FRESNO, Calif. — Gas boycott e-mails show up every year about this time, saying things like, "Don't buy gas on May 15, and big oil will take a $2.2 billion hit" or "Don't buy one brand for the rest of the year and the company will drop its prices, forcing others to do the same."

With gas prices breaking records, it may appear like an ideal time to participate in a revolt to bring gas prices crashing down.

Just one problem: Gas boycotts don't work, say experts representing everyone from drivers to oil companies.

The only control drivers do have over prices is by reducing overall consumption significantly, including by car pooling or using mass transportation, experts say.

Until that happens, the price of gas is going to remain painfully high this summer, according to the Energy Information Administration. The government organization predicted the average national price will remain near $3 a gallon all summer.

However, the administration said in its report yesterday that national prices probably won't reach "anywhere close" to $4 a gallon.

That's no consolation for Suzie Garcia, who filled up her Honda CRV with $3.29 a gallon gas yesterday in Fresno.

She got the e-mail about the May 15 gas boycott.

"I do think it would work," she said, adding that she believes a lot of people could participate — though she said she realizes many won't.

Even if every driver in America participated in a one-day boycott, it probably wouldn't be effective and could cause prices to rise, said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

"It's just lipstick on a pig," he said. "As much as it seems like a good idea, it's really not going to improve things and could make things significantly worse if they (consumers) were to follow these boycotts."

The entire text of the e-mails are available at www.snopes .com, which also debunks them.

So why won't a boycott work?

First, some background. Prices are high for several reasons, but essentially, the supply of gasoline is just a little greater than demand, Lenard said. That means every little change — like refineries going down for repairs or more people driving on a holiday weekend — has a big effect on the market.

In the case of a one-day boycott, drivers would fill up either the day before or the day after, said Ron Planting, an economist with the American Petroleum Institute, a trade organization for oil and natural gas interests.

"Buying gasoline one day versus another day of the week is not likely to change (overall) demand," he said.

Prices could go up if millions participated in a boycott, Lenard said.

That's because so many more people could buy on May 14 or May 16 that a local gas station owner could run out of gas that day, he said.

If the station uses up the daily supply it has contracted for, the owner would have to buy emergency supplies on the spot market, which sell for a higher price, he said. That increased cost would be passed along to the customer.