AARoads Forum

 :hmmm: :poke: :clap:

I may be the only person on the planet who isn't blaming BP at all for this

I was relegated to BP gas twice on my recent Midwest trip. They happened to be the only gas stations at the interchanges where I stopped for gas, and I was on a tight time schedule.

I had thought of making a topic like this. Yes, I am boycotting BP for some time to come. This will be the second oil company I'm boycotting. I've boycotted Texaco since the late 90s after company big wigs were caught on tape using racial slurs towards black people. As a black man, I was very offended by that.

why are we boycotting BP?  

every oil company has similar types of offshore equipment and industry practices - BP got unlucky and had theirs blow up on them.

right now, everyone at BP is tearing their hair out, thinking to themselves 'well shit, that's a lot of our money pissing itself into the ocean'.  Likely with even stronger language.

if you're going to boycott BP, may as well boycott the rest too.  have fun roadgeeking on your shiny new bicycle.

Quoteevery oil company has similar types of offshore equipment and industry practices - BP got unlucky and had theirs blow up on them.

This is exactly right- and who does a boycott really hurt? The fat cats will keep their jobs or not keep them- a boycott won't get them removed (the government might, but that's another story). The people a boycott will hurt are the (very hard working- you try working an oil rig, there's few jobs that are more difficult) blue collar oil rig workers all around the world, 99.99% of whom did absolutely nothing to deserve your boycott.

If business goes down because of a boycott it'll be the paid by the hour, hard working rig workers who lose their jobs- not the fat cats.

The desired outcome of a massive boycott is what? BP going out of business? OK- sure, that puts the people responsible out of jobs, but it also puts the thousands of people who had nothing to do with this and are just trying to earn a living out of a job. Find out who is responsible and punish them. Don't boycott BP and harm the innocents.

I don't think a boycott is going to work because it is too easy for the oil companies to re-brand.  Moreover, a boycott punishes the wrong people--not just the low-paid employees on hourly wages, but also the gas station owners who have BP franchises, and in general the refining and petroleum retailing part of the company rather than the oil extracting part, which caused all the trouble.

In general I don't support oil company boycotts for reasons of environmental pollution, racism, price gouging at the pump, or indeed anything else.  The global market for petroleum is so dominated by cartels and large firms that it is almost impossible to assemble a boycott which is sufficiently broad and deep to force a change in how they do business.  Even the US government has a lot of trouble keeping them under control using well-established regulatory powers.

I already avoid BP (aka Amoco aka Standard of Indiana aka Overpriced Gasoline Co.) due to their high gasoline prices locally.  Why should I pay almost 2.899/gal when I can find it for 10 to 20 cents less down the street?

Anyone remember the Great "Don't Fund the Terrirosts" Gas Boycott?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/saudigas.asp

Economics Prof. Pat Welch of St. Louis University says any boycott of "bad guy" gasoline in favor of "good guy" brands would have some unintended (and unhappy) results.

.... the law of supply and demand is set in stone. "To meet the sudden demand," he says, "the good guys would have to buy gasoline wholesale from the bad guys, who are suddenly stuck with unwanted gasoline."



The only person you are hurting is the local BP Station who has already paid for his gas.

Quote from: corco on May 23, 2010, 01:54:17 AM

Quoteevery oil company has similar types of offshore equipment and industry practices - BP got unlucky and had theirs blow up on them.

This is exactly right- and who does a boycott really hurt? The fat cats will keep their jobs or not keep them- a boycott won't get them removed (the government might, but that's another story). The people a boycott will hurt are the (very hard working- you try working an oil rig, there's few jobs that are more difficult) blue collar oil rig workers all around the world, 99.99% of whom did absolutely nothing to deserve your boycott.

If business goes down because of a boycott it'll be the paid by the hour, hard working rig workers who lose their jobs- not the fat cats.

The desired outcome of a massive boycott is what? BP going out of business? OK- sure, that puts the people responsible out of jobs, but it also puts the thousands of people who had nothing to do with this and are just trying to earn a living out of a job. Find out who is responsible and punish them. Don't boycott BP and harm the innocents.

I agree, I think BP is so big that only the major lawsuits to come will hurt the BP fat cats. As usual the "working man" is the one that will be hurt when all he's doing is trying to feed his family and pay bills=unfair. To some tho it'll be a "matter of principal", thinking BP did wrong and it must be punished. The way I understand it, it was not BPs oil platform, the only connection BP had was they wanted the oil that was being pumped. As a resident of the NW FL pannhandle this is going to be a VERY SCARY hurricane season!! God help us!

if you're going to boycott someone, boycott those stupid Shell stations with the televisions playing ads that you apparently can't turn off without a shotgun.

I've been boycotting BP/Sohio for 20 years because their gasoline, errr, additives do more harm than good to your engine and gastank.

Quote from: corco on May 23, 2010, 01:03:05 AM
I may be the only person on the planet who isn't blaming BP at all for this

You aren't.

Quote from: corco on May 23, 2010, 01:03:05 AM
I may be the only person on the planet who isn't blaming BP at all for this

BP is not to blame for all of this.  There is plenty to go around, even with the Feds.  However, that said, until the cause of the explosion and leak is known, one should steer clear of the blame game.

I know who we can boycott.

Quote"We are going to stay on this and stay on BP until this gets done and this gets done the right way," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

YOU.  Stay the HELL out of this.  

I have a better question for these political threads.

Who cares? We're roadgeeks. Not people who are in the mood to cause public disruption for the news. We aren't the city of Los Angeles. We're a group of people who like roads. Politics do not belong here UNLESS they involve roads.

Off-Topic
Not directly road related, just anything else.

So you don't care. Bully for you. Keep it to yourself.

Adam, there's more to life than just roads.  That's why the admins have been so very kind to have an off-topic forum (which I'm glad for).
If you don't like it, don't read it.

http://miniurl.com/39785

NEW YORK -- "Why don't we boycott BP? Not so fast," said CNBC. "One month into the spill, anger at BP continues to mount, fueling a move for a nationwide boycott. But if it succeeds, the real pain at the pump will likely be borne by small-business owners," said Bertha Coombes of CNBC's Business Coast to Coast.

Quote from: Brandon on May 25, 2010, 10:51:01 AM
Adam, there's more to life than just roads.

there is also, apparently, anti-intellectual tripe, as well as non-sequitur mentions of Los Angeles.  :ded:

I hadn't really thought about it.

Though I rarely stop at BP and didn't on my trip to PA and NC mainly because they tend to be on the high side price wise with the exception of one gas station near me.

I can't remember the last time I was at a BP.  Usually either Sheetz or GetGo for me.  There aren't really any convenient BP's for me anyway.

Quote from: Mr_Northside on June 04, 2010, 12:19:56 PM
I can't remember the last time I was at a BP.  Usually either Sheetz or GetGo for me.  There aren't really any convenient BP's for me anyway.

I usually get gas at a Sinclair Fiesta Mart in Broken Arrow.  It's not very close to where I live but it's on the route out of town that I usually take when I go anywhere.  There are no gas stations very close to where I live.  I don't like using QT gas so I usually avoid QT.

I don't know of any BPs around here either. 

Quote from: bugo on June 04, 2010, 12:51:03 PM

I don't like using QT gas so I usually avoid QT.

Is QT full of ethanol?

Quote from: US71 on June 04, 2010, 01:07:58 PM

Quote from: bugo on June 04, 2010, 12:51:03 PM

I don't like using QT gas so I usually avoid QT.

Is QT full of ethanol?

Yes.  Most gas stations in Tulsa are.

The gas station locally known in Mena as "Kerr McGee" (The gas station on the southwest corner of US 71 and Morrow (AR 8)) had ethanol free gas for a long time, but last week I pulled in to get gas and there was a sign on the pump that said "10% ethanol".  

My car's owner's manual recommends BP. :biggrin: (wonder how much they paid Ford for that...)

I personally think the whole BP boycott is stupid. But, there are no BP stations in town, so I don't typically buy gas there, anyway.
I do, however, see a delicious irony in the fact that it's the company that's been blowing their horn like crazy about how they're into being green that would have this happen to them. :-D


On the other hand, I have been boycotting and will continue to boycott Citgo, as I have no interest in giving Hugo Chavez my money.

Quote from: Duke87 on June 04, 2010, 02:32:38 PM
On the other hand, I have been boycotting and will continue to boycott Citgo, as I have no interest in giving Hugo Chavez my money.

what your local Citgo station doesn't sell to you, they'll hold in reserve, implying they'll buy less gasoline from their distributor next week.  The distributor will go and sell their excess gasoline to another distributor, for Chevron or whomever.  Citgo HQ will realize the same revenue, and give the same amount of money to Hugo either way.

The only person affected by your boycott is the franchisee, and Hugo Chavez will remain blissfully unaware of the entire proceedings.

the only gas stations I am going to boycott are

a) the ones with no bathroom (or the ones with the key behind the counter, where you need to ask for permission to go to the bathroom)

2) the Shell stations which have those TVs that blare ads at me while I pump gas, and cannot be silenced

those are decisions made by the individual franchisee to hose the customer.  Short of defecating on their floor, this is my way of protesting.

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 04, 2010, 02:58:58 PM
the only gas stations I am going to boycott are

a) the ones with no bathroom (or the ones with the key behind the counter, where you need to ask for permission to go to the bathroom)

2) the Shell stations which have those TVs that blare ads at me while I pump gas, and cannot be silenced

those are decisions made by the individual franchisee to hose the customer.  Short of defecating on their floor, this is my way of protesting.

Most agreed.  I'll add the following for boycotting,

3. The stations that are priced higher than the average for an area, and areas that are overpriced (see Chicago).

I boycott high gas prices.   :biggrin:

Quote from: Brandon on June 04, 2010, 03:19:23 PM
I boycott high gas prices.   :biggrin:

yes, that too.  there's a good reason why I don't get gas in Death Valley, which I believe is the most expensive gas station in the US.  The highest I've seen there is $6.35, when Bridgeport, CA was $5.15 and the general San Diego area was $4.60.

right now, with San Diego in general around $3.13, I'd imagine Bridgeport is high 3s and Death Valley is around $4.50.

Quote from: corco on May 23, 2010, 01:03:05 AM
I may be the only person on the planet who isn't blaming BP at all for this

Who are you blaming?

Quote from: US-43|72 on June 05, 2010, 09:36:12 PM
Who are you blaming?

personally, I blame Satan.

QuoteWho are you blaming?

A combination of the idiotic employee who allowed it to happen and the government  (not Democrats, not Republicans- just the government) for not holding the rig to higher standards

Yeah, I'm pretty much with you on that.  The gov't dropped the ball more than anyone in this, I'm afraid, since they allowed the drilling operation to go ahead with no emergency action plan in place.

'Nother thing: boycotting oil monsters is just silly.  As previously mentioned, they all have the same practices, this time it just happened to blow up in BP's face, but it could've been any of them.

2:  Due to the ownership structure, by boycotting an oil company, you're screwing the people in YOUR COMMUNITY who own those gas stations a hell of a lot more than you're actually screwing over BP.  For this reason, I choose NOT to boycott.

Not to mention the way stocks work...boycotting is a tricky task these days.

Actually me boycotting BP wouldn't do much good, cause theres not a gas station within 100 miles of Angelo...
BigMatt

Quote from: corco on June 05, 2010, 09:39:34 PM

QuoteWho are you blaming?

A combination of the idiotic employee who allowed it to happen and the government  (not Democrats, not Republicans- just the government) for not holding the rig to higher standards

Don't forget BP's unwillingness to follow the rules, opting instead to buy off the government (much like they are doing now)