UK Readers: Don't buy petrol from BP or ESSO
This is very off-topic, so feel free to skip!
Received a round-robin today via email. As I don’t send on such things, I thought I’d mention it here as I’m getting fed up with the price of petrol, especially given the profit that the big oil companies have recently announced:
Received from a good friend so leave the rest to you!
See what you think and pass it on if you agree with it.
We are hitting £123.9 a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with paying £2.00 a ltr. 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.
Please read it and join in!
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place 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 one), ESSO and BP.
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 Esso and BP petrol buyers. It’s really simple to do!!
…(snip boring bit)…
If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.
PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE
It’s easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP and Esso
I’ll write about something a bit more on topic soon!
I've seen this one. There are a couple of problems with it. BP and Esso are not one company – Esso's parent company Exxon merged with Mobil a few years ago now, but not BP. They merged with Amoco. Both Esso and Amoco were part of Standard Oil many many years ago, but not anymore.
Then there's the bit about buying your petrol from Asda, Tesco, etc. Where exactly do you think the supermarkets get their petrol from? The same refineries as the stuff in the Esso and BP garages.
The sale of petrol on the forecourts is not really a very profitable business. The big oil companies make most of their money from the refining business.
I think a more sensible use of our time and effort would be to drive less and perhaps have an OFT investigation into the competitiveness of the petrol market. I think there is something in the fact that prices go up immediately when oil prices rise but are very slow to fall again when there is any fall. Of course, with all the vested interests that comes along with oil that will certainly never happen…
Hi Alex,
I agree that it's a little simplistic. Also, the level of duty on UK petrol is remarkably high.
Driving less is much harder for those of us in rural parts. e.g. my office is 12 miles from the nearest town and there are no buses. I live 30 miles from the office, so cycling is a little tricky too. Moving house isn't always simple as the children are in school and would need to be moved elsewhere. Not to mention that house prices are more expensive as you get nearer to where the office is.
I can imagine long term that there will be very few people who live and work outside of cities and their immediate environs.
Rob…
It is high, yes. There is no way to argue against that!
I fully appreciate the argument about rural living. Although I now live in Worcester, I lived in rural Herefordshire for most of my life and had to drive myself to school when I was in sixth form. Plus there was one bus a week from our village. In places like that the car is the only option for getting about.
Taxes on things like petrol hit people in rural areas the hardest, as well as those on low incomes because the rich can still afford to fuel up there gas guzzlers.
However, I think that we have to be pragmatic and realise a few things. Long term, petrol will never go back to the good old days of being 69p a litre. Rising demand in the developing world and a limited supply of oil will see to that. It is also very difficult to get people to change their habits and give up luxuries that they are used to, like being able to living away from the office (I live 40 miles from mine and while I do have the option of public transport it takes ~1 hour 45 minutes against < 1 hour in the car. PT costs the same as it did in January though!). I don't think it is realistic to think that even a small percentage of the population will give this up, let alone the majority.
This means that we must find ways of replacing these fossil fuel burning journeys with other options. For people like you and me that might mean telecommuting (which I do 2 days a week) while for necessary journeys it means more efficient cars or even electric cars. Who knows?
I think the real answer is that we need to invent personal teleporters…
I've been looking into electric cars: they just need to up the range a bit.
Living away from the office isn't a luxury when you don't live in a big city. i.e. How many PHP companies are there in Worcester?! I agree that telecommuting is an option sometimes – it depends on your workforce and the way the company is set up though.
Rob…
I know of at least one – Namesco. I did have a recruiter ring me a while ago about a job with Bizz Energy too, so they are around.
Obviously where you choose to live depends on more than where you work. e.g. my better half works for Worcestershire Country Council and walks to work. Then there's good schools, knowing the area, etc, etc. That's why I think that it is impractical to expect people to move close to the office to save petrol.
Of course even with electric cars there comes the question of how that electricity is generated, etc, etc. Questions like that are what we need to deal with, rather than petrol costs. But petrol costs directly affect people's pockets, so I can see why they're bothered…
Long term companies are going to have to embrace telecommuting for the jobs that can be done that way. Wages will have to rise for those who continue to commute to cover their costs. Plus there are the costs of actual offices.
On the other hand, there are the costs of heating the home when you're working in it! Aargh!
Go to http://snopes.com/ and search for "gas". You'll see that these are urban legends. I agree, the oil companies stink, but other than simply not buying their product I'm not sure there's much we can do about it.
An interesting idea but surely some flaws. I appreciate you didn't write it, Rob.
I was under the impression that 40% of the money spent at the pumps goes towards the actual fuel, with the remaining 20% and 40% being duty and tax respectively. I think 69p is thus a little unlikely.
Where do supermarkets get their petrol from? Presumably its supplied by over-rich companies somewhere down the line.
Well, the answer is to get the hell out of it, its never going to get any easier, if your looking to start a new life in the USA, then i can help you…
Tired of that same old UK rain, UK tax and fuel hikes… that never ending battle just to make ends meet and then just to survive until the next pay cheque…
You can live the American dream just like many other Brits have done by jumping ship and beginning a new life, and new future for your children, and much more.
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Two thirds of the cost of petrol is tax! This is the government's fault not the oil companies!