(U-WIRE) FULLERTON, Calif. – Texts and e-mails have been circulating, encouraging consumers to participate in the gasoline boycotts that will be taking place.
The concept is that if vehicle owners do not purchase gasoline on the designated boycott day, oil companies will be negatively impacted and forced to lower gas prices, which have already passed the $3 mark in Southern California. In an attempt to hit the oil companies where it hurts (their deep pockets) and find a feasible solution to the outrageous prices, too many people have failed to see that a one-day boycott of gasoline is the wrong way to do it.
The gasoline boycott is severely flawed. A one-day boycott won’t have a lasting affect on the oil industry. It wouldn’t actually have any affect on it at all. It is only encouraging car owners to shift their date of gasoline purchase instead of encouraging people to use less. Changing the purchase date only extends the inevitable filling of the gas tank, leaving oil companies untouched by this “boycott.”
Gasoline is a commodity and like any commodity, to curb the demand is to curb the supply. It’s not rocket science. It’s economics. To reduce dependency on vehicles and gasoline, take the bus or the Metrolink to work or school. Granted, the public transportation system in America is not on par with European systems, but they serve as alternatives to driving the gas guzzling SUV. Take a walk or bike ride to a destination. If done collectively, with the participation of all vehicles owners, using these substitute ways of transportation would make a more significant impact on oil company revenues than a poorly organized and poorly thought-out boycott that will only make oil tycoons laugh.
To participate in the boycott is not only a waste of time but a poor message that only tells the oil companies we are so dependent on oil that we cannot even demonstrate properly to show our dissatisfaction with gas prices. That not only conveys the message that we are OK with the high gas prices, but also gives oil companies room and reason to continue exploiting consumers.
The groans and moans of motorists are common in conversation but action is never taken. One-day boycotts are a way of feeling better about a current concern and a way of feeling self-satisfaction for “sticking it to the man.” But continue driving to the corner liquor store instead of walking there and the status quo will remain.
The point: Don’t buy gas on the 15th or the day after that or the day after that. One day isn’t going to make a difference. If lower gas prices are what consumers want, be serious about it and just consume less.
Harmony Trevino is a student at Cal-State University at Fullerton. This column originally appeared in that school’s student newspaper, the Daily Titan, on May 15.