In the USA the rise of gas (I still call it petrol) is greeted with shock, horror, and anger. One of the emails going the rounds recently was, “Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 5.00 a gallon by next summer. Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action.”

$5.00 by summer you cry. The cheapest petrol you can buy here in Cayman in November 2011 is $5.50 (self serve) and $5.56 (full serve). And I am talking CI$ and not US$. I am aware we use an imperial gallon and not the US gallon that is a bit less. My point is “Hello, USA, the rest of the world have been paying over $5.00 for their petrol already.”

Emails doing the rounds include boycotting the gas stations that carry the major fuel brands EXXON and MOBIL to force them to lower their prices. The idea is to get 300 MILLION people in the USA to actually do this. The organiser(s) say it would only take 8 days to
achieve this.

This has been attempted before, and it’s never been successful. The basic reason is that the USA is a country with a very diverse populace. Any attempt to get an effective number of them to abide by the discipline such a plan would require is simply impractical.

However, that’s not the point I want to make. I contend that these people are missing the real point:

Why can’t the American public accept that the issue isn’t high gas prices, but their stubborn subservience to gasoline? The obvious answer is that gasoline is the established and easiest facilitator for personal transportation. And, as long as those facts remain, the Americans’ habits will remain, as well.

The rest of the world has accepted lifestyle adjustments with $5.00 petrol and moved on to other issues.

One of the simplest of those adjustments to make is changing the location of the workplace. Move it from an office to home!

Cyberspace can make de-centralisation much more efficient. Some Fortune 500 companies began to embrace the concept over a decade ago. Bank of America, for instance, allows many of their executives to utilize a home-office relationship. Clearly, not every job allows its worker to perform at home, but there are enough that do. The effects would be subtle, but significant. For example, if even 20% of the vehicles in a commute were removed from the road, traffic congestion would be eased. That, in turn, would allow for better mileage in the vehicles that wouldn’t be stuck in idling or stop-and-go sequences. That saves gas and reduces demand.

As e-commerce continues its relentless drive toward mainstream acceptance, numerous shopping trips can also be reduced. Cyber-meetings also are very possible now, and they can accommodate the sharing of documents. Even cyber-schooling could be expanded; Sweden has been operating a cyber-curriculum for the youth of its citizens abroad for years, which is a great way for its culture and high academic standards to be provided to those who work elsewhere.

So, any attempt to target Exxon — or British Petroleum or Elf or Shell — is Quixotic. Target yourself instead. You’ll surely get much better mileage out of your time. You’ll also probably notice an improvement in your monthly gasoline budget. In the bigger picture, as well, it’s a simple plan that relies on simple market forces, i.e- less demand lowers prices.

Small strategies are what win the wars. In this one, open your battlefront in cyberspace.

Will it work here in Cayman? I don’t see why not. Just recently the price of fuel dropped to both of our suppliers, Texaco and Esso. They passed it on to the gas stations. Did they in turn pass it on to us? No they did not, or if some did they were very slow to do it. My regular petrol station’s prices have been unchanged up to the date of writing this editorial now over a week later.

Take some comfort. In the United Kingdom the average price for petrol is US$8.11 per gallon! The experts say that price will not remain for too much longer. Guess which way it is going to change?