Fungible: able to be substituted for something of equal value
Thursday, 13 April 2006 by Jacob TomawA friend of mine recently forwarded an email about boycotting a couple brands of gasoline as a way of lowering gas prices. This struck me as a horrible idea. The idea is a large population agrees to stop buying gas from Station A owned by Evil Oil Company and only from Stations B, C, and D owned by Lesser Of Two Evils Oil Company. The email says this will cause Station A to lower their prices. This might happen, but you have agreed to punish station A by not buying from them, ever. Now B, C, and D have higher demand. Simple Supply and Demand requires that when supply is fixed price follow demand. So demand rises and pushes prices up.
Also, gas is gas is gas. Evil Oil Company sells gas to every station. If they are not selling it at A, they will sell it at B, C, D. No matter how much their marketing departments may try to convince you otherwise. Gas is fungible; you car does not really care which gallon of gas it is burning.
I did a quick google and found this article on the email from Snopes.com.
The Law of Supply and Demand requires that either supply must rise or demand fall for prices to fall. You have a few options:
1) Invest in Oil Companies and Refineries.
2) Ask your representatives to support the deregulation of refineries and oil exploration.
3) Ask refiners to buy your property and build a refinery on it.
4) Drive Less