Any of you experts know why the oil companys set their prices at XXX.9 instead of just pricing it in whole cents.  You can't split a penny no less then a penny.  Seems kind of redicioulos but as long as I can remember thats the way it has been done.

[>:/]

Right but unlike 99.98, you can't actually pay the .9 cent. So for every gallon one buys the station takes .1 cent over the advertised price??

edited to add: unless you buy in 10 gallon increments.

the .1 cent is carried for multiple gallon purchases.

My mom has been complaining about this same thing EVERY SINGLE TIME she talks about gas prices for as long as I can remember.

It drives me crazy.

[headbang]

[:D]

They do this so they can take just a little more out of your pocket without you realizing it. THEY ARE A BUNCH OF RAPE ARTIST IMHO.

You guys all seem assuming that if they were to price in even cents, they would round it down.

Hell, if I owned a gas station, I'd be doing this too.  Wouldn't you?

You got a point there.  I probably would, too.

There is actually a reason for it.  I just can't remember what it is right now.  It had something to do with the calibration of the pump.

Makes it seemlike a good deal, its a human trait of getting the most for the least amount of effort.

How many of have seen something on sale for $99.99? It's really $100. I always teach my children to round up to the next whole dollar so the you can actually see what the actual charges are going to be.

the gas is really 60 cents a gallon,
its the tax thats 49.9 cents,
ask a politician
Lebrew

[size=4][b]JEWISH CONSPIRACY![/b][/size=4]

i dont think the gas companies set the prices.  it's the individual gas station owner that does it .  i could be wrong. but i doubt it.

and they set the prices the way they do, like someone mentioned above, to fuck you more out of every cent they can.

Just another case of the mutherfuckin man holding me down. How am I supposed to achieve my maximum potential with the man got his boot on my neck? Gotdam!

The gas company sells the Gas to the station for whatever they want based on what they belive they can charge for in the givin area time of year ect. Then the Station owner has to mark up the price enough to keep the station profitable. I cant remember what the usual amount is.

i know a couple that owns a decent sized gas station. they don't set the price of the gas. every time their is a change in the price, a guy calls them and tells them what the new price is.

I'm not sure of the decimal purpose either but I know a little about who sets the prices. Most brand name gas stations are franchises, and they can be owned in one of two ways. You can buy it outright and make your own prices, but being under the franchise's name you still have a limit that you can't go beyond. These stations are usually the most expensive. The other way which is more popular, is to own or rent the physical property that the station sits on, and 'rent' the name. Most people buy the property. In this case the prices are set by the big company, such as Getty or Mobil, and they dictate the exact price that you have to charge per gallon and you only make about 4¢-5¢ a gallon profit this way. However, you can sell anything else you want out of the station such as soda/snacks/maps etc, and set your own prices on them provided you have the liscence to sell these items. Also, in the second option, if you have the facilities for automotive repairs, you will own that part of the business outright. It's a seperate corporation and you can charge anything you want for labor and/or repairs. No one can dictate auto repair prices/profit even though it's under the franchise name. All profits are seperate from the gas station part of the business and the brand name can be used on your mechanics uniforms if you wish. Using the second option, the big company is also responsible for any mandated upgrades to the pumps/tanks and anything else pertaining to the gasoline end of the business. At around 5¢ a gallon profit you don't make much, but the prices are usually much lower than your competitors. In the end you sell a lot more fuel which brings in customers to your auto repair shop, and that's where you make your real money.

I'm pretty dure it has to do with the taxes on gas. I think approx 50% of the price is taxes- just like alcohol and tobacco- half your money goes for taxes.

oneshot1kill, was the closest to correct.  the only thing is that the profit for the station is usually in the 1 to 2 cent per gallon range.

That is why they push all the gedunk so hard.  If they sell you a $1 slurpee, they make about 95 cents profit.  A tank of 15 gallons gives them 30 cents profit.  They make almost all their profit on the junk food and drinks.

The decimal trick was only done to trick you into thinking you were paying one cent less.  And the reason they continue to do it is because it works.  If two stations are next door to each other and one advertises their gas at $1.29.9 and the other says $1.30, which do you think will sell more.

It is a testimony to the stupidity of many people, but there it is.

Say what????

No, I would charge $.001 less than everyone else, and call my station "Raven's Deep Discount Gas"

But we're talking about the 9/10 of a cent at the end. That wouldn't have been set by the station owners. The cost of computing and tracking the fractions-compared to 'even' numbers($1., $5., $10 etc.) would outweigh any possible benefits.  It would be 3 times more work to add 3 columns of numbers, then 1 column.

Some taxes are computed in mils per unit which end up giving .9 cents.  (mils are thousandths of dollars, it's an old English measurement system.)

That sounds like the most logical explination.

My dad owned a gas station for 20 years. Among other small businesses. I asked him about the decimal thing. His answer was " Ask the F*^&@%g government, they have it set this way". It is due to the tax collection as best as I was ever able to figure out.
When they calibrate the pumps they use special containers the prices have nothing to do with weights and measures people.
As far as setting prices goes, some staitions are forced to stick within a range those who aren't try to squeeze every penny they can out of you. It is the competition that keeps them in check, some people will drive 5 miles down the road for a penny.