Quote:
Phoenix-D said:
Unless you actually reduce the amount of gas consumed, that'll do nothing.
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Well actually it would throw a monkey wrench into the supply on demand system that is now being used. To increase profits, the oil companies keep inventories at absolute minimums to meet demand. While consumption of gas in the US has risen every year, storage capacity has fallen. They now use these “on demand” inventory numbers to influence price. And of late, they have manipulated the amount of fuel in storage downward so as to pressure the price upwards. If no one bought gas every other day, it would create a huge glut of gas and force prices down. It would also cause some spot shortages on “buy” days, but also create a net lowering of gas consumption. The three stations that my family owns are being held at minimum storage on site. The oil company used to almost force us to keep the tanks full. Now they penalize us for extra deliveries. Each station pumps more than a tanker a day, so at least twice a week we need two deliveries a day. We now pay extra for the second tanker. In the past, we got a discount on the additional loads. They are also holding our credit card receipts and extra day now. That cost us over a 100K in lost cash flow. And the maximum credit card charge at the pump is $70 dollars, which won’t fill up the vehicles that many people around here drive, this drives people to top off, which further stresses limited supplies. The oil companies are using every trick in the book to keep supplies tight and prices high.
If everyone cut their usage by 10%, it would also cause an inventory back up. So go burn your neighbors gas hog SUV to the ground and force the price down
