Are you boycotting BP?

Where ever the price for gasoline is less, (except for 7-11, I will not buy their gas), that is where I will buy gas. Better to not drive BP out of business, they have a lot of bills to pay and they just made a $20 billion mistake with the slush fund provided to the Obama administration.

Don't you think BP is going to have to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims to fishermen and others who lost their livelihood on the gulf coast? How will they be able to do that if they go broke because no one buys their gas? Let's get logical.

nicely said MIMS. i will not boycott BP bc even if i think i'm choosing another company over them i'm probably not. I have friends who work for BP America that have been negatively targeted by family and friends because they work for BP but are not in engineering or in the Gulf and are just as shocked and disgusted about the spill as most of us are. Doesn't mean everyone who works for BP is evil or doesnt care. consider the recent college graduates who were hired before the spill and turned down other offers for a great position in the company. is it their fault the spill happened? no they didn't start working until after the spill and in this economy when u have a good paying opportunity you take it. forget good paying just paying opportunity, its a recession out here. the best way i think to actually help in this situation is by volunteering for the clean up if you have time (most of us on summer vacay) also another way to help would be to keep your vacation plans in places where the oil has washed up bc cancelling your vacay to florida bc of the oil on the beaches negatively affects the economy there. have a good day ppl and like MIMS said do your research.

This comment if for Jeffo... What you said was so racist and ignorant!! Everyone that lives in this country has had a relative that moved here from another country whether it was last year or one hundred years ago. Maybe you should spend some time thinking about your ignorance and maybe you should move back home to whatever country your family originated from. It's because of people like you that this country is still racist and ignorant, despite having an African-American President.. Just saying that was inappropriate...

Is it truely fair to boycott a locally owned and operated gas station because of things that the owners of that gas station have NO control over.

Sad thing is, probably lots of -- or all of -- the other oil companies are doing exactly the same as BP was. BP was simply the one who "rolled snake eyes".

To reward these other oil companies for "not being BP", when they are probably doing *exactly* the same as BP, the just did not have the spill happen to them ... is being short sided.

We either make changes in the law so *all* oil companies must do differently, or not.

Boycotting BP may make good sense. But in reality, there is just as good reason to boycott the very companies you/we are turning to in opposition to BP.

-Kevin

Most of the gas stations in our area are run by non English speaking people that smell real bad. It wouldn't bother me to put Waleed Al Sammi or Al Haalad Matubi out of work. Maybe he and his family will move back home.

It's not really BP that runs the stations. He is an independent businessman. In fact, it may not even be BP gas that comes out of the pump. Gasoline is traded among the oil companies in order to minimize transportation costs. BP makes almost all of their profit from producing crude oil. Refining and marketing often lose money. Boycotting a station is penalizing the wrong person.

BP gas stations are independently owned, so the only people you will hurt are the owners - BP will go on as before. What you CAN do is contact your Senators, Congressman, the MMS, NOIA and the other government agencies that failed to enforce the rules and regulations that are in place. You can also lobby the government to imposes fines that will actually hurt the oil companies until they remedy the situation. Right now, it is usually cheaper for a company to pay a fine then to stop production to fix a problem.

boycotting in this case will not work because bp will not care if they lose a couple and they supply more than car fuel you can be unowingly buy their products for example if you go on an airplane and they sell gas to smaller stations

Absolutely NOT. We WANT BP to clean up the spill and they can only do that if they are solvent. I also do not blame BP for this spill. They have done absolutely everything in their power to fix this and are working around the clock.

It shames me that Americans don't look at the response BP has put forth and commend them for their hard work.

I'm not really boycotting BP since I usually fill up at Chevron and I generally feel oil companies in general care about bottom line over people or environmental impact. That being said I HAVE reduced the amount of gas I use (combined trips, walking when I can) and the amount of plastic I buy (good bye convenience containers of yogert, hello milk in a cartons, etc..) and I'm going back to the way my Mom cleaned things (vinegar, baking soda). There is always so much more that can be done but I like to think little choices made by lots of people make a big difference and Crude oil becomes so much more than gasoline.

No. Boycotting BP stations (none of which are company owned) only HURTS the merchant. That is not activism, it is FOOLISHNESS.
If in in fact boycotting (causing an economic negative) BP were possible, to do so would be even more FOOLISH.
A bankrupt BP will not be paying for the cleanup, the taxpayers will.

Thanks, Mims, for bringing some good information to the table here. Even if it would make a difference to boycott BP, I would not. I pulled into a BP a few days ago because my tank was low and it was the closest station. At first, I was a little uneasy with the thought of supporting BP, but then I thought of all the fishermen, restaurant workers and others who have been forced out of work due to the spill, and thought of the restitution that BP is having to pay out to them. I decided I would rather give BP a little money to help pay those folks back for what they have lost.

Gas is gas is gas. Who cares where you get it from? It's all the same earth drilling, air polluting crap. Why should all of those people who work for BP in any capacity be put out of work because a small group of people f*cked up? And "The Mims", you're right. Let's all do some research be for we blindly make decisions.

Yes, I am boycotting BP = British Petroleum! How did we let these guys into our country anyway? How about American oil companies drilling in England? Would they allow that? I don't think anyone should get an offshore drilling permit until they can show us how they'd deal with such a disaster. They need to have a plan...don't ya think?
Glen

Of course I am buying BP! How does boycotting hurt BP? Just hurts the small business owner!

No, I am not. There are just as many people that work for BP and are emotionally effected by this mess... boycotting is just not the answer. Gas stations are franchises owned by local operators, not the oil companies, so you are hurting your local neighbors and in the long run you will be hurting the recovery of the clean-up. BP didn't want this to happen anymore then another company would have, and the mess sucks but boycotting is not going to fix the problem. I just want it stopped and cleaned up like everyone else. BP has great people that work for them.. so I will keep buying gas from them. Really if you make them broke, how do you expect them to clean it up???

I agree with Mims. Sounds pretty logical and there us plenty of blame to go all around. People need to be really informed before they just get emotional about it. She's right about this too. In the long term you're mainly hurting local american jobs and America needs to be working!

Thats right, make your fellow citizen who owns a franchised store suffer from your holier than thou boycott. BP causing this is not in question. BP being forced to pay for it is not either. they did and they should.
But boycotting BP stores will only affect your local economy.