The One-Tenth of a Cent of Gas Prices

May 31, 2008 by Nez
Filed under: Entertainment, Smarter View, UnCommon Sense 

Gas Prices

How is it that gas companies can charge nine-tenths of a cent?

Does it really make that much of a difference?

Take a look at the sample pricing from last week (outrageously high pricing notwithstanding):

  • $4.17 and 9/10 for Regular
  • $4.29 and 9/10 for Plus
  • and $4.41 and 9/10 for “V-Power”

Why can’t they say $4.18, $4.30, and $4.42, respectively? What if I buy exactly 1 gallon — shouldn’t I get one-tenth of a cent back? I don’t. So I end up paying $4.18. Multiply that by hundreds of millions and those one-tenths add up, don’t they?

Be Honest with Your Pricing

We should be more honest in our pricing, and I’m not just talking about gas stations, but everything in general. In fact, I propose a simple way to present more “honest” pricing — something along the lines of:

  • Under $15, round to the nearest dollar, e.g. $1.00 per song on iTunes, not $0.99
  • $20 to $100 - round to the nearest 5 or 10, e.g. $25, $90, $100
  • $110 to $990 - round to the nearest 10, e.g. $240, $680
  • $1000 - $9,900 - round to the nearest 100, e.g. $1400, $8,900
  • $10,000 - 99,000 - round to the nearest 1000
  • $100,000 - $500,000 - round to the nearest 5000
  • $505,000 and up - oh, who cares at this point? You can go back to pennies, e.g. $99,999,999.99

Don’t you think that would help?

Have a great weekend!

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Comments

4 Comments on The One-Tenth of a Cent of Gas Prices

  1. Barbara Swafford on Sat, 31st May 2008 9:35 am

    2. I’ve often thought of that myself. 9/10 of a cent? I think it goes back to the “keep it less than” marketing ploy.

    Before gas jumped over $4.00 it sat at $3.99 9/10 for quite awhile. Everyone would say it’s $3.99 - not really. It was $4.00. But it sounded better to say $3.99.

    I like the dollar store idea. Everything is a dollar (or 2 for a dollar) It’s easy

    Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..Be Inspired By Nothing

  2. Nez on Sat, 31st May 2008 9:42 am

    3. Absolutely.

    When you think about it, the penny (and tenth of a penny) concept has not kept up with inflation.

    Gone are the days of 5 cent movies (”nickelodeon”) and what-not.

    “5 and Dime” stores, puleeze!

    Merchants, purveyors and car salesmen, get with the program!

    Thanks for stopping by, Barbara.

  3. Hunter Nuttall on Tue, 3rd Jun 2008 6:54 am

    4. You know how for new houses, they used to say “from the low 200s?” There was a big difference between the low 200s and the high 200s.

    Then it became “from the low 700s” or “from the low 800s.” I wonder how high it has to get before the “low” doesn’t matter anymore.

    Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Blog Profits Blueprint - Make Money Blogging (Plus, Me Vs. Yaro)

  4. Herb on Sun, 14th Sep 2008 6:00 pm

    5. I have been wondering about that for years. Doesn’t seem like much until you do the math and realize they are scamming about $142,000,000 with that little ploy. One more thing…..what the “and what not” mean?

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