Fuel Shortage
 

I'd prefer this not to get particularly political, but I feel David Cameron, our worthy Prime Minister, has made a very unwise decision lately in advising people to "hoard" fuel for the upcoming strike.

Link included for hip hop bunny hop's convenience :)

This has clearly got the negative effect of people panic buying fuel, causing stations to run dry and consequently supply to drop, which is disastrous for people who have not decided to hoard any fuel.

I think this chap has got exactly the right idea:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...63903022_n.jpg



But at the heart of this issue lies an interesting lesson: impulsive, short-term responses to deal with relatively minor problems can cause long-term crisis. In this case, the effect the strike would have had is not huge, the problem was only the possibility of a tanker strike, but now as a result, the fuel prices have rocketed, which is a massive pain in the arse for me.

What do you think?

This is the human race defined though, as soon as any minor problem arises, the vast majority hit the panic button and society descends into chaos.

By the way, latest news states that the strikes have been put back a week.

Eh, my father owned part of a gas station when I was a kid, so he "got me a job" (aka, forced me to work) as soon as the state granted me a learners permit. If I was pulled over I was to tell the cop I was on my way to get my dad, lulz.

Anyways, every day I came to work I'd get asked what gas prices I saw on my way there. Invariably I'd have to set ours a few cents short of the norm. And that was the scientific process by which gas prices were determined; when I asked why, the main owner explained to me that gas stations make their profits off of people's idiotic impulse buys; gas was just a way of getting them in the door.

EDIT: also, no offense Brits, but Cameron strikes me as an ass.

That picture better indicate 141 dollars/pounds per gallon or liter or whatever or have been taken years ago.

When I was in Idaho in February, gas was 2.95 to 3.10 roughly. By March 10th, it was 3.90. It's over 4 now. I went back to Oregon. It's 4 here too. I think my folks say gas is 4.35 in California. Sucks.......

I don't think so? I can't speak for southerners like Unknown Soldier who lives down in London, but up here in northern England petrol costs over 141 pence per litre - and I really haven't a clue what that is in dollars (sorry)!
I remember only two years ago the value of one litre was less than a pound, but that's gone up a lot obviously!

Mrd00d: are the values you are referring to per litre or per gallon - if it's per litre that's outrageous and good grounds for a revolution, but if it's per gallon I applaud you as a nation for defying this metric nonsense we're laden with.

hip hop: that's an interesting piece of information about the strategy companies use to increase prices - I know that in a lot of cases inflation is responsible for it, but for the fuel it's obviously been gradually pushed up in small increments.

You've gotta know that most Brits are panickers, the whole thing is further compounded by a volatile press as well. The UK has a history of panic buying and hoarding, it largely comes from the war shortage mentality of the 1940s and war rationing, along with the UK's island mentality. The public reaction to the current fuel shortage doesn't surprise me that much.

It's in gallons. I should have known you were dealing in weird liters and pence.

We're out of date here.

Yarharhar. But anyways, I saw this story in the newspaper today too. Someone was telling people to store 20 liters and the fire department came out to say it doesn't recommend storing any more than 10. Some old lady got hurt pretty bad or some such. It was only a short article, but at least it's getting coverage. The US did something equally stupid in the 70s. Stupid as ever.

Health and safety issues are almost at ridiculous levels in the UK thanks to government legislation especially over the last decade, storing litres of petrol at home seems like a serious breach of the UK's health and safety agenda.