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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 10:00 pm
I received this in my email yesterday. I was not surprised to get something relating to gasoline prices since I commonly receive messages of this nature from different acquaintances trying to get a nationwide boycott going. This one is different though. I received it from sheetmusiconline.net. This is what I received: "Please consider this. Let’s try to make a difference! Subject:Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer. Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good idea: This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas 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 gas. 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 with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.97 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost! of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace....not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. 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. 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. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas 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 about thirty 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 ten 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. (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am ... so trust me on this one.) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail 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 $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK."} Now don’t worry I didn’t forward it. I just deleted it since I realize it is probably just another hoax, and I vowed never to utilize this website again (even though I can’t recall ever actually going there). But it did get me to thinking and so I came here to ask what ya’ll think about gasoline. I got to thinking...Aren’t our gas prices here in the US some of the lowest, if not the lowest in the world? Don’t our vehicles have really low, if not the lowest miles per gallon? Aren’t we a nation of people guilty of driving the largest gas guzzling vehicles in the world? Don’t we have the least effective and least used public transportation system in the world? I am not talking about debating the financial gains of the oil companies or those type of politics, I am just talking about how we, as Americans think about gas. How low do we expect gas prices to be? Now bear in mind I don’t want gas prices to be any higher either, but how realistic is that? If gas prices were to get painfully high, say the $3 per gallon range like some other countries, would we change our habits? For the better, albeit more inconvenient? I am asking honestly. What do you think?
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Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 12:28 am
To me it's like when the imported coffee prices doubled and tripled because of a spoiled crop and low yield year, BUT have all the years since that happened been bad coffee years too? I don't think so, yet the price never came back down. We should carpool, ride a bike or the bus, or walk more. This country has gotten in such a hurry, it's become impolite with road rage. Patience is a virtue being left at home when Americans get behind the wheel. We've forgotten haste is waste. For some reason we can all be patient when there is a gas war! Everyone lines up and sits there til the cows come home waiting to fill up on 35¢ gasoline. Wonder why we can't sit at home or consolidate our errands, patiently waiting for the expensive fuel prices to go down?
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 6:40 am
Gas prices in San Diego are the highest in the nation. We are already paying over $2.00 a gallon in almost all places (there are a very few places still offering gas below that, but they are few and far between). I already conserve gasoline. I walk everywhere in my neighborhood (to the store, Blockbuster, farmer's market). I drive to work less than 5 miles a day (and will probably walk on occasion when the time changes -- although it's an uphill walk home). I drive a car that gets over 30 MPG on the freeway (and something just under 26 MPG city). If we had better public transporation, I'd use it. But, for example, when I go visit a friend in Escondido, there's no way to get there except via freeway (a 35 minute drive). I'm sorry... I know people all over the States are freaking out about gas prices. But we've already (and always) pay high prices. Oh, and I don't buy gas from Exxon or Mobil anyways. Because I track mileage for business purposes, I always use Chevron (easier to keep track if you use one credit card).
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Pcakes2
Member
08-29-2001
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 7:57 am
I paid $2.13 a gallon yesterday. Even the "cheapie" gas station was $2.08.
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Zules
Member
08-21-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 8:38 am
Down in Miami I'm paying $1.67. I agree with you, Urgrace. However, most of the year it's too hot to walk anywhere here, the mass transit is horrible and because I see clients on an individual basis, it's impossible for me to carpool. "Would you mind waiting in the car for about and hour and 20 minutes while I go give this massage?" I do consolidate my errands and always carpool to social events though. I'm doing what little I can in the circumstances I am in. I'm with you Bigd! To Exxon and Mobil...
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 1:56 pm
We sold our car (a 1994 Chrysler LeBaron convertible) in June 2002 because we couldn't afford the repairs, licensing, and insurance. Since then, we've walked, ridden the bus, and--when needed--asked friends to take us places and paid them (or at least tried to) for their gas. Granted, it isn't a lot of fun to wait for the bus in 110-degree heat or be on a bus without a working air conditioner, but it isn't the end of the world. I've gotten very good at planning trips, and when we moved in January 2003, I purposely found an area that had a lot of resources in walking distance. As I watch the gas prices rise, I have little to no desire to buy a car. As I watch the maniacs on the road, I have little desire to get behind the wheel of a car.
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Kaili
Member
08-31-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 2:17 pm
We were at $1.69 yesterday but hit $1.73 this morning. I saw an article in the paper that said it's going to jump to about $2.40 soon. Yeah, it sucks. It's expensive. But yeah, we pay some of the absolute lowest prices in the world. And look at the price thing when you fill up to see how much of the price is actually your state's gas tax and the federal gas tax. It's 31.1 cents per gallon in Wisconsin (highest in the nation according to the chart I was just referring to) on top of the 18.4 cent federal tax. Sooo....about 50 cents of each gallon in Wisconsin is just tax. I just checked AAA for their gas price chart and we're actually cheaper than we were one year ago... Green Bay- Regular Current $1.695 Yesterday $1.695 Month Ago $1.672 Year Ago $1.741
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 4:01 pm
I got the same email today. We're paying $1.99 I think (maybe it was $1.97) and that's at the cheap places. costco may be cheaper, though. I haven't had to fill up lately and that's ususually where I get gas because it's always the least expensive. I live in Northern Calif...about 50 miles north of San Francisco.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 4:12 pm
right now, we are paying over 2 bucks a gallon in central california. fortunately, even though diesel has also gone sky-high--1.99 here in town-- our two diesel vehicles get 50 mpg. i had to have the suburban jumped the other day because i drive it so rarely. it takes gas and gets about 14mpg in town. oh yeah, that was the day i scared the neighbor by telling him my husband wouldn't be home for hours, so could he jump me! and after he realized what i meant, made it funnier by saying he didn't have the equipment!!!!
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Cathie
Member
08-16-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 10:57 pm
I filed up last week for $1.47 a gallon at Sam's Club. I noticed the Texaco near my office was $1.59 today, so Sam's has probably gone up a few cents this week--they try to be a little below the regular gas stations. Fortunately, my daily commute is only about 15 miles round-trip so I only have to fill up every 2-3 weeks.
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Melfie1222
Member
07-29-2002
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 11:22 pm
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/gasout.htm I agree with the last paragraph on that, personally I think if most of us find it too inconvenient to limit our gas usage however we can... buying fuel efficient cars, using public transportation, whatever... then I think we deserve to pay even more than we already do.
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Sunday, February 29, 2004 - 3:04 pm
LOL Tabby! LOL! LOL!
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Sasman
Member
07-08-2003
| Sunday, February 29, 2004 - 3:39 pm
Got to agree with Melfie, I constantly have arguments with my sister over her buying a gas guzzling SUV. It just drives me crazy when Americans buy huge vehicles who could just as easily get by with a much smaller vehicle. I am still waiting for my sister to go off road with her truck. But then again, she washes it just about every week and it would kill her to see mud on her prized monster.
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Pcakes2
Member
08-29-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 8:18 am
I paid $2.03 this morning at the Arco station. I commute close to 100 miles a day (roundtrip) to work...I used to have a commuter car, but it is in need of major repairs. I am now driving a Blazer, and gas is costing me about $60 a week. Happymom...I also live about 50 miles north of SF...are we neighbors???
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 8:19 am
Hey - I am coming to SanFransico end of April - TVCH gathering anyone????
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Pcakes2
Member
08-29-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 10:28 am
I'd love to get together. Why are you coming to SF??? I work about 10 miles from the GG Bridge, so maybe we could do lunch?
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 11:07 am
April 27 through May 2 for the Read Out And Read Conference at the Hilton - downtown in the Union Square area.
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Pcakes2
Member
08-29-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 11:29 am
How fun! Email or PM me as the date gets closer...would love to get together! Anyone else want to join us?
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 11:45 am
Cool Pcakes2 - I would love to get together. Hey - your join date is my birthday!
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Pcakes2
Member
08-29-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 1:02 pm
so you're telling me that you will be 3 years old this coming august??? LOL!! Where are you coming from Big D??? Have you been to the Bay Area in the past??
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 1:23 pm
my dh has commuted 92 miles EACH way to work for almost 15 years, so that we could have a house for the family. the gas prices are killing us! he is trying to take the diesel jetta or diesel bug most days, but even so, it's more than 8 dollars a day for 4+ gallons of fuel. our suburban is almost 12 years old and has served our purposes many, many times for scouting and camping and transporting half a dozen people to various places. at the time we got it, we only had a 3-passenger truck and a 1981 diesel wagon. every 30,000 miles, the wagon needed some major part--the same part each time,and it was always just past the warranty on the previously put-in part. probably 1,700 bucks each repair. so i don't regret the big gas guzzler suburban for the times we really needed the hauling space or seating, but i use it only for those things now, not everyday things. (and when i had my blood clot, it almost killed me to have to take the suburban to gilroy or san jose, at first every single day, for coumadin level blood tests, but it hurt my leg to use the clutch in our truck or bug, and the clot was in my left leg. our only automatic was the suburban. as soon as it was more comfortable to me, i started driving the bug.) i also wish we had good public transportation out here, but we are in an isolated town, with the nearest 2 towns--4,000 population each--15 miles east and 26 miles north of us. if i am returning videos, i will walk the mile each way. if i have to go the post office, grocery store and video store, i will take one trip and do all the things during the one trip. when we lived in san jose, we had one of the bluebird kid carriers that went behind my husband's bike. he bolted in a carseat, we got used at a garage sale, and he would go on errands with the baby. they would come home with the little wagon filled with groceries and baby would be holding a bouquet of flowers for me and resting his feet on a case of beer......sheesh!
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 1:23 pm
and wow, cathie! i haven't seen 1.47 here for at least 4 years, maybe longer!!
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 3:00 pm
Hey Pcakes2 - I am just barely older than 3!!! Haha. I have never been to the Bay area and I am very excited! I am coming from Wisconsin.
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Pcakes2
Member
08-29-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 3:21 pm
So this will be a really exciting trip for you! There are tons of members who live in the Bay Area, or used to live here, or visit a lot. I'll start a new thread for everyone to post their recommendations.
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Konamouse
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, March 01, 2004 - 9:03 pm
Las Vegas ave $2.08 for regular unleaded. 'squeek'
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