Cheap Gas
I just filled up for $1.98* a gallon. How is your day?
*Of course, the signs say $1.97/gallon, due to an odd form of legalized fraud that has predominated in the petroleum industry - and none other that I’m aware of - for longer than I can remember.
September 25th, 2006 at 9:14 am
Right around $5/gal in Switzerland. But thanks for asking.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Did you buy it at a Citgo station?
September 25th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
my husband and I made a bet, and essentially, if it ever gets that cheap in Pasadena again, I must run naked down the street. That’s how damn sure I am it will never go down that low again.
September 25th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Mark: guilty as charged. I checked the price of the usual location, which is normally cheaper than Citgo, but this time they charged a penny more. Now I feel dirty, having seen a lower price still at a Sheetz later in the day.
September 26th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
XLRQ:
Could be worse. I filled up my son’s car (Houston, TX area) at $2.12 on Sunday night. On Monday morning, I filled up mine at $2.09. By Monday evening, the place I got gas on Sunday was $2.04. Today, while driving around at lunch it was $1.99.
Not that I am complaining. . .
September 26th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
The pricing issue is not fraud unless you are willing to define most other ‘fine print’ as fraud. That little “9″ on the sign is some of the simplest fine print ever seen.
September 26th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Of course it’s fraud. The only purpose served by printing the price in such an odd format as Real Price - 1 cent + 9/10 is to make it appear to the naked eye as though the price were lower than it actually is. And yes, I do consider most “fine print” fraud, assuming you mean ads where the regular sized print is intentionally misleading without it. Whoever said it’s OK to lie some of the time, as long as you tell the truth at other times?
September 27th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
“Legalized fraud”? Not at all. The pumps and signs outside clearly say “$2.769″ (here in So CA), with the last “9″ carved into the sign.
It’s just the same thing as every price in America ending in “.99″. Cars are an exception - they go for “$23,995″.
It was most amusing a few weeks back when the price was “$2.999″.
September 27th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
In just bought gas for a 1.98 as well which inspired all kinds of conspiratorial nonsense at my site.
September 28th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
As I recall all Roncomatic and products sold on late night T.V. engage in the same “Fraud.”
September 29th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Really? I didn’t think anyone but the petroleum industry sold consumer products in currency units that do not exist. The closest analogy I can think of is the airline industry, which has long advertised fake prices in huge type, only to reveal in the not-meant-to-be-read print that the fake prices displayed are “one way based on round trip travel.” In any event, it’s a pretty safe bet that all or substantially all products sold on late night T.V. engage in some sort of fraud. If an item is “not available in stores,” there’s probably a reason for that.
September 29th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
This is how you can fight them. Find a full-service gas station and ask for $.999 worth of gas and then demand that they give you change from a dollar and threaten them with the legal tender laws if they don’t. Actually, what I just wrote, is not as stupid as it sounds. The smallest legal tender is one cent. I won’t take the case. Maybe Judicial Watch will.
September 29th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
P.S. But please don’t sue the Marathon on my corner. He’s a nice guy and he just plays the game all the others do.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:41 pm
(Rejoining the Dead Horse Beating Society:)
About nk’s comment about buying 1.00000 gallons: just try buying 1.00000 gallons.
Liquids are [almost] infinitely divisible. The pumps read only to the nearest .001 gallon (0.128 ounce or 3.79 ml). And you have to pump it - if you go over, you’ve bought it.
I invite nk to join me in going to one of those stores that prominently advertise “rent CDs for .99c”. One of these days I’m going in and get 10 for a dime, “keep the change”. And not just video rental stores. Nobody seems to know what that little dot means, or when to use it.