“DON’T BUY GAS!” Is For Morons

This goddamn chain mail thing is still in circulation? I can’t believe that YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR people still fall for this crap. “Don’t buy gas on this day! If no one buys gas on just this one day, big oil companies will drop their prices!” There’s also this one: “Don’t buy gas from Exxon or Mobil! If no one buys gas from them it will force them to lower prices!” Oh and then there’s this doozy here: “In April 1997, there was a “gas out” conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.” Do me a favor: Google the “gas out of 1997″ and tell me what you find, actually I’ll tell you: THERE WASN’T ONE.

The issue here is the same with every single chain letter that’s ever been created: It’s a message containing its own false informational that sounds semi-accurate and requires action that doesn’t take much effort to follow through with. “Don’t buy gas this one day!” is easy to follow through with because we could just buy gas the day before or after. Every moron in the world can manage to pull that off, right? But here’s the point: If we still have to buy gas at some point, it doesn’t matter if we all don’t buy gas on the same day, because all that matters is that we are still buying gas.

The only way to lower gas prices is to, you know, never buy gas… ever (that’s what we in the business call counter productive!). If everyone switches to public transportation, biking or walking, gas prices would fall like a rocket because companies have an excess supply with minimal demand. However, as soon as everyone decided to start driving again, gas prices would go back up again due to the loss of supply and increase of demand. In other words, you should just start taking the bus, walking or biking.

Here’s what it looked like for me the last time I drove: $90/mo insurance, $140/mo gas, and an average of $40/mo in maintenance costs. That’s a cost of $270/mo to drive (this does not include paying for parking, which varied from free-$10/day). I take public transportation now: $59/mo. That’s unlimited public transportation for $59/mo. I save $211 a month by taking the bus and train AND I don’t have to worry about parking, having my car broken into or being in an accident. Biking is even cheaper than that and walking is free!

The easiest way to lower gas prices (SURPRISING!) is to not drive. Also, the best way to save money (SURPRISING!) is to not drive! How about this for a change: instead of being a lemming and jumping off a ledge with every other moron that thinks a “no gas day” will work: just stop driving and save lots of money at the same time.

Love,
Joe

Want to send a response? Email: joe@joerenken.com or message Joe on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Renken