Dont Buy Fuel on the 15th !!!!!
 

Let's hit 'em where it hurts! .... I know this was written for 4 wheelers, but it will work the same for big trucks too. :wink:




Let us agree. And if you can send this to as many as you know, then
even better. MARK THE DAY ON YOUR CALENDAR!!!! - 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 lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for
at least one day.

There's a problem with that theory:

People still need gasoline/fuel to keep moving. So, that means everyone will either fill up on the 14th or the 16th. The same amount of money will be spent.

Re: Dont Buy Fuel on the 15th !!!!!
 

So we just give them the money the next day when we NEED the fuel to go to work, a 1 day thing just dosent work! No matter what the internet told YOU....lol

ok ok ok .. :oops: I just thought the idea sounded good .... I knew there would be someone or a few who would find a way to cut it down . .... There are a few people that believe if the amount of fuel bought on one certain day was cut back - it would send a message ... it would make a difference in the total amount sold for that 1 day ... which would get the attention of those who's making the big bucks off of us who have to buy fuel often in order to work............... If you do nothing to make a 'stand' ..... then nothing will change and prices will continue to go up................... Do whay YOU feel is best. ... :wink:

The idea does sound good on the surface. It's just not enough. It isn't enough just to avoid buying gas or fuel. "EVERYBODY" needs to stop "EVERYTHING". Take one day and don't go ANYWHERE or do ANYTHING. Actually shut down the whole country for one day.

Now, the problem with that idea is that more than half the people in this country live an "HAND TO MOUTH" existance. Don't go to work one day and they can not afford the reduced paycheck. It's just like shuting down the trucks for a "WEEK LONG STRIKE", or even a "THREE-DAY STRIKE". More than half the drivers across the country will be looking at truck payments, mortgage payments, rent, car payments, groceries, and they can't afford it either. You won't get the participation to make it effective. On paper, the idea looks good. But putting it into practice is far more difficult.

What do you say to someone when his response to you is: "MY KIDS GOTTA EAT".

There's a problem with your logic.

If I don't buy fuel today, then I'll likely have to buy it tomorrow. What the oil company "loses" from me today, they'll get tomorrow anyway. It won't send any message, as they aren't losing anything. The only way to truly have an impact is to reduce the fuel you use overall.


Some light reading:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp

Frankly I like the oil companys. :wink:

I think everyone should not go to work for a day- do ya think that would affect anything? Or, how about we all stop paying taxes- the Govt cannot arrest everyone. :lol:

I thought the 15th was the Trucker Strike Part II

Just slow down to a reasonable speed, stop driving when you do not have to and youd be amazed what COULD happen.. of course everytime you talk about slowing down, there are far too many people who have head spinning, bed wetting fits and decree that driving at high speeds is some sort of "right" and that there is no way to make any money if they do not run 75-80 down the highway.. logic and fact of course makes this totally absurd

Well said Fozzy.

If just 50% of the people in this country would reduce their fuel consumption by 2 gallons a week, a lot more would happen than simply not buying fuel for one day. Of course this is assuming the other 50% does not increase their consumption by the same amount.

Reducing speed and idling will help, but the only thing I see as really helping is to either start drilling oil in and around this country or come up with a viable alternative. I prefer the second alternative. Until there is something we can use in lieu of diesel and gasoline, we are at the mercy of these oil companies. And don't think it is only the Arabs who are price gouging. There isn't any serious competition within the oil industry any more. Competition will get prices down faster than anything. The government isn't going to do anything to help. They make more money when oil prices go up. I think the technology is there, I am not sure about the will to get it to the marketplace.

Here is the best solution. Instead of "being at the mercy" of oil companies and playing the victm card. Learn to partner with those oil companies and make money with them. A small investment in a good oil company stock will make you far more money than you are paying extra at the pump for your 4 wheeler. If you are an owner op paying for your own fuel, perhaps a larger investment would suffice. Its really that simple.
Example: my cars get really crappy gas mileage, on average i use about 15 gallons of gas a week. If the price of fuel goes up a dollar that costs me obviously 15 bucks more a week or 780 bucks a year. Now, I will use exxon in this example because its well known. If I own 100 shares of Exxon stock, just the stock price alone would have made me around $1644.00 on that 100 shares. So gas prices go up.... $1644 in stock returns - the 780 a year im spending in gas = An increase in net worth of $864.00.....Nothing to whine about.

Sheepdancer not ALL of us have the option of playing the market. There are quite a few of us that have a hard time getting by. I myself am on SSDI for my Epilepsy and do not have the income to by any stock at all. You try burning ALL AND I MEAN ALL your life savings up getting an uncurable medical condition under control then having to wait 3 long years for the goverment to finally decide that you are disabled. The only reason I finally got my SSDI was the stress of the hearings threw me into a GTC which for those who do not know anyone is a Grand Mal Seizure or full body convulsion then 6 months later after my ex-wife had spent every last dime I did get in back benefits she left me leaving me high and dry.

I am now trying to put my life back together and know I will never feel the wonderful feeling of having 80K lbs under my control but I hear people like you saying work harder or save more some of us do not have that option. I look at the last 6 years and wonder what happend to the surplus that George W Bush was given by Bill Clintons policies when he took office then I remembered the tax cuts for the upper 1% and cry. That and the war in Iraq what is it now close to 3400 dead gas prices Double what they were when he took office. He came into office stating I will be the most ethical President in the History of this country SORRY HE FELL SHORT ON THAT ONE. HE WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE WORST ONE IN HISTORY. Maybe if he had not used so many Regan and Bush 1 retreads t may have been different. To the Moderators sorry to have ranted but when the policies of this country are written by the compaines that the goverment is supposed to regulate we are in trouble.

I disagree. Everyone has the ability to invest and save money, many just choose not to.

Fine try to live on what I bring home then I get 1213 a month in SSDI my rent on my house is 500 utilites are 200 insurance for my car 120 gas with it so high is another 100 meds even with help 60 a month food takes the rest were do I come up with money for the FREAKING MARKET. By the way I have tried to find a part time job to supplement my SSDI but my BODY will not let me do it anymore. I have no were I could cut back and I get to much for help on meds or anything like that I am the ultimate working poor I slip through every crack in the system.

Im not the one who can say what you can or cannot do. However I do believe if you didnt have the defeatist attitude you could find a way. About 7 years ago my father in law fell off his roof and broke his spine. He lost his job as a respatory theorpist and can barely walk now. He cant leave the house for long periods of time because of the nerve damage he might crap in his pants. However even with his SSI he does find away to invest. In his spare time because he is always at home he buys and sells things on ebay and makes a pretty good extra income doing that. And with that money he invests.
From your first post what i saw was someone saying "I cant I CANT" and then for some reason you went off blaming the president for your situation. As long as you keep telling yourself there is no way you can invest or save, I doubt you would be able to. However, if one day you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and start telling yourself, Im going to figure out a way to succeed no matter what life throws at me, you might be surprised at what you can do.

If I were in a situation I would sit down and figure out a way to save money by making a complete list of expenses I really didnt need.
My Direct Tv Bill = 70 bucks a month or $840 a year.
My home phone bill 49 a month = 588 a year
My cell phone bill = 100 a month = 1200 a year
My internet access= 30 a month = 360 a year
I dip snuff ( I should quit) 1 can every 2 days = 912 a year.
I love my beer however I dont get drunk= about a 6 pack a week= 364 a year.
I bet if I really tried I could cut my electric bill in half by turning off lights and being smart. Right now I pay on average about 400 bucks a month for electric that would equate to 4800 a year....if I cut that in half I would save 2400 bucks.

Ok, lets total all of that up. If I ever found myself in financial trouble I could cut out all those things and save 6664 bucks a year. Use that money to buy clothing by the pallet wholesale. Reselling it, conbine that with any disability pay I had, invest some and snoball all of that to a pretty comfortable living. But hey, that is just me. I tend to shy away from a defeatist attitude.

Here is a great idea. You need money, you have all this free time on your hands and for some reason, even though you say you are poor and cant afford anything, you have internet access. Why not recruit drivers for me? Id be happy to split my commissions with you for any driver you send me and I get hired. Sure it would be hard. If you worked hard at it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, if you are a smart enough guy to think outside the box and generate your own leads, you could make a very good living.

One small problem about that sheepdnacer I would only refer a driver to a company if I drove for them. Since I NEVER even if they were the last company left refer a driver to JB Hunt forget it. The reason I do have Internet access is simple called I bundled my cable package with my internet access and it is only 15 bucks a month. I get so sick of people saying pull yourself up or cut back I can not cut back anymore there is nothing left to cut. As for your E-bay no way will I do that my father was taken advantage of to many times by scammers and lost way to much money doing that. Called I live in my means yet the goverment of the LAST 6 YEARS could not and now my neices and nephews are going to be forced to pay for it.

You should check with Al Bore about getting a carbon credit and cutting down on global warming. ;) He's like a global god....or something. ;)

Someday I hope to be successful enough to pollute as much as Al Gore.
This is my dream.

I just gave you two ways to make money.....YOU CHOSE to not do them. But thanks for making my point. Even a person in your situation could find a way to make extra money.
Guess what? I knew whatever suggestion I made for you to make money, you would have an excuse why you wouldnt do it. That wasnt too hard to figure out.
How does someone get ripped off on ebay again? Ive been selling crap on ebay for years. Hell, my wife does it just for fun and makes about a grand a month selling dresses she makes. We have over 1500 autions and we have NEVER been ripped off. In fact its quite impossible. I simply dont mail anyone anything ive sold them until their money is in my bank account and cleared.
Thanks for the laugh. I had Dr Pepper shoot out of my nose when you said in the same paragraph that you cant cut back at all and that you have cable and internet access. That was pretty funny.

Because I have my internet bundled with my cable I get it for 15 bucks and also get my cable bill dicounted 30 bucks also so that is basically is giving me my internet for FREE and also puts 15 bucks a month into my pocket. The reason I shot down you offer on the recruiting drivers is simple I NEVER DROVE FOR JB HUNT. I REFUSE TO REFER SOMEONE TO A COMPANY THAT I NEVER WORKED FOR. Besides after working on some of the training academy trucks in the mid 90's I wonder how he stayed in business. My shop carried IN STOCK AT ALL TIMES 6 clutches 4 reman trannys 3 rear ends 3 power dividers and 2 flywheels so we could keep those trucks running. Sometimes we were throwing those same parts into the trainers trucks.

ooh another idea. You need to write a book called "1001 excuses for not saving money". Surely there is a market for something like that.


I think this got off topic. This was about gas prices. Let me ask you this. You said one of the weekly costs was gas for your car and insurance.
Why do you need a car if you arent working? Personally, I still cant figure out why you need cable and internet. but hey, thats your business.

Why do I need a car called I live in a town with no PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION my parents are 50 mins away and I do have KIDS THAT HAVE DOCTORS APPTS. It is called doctors appts for me and them going to the gorcery store to get food and then maybe going to see the grandparents one time a month.

I'm no engineer, so maybe I don't get it. Please explain to me how slowing down saves fuel.

Let's say I'm going to a destination 75 miles away, and at 75mph, I can get there in one hour at 1500 revolutions per minute. Now... if I slow down to 60 mph, I have to downshift to 9th gear at 1800 rpm. So, I'm "revolving" my engine, 300 more times per minute for the initial hour, and 1800 more times per minute for the additional 15 minutes.

How is that saving fuel?

Sheepdancer: Why not buy 100 shares of a stock that gives the same return as the oil company, but then get to keep ALL of the return instead of just what is left over after paying higher prices for gas?

I realize you are down on Ironeagle about this, but he said one thing that keeps ringing in my ears. Gas prices have MORE than DOUBLED under the current administration. There's no denying it.

When I was in high school, gas was 75 cents a gallon (after the intital jump from 25 cents a few years earlier.) In 2002, or there abouts - over 25 years later, it was about $1.18.

Today, it is MORE than twice THAT!! I would think this would be a matter of national concern, one that the administration SHOULD be doing something about. Instead, all I hear is excuses and promises to look for alternative sources. The administration HAS an energy Czar. WHAT the heck is he doing to earn his huge salary??

COULD it be that we are paying at the pump for the unrest WE have caused and continue in the Middle East?

I'm not saying it is ALL Bush's fault.... though it might be. But, there is no way around the facts. We've been at war in the Middle East pretty much ever since Bush took office. And gas prices - more than ANY other segment of the economy - have been getting out of hand ever since!

Does it not give you even a MOMENT'S pause to consider that the Bush family is in, or has close ties to, the Oil Industry?

If our refining capacity is at fault, then WHY??? Don't they get investment credits from the government? Why aren't they re-investing the windfall profits they've made since Bush took office? And don't give me the NIMBY excuse! The government owns BILLIONS of acres of land that are not next to a town!

Do you remember the line from 3 Days of the Condor, when the CIA guy tells Redford (near the end of the movie) that "someday, Americans will be COLD because they have no heat. They won't ask us HOW we got it! They'll just want us to GET it!"

Well, in a manner of speaking, I'm friggin COLD!! I want oil/gas at a reasonable price! If we're gonna be sending troops to their deaths in the Middle East, by god, we oughta get SOMETHING out of it!

Or could it be that somehow, we are paying for the war at the gas pump?

I just dont see gas prices as being that high. I see them as higher. However I also see them as being too low for so long, so that might be shocking people. Gas prices have remained really low even though inflation has caused the prices for everything else to go up. I still say we have some of the cheapest gas in the industrialized world. Also our gov makes way more much money on gas taxes than oil companies make profit. If you want to lower the price of gas a bit, get the gov to lower taxes on it. I will NEVER be against oil companies or any other company making a great profit.

My point on the thread was this....... Even doubled gas prices arent that much. For whatever reason you believe prices are up, the best solution is find a way to earn more. Griping and ranting about it doesnt do a thing and pays exactly 0 bucks an hour.
When you do the math even a 1.00 a gallon price increase isnt really that much.
My everyday driver is my jeep, because of the gearing and the 35 inch tires, I get about 10 mpg. I drive generally 200 miles a week. Thats 20 bucks a week a dollar increase in gas is costing me in my extreem gas guzzling car. 20 bucks a week or 80 bucks a month isnt even worth typing about. A 7 year old could make an extra 80 bucks a month with a lemonade stand.

I spent $52 to fill up my car this morning.

I drive a Camry.

Talk about pump shock. :shock:

That said, I'm on the fence about the whole oil industry thing. Yeah, it sucks rocks. But SD is right in that over the past 20 or 30 years, gas prices have not been affected like everything else. I think our biggest problem is that it's all coming at one time. Yeah, I hate it. But what are you gonna do?

You adjust.

Question....I really dont know the answer to this question.
When you factor in the fuel surcharge that goes up when the price of fuel goes up....how much do rising gas prices really affect you? Ive always wondered that.

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Did you read my post, TF?? 30 years ago, gas was 25 cpg, then went up to 75 cpg during the Iranian hostage situation.

In the NEXT 28 years, it only went up 43 cents (in my area) to $1.18. That was 2003.... the YEAR THE WAR BEGAN!

In only 3 years since then, it has MORE THAN DOUBLED! Almost TRIPLED! :shock:

Has a loaf of bread tripled in price since '03?? Or a tomato? Or a pair of jockeys?

I've been living in the same apartment for nearly 20 years, and my rent has only increased about 25%!!

In the same time, the minimum wage has only increased by about 25%. And I doubt that social security or military COLA rates have gone up by much more.

But, you said ONE thing right. It's ALL happened at "one time!" And THAT is my point!

Name me ONE thing that has increased in price to the same degree as gasoline in the last 3 years.... let alone in the past 20-30 years?

Housing? Maybe in the last 30 years, but not in THREE!

Are you SURE you want to agree with Sheepdancer on this?

Sheepdancer lives in the HQ area of both JB Hunt and Wal-Mart so of course he would be against any form of releif for WORKING CLASS PEOPLE. When the Big wigs get MULTIMILLIONS to be in the offices that right there shows how far out of touch the upper levels of management have gottten with the regular workers. When he told me that he could cut his own expenses over 650 bucks a month and still not before he would be feeling any difficulty that amount is over 1/2 of what I get a month. When a CEO of a company makes in a week what a Full-time worker makes in ONE YEAR there is a HUGE PROBLEM in the way CEO pay is set. Considering Wal-Mart same store sales have been so flat for years that the only way they are making reveune goals are to open a new supercenter every week there is a problem. Yet they give Millions to the CEO in bounus and CAPPED ASSOCIATES PAY I should know I was working for Wal-Mart til my Epilepsy Flared up again. JB Hunt the only way they are making their goals is do to hedging fuel yet still charging massive fuel surcharges.

Maybe you had a retard spec your truck? You are not figuring in anything BUT RPM? Please... don't ACT so stupid or be so selective in your logic.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I bet golfhobo is a fan of underrevving his engine, too. Gotta keep those RPM's down. Let' put er in 18th gear and do 35 down the freeway - that'll save fuel!

Well, I'm not going so far as to call my company owner (who is a Billionaire) a retard, but he bought the trucks to do 80+, then turned them down to 75 and somehow "rev limited" them to the point that I can't even reach the normal "road speed" before having to shift! (supposedly, to save FUEL!)

I'm not an O/O, Fozzy. I thought you KNEW that.

I apologize if my question made me sound "stupid." I SAID I was no engineer, and I might add not a mechanic. Now, I suppose you'll just lump me in with those "steeringwheelholders." But, I don't know what ELSE to figure in besides RPM. IMHO, each RPM fires off a small bit of fuel. So, how do I save fuel when I'm RPM'ing at a higher rate?? If "driving slower" meant a lower RPM, I could understand your point. But, for me, it does NOT!

It was a serious question. I would appreciate a serious reply.

And for the REV.... I sorta see your point, but again, it's NOT what I'm asking about. I would NEVER want to run at a slower speed to keep the rpm's lower! I'm saying that I'm used to running 75 mhp at a LOWER rpm than I have to run while in a lower gear to climb the same MINOR grade! It takes me longer to pull it, at a higher RPM. Isn't that burning MORE fuel for a longer period of time?

Maybe, I'm missing something OBVIOUS! But, I don't think so. I'm a pretty logical thinker. And, I certainly wouldn't come on here and ACT stupid! I can do that without ACTING!! :lol:

NOW.... can I have an ANSWER to my question, instead of a smart azz reply?? :shock: :lol:

Or do I need to ask someone ELSE, besides YOU two, who might KNOW the answer?!?!

Oh pick me! I say we all back to horse n' buggy- then ya dont have to worry about being governed anymore! :D And just think, no more stupid mini-van drivers either!

Even though the engine speed makes a difference in your fuel economy, the major factor is the wind resistance at higher speeds.

Bingo! The rpm is part of it, but as wind resistance increases, it takes more fuel just to over come the wind resistance to maintain the RPM. So driving slower at a higher RPM would actually cause you to possibly break even or save fuel. Running at 60 at 1250-1300 would do even more! Gearing a truck high and running it slow is still the most effective means to save fuel. Rolling resistance is another factor that one must overcome.