This crap over gasoline prices is activating a lot of folks’ Stupid Mode:
Motorists pulled in to Harvey Pollack’s gas station, honked and gave him a thumbs-up — because he wasn’t selling any fuel. The owner of Towne Market Mobil in this suburb north of Milwaukee shut down his pumps for 24 hours, hoping to start a movement aimed at convincing oil companies to lower their prices. [...]
Maria McClory, 38, drove 10 miles out of her way to buy a diet soda from Pollack’s station after seeing local television coverage of the protest. “I just wanted to support them and thank them for making a statement,” said McClory, who drives about 100 miles a day for work in her sport utility vehicle.
Other drivers were more skeptical.
Jeff Bensman, 52, pulled in expecting to gas up his Honda sedan. He said he appreciated the protest but did not think it would make much difference. “Most other places are going to be open in the area,” he said.
Jack Sobczak, general sales manager for Lakeside Oil Co., a contracted Mobil distributor that supplies Pollack’s station, said Bensman was probably right: “The demand will just move down the street to the next Mobil station.”
Lemme get this straight: to protest increasing gas prices, this guy, who admits he isn’t making much anyway (he hasn’t made a profit in over two years), stops selling gas. For a day. People, in support of this, go out of their way to go to his station, wasting more gas in the process. That’s all before you even consider that all he did was shift fulfillment of demand to neighboring gas stations or to when he reactivates the pumps the next day!! How exactly is this stickin’ it to the oil companies?
