I received a text message from a friend a few days ago, about how we should not buy gas in two days, as part of an attempt to decrease prices. Now I had been reading about a gas boycott on a site the other day, so I figured that was what this was about. Here’s the funny part: when I googled “gas boycott 2007″, I actually found that the boycott day was the 15th, which was the day I originally received the message, so my friend’s boycott will be two days too late. The sad part: people think this is actually going to work. Everything I’ve read about previous boycotts, and this one as well indicates that one-day gas boycotts do not work. Think about this, what if for one day everyone in America boycotted Walmart, then went on shopping there as usual for the rest of the year. Do you think they would notice? Probably. Would it impact their profits? Probably not. Why? Because people have just delayed their purchases versus altering them in any significant way.

But I do think that a gas boycott could work, if it went something like this: drive less. Seriously walk, ride a bike. After all May is Bike-To-Work Month. Carpool. Take the bus. Take vacations closer to home. I think if everyone did this, it could make a difference. What if people reduced their automobile usage so that they were only filling up once a month? Think anyone would notice? I go through about a quarter of a tank (2.5 gallons) every six weeks or so. It is possible. Do you think this would work?

If you’re interested in learning more about gas boycotts, here is a Snopes article (Urban Legend Reference) that outlines the history of the gas boycott and some sample gas boycott emails (warning: bad grammar and all caps).