Drop the Point 9 already..................

[pwb01]

Drop the Point 9
Back when I was in high school and gas was 29.9 cents per gallon it fooled me into thinking that it was less than 30 cents. Today at 370.9 it’s 371! It doesn’t fool me anymore. I’ve spent that point 9 in Euros, Nuevo Soles, Turkish Lira, Pounds and Reais. At point 9 centavos or point 9 cents it doesn’t fool me. When I fill up the 36 gallon tank on my F150 the difference is 3.6 cents. You can keep the 3.6 cents oil companies. However, I think the industry will save money by not having to buy signage that accommodates the point 9.
And Another Thing
The next time you need to raise the price of gas 20 cents a gallon because some refinery in Louisiana is slowing production due to the threat of a hurricane in the Gulf, tell the truth. There’s a holiday weekend coming up and you have the opportunity to make a few Billion extra for the coffers and a little something to fund the bonuses coming up for the executives.
One final thought
It’s illegal to fill up your diesel vehicle with home heating oil avoiding road use taxes. Today it’s cheaper to buy heating oil at the pump and pay the taxes. They take extra care in refining and filtering home heating fuel plus they have to compensate for onsite storage and home delivery. Okay, I get it. Fill up the tank, sit down, shut up and sign the check. But you’re not fooling me.

[rattleNsmoke]

Wow, 29.9 back in HS? I'm 55 yrs old, and the pre-1973 oil embargo... gas was approx. .70 per gallon. Back in JH, my buddy's Dad had an Olds Delta 98, remember those tanks? We went with him to a gas station and filled it for 8 bucks. AND got a clock radio! Both gas shortages never affected our family. No Odd-Even days, no waiting in line for blocks just to get a rationed amount. My Dad owned a construction company and in our back yard we always had 6000 gallons of gasoline and 3000 gallons of diesel at our disposal. He had both gasoline and diesel bulldozers and backhoe's. 20 pumps with the manual pump gave me an even 5 gallons. He'd even sell it at cost to friends. That first 'shortage' was the first time gasoline busted the buck price. It was a fabricated shortage induced simply to raise prices. One thing it did do was open the front door to Japanese imported cars. Anyone remember the original CVCC Honda or the Mazda Wankel rotary engine or Datsun 240z? Those dinosaurs are the fore fathers of what we see on our roads today. That just put a silly grin on my face. Oh, the simpler days.

[pwb01]

Around '65 I used to put a "dollar regular" in my 60 Falcon and drive a whole week. For that they washed my windshield, checked the oil and pumped the gas. That's when you pulled into the service station, ran over the black hose and did the ding ding thing.

I do remember the tiny CVCC and always wanted a Datson Pickup. That's back when diesel was cheaper than gas because nobody wanted it but truck drivers. A little later I had a 61 Falcon Ranchero which had a 6 cyl 101 hp engine with 3 on the tree and 4.11 rear end for hauling power. I got 15mpg and didn't care. Top speed about 60.

Today I get 11mpg with a F150 6 cyl 365 hp ecoboost with 3.73 gearing towing 8500# and glad to get 11. I do get 21 while not towing which is years of technology from that poor old Falcon at 15.

[F and E Damp]

Fully agree - it's totally pointless. However, if they dropped it, they'd have another digit for the basic price on the pump computer!

[F and E Damp]

Follow-up:

When we first emigrated form the UK in 1968, the Seattle area was having a gas price war. I think the lowest we saw was 18,9 cents. When we left the UK, a gallon (converted for IMP gals and UK £/$) was running somewhere around $3 a gallon. 19 cents looked like nirvana!

Gasoline in the US is still a bargain in comparison the the UK price. They pay more per liter than we pay per gallon. Maybe that's why a Honda Civic is considered to be a "large family car"!

[Ford Idaho]

Sill better than this.

[pwb01]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

Follow-up:

When we first emigrated form the UK in 1968, the Seattle area was having a gas price war. I think the lowest we saw was 18,9 cents. When we left the UK, a gallon (converted for IMP gals and UK £/$) was running somewhere around $3 a gallon. 19 cents looked like nirvana!

Gasoline in the US is still a bargain in comparison the the UK price. They pay more per liter than we pay per gallon. Maybe that's why a Honda Civic is considered to be a "large family car"!

On a recent trip to Aberdeen I think I converted liters and pounds and found it at $8.50/gal., same in Ireland. In Aruba where it was $5.00, the tour guide pointed to mountains on the horizon and said that was Venezuela where it was 25 cents/gal, 5 cents a liter!. In Peru it converted to $4.00 and Brazil at $3.00 but mostly ethanol. Big differences! My expenses came back once questioning what they thought was $95 for gas for a little Toyota in Ireland and I answered IT WAS!