This could work

**kanu690** · 4th February 2003

Lets get cheaper petrol

Subject: cut fuel costs

Subject: FW: CUTTING PETROL PRICES
I don't normally like to forward this type of stuff, but when it comes to
the prices we pay for fuel - I fully support some kind of action! No point
in trying to get Brown to lower taxes!

It's a bit long winded but the message is simple enough!

FW: CUTTING PETROL PRICES

We are going to hit close to 89p a litre by the summer.

Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united
action.

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!

By now you're probably thinking petrol priced at about 77p a litre is super
cheap. Me too! It is currently 79p - 83p for regular unleaded in some towns.

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think
that the cost of a litre is CHEAP at 77p -80p, we need to take aggressive
action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace.... 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.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying petrol. But we
CAN have an impact on petrol prices if we all act together to force a price
war.

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!!

Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how
simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at
least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more
(300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth
generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If
those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then
30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further,
you guessed it... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (and not
buy at ESSO/BP) (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and
all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... well, let's face it, you
just aren't a mathematician. But I am... so trust me on this one.)

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more
people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably
be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I
had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.
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

Action:
It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol
at Shell, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP and Esso

**the_wizzard** · 4th February 2003

good idea m8 honest, but invading iraq will do the same job,but quicker.

booboo

ps. to add, ive said the same sort of thing about sky get everyone to not sub for a month(to get em to lower there prices) and it would probly bankrupt em,hopefully?? but it will never happen cos we all talk a good fight on the forums but it very rarely gets to the masses(even if we do email it all over)

**Cam** · 4th February 2003

yeh it could work and mainly when u need to fill up there is more than 1 petrol station with in each.....

i'll try and get ppl i no not to shop at bp and esso but....if u all go to 1 then wont they put up there prices? ie we all went to tescos wont they start chragin more?

**wadgey** · 4th February 2003

most of the BP's in Reading are cheaper than the other stations though!?

have a look at the petrol busters site for fuel comparisons in your area.

http://www.aapetrolbusters.com

**james_sinovi** · 4th February 2003

What about the fact that the oil companys mark up is very small. The reason why the fuel is os expenisve is becuase of the tax placed on it by the govt and OPEC. As a result oil companies don't have the power to drop prices tremendously and they can't run at a loss there markup is something like a couple of pence a litre. Had you thought about what might happen if your scheme does actually work (highly unlikely) and u end up putting esso out of business (highly unlikely) then there will be less competition in the market place and so pertol prices will rise. To add u talk of insitgating a price war I think you'll find there already is one with petrol stations competing over tiny ammounts due to petrol being so price sensitive.

Anyway it might be worth a try

**Robbie** · 4th February 2003

The only way to get petrol prices reduced is by political action. Tax constitutes 88% of the price of petrol, and we also pay VAT upon fuel tax. Every time there is a price increase that increase is magnified by 17.5%, which is the VAT element.

If politicians KNEW that they would lose an election over fuel taxes then prices would drop. Unfortunately, none of us are willing to go the extra mile and make a concerted protest. The only ones with the guts were those farmers who blockaded the fuel depots, and then the government sent in the police to prevent them obstructing the exits. If hundreds of private motorists had joined them the police would have been powerless.

One way could be to refuse to buy petrol for a month. That really would hit the exchequer's revenue. Unfortunately, people will moan, but will never take their cars off the road for that length of time.