Dead Pegusus - Ride to work PLEASE!!!!

[~ Pakiha ~]

Rant to follow

"By any measure, Exxon Mobil’s performance last year was a blowout.
The company reported Friday (Feb. 1 2008 ) that it beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries.
Exxon Mobil earned more than $1,287 of profit for every second of 2007."

(Full article found HERE in the New York Times)

Have we had enough yet, I know I have and this is going to be a rant of substantial perportions. Some of you know that I worked at one time for a company that assisted Franchised Mobil owners in purchasing product. I had a very clear picture of what happens at the stations and just how the marionette strings are pulled. I have seen the constant emails of "don't buy gas today" and am sure once gas hits $4.00 a gallon that they are going to rise again.



First things First, don't blame the gas station for gas prices. they are just as much the victim as you. they buy gas in large quantities yes, but the rate at which they by gas changes just as frequent as the sign on the street. They are then told how much they can sell it for, typically making .10 a gallon for an average station. Barley making enough profit to pay for Franchise dues and land lease rates.




Second, Mobil owns the land and controls the lease rates. Many owners faced quadruple land lease increases, why? Mobil wants them out. By raising the lease and franchise costs, and controlling profits on gas the essentially squeeze them out of the lease before they hit the mark where they can claim ownership of the land. Mobil is into the real estate business as much as any one and retail land is siting at an all time high. (My former bosses station on Beverly in LA is worth close to 18 million dollars and you could barely build a decent size house on it)




Third, Valero is a Public Relation front. Mobil knows it is getting a bad rep, and with their name on the sign and raising prices next to it they get horrible PR to boot. So what do you do. You make owning a chain of stations look sooo good and at an offer you hardly can refuse you go for it. Valero owns the stations and the distribution rights (buys and trucks gas from), you guessed it Mobil. they try and make it so you don't get made at Mobil, you get mad at Valero , PR mission accomplished .
(Remember they dropped the Exxon in their name after the "Exxon Valdes" Incident. (Just like Shimano is ditching LX for SLX over the dual flippy lever debacle)



Lastly, Oil companies are like insurance and bank companies. They never die, They are merely absorbed into another.



Why is this important? because it gives the public power to choose how lives and who is absorbed. Forget this "no gas for a day." All you are doing is postponing profit for a day, and even if you managed to do some harm, prices will rise to compensate.




What you do have the ability to do is forgo patronage to a brand completely and entirely, and here in this simple act lies the power.



I (when i need gas) buy from Shell or Chevron the two companies that have the most aggressive alternative fuel research programs and I avoid Mobil like the plague.



It is a long path of consequences and I will try to make it plain, and of course theory and practical application are different monsters all together, and can easily fall into the military adage that, "No plans survive contact with the enemy"



When you avoid a brand you affect their immediate demand and supply structure. Soon they have to rid themselves of product and recoup lost funds, so they raise prices and they sell of their reserves to companies we would support, lowering (or leveling prices for a time) and creating a noticeable disparity in prices over the companies corner stations, causing the general public with out thought to follow suit of the program.



If demand for the brand continues to plummet, prices would still rise for their brand (for the station atendand needs to compensate for that 250,000 fuel bill at the end of the month), and more product would continue to over flow from the Mobil hub into the other major brands of our support, increasingly throwing off their supply/demand structure. This isn't an over night effect, but in time that siphoning would eventually turn from Gas reserves to oil stocks, Oil stocks to infrastructure (pipelines, dilling platforms, tankers, processing plants), and finally to management.


Eventually their paychecks would be printed on different paper with the name of the brand we felt held our interests best inked on the top. That is the power of simply choosing the other station.


We cannot wish Mobil and fuel dependency away, and Yes I am quite liberal on this topic. If you saw how they acted about profits, people, and business partners you may acquire the same distaste. That and I refuse to accommodate the lowest common denominator and accept or tolerate stupidity, for I fear it only encourages and coddles the behavior.




I know this rant is long and winded but I needed to get it out and "onto paper"


On a drive to a Mobil meeting with my boss, he started fuming about something and about 2 seconds later I found out why. This was why.

Ride to work at least once this summer, heck once a month, and be an example to those around you. You may not realize it but all that people are waiting for is an example to follow, and leaders they can trust. We can be and Are those people all we need to do is have faith in our efforts.



- Rant over

[guero]

right on jared!

and to read more about the artist behind the 'dead pegasus', go here:

http://thedistrictweekly.com/print/f.../i-skullphone/

and his site:
http://www.skullphone.com/

(he lives in long beach )

[~ Pakiha ~]

I sooo need one of his decals

[53-12]

Never seen the dead pegasus logo before, that awesome. Thanks for the rant.

[stinkyrider]

The Ford Nucleon.

5,000 miles to the gallon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon
I would have bought one.... Just don't get in a wreck.

I've hear rumors that scientists are developing a similary nuclear powered vehicle using the much safer Thorium instead of uranium.

[drclark]

I biked to work 4 days this week. I am lucky to live close enough to do so, have a relatively safe bike route, and have showers at work. I usually do better in the summer when the weather is sunny and warm.

I try not to spend precious fuel getting to/from work; rather I save it for the weekends (like drive to trail heads, etc). Ever since gas got above $2.50/gal, it has affected my driving habits. For example, I am not driving out to Fontana to simply be a spectator this weekend. It just isn't worth the gas $$.

I am not so certain that alternative fuels like ethanol are the right solution. I think it is trading one set of problems for another. I am also not convinced that hybrids are the right answer either... I have no idea what they are going to do with all the batteries when the current crop of hybrids go off to the junk yard. Hopefully there is a decent recycling program in place when that time comes.

I think part of the problem with gas prices is, state and federal regulations make it difficult for oil companies to expand their refining capacity. Our demand for gas has gone up with out similar expansion in our capacity to make gas from oil. Why go through all the trouble to expand capacity and lower the price of your product when the government makes it difficult and the consumers have shown that they are still willing to pay increasing prices. Also, each and every state has is own set of "clean blend" regulations on gasoline which makes it difficult to make up for demand spikes or production shortfalls (i.e. refinery outages) between states & regions. With more states mandating more electric cars and such, what incentive do refineries have to expand when ultimately that capcity will not be needed?

I really don't know what the right answer is long term. I do think that our nations energy policy has become to politicized and intertwined with the GREEN movement and global warming issues to really make much sense of anything.

Thank you for actually posting some useful information and encouraging others to commute rather than those silly one-day gas boycotts. I generally agree that nothing will change until consumer demand for gas dips significantly.

drc

[hobie]

love the art work


free enterprise = mobil can charge whatever they want.

our country was founded on that principle and i stand by it.

supply and demand. the less gas we use, the less product they sell, therefore they raise their prices to pocket them same money.

ps. i ride a bike to work

[foofighter]

how can you get stickers made of the pegasus?