‘Gas Out’ Plan Won’t Drive Prices Down

If you haven’t received a forwarded e-mail about the three-day “Gas Out” next month, you probably soon will.

The e-mail credits last year’s one-day gas boycott with the subsequent lowering of gas prices--a stunning bit of audacity, akin to crediting a rain dance for El Nino. The e-mail further contends that a gas abstention April 7-9 is now needed to get the oil companies’ attention and stop the recent fuel-price rise.

Now, I’m as much in favor of boycotts as the next columnist. But anyone who forwards this particular call-to-arms needs to spend a semester or so in remedial economics.

Consumers can indeed do something to lower gas prices. But it’s going to take bigger sacrifices over a much longer period. Buying your gas on April 6 instead of April 7 is hardly enough.

First, some background. Gas prices are rising as a result of two basic factors: dwindling supply and inelastic demand. The big oil-producing nations have cut back their production but we consumers (along with other users of oil) largely continue to buy the same amount of gas--even as the price continues to rise.

That refusal to cut back in the face of higher prices is the very definition of an inelastic demand curve. If we don’t cut back, deeply and for a good long while, the only thing that will bring gas prices down would be increased supply.

Why haven’t we decreased consumption? Well, for one thing, we’re still paying less, in relative terms, than we did when gasoline prices hit an inflation-adjusted high of $2.30 a gallon in 1981.

Relatively cheap gas for a relatively long period has induced us to buy more gas-guzzling cars. While today’s average sedan is far more fuel efficient than its counterpart 20 years ago, we’ve been lulled back to the days of tail-fin gas economics by buying lots of sport-utility vehicles.

How many gallons to the mile does your Ford Expedition get?

Further, gas was not and still is not a significant part of most people’s budgets--at least not compared to the mortgage, insurance, property taxes or groceries.

But fuel prices can represent a good chunk of spending. Assuming 15,000 annual driving miles per car and 21 miles per gallon, which is about average, gassing up a car costs about $1,214 a year when unleaded is $1.70 a gallon, said Steve Mazor, principal automotive engineer for the Auto Club of Southern California.

That’s $314 more than the cost last year, when prices averaged about $1.26 a gallon.

If gas reaches $2 a gallon, as predicted, add another $214 per car in increased fuel costs.

Most of us probably have better places to spend $500 or so than at Manny’s Pump-N-Go. Many of us also would like to spend less time in our cars and contribute a bit less to the smoggy haze that lurks over our homes.

While we probably can’t boycott Shell into reducing prices, we probably can accomplish those other goals--and maybe make that demand curve a tad more elastic--by trying a few real-life solutions:

* Park the SUV. Being Southern Californians, there’s no way you would actually give up your demi-tank. But if your family has more than one car, consider using the more gas-efficient one for most of your commuting and errands. And next time you buy a car, consider gas efficiency a bit more seriously.

If you must drive your SUV, at least take your cell phone out of your ear. Driving erratically wastes even more gas.

* Reduce errand runs. Or at least find smarter ways to do them. Many of us can walk or bike rather than drive; get one of those fold-up carts or your kids’ wagon, and you can even do light grocery shopping.

Other people can group their errands or choose shopping areas that allow them to accomplish several errands in one trip.

* Reconsider your commute. A 20-mile commute, one way, costs you about 2 gallons of gas each day. Every day you don’t commute each week saves about 100 gallons a year. So catching even one ride a week with a co-worker can make a difference. Telecommuting can be another good option.

Of course, there are all the other alternatives--train, bus, subway, bike. Before you laugh at that last one, a gentleman I know regularly bikes from his home in the Valley to his job at a Culver City studio. You could only dream about having his body fat level. Of course, he’s also a little mad--you’d have to be to daily face Los Angeles traffic on a bike--but he does it.

* Give something up. Some families spend hours on the road each day commuting and shuttling kids to school and after-school activities. Do yourselves and your over-scheduled children a favor and drop out of at least one nonessential time-consumer.

* Do all the little things. Keep your car in good condition; worn spark plugs and dirty air filters can reduce fuel efficiency. So can under-inflated tires, to the tune of about 14 gallons a year. Check your tires when you fill up--you can find pressure gauges at most gas station convenience stores, and the specs for your tires are probably printed inside your driver side door.

Your air conditioner reduces efficiency by 5%, or about 35 gallons if you use it nearly year-round. Save a gallon or two by not using it if you’re not sweltering.

Overloading your car is supposed to cost you about 0.1 mpg for each 100 pounds of excess baggage. We pack rats might not think 3 gallons a year is enough incentive to clean out our rolling purses, but you tidier types might.

Finally, go ahead and forward that e-mail if you must. Anything that gets people thinking about what they can do to change their gas habits is at least a start.

Liz Pulliam Weston is a personal finance writer for The Times and a graduate of the financial planner training program at UC Irvine. Questions can be sent to her at [email protected] or mailed to her in care of Money Talk, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. She regrets that she cannot respond personally to queries. For past Money Talk questions and answers, visit The Times’ Web site at http://fonts.nohib.com/moneytalk.