ANDERSON, Ala. -- At least two more independent retailers joined yesterday's ill-fated national gasoline boycott.The owners of a Shoals gas station protested high gasoline prices by participating in the event, which was hyped via email and the Internet, reported WAFF-TV. Anderson Convenience Store is the only gas station in the small town of Anderson in Lauderdale County, Ala.
The owners posted a sign telling customers not to buy gasoline. According to the report, they were hoping that by boycotting the pumps there will be less money pumping into the [image-nocss] oil industry, forcing them to lower prices.
Store owners Bill and Linda Watson said this boycott is for both the owners and the customer. They said it is not true that store owners make more money with high fuel prices. Instead, they said that they too have to shell out money to purchase the gasoline, which hurts their profit.
Meanwhile, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Hill's General Store in Perkins turned off its gasoline pumps. Hopefully, maybe this will send a message to other people, owner Forrest Hill told WLUC-TV. Write your congressman and senators, and let's get these people to do something.
As reported yesterday, Frank Yamoutpour, a Ramsey, Minn., Shell gas station owner, shut off his pumps from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to protest high gasoline prices. I thought it's a good way to protest, not selling gas for 12 hours and to tell the people we are supporting them, Sunfish Express Service Station owner Yamoutpour told WCCO-TV. I thought it was my duty as a citizen to do my part, he added.
And as reported earlier this week, although not directly connected to the national boycott, Bob Oyster's Shell station in San Francisco raised the price of regular unleaded gasoline to $4.33 a gallon, plus to $4.43 and V-Power to $4.53 to protest high fuel prices and to send a message to the oil companies, he said. I got fed up, Oyster said. It makes a statement, and I guess when people see that price they also see the Shell sign right next to it.
Oyster is going out of business, and Shell is taking over the station. I'm going out with a bang, Oyster said. And I don't care if I don't pump a gallon on the last day.
As expected, most media outlets agreed Wednesday that the boycott was a failure. Many newspapers ran headlines that were a variation on The (Norwich, N.Y.) Evening Sun's Gas boycott doesn't make dent nationally, or locally.
And the results of a Kraft/CSP Daily News Poll that asked, Did the boycott have any effect? confirmed that view; more than 85% (105 respondents out of 123 total votes) said no, and only about 11% (13 respondents) said yes, a little, while only about 4% (five respondents) said yes, a lot.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.