Fuel prices ending in ".9p"

[gsrgeoff]

What is the exact reason thet fuel prices always seem to have ended in .9 pence ?

Surely it can't be for the silly gimmick that supermarkets have to make prices look cheaper by charging 99p instead of £1 etc?

I've also noticed that Asda have recently started to end their fuel prices in .7 pence.

Considerning only a few years ago most of the price display boards only allowed up to 99.9p to be displayed and had to be replaced when it went over a pound a litre - why don't they charge simple rounded figures, i.e £1.43 ?

[TheEnd]

Because 134.9 looks a penny cheaper than 135.something else.

[gsrgeoff]

It honestly can't be that?

[TheEnd]

Well, I've never noticed a trend in them ending in .9p, but then again I never look at the prices anyway.

But if you are seeing a lot of .9's, it'll be because it's the highest they can go without breaking into a new shiny penny.

[NelsonR32]

Afraid so. Although it's always confused me as to how it's actually legal. Surely if there is no such thing as a 0.1p coin how can they advertise a 0.9p price?

[gsrgeoff]

TheEnd said:

Well, I've never noticed a trend in them ending in .9p,

They've always been like this - I can't ever remember them not being and i've been driving since the mid 80's.

Surely at least one would have broken ranks and rounded up by now - especially when they had to pay a fortune to alter all their boards which only used to cater for 4 characters?

Edited by gsrgeoff on Tuesday 29th May 22:56

[-Pete-]

Terrible isn't it, I suppose they think people are too stupid to realise, but then again if they're all doing it then it defeats the object. I think M&S did a good thing when they decided to add the £0.01 to all their prices, if only petrol stations would do the same and add £0.001...

[NR91]

I think there would still be that element of if Shell charged 134.9 and BP were charging 135.0, a significant amount of people would assume at first sight that Shell is cheaper, hence it's probably not worth the change.

[GroundEffect]

ASDA normally have theirs as x.xx.7/litre.

Also, I like how it's an odd number but you it always seems to round up to an integer. What a coincidence!

[simoid]

NelsonR32 said:

Afraid so. Although it's always confused me as to how it's actually legal. Surely if there is no such thing as a 0.1p coin how can they advertise a 0.9p price?

This seriously confuses you? How can you muster the brain power to use a computer?

NR91 said:

I think there would still be that element of if Shell charged 134.9 and BP were charging 135.0, a significant amount of people would assume at first sight that Shell is cheaper, hence it's probably not worth the change.

Shell IS cheaper.

Explain to me how 134.9 p/l is NOT cheaper than 135.0 p/l...

[RWD cossie wil]

simoid said:

Shell IS cheaper.

Explain to me how 134.9 p/l is NOT cheaper than 135.0 p/l...

Try paying £1.34.9 p, tell me how you get on

[Bertrum]

RWD cossie wil said:

Try paying £1.34.9 p, tell me how you get on

Try buying 1litre

[simoid]

RWD cossie wil said:

simoid said:

Shell IS cheaper.

Explain to me how 134.9 p/l is NOT cheaper than 135.0 p/l...

Try paying £1.34.9 p, tell me how you get on

Are you winding me up?



In case you're not:

50 litres @ £1.349 is £67.45

50 litres @ £1.35 is £67.50

[mollytherocker]

TheEnd said:

Because 134.9 looks a penny cheaper than 135.something else.

Yup, this is still used after all these years and is proven to work.

I am only aware of M&S that do it differently, (i.e; rounding up to say £19) but they are chasing a different market and demographic.

MTR

[aw51 121565]

GroundEffect said:

ASDA normally have theirs as x.xx.7/litre.

Also, I like how it's an odd number but you it always seems to round up to an integer. What a coincidence!

[Paul Daniels (when he's not chopping his fingers off ] Now that's MAGIC! [/Paul Daniels (when he's not chopping his fingers off ]

[TheEnd]

He's not a magician, he's a Mathamagician!

[Wafflesmk2]

If i want to buy a litre of petrol. And the price is £134.9.

How can they make me pay £135.0?

Can i write them a cheque or something? If i bought a house for 99,000 and they actually charged me 100,000, i'd be well pissed.

[simoid]

Wafflesmk2 said:

If i want to buy a litre of petrol. And the price is £134.9.

How can they make me pay £135.0?

Can i write them a cheque or something? If i bought a house for 99,000 and they actually charged me 100,000, i'd be well pissed.

It's just another one of those large corporations scamming us out of billions of 0.1 pennies to make their £millions!

[SAAB93AERO]

I was once told that shops charging odd amounts like 99p instead of £1 was nothing to do with looking cheaper but were to make sure staff had to open then till and it would make them less likely to steal the money.

[icepop]

Well it's well documented that, 0.99p resulted in a 20% increase in sales. so, me guess is, that 0.09p will give a 2% increase, which will be a tidy sum, no doubt.

Simples.