Subject:	Re: Why mcbankshill Is A Fool.
Date:	1999/06/16
Author:	cory hamasaki <kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net>
	Posting History

On Wed, 16 Jun 1999 14:33:59, "Joseph E. McIsaac" <jem@marketpartners.com> wrote:   > Did you ask the owner of the local Mobil station about the Mobil Y2K effort?   Mobil Oil addressed WDC Y2K last month.  Here are some things they are thinking about.   1. Doing their own Y2K stability assessment of foreign countries.   2. Setting tripwires and early warning watchpoints on national economies and soverign nations.   3. If circumstances merit it, riots, war, etc, they will invoke contracts with charter carriers to evacuate their personnel.  The contracts will be written in advance of the rollover.   4. They are considering locking down their ships during the rollover.  A ship at sea, stays at sea.  One in port, stays in port.  This decision has not been made yet but Chevron has already made their call.   5. Mobil stated that without power, they will close their stations.  You cannot run a modern gas station on a 4KW portable generator.  They also said that it is unsafe to pump gas from a tanker truck into consumer containers and cars.   So yes, I'd say that Mobil Oil is taking Y2K seriously.  In fact, their posture reminds me of our Y2K activists such as TCMay, paul milne, etc.   Item 3. sounds very alarmist.  Oh wait, isn't Mobil a F50 corporation? Let me know when a bank issues similar statements.  For a bank, # 5 would read, "without power, we will close our ATMs and branches and will not clear checks. "   cory hamasaki http://www.kiyoinc.com/current.html 4,763 Hours. 

-- a (a@a.a), June 19, 1999

Answers

I say good. What is that old Doomer saying "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best" so by this motto you should be applauding Mobil

-- Forget It (none@ofyour.business.com), June 19, 1999.

Well yeeeeeair, it is for the best that Mobil are making such contingency plans, BUT, the fact that they perceive the need to make such plans shows that they take the "doomer" perspective seriously.

-- number six (Iam_not_a_number@hotmail.com), June 19, 1999.

Number Six: Exactly.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), June 19, 1999.

#2 is good. Setting tripwires so looters can't steal their gas.

-- Jammy (wesleyan@dog.com), June 19, 1999.

We must keep in mind here a little catch-22 (cyclic logic) problem. There is a tendency to conclude (1) we are toast if companies/ organizations don't prepare for the worst, and (2) if companies/ organizations are preparing for the worst we must be toast.

I have not been able to totally avoid this trap myself.

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), June 19, 1999.

Dave -- no, the reasoning you speak of exists, but this is precisely about the disconnect over so-called prudence for citizens vs. corporations/governments.

Smart corporations are preparing for "9" in "some areas". For me, I have to bet that I am in "some area" and prepare likewise.

Simple.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), June 19, 1999.

Well said BD. Just load one bullet in the chamber, spin it, and ask if you feel lucky today. The "odds" are in your favor. No need to panic. There's only *one* bullet in that chamber, after all.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 19, 1999.

The fact that Mobil is even acknowledging that things could get bad (for a while from their perspective)and then admit it, at least shows that they are willing to "think outside the box". Even is this is just "What if-ing?" and nothing is put on paper much less, put into action, they have begun fully evaluating the whole problem. No more will the players at Mobil look at Y2K as just their niche in the world and not the whole picture. This comes as a first among the large companies to me.

Now look at yourselves and your realization of Y2K. On a much larger scale, Mobil HAS "gotten it" and they are bound to take action beyond the computer room. Time is still short but they'll likely start making survival moves akin to someone buying food, water storage, an electric power source, etc. You know we've all been there.

In the corporate world this might be something like Mobil deciding that if the risk of tankers at sea is too great, use them as floating starage tanks. If the ships aren't going anywhere, fill them with refined product as a hedge against the refineries going down.

If they just brainstorm these kinds of ideas, they won't be the company that has a board meeting on 10/02/2000 so all the board members and senior execs can wring their hands, cry and run around in circles. These guys and gals will have gotten past that stage. They'll sit down and be able to deal with the problems that are coming up, and not just react to the problem without any forethought about what can or should be done under such circumstances.

The fact that we're seeing one Fortune 50 company, and an oil company at that, come to grips with Y2K is genuine good news. I wish a whole lot more companies would start getting a clue.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), June 19, 1999.