Paying for petrol

Cookie_Monster

Came up on after hours just now and thought it may get a better answer here

me wrote:

since we're on the subject why is petrol/diesel the only commodity allowed to be sold with XXX.9 of a cent?

Why do they not have to display full "real" currency numbers?

Cookie_Monster

I understand that, in the same way supermarkets say €1.99 rather than €2 but why are they allowed use the decimal of a cent. Say I wanted exactly two litres I would be over charged as 2 x 124.9c would be 249.8c but would have to pay 250c.

Now I know the amounts are tiny and meaningless but why is it the only product to be allowed do this?

IITYWYBMAD

betafrog wrote: »

They're not the only ones, they're just the only ones you see on a daily basis and therefore notice. It's entirely up to them what they want to charge. They could 122.9 cents and 2/3 of your left shoelace if they wanted...

Who else charges .9 of a cent for a product? The question is entirely valid, why if petrol is charges at 109.9 per litre, and I get a litre, am I not charged 109.9?

Cookie_Monster

betafrog wrote: »

They're not the only ones, they're just the only ones you see on a daily basis and therefore notice. It's entirely up to them what they want to charge. They could 122.9 cents and 2/3 of your left shoelace if they wanted...

Ok in common practice its the only large scale commodity available to the public to do it.

Cookie_Monster

betafrog wrote: »

Along with electricity, gas, in most countries water etc etc... Most things sold by their volume are priced this way... Makes calculating non whole number quantities easier.

fine, whatever add them to the list. The original question is still valid. How can you charge .5 of a cent or whatever for it since you can only pay in full units

ardmacha

The price shown is not the price of a unit volume, nobody buys one litre of petrol, they either fill the tank or get €20, either way the .9 in the unit price is irrelevant.

robbie99

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

fine, whatever add them to the list. The original question is still valid. How can you charge .5 of a cent or whatever for it since you can only pay in full units

But the thing is that you don't buy only full units. You can buy many units or even fractions of a unit. The unit being used in this case is 1.00000 litres. If the price was expressed in a price per ten litres then we wouldn't be having this discussion

TomMc

ardmacha wrote: »

The price shown is not the price of a unit volume, nobody buys one litre of petrol, they either fill the tank or get €20, either way the .9 in the unit price is irrelevant.

+1.

In Germany for example they must have to show the price of something expressed as a cost per Litre by law. It seems to apply to liquids across the board, not just fuel.

Del2005

TomMc wrote: »

+1.

In Germany for example they must have to show the price of something expressed as a cost per Litre by law. It seems to apply to liquids across the board, not just fuel.

They have that law here also. Look at the price sticker in shops and they all have unit prices.

milltown

Slightly OT but I always wondered why petrol/diesel is one of the rare (but most used) commodities where there's no price incentive for buying larger quantities. i.e. if you buy one litre it costs the same as the 50th litre if you decide to fill the tank.

mukki

or else the garages will add .1c per litre to fix the problem

Dartz

Buy ten litres of petrol at 119.9 and see if it costs you 11.99 or 12 Euro.

Do you get the 1 cent change back?

It might not make a difference on the 1 litre, but it's actually a surprising amount if you're buying a lot of go-juice.

clarke1991

shops put a price on the object like 2.99 so people will see it and think 'oh its just €2 i'll get that' when realisticley its €3. i think?:D

Cookie_Monster

clarke1991 wrote: »

shops put a price on the object like 2.99 so people will see it and think 'oh its just €2 i'll get that' when realisticley its €3. i think?:D

yes, yes. that point has already been made and is irrelevant

Esel

Never mind all that. Does anyone know how to remove the petrol from E85? Think of it - 0.85L pure alcohol for 97.9c..... Or am I missing something?*

[ * Before you say it - yeah, yeah, a few brain cells. :eek: ]

Matt Simis

milltown wrote: »

Slightly OT but I always wondered why petrol/diesel is one of the rare (but most used) commodities where there's no price incentive for buying larger quantities. i.e. if you buy one litre it costs the same as the 50th litre if you decide to fill the tank.

Because as a requirement of modern life, there is no need to incentivise it. Buy in bulk today or piecemeal, you are gonna buy it. Though you can always get a fuel card:
http://www.motorcard.ie/prices_this_week.php


Also, on the original question, its worth pointing out the minimum purchase quantity of petrol is more than one litre in most places. I dont see the difference between them charging .9 of a cent (ontop of the €1.21) and milk at 1.19. The values are different, mechanism the same. They "can" do it as there is no reason not to.

CrowdedHouse

Diesel pre budget 108.9 + 'Carbon tax' 4.9 - Filling station - 113.9 Sneaky 0.1 of a cent
Haven't seen a single one ending in .8

Cionád

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Diesel pre budget 108.9 + 'Carbon tax' 4.9 - Filling station - 113.9 Sneaky 0.1 of a cent
Haven't seen a single one ending in .8

Applegreen's prices often end in .8

clarke1991

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

yes, yes. that point has already been made and is irrelevant

my apopogies for trying to help..

L1011

.5 is another ending I've seen on independent stations around the place too.

They round up or down to get to the nearest cent, they're not making any money off this. In the UK the .9 often vanished for a bit about the time fuel went over £1 - they hadn't got 4 character display boards!

Our man in Havana

The Americans charge 9/10 of a cent also. You will see $2.89 9/10 a gallon.

Matt Simis

Bond-007 wrote: »

The Americans charge 9/10 of a cent also. You will see $2.89 9/10 a gallon.

Lol, they actually write 9/10? I know they dont like metric and decimals, but its already part of their currency regardless.. its not $2 - 89/100 cent.

Our man in Havana

Yep. They do write the 9/10.

captainscarlet

I know that as well as a psychological incentive for pricing things at e19.99 its also priced like that so the cashier has to open the till to give change and wont just pocket the money.

As for petrol I have no idea why its priced like that. It has been proven withe the recent petrol increases last year that the quantity of fuel bought is not proportional to the price. So people will always buy petrol regardless of how expensive it is. We all need to drive.

L1011

In the old days when fuel had a legally set maximum price here, .9 would have been a way to charge the highest you could within the law..... but seeing as anywhere I've ever driven does it, I don't think thats the reason!

leeroybrown

milltown wrote: »

Slightly OT but I always wondered why petrol/diesel is one of the rare (but most used) commodities where there's no price incentive for buying larger quantities. i.e. if you buy one litre it costs the same as the 50th litre if you decide to fill the tank.

It doesn't really make sense on a forecourt. The margins are relatively small and the costs associated with the sale don't really change much with standard forecourt volumes. Unless forecourts were clogged up with people buying a minimum delivery of fuel (which they aren't) there really isn't any reason to penalise the small buyer.

If you really want a discount on your fuel you'd probably need to have your own storage tank and be getting 1000 litre bulk deliveries.

leeroybrown

esel wrote: »

Never mind all that. Does anyone know how to remove the petrol from E85? Think of it - 0.85L pure alcohol for 97.9c..... Or am I missing something?*

If someone actually tried that the petrol would be the least of their worries. The ethanol has to be chemically treated to make it poisonous in order for it to be sold as a fuel.