On my way to work every day I pass by three gas stations. Over the last few weeks I’ve watched the prices on them climb higher and higher just like the rest of you. Occasionally I stop at one of them, always the cheapest of the three that week, and fill my tank. The most recent visit to the station, after racking up a $55 bill elicited a rant strewn with four letter words. I think the guy in the car next to me thought I was talking about him for a minute.

Who’s to blame for the prices? It’s easy to blame the government. Iran, Iraq, not allowing the drilling, high taxes on gas, tax cuts and relief for the gas companies, the list goes on and on. Sure, it’s their fault partly. Second group to blame is the gas companies. They created the paradigm of use. They hold the patents for the electric car hidden in a vault in Area 51 right next to the alien spacecraft. They make us buy the gas to run our cars and jack up the prices and there is nothing we can do. Or is there?

Sure, the gas companies are the ones that are reaping the benefits of the current market situation. Raking in record breaking profits for the past two quarters, and the first quarter making last one look like a joke to the tune of 64 billion dollars. Oil is up to over $70 a barrel and doesn’t seem to have much hope of leveling off anytime soon, yet, as the prices rise, the demand for oil and gasoline are still rising! My question is, when are the consumers going to fight back at the companies and stop buying the gas?

I’m not suggesting not going to work. I’m not suggesting doing things that would put you in danger like hitch hiking. What I mean is, when do the consumers say enough is enough and stop filling their tanks for things they don’t need. The weekend road trips, boats, jet skis, motor cycles, afternoon drives, campers, and the like, none of which are necessary, yet people seem unwilling to take a hit for themselves. Who can blame the gas companies for keeping the prices on the rise, we just keep paying the price.

I personally own a boat. It’s still new, at least to me it is, yet I haven’t taken it out once this year yet. Honestly, I don’t plan on taking it out very often. Between the added cost of fuel for my truck to tow it down to the river and the $30 it will cost to fill it’s meager 10 gallon tank, that’s probably $50 to $60 I can keep in my pocket and out of the hands of the oil companies. There is an estimated 17 million boat owners in the US right now. I consider mine to be about average.. so if even one million of those owners chose to do what I do, that would keep 60 million dollars out of gas company pockets. Wow, those small numbers sure do add up fast don’t they?

How else do consumers waste gas? Three trips to the store in one day instead of one? Sure, I’ve done it. You are making dinner with the hopes of impressing the lady (or guy won’t forget you ladies), oops, forgot the garlic, back to the store. Get back, whoops, forgot the wine this time, back to the store again. Sure, while they don’t seem to add up at the time, all those little trips add up in the long run, and with some planning and forethought, could be avoided.

The bottom line is that in a free market system consumers do have power to control the market, but sometimes it requires a little planning and a little sacrifice, things that the current citizens of the US don’t’ seem interested in doing. I nearly got sick watching the news the other night watching these people complain at the gas pumps while filling their cars and so much as admitting that they weren’t going to put themselves out because of the high gas prices, they were just going to suck it up and deal.

I suppose that tells a story in and of itself though, we’ve gotten so dependant on the luxuries we’re afforded that we will pay any cost to be able to have them. Is a weekend at the lake two hours away really that much more relaxing then a weekend around the house? I guess it depends on your point of view, but for my dollar, I’d rather keep the money instead of filling my gas tank with it. Believe me, I’d much rather be out on my boat, but I’m not going to support a system that is currently exploiting my needs.

So, everyone who wants to keep blaming the government and demonizing the oil companies, feel free. Every dime you put in the gas tank though just, pardon the pun, fuels the fire and takes us further away from a solution.

Last 5 posts by Jeff Hopkins

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