Gas Strikes: Do they work? No.

There’s a new fad sweeping the internet: gas strikes. These aren’t really strikes; more like boycotts. The idea behind them is that if you choose to boycott gas stations in your area, the collective power of consumers will force gas companies to lower their prices. It sounds like a good theory, in principle (as long as you don’t know what the principle is), but it does have some major flaws.

1. This Doesn’t Change Consumption

To start, you’re just shifting consumption. If everybody goes and fills up with gas so they don’t have to fill up for the next five days, you aren’t reducing your consumption. All you’re doing is shifting your consumption by “stocking up” at the beginning of the boycott. The gas stations sell just as much gas, and ultimately do not see a drop in sales. The only way to truly change the price of gas would be to change your overall gas consumption to lessen demand for the product, but this would only be effective if everybody did it. There is no way that you and a few thousand friends (or even all of the people in Ontario) could radically alter the price of gas by changing their purchasing habits, or refusing to purchase it.

2. Changing Consumption Won’t Change Gas Prices

Why won’t you be able to change the price of gas? First, the price of gas is not arbitrary; it is determined by a combination of crude prices, refining and transportation costs, as well as government taxes. Even if you were able to cause a significant reduction in the demand for gas at your local gas station, there is likely nothing that the station owner could do to lessen the price of their product. This is because if you don’t buy it, there are other people all over the world who are more than happy to take it off your hands. If you don’t buy gas from your local gas station, the franchise will eventually go out of business and then Shell/Petro-Canada/Esso will just sell their gas elsewhere.

3. This Doesn’t Hurt Oil Companies

The last point is that even if you were successful in your boycott, you wouldn’t be affecting the people you intend to target. The demand for oil and gasoline is constantly on the rise. By refusing to do business with your local gas station, the only result will be driving that gas station out of business. That gas station is a franchise, which means that though they have to buy their product from the big bad oil companies, it is owned and operated by one of your neighbors. When the franchise goes out of business, you aren’t harming the oil companies (who will just sell their product elsewhere); you are harming local business owners.

I will not be participating in this, or any other “Gas Strike”, and neither should you.