How gas rationing would work

A best guess, based on the past.

More info and sources at bottom.

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Nice Smithsonian article about the coupons:

Wouldn't have made the video without cribbing from this overview:

Article about odd even rationing (I couldn't follow the math but the conclusion was clear):

Paper that explains why gas rationing is really the only option in a big shortage:

[fortissimolaud]

btw, the Russian gas shortage in Europe isn't the same gas that Americans are thinking about. American "gas" is a liquid

[JohnHarrerHorses]

Your videos are always so fun to watch. I worked at a gas station in Santa Barbara in 1973. I understood the early chaos was brought on by people who normally only kept 1/4 to 1/2 a tank in the car switching to keeping their tank constantly full. It was much like the COVID Toilet Paper crisis.

Great to see your channel growing.

[iainronald]

Governments: Gents and gals, we've gotta reduce gas usage in America. What's the solution?
Random Gov't worker: How about we undo the highway-focused development of people like Robert Moses and Ebeneezer Howard in favour of a new urbanist stance? Something like emphasizing mixed land use in businesses and retail parks, building upwards not outwards with a heavy focus on condos and flats, and giving whatever remaining gas there is to transit systems. We also need to expand transit systems because three mediocre transit systems in a city are better than one great one.
*everyone stares blankly, blinking*
Random Gov't worker 2: How about off/on fueling days?
Governments: This man is a genius!

[shakthianjanananayakkara]

Well, here in Sri Lanka gas (I mean petrol and diesel) rationing started like a month ago, probably for the first time in history. Instead of the age old ration book or coupon systems, we have a government run mobile app, that scans a QR code. Every car is currently allowed to buy 20 liters per week while larger and smaller vehicle get some accordingly. They are making updates to the system to be able to register commercial vehicles that are used for special purposes and give them more fuel and would probably roll it out next month. This system would probably go on for another year or so till we restructure our debt and get the IMF bailout.

[jordanbloomfield]

We had a major flood here in BC Nov 2021, and non-essentials were limited to 30L per car per fill up to prevent and slow the panic buying and it mostly worked! Everyone just figured that everyone else was limited to about half of what they normally got and drove conservatively or just filled up more frequently but more spread out

[WaitintheWings]

Another great video on a topic I never knew I needed to know about but am happy I do now!

[dustinbelle]

Great video!

I like hearing about random semi-historical factoids that are novel to the internet!

Thanks 😊

[nlpnt]

WW2 gas rationing, at least in America, was more about tires than gasoline itself. It was still almost all natural rubber at the start of the war (which itself gave a huge boost to synthetics) and almost all the world's sources of natural rubber were controlled by Japan as of the end of 1941.

[AuthenticTraveling]

You get criminally low views for the quality of your work, Phil. Hoping to see you grow this channel more and more.

[BlairCarlyle]

“Billions of coupons in the desert waiting to be destroyed” is my favorite Doors lyric

[IMPERIALYT]

Great video, a topic that's relevant to everyone in this age unfortunately and something that people are not as versed in. As someone who lives right next to Germany, a country where saunas are now temporarily banned from operating due to gas scarcity, this video hits close to home.

[swschilke]

in Germany (West) they did days where only essential car drivers where allowed to drive (on Sunday's) the police controlled, like the Autobahn etc., that make a lot of bicycles use the Autobahn.

btw: wasn't there a case where someone stole pages form the NYC library rare book collection to sell them? something like that I would think would be a worthwhile video, wouldn't? or their hotline for questions etc. other unique archives or Library, museums and collections.

[MrShaclakclak]

Phil, I just wanna say after watching all my "doom-and-gloom" videos. You come on. It's like opening the window in a stuffy house. I smile then laugh at your bad jokes, it's just what I need. And at the same time I learn somthing. Phil, thank you.

[Calv_]

On the question at the end, I think the system is simple enough for rationing, the only issue is we'd have to treat it like money with countermeasures for people just photoshopping their own and printing their own rationing stamps.

[malbliss]

After getting bank cards recently for Healthcare expenses, one to get paid for a DHHS medical research study, and another card just to get a small student tuition refund, I think it would be trivial for the government to mail out a credit card for every household that could be loaded with cash and only be used to purchase a certain number of gallons of gasoline per day. The payflex card even knows if what you're buying is Healthcare related automatically!

[IONATVS]

I think a gas card system could work, where each card had an ID number tied to a government ration account and the pump checks how many ration units you have left in your account and sets that as your max draw…but honestly the cashlike coupon system seems more inclusive of the poor, easier to trade or sell on the white market when you don’t need it, and is only slightly less convenient. Might be harder to get pumps to accept them automatically, but no harder than cash to process manually. It’s probably still the more elegant solution, even if the card might be more convenient for those who have stopped carrying cash.

[grahamrankin]

Having worked for a major oil company during that gas crisis in the 70s, and currently driving a hybrid, gas rationing would probably drive more people to electric vehilces.

[xXTomokoKurokiXx]

Thanks for always making such high-quality videos!

[lukel]

i have a tough time watching something for longer than 3 minutes. but your videos are actually really easy to watch

[noahrenken]

Love these videos. Always enjoy the Sunday posts; this is somewhat like a church, right?