Gas Out - I wish

I was surprised to get this in my Inbox today:

Subject: Don't pump gas on July 15th

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon in one day. On July 15th 2008, all Internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $4.00 a gallon in most places. There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the Internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on July 15th and lets try to put a dent in the oil industry for at least one day. If you agree resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, ''Don't pump gas on July 15th"

How is this e-mail even circulating? I tend to go to Snopes to verify the chain e-mail I get but this one really doesn't need it. I really wish they'd explain the logic of this one. If you don't buy gas on a single day but buy it the day before or after, how does it keep money from the oil companies' pockets? Gas isn't a product that is purchased daily, like, say, a newspaper. It's a consumable that's purchased weekly, roughly. And it's not a consumable that has a short shelf life, like milk, so it's not like gas stations throw out the gas because no one bought it for a day.

I'm just not getting how not buying gas on a certain day is keeping billions of dollars out of Big Oil's pockets. Even if sales were calculated daily, the 3 billion dollars they don't make on July 15 will be washed out by the 6 billion dollars they make the next day when everyone who held out on the 15th buys it on the 16th, along with everyone else who would have normally bought gas on that day anyway. I wouldn't normally go on about these things, but judging from the long list of forwards on this e-mail I received, it seems that a lot of folks are on this bandwagon.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good protest and/or boycott. I boycotted McDonald's until they stopped packing their big sandwiches in styrofoam boxes. They eventually switched to paper wrappers. Though I think the fact that these paper wrappers took up less space and were cheaper made more of an impact than me not eating there. The problem is, this "gas out" isn't anywhere near a boycott. A boycott would be like not buying gas indefinitely. And I don't see that happening on a mass scale any time soon.

If someone could explain the logic of the e-mail to me, please step up to the mic and enlighten me.