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Drivers have little or no impact on gas prices alone, but if they all stand together to make a statement, they could. Stay away from the big names, and go to the smaller, usually cheaper, competitors. This will make a dent in the bigger named station wallets, and eventually they will have to lower his prices to be competitive.
We all get the e-mails about boycotting a certain brand name gas, but do we actually take the time to do it? Most likely, the answer is no. We are too busy or too rushed to go out of our way to find the smaller gas station, or the big one is on our direct route. It doesn't feel like we have any power over the price of gas, but we do.
We could effect the big name gas sellers in a big way. Imagine how your business would be hurt if you opened your doors, and no body came. It would be bad the first day, worse the second, and who knows how long you could hold out without lowering your prices to get some business.
It's the same with gas sellers. Their profits come from quantity of sales. They need a lot of people driving in and filling their gas tanks to make some money. Their mark up is not as big as you may think it is, most get only pennies per gallon sold. One of the highest markups put on already refined gasoline is from taxes.
Next time you get one of those e-mails, read it, and see if there isn't some other gas station near your home or office and try it. Let your friends and family know you tried it, you may be able to get some of them to pay attention too.
No, we are not going to drive the price of gas down to what we think is a reasonable cost. There are too many factors we are not able to do anything about. The cost of crude oil is not going to be less because we switch gas stations for a week, but the stations who do charge more will have something to think about when their profits are off, won't they.
So next time you feel powerless about how much your gasoline costs decide then and there to do what you can about it, and not just complain. Next time you get that e-mail, stay away from your big station and drive a little farther down the road.
It will give you a good feeling to at least act on your feelings and make yourself proud of yourself and your private (or not so private, depending on how far the e-mail got) war against the high cost of filling your car with gasoline.
Will it work? I can't guarentee it will, but we won't know unless we try. Isn't it better to attempt to change things we don't like than to do nothing at all? I have never regretted trying and failing, but I have regretted not trying at all.