After doing the first round of research into Big Oil and our gasoline brand options, Brent wrote:
PLEASE, don’t drive one inch further to fill up; the goal here is to use less and then, none.
If Sunoco’s on the way, buy Sunoco. If Shell doesn’t require the extra u-turn, go with Shell.
For the most part, I’ve taken his advice. With one adjustment. Exxon and Mobil, I avoid. Fair or not, I fear that company. I get the impression that they’d do anything for their immediate-term bottom line. And I know where their stations are, and I’d rather make the u-turn or push the gas light warning to its nail-biting limits than give Exxon Mobil my money.
Yesterday, however, I was close to empty, in unfamiliar territory, unclear about my other options and how far away they might be, and I filled up at an Exxon station.
And it stung.
And I thought about that one inch further…
To what lengths should we go to make a statement? When are our symbolic actions more important than our individual impacts? How much crunchier must Sunoco be than Exxon to justify an extra mile of driving?
I wish I had answers. Brent’s thoughts are a great start. But, as my gas buying habits suggest, they don’t carry enough authority. They haven’t been seen by enough people, challenged vigorously enough, collected enough agreement. They need a community. And, hopefully, over time, as we build and grow one, we can all participate in evolving them into something in which we can all feel totally confident.
Comments
AlexCuse
June 17, 2009
+218
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I get the same feeling, luckily I’d have to go out of my way to end up at an Exxon station (I can think of one by home, and one by work). Even though I’m fairly sure it only hurts the location’s owner, there’s something disconcerting about even an additional 1/2 cent of my gas bill going to them.
Your post makes me wonder if this practice could be worse than I thought though. As I think was discussed on the gasoline thread, the only real difference in the gasoline at station x is that it uses a different blend of additives than those found at station y. What if Exxon’s additive blend provided an extra 5% mileage, or decreased harmful emissions by 3% over their closest competitor? What if they were the only company not using some particularly harmful additive, or they added their own proprietary detergent proven to keep engine cleaner and prolong its’ life?
Some quick searching reveals that there are a lot of different additives, and that finding out anything about the specific blends of chemicals the brands use could be very difficult. Especially because they give their additives snazzy sounding names.
Does anyone know more about the different additives these companies use, and the consequences of their choices?
More importantly, does anyone know if this even makes enough difference to make it worth thinking about?
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Jake
June 22, 2009
+467
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Definitely worth thinking about, but I’m not sure the internets know much about additives. Either that or both of our searching skillz are lacking. The most obvious Google search (“gasoline additives”) did yield a Collector’s Guide to Vintage Gasoline Additives, but that, sadly, is significantly more startlingly weird as a search result title than it is entertaining or informative as an article.
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AlexCuse
June 24, 2009
+218
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Wow, we’ve got people collecting gasoline additives now? We are in worse shape than I thought!
I’ve got a friend who’s “in the biz” that I might be able to get some information out of. But I fear it’ll be the same “company X additives are the best” propaganda that’s already out there :(
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