# Odd/Even day rationing in North East

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816 "2012-11-12T20:15:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![llyn.glas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7feea3/32.png) [@llyn.glas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llyn.glas)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816/1 "2012-11-12T20:15:45Z")

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Right after Sandy, NJ implemented odd/even day gas rationing (you can fill up on even days if your number plate ends in an even digit and vise versa) to try to alleviate the 2 hour plus waits for gar. NYC implemented the same rationing about 10 days later.

Both NJ and NYC said they saw immediate reduction in line length. And, from personal experience, I thought I noticed the same thing.

The question is WHY?

This is not really rationing, you are not selling less gas, you are just regulating who buys and when. Presumably, over a two day period, the same number of cars would have purchased the same amount of gas with or without regulation.

I can see that a few percentage of drivers might not buy gas under the ‘rationing’ as they realized that it’s the wrong day for their car. However, I’d have thought that would easily be out-weighted by folk seeing a shorter line and filling, who otherwise might have waited for another time.

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**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816/2 "2012-11-12T20:21:29Z")

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It seems intuitively obvious that limiting the number of people who can buy gas on any given day by 50% would go a long way in making lineups shorter. People now need to plan their purchase for Monday, Wednesday, Friday as opposed to just showing up.

Sure, the same amount is sold, but only half the people can line up on any given day.

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**Author:** ![llyn.glas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7feea3/32.png) [@llyn.glas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llyn.glas)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816/3 "2012-11-12T20:28:14Z")

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Yes, but if the same amount is sold, the lines should be equally long. All that you are doing is re-ordering the days people are in line. IMHO

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816/4 "2012-11-12T20:31:36Z")

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[Thread on the subject from last week.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=671208)

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-even-day-rationing-in-north-east/640816/5 "2012-11-12T20:38:17Z")

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> [@llyn.glas](#):
>
> Yes, but if the same amount is sold, the lines should be equally long. All that you are doing is re-ordering the days people are in line. IMHO

You are right. The rationing seems to me to be more of a psychological tactic than an economic one. A lot of people waiting in the lines were panic buyers who really didn’t need gas that day. The rationing scheme seems to calm people down a little.