Anybody in the know about this? Why is gasoline at gas stations always sold with that 0.0¢ cent tagged on to the end?
Please don’t say anything about taxes; they’re way more than 0.9¢ per gallon.
If I were a gas station owner, couldn’t I just pad my profit by an extra 0.1¢ per gallon, and sell the fuel in an even amount of dollars and cents?
This (¢) is a cent sign in case your computers are not capable of displaying it.
I vaguely recall reading about the origins of this practice somewhere. As far as why it is still practiced is purely for competitive reasons. The dealer may profit more from each gallon sold if he/she rounded up to the next cent (say $1.60 vs. $1.599), but he would be competing against the dealer across the street who is charging $1.599, and would therefore sell fewer gallons.
Before anyone else says it:
“This question has been asked before.”
If I wanted to, I could insert the thread URL here:
(____________________)
But, nah. I’m lazy.
Basically, it’s the same reason things in the grocery store are $1.99 instead of $2.00…pure psychology.
I believe it’s a marketing ploy. The large numbers might say $1.57, but it’s really 1.58 (if you don't believe me, buy one gallon and *try* to get .001 change!). Anyway, people are probably more likely to buy gas from a station where they can save 15 or 20 cents on a tankful.
(How do you make the cents sight? ALT+0###?)
What pisses me off is that it really isn’t $1.599. It’s $1.60. They don’t count the .9 cent. When gas was $0.999, I got 10 gallons of gas. Should cost me exactly $9.99. Nope. 10.000 gallons of gas cost exactly $10.00. What a ripoff!
Jman
¢ = ALT+0162
On a Windows system, click Start, Programs, Accessories, Character Map. If it’s not there, you can install it from Add & Remove programs, I think…
And, having known a gas station owner personally, let me point out that they really don’t have the option of bumping up the price at their station. That’s set by the franchise, and in the gas business, the franchise is GOD.
For the record, I did attempt a message board search on this subject specifically, but came up dry. So maybe I’m not merely lazy, just not too thorough. And I do remember (many) posts about the 9¢ deal; I had figured the gasoline practice I brought up would be different. I never figured psychology was a relevent factor at all, since everyone I know just automatically rounds up the price anyway.
Oops, almost forgot… so much easier on a Mac. Option-4 (you know, they key will the dollar sign on it).
All I know is that gas around where I live is $1.839 and that really pisses me off. A year ago gas was $0.899 for a couple weeks. What the hell is goin’ on here?