using shell petrol and thier shell truck, the end result will be a price war (hopefully)

it's a false assumption. at least some of the distribution side of things will be outsourced, and the "brand" of petrol sold at a particular service station does not necessarily reflect the name on the sign out the front. All the fancy names that different resellers have for their fuel products are just marketing hype.

The price of fuel is regulated by forces beyond the control of mere mortals, and the price will not change unless by some magic we stop buying it altogether. as long as the demand is constant (or increasing!) the price will go up. They could probably start charging $2.50/litre tomorrow and consumption would only go down maybe 2% - The people that NEED to buy fuel for transport, distribution, farming etc need to buy it regarless of the price. The people who buy it for recreational purposes (cruising, 4WDing, trailbike riding, boating, sniffing etc) can probably afford to keep buying it anyway - if not the same litre amount, then the same or slightly more dollar amount. People would complain, but they'd still fork out for the precious juice.

[carts]

If we as consumers decide to buy less, it could actually force the price of petrol up in the long run.

We buy less, demand drops off, temporary supplies increase in the short term, perhaps causing a momentary drop in price, then OPEC decides to cut production again to get a higher dollar per barrel trying to make the supply of oil scarce again. What happens is that we get a higher equilibrium price for a lower level of usage. Only OPEC wins. They make just as much money, and only have to supply a fraction of the oil.

There is no quick and easy solution.

[Begbie]

Isnt the only feasible solution to personally combat the increasing cost, biodiesel ?

[ISUZUROVER]

This idea has been going round for years and it doesn't work. If everyone did this all that would happen are some small buisnesses (service stations) would be put out of business.

In QLD - ALL FUEL comes from either BP or Caltex - the fuel companies do "product sharing" deals with each other.

In NSW all fuel comes from Caltex and Shell

In VIC - Shell and Mobil

[ISUZUROVER]

Isnt the only feasible solution to personally combat the increasing cost, biodiesel ?

Yes, probably, Biodiesel or natural gas for diesels and Ethanol/Methanol or natural gas for petrol engines. However if all the diesel fleet switched to biodiesel there would be rather large demand problems.

[Justin_M]

All fuel in WA is from BP Kwinana

Notice how neither party brought up fuel taxation as an election issue? i wonder what percentage of the federal budget is made from fuel taxes...

[ToNkA]

I have a shellcard that work pays for!

[pajero97]

Hi Tonka,

Can we get duplicates of the Shellcard?

[the_smoo]

out of the total 187 billion the government collected last financial year..

13.5 Billion was from excise from fuel and petroleum products

http://www.budget.gov.au/2003-04/fbo/html/fbo-02.htm

this link shows where the government gets all its money and shows where it all goes...

its an eye opener..

[dumbdunce]

out of the total 187 billion the government collected last financial year..

13.5 Billion was from excise from fuel and petroleum products

http://www.budget.gov.au/2003-04/fbo/html/fbo-02.htm

this link shows where the government gets all its money and shows where it all goes...

its an eye opener..

and that 13.5 billion doesn't include the 6c/litre road levy on petrol in NSW, or GST on fuel, or any number of other fuel taxes.