Will This Work? (Petrol Prices)

juanbyte

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Sorry for disturbing you, just got this email and thought it deserved to be read and passed on.

Here it is:

You might find this of interest

We are going to hit close to 89p a litre by the summer. Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join in! Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP at 77p -80p, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace not sellers. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I am sending this note to a; lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it... .. THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.(and not buy at ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE Action:

It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons (75p)Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP and Esso.

Kate Griffin BA (Hons)

Graphic Designer
 
I think its a good idea and would cause them some harm!

But there are two factors that they aren't in control of.. the governments extreme and unfair tax, and the tension in the middle-east which is the main reason for the increase crude oil price.

If we could get the thieving government to stop taxing us so unfairly then we might get somewhere. And that could be a side effect of boycotting BP and Esso... they might think of trying to lobby for lower tax rates.

Nasty business all this, and the gradual increase of base rates. Good conditions for a dip in the market... time to go bearish before everyone else does :OD
 
Found this on another forum:

Current duty is 47.1 p per litre

You actually have to pay VAT on the duty too

Normal price round our way is 83p per litre right now.

Sales price = 83p

of which VAT = 12.4 p
fuel duty = 47.1 p

Total govt take = 59.5p

Total oil company take = 23.5p

If the lunatic who circulated the letter wants to reduce the price to 69p then the maths would work out like this

Sales price = 69 p
of which VAT = 10.3p
fuel duty = 47.1 p

Total govt take = 57.4 p
Total oil company take = 11.6p = £18.44/bbl = $33.88/bbl

Current price of crude oil which excludes refining, shipping and retail costs = $37-40/bbl

Net loss to oil companies = $3-6/bbl

The problem is that the taxes on petrol and also the tax revenue from the oil companies is flat. If the chancellor tweaked the tax system so that as the oil prices went up the duty came down, offset by some degree by an increasing percentage take of the oil companies profits , the oil price variations could be smoothed out.

This would also work the other way around though - as the oil price fell the duty would increase and the tax on oil companies falls.

That way people are not encouraged to waste fuel like the Americans do, the oil companies are protected in the lean times and are bled in the good times and the price at the pumps stays stable.

***

Not a bad answer I thought.
 
Hi Peeps

I agree with Frugi, although I would do it slightly differently. I would cap fuel at 75p a litre. That way, you know what your going to be paying.
If the price of oil goes up, the government would foot the bill. However, if price fell the government would be in the money. The government would soon be pushing OPEC to increase production then :p

PS: I have moved this thread into the Lounge. Please use the General Trading forum for trading related threads only. The lounge is the place for everything else :cool:
 
Also tax pointless gas guzzling MPVs which now make up 6% of UK car sales (i.e ones that are not required to go off road for business purposes: posing yummy mummies etc.) much more savagely and invest the proceeds in alternative energy.
 
juanbyte said:
For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
<Snip>
PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE Action:

Whoever thought this one up must have half a brain.

The alleged target reduction in price to 'around 69p/Litre' is not much more than the chancellor takes in duty. Is the producer/distributer/retailer chain seriously expected to work for free?

Also, If we continue to use the same amount of petrol but only buy from the secondary companies, it will have no effect whatsoever. It's the supply/demand equation that dictates the non-tax elemant of the price. Which supplier is used is pretty much a non-issue.

Peterpr
 
Golden Brown says:

"I want the focus of the next few weeks to be on where the source really lies, and the source of the problem is inadequate production and the instability in the Middle East."

So it's not his taxes that are causing the problem it's that other bloke Bliar's fault for starting a war in the Middle East. Why does anyone vote for this lot?
 
Why does anyone vote for this lot?

I didn't but those that did probably thought they would do a better job than the last lot. Can you imagine another 4 years of John Major? They were sadly mistaken but there just doesn't seem to be a choice. One party seems as bad as the other and there is no (reasonable) way of getting rid of all of them.
 
If you buy petrol at the supermarkets, whose petrol are you buying? Who refines the petrol? Esso and BP are only forecourt names. The stuff is lifted in Rotterdam then retailed.
 
peterpr said:
It's the supply/demand equation that dictates the non-tax elemant of the price.

It's not sure it's the non-tax element that matters that much.

In the UK we pay 73% of the cost of each litre as tax. France and Germany pay about the same percentage as us, but less for each litre.

The US by comparison, pay only 27% to the government for each litre (currently paying 30p per litre at the pumps).

We have been living off North Sea oil for the last two decades and still we pay the highest rate anywhere in Europe for our fuel.

I don't see how cutting demand (voluntarily) will make much difference. It's not a supply/demand issue.

It is more possibly linked to our governments need to spend £36billion this year.

They will get it one way or another.
 
I think Ms Kate Griffin BA (Hons) is a few drops short of a gallon and should stick to painting walls and hanging up curtains (luv). Same for anyone who puts degrees after their name.

Petrol is infact VERY cheap when you compare it to beer - which is infact water with a few other bits. If you buy some petrol, heat it on your stove at home and collect the residue - you have meths! Cheap beer substitute that gets you totally wazzoked.

Of course, being the economic storm trooper I am, I will only drink Krug anyway (or LR Crystal on a bad day).
 
On the other hand, calculating the cost of the ink in a printer cartridge was put at something like £1000 per litre !!!!!! ( £25 per 25 mil) even the "cheapos" at £2.5 that's still £100 per litre.
 
Three 0.5ml doses of flea drops for the cat from my vet comes in at £17 if I remember correctly. Or a measly £11333 / litre!
 
You're right BBB.. Oil is cheap, especially inflation adjusted! But we know why it isnt over here.. Why boycott the companies, it's the government who impose the duty which makes up the bulk of the cost. It'd be more effective if you didnt send in your income tax return, among other reasons. ;)

The government have some nerve telling OPEC to increase output, but they told Brown rightly to get lost and lower the duty. :p

Labour trying to short changing the poor arabs, not very 'caring' is it. lol
 
ford said:
The government have some nerve telling OPEC to increase output, but they told Brown rightly to get lost and lower the duty. :p

Seems this morning they have agreed to increase production. OPEC - not the government thank god.
 
frugi said:
Also tax pointless gas guzzling MPVs which now make up 6% of UK car sales (i.e ones that are not required to go off road for business purposes: posing yummy mummies etc.) much more savagely and invest the proceeds in alternative energy.

These people should be applauded !

Every time they buy a litre the govt receives 59.5p.

Where would Gordon be without his income from petrol sales ?
 
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