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Comment by tenebrisalietum | Hacker News Reader

> why is gas always ab extra 9/10 of a penny

Same reason things are $.99, $19.95, $299.99 instead of $1.00, $20.00, $300.00.

In the US, there's many places that have 2 or 3 gas stations in near vicinity and price competition is fierce. So the $0.01 matters, people will drive to the gas station down the block to save that penny per gallon.

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If it is 9/10 of a penny, then it is $0.001 per gallon. Fueling a 20 gallon tank is $0.02.

> If it is 9/10 of a penny, then it is $0.001 per gallon. Fueling a 20 gallon tank is $0.02.

… and some people will drive down the block for those 2 cents, even though they may not realize that it’s only 2 cents. It’s just “cheaper” to them.

Gas prices are quoted to fractions of a penny and then rounded to the nearest cent when a card is swiped. For people paying with cash, rounding to the nearest ten cents isn't that much of a leap.

It's a problem if it's always rounding up. Throwing away the penny also requires legislation enforcing round to nearest.

I dunno, usually it's 2 "upscale chain brand" gas stations with identical high prices and 1 "local brand" gas station nearby with significantly cheaper gas. I don't understand how competition works in the gas station business but $0.01 difference clearly does not matter.

It's a bit of the "look, it's not the next unit up," but it's also a bit of a tongue in cheek "this last 9/10th of a cent is the government collecting tax." It's no longer really true, since taxes make up much more than 1 cent of the cost of fuel, but it's stuck around as a reminder anyway.

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