Each transaction cost them between .30 and about one dollar depending on if you pay at the pump or go inside. So, you are talking about an increase in overhead cost from one dollar to 4 dollars to sell the same 16 gallons of gas. Big difference their.
I don't buy the garbage in the store out by the pumps. I am only pulling in to buy the gas. I shop in the grocery store once a week, same as always.
Creating an organized voting structure can have a huge impact on reactions from industry. That organized structure can influence other areas which I stated in the post...
" It could also take the form of choking off the tax revenue to those very same congress critters. Heck, they MIGHT even make a few noises to the speculators and Hedge fund managers that they need to invest is something other than oil, food commodities and metals. "
You are not necessarily irritating gas station owners, you are interfering with the pattern of delivery. And yea, canceling loads and changing consumption patterns will increase the producers overhead cause them to pay down time and overtime to the delivery drivers. Station owners only pay for the fuel and a "drop fee" that usually goes to the State for abandon gas station Leaking Underground Storage Tank remediation. The station owner just picks up the phone and orders 2,500 premium, 2,500 mid, 5,000 reg. When ever they need it.
But the producers will know they are being messed with. Using less gas might eventually lower some cost but right now consumption is down 3% nationwide. Do you see the price of gas going down? Is crude oil going down? Nope.
It would probably do more good to push the speculators and Hedge Fund managers to put money is something besides oil, food commodities and metals as that is a big factor in the price skyrocketing.
Of course you’re also talking about spending more of your time. And you’re still getting more opportunities to spend more. Sure YOU might not use them, but you can’t say that EVERYBODY won’t, in fact you can be totally sure that SOMEBODY will, and if those somebody’s spend enough extra it will actually result in the gas stations making more money.
And you’re not going to make them change the delivery pattern. More than likely the overall gas sold every week will basically average out. If you have a bunch of people that all fill up every 3 weeks they’re probably going to be fairly evenly split over that 3 week span (ie 1/3 of them will have filled up the week ending April 5th and again this week, 1/3 filled up the week ending April 12th and again next week, and the final 1/3 filled up last week), so now if they change their pattern to get 1/3 of a tank every week the station will sell basically the same amount of gas.
Dropping consumption 3% is nothing. That’s less than the market penetration Macs had back when everybody made fun of them. You need a 10 to 15% drop in usage to make anybody notice. Of course you should keep in mind that significant parts of the price are non-negotiable, gas station owners can’t do a damn thing about the price of oil or taxes, you could drop use 90% but if oil is still over $100 a barrel and taxes are what they are the price of gas won’t budge.
If you REALLY want to change the price of gas end the taxes. Everything else is a hollow gesture 100% guaranteed to failure.