you forgot to take your meds today, didn't you?
Chai, you're very near becoming an official poopity-head. Another .9999 cents and you will cross the line.
Goddamnit . . . let's just shoot some sumbitch . . .
You know, this reminds me of something.....
years back, this person who worked at one of our clinics came to me and said he was getting cheated on his hourly wage. Seems that he didn't like the fact that when he got his yearly raise it was rounded to the nearest 2 digits after the decimal point. So, where he was making $14.32 an hour 3 years ago, he firgured he should have been making $14.32145 an hour, an extra .00145 an hour. Not only that, but 2 years ago he should have been making an extra .00204 an hour, and last year .00241.
Turns out he was totally serious, and insisted on getting his back pay and interest.
I told him to go home and figure out all the hours he had worked the last 3 separate years, and get back to me.
He did.
Seems we owed him something like 7.34 cents before taxes for the last 3 years.
I told him I'd tell payroll to add it to his next check.
"NO" he said, "I've had to wait for my money for three years, and I want it NOW."
I took 10 bucks out of petty cash and handed it to him.
In his next check, he got his $7.34 minus taxes, netting something like $6.75
I asked him for the 10 bucks back, and he couldn't understand why.
I really got a lot of pleasure reminding him every day for the next few weeks that he had stolen $10.00 from the company, until finally he gave it back.
stupid idjit.
dyslexia wrote:Chai, you're very near becoming an official poopity-head. Another .9999 cents and you will cross the line.
Is it me, or is it humid in here?
Chai wrote:You know, this reminds me of something.....
years back, this person who worked at one of our clinics came to me and said he was getting cheated on his hourly wage. Seems that he didn't like the fact that when he got his yearly raise it was rounded to the nearest 2 digits after the decimal point. So, where he was making $14.32 an hour 3 years ago, he firgured he should have been making $14.32145 an hour, an extra .00145 an hour. Not only that, but 2 years ago he should have been making an extra .00204 an hour, and last year .00241.
Turns out he was totally serious, and insisted on getting his back pay and interest.
Yeah and the gasoline people are totally serious with their 9/10 of a penny too, chai, can you believe it? Ever try cutting a penny into tenths?
okie wrote:
Would you agree if retailers began pricing gasoline at $3.99 and 99/100 cent or $3.99 and 999/1000 of a cent? Would the public get upset? I think so, and I think there would be an outcry of foul. I think we should cry foul over 9/10 of a penny now, and the only reason we aren't is because people have gotten used to the abuse.
What difference does it make? The price for the volume you purchased is rounded up to the next penny whether it uses 10 cent increments or 1/1,000,000 of 1 cent increments.
For someone that professes free markets should exist without government interference you are asking for some pretty inane interference. When did okie become a commie?
There is a difference in refereeing a game and playing a game, parados. I believe in referees and playing a game fairly. I just don't believe in the referees playing the game, but they should officiate the game with reasonable rules, especially those that simplify the play of the game.
okie wrote:There is a difference in refereeing a game and playing a game, parados. I believe in referees and playing a game fairly. I just don't believe in the referees playing the game, but they should officiate the game with reasonable rules, especially those that simplify the play of the game.
That is too funny okie.
Telling them what they can charge isn't playing the game but telling them where they can drill is playing the game.
why do you call a cent a penny?
Steve 41oo wrote:why do you call a cent a penny?
US - one cent coin is called a penny
Also, amounts less than one dollar are referred to as cents, whereas the actual coins are referred to as pennies. So, if the sales tax were 5% . . .
That's 99 cents and five cents tax, so that'll be a dollar and four cents.
Hold on, i think i have four pennies in my pocket.
okie wrote:Ever try cutting a penny into tenths?
Why yes, I have.
I have a laser cutter I use to slice all my baloney.
According to what I can gather, accepted tolerance of gas pumps flow meters is about 0.3%. For 1 gallon of gas at $4.00 per gallon, this amounts to 1.2 cents. To pretend that pricing in tenths of a cent when the tolerance of accuracy is more than ten times that is pretty much, who are you trying to kid? Add to this the fact that it is not that rare that pumps are out of compliance, perhaps making a difference of 2 or 3 cents per gallon, sometimes in favor of the motorists, so it doesn't appear to be a scam in the vast majority of cases of non-compliance.
I have known people that would drive miles to save a penny or two on gas. Of course, they are pretty much clueless, especially when they go in and buy a few dollars worth of lottery tickets, this after costing themselves more in gas than they saved by driving the extra distance.
So we have gas pumps that are only capable of measuring volumes to within about a penny per gallon, but the merchants are pricing it in tenths of a penny. I think it only reasonable that pricing schemes be consistent with measurement ability. Yes, its time the whole scheme was thrown in the scrap heap of history.
@okie,
You seem to be asking something from a group of people who seem to take pride in their deceitful tactics!
We may need to find a way for them to have a interest in ethics in order for them to be intellectually honest with their self's about such issues!
@reasoning logic,
reasoning logic wrote:You seem to be asking something from a group of people who seem to take pride in their deceitful tactics!
We may need to find a way for them to have a interest in ethics in order for them to be intellectually honest with their self's about such issues!
I wouldn't be as hard on them as you about this. I think rather that it is predominantly a result of tradition from a long time ago when gasoline was much cheaper, to price by tenths of a gallon. Similar pshycologiical tactics exist throughout retailing, by using $1.95, $1.99, or similar high nineties, to give the impression that something is cheaper than $2.00 and so on. It seems there are thresholds that buyers tend to follow, such that $4.95 seems more tolerable than $5.00 for example.
With that said, I think its time in the case of gasoline to say "enough is enough," that retailers owe the consumer a straight price in even cents per gallon. I agree that this is the ethical thing to do for consumers. It can be done with a simple law, and the law would have good justification and reason.
Personally, I think that the 9/10 % is stupid, but I would not want to see the government outlawing it. I think that the government is too much in the faces of its citizens as it is.
IMO, a better idea would be a groundswell of people, who would object to the pricing. If enough opposition was shown in the media, on talk shows, etc. the oil companies might want to rethink their policies.
Hey, I can remember when gas was 35 cents a gallon. Often, people would ask for
a dollar's worth of gas. Then the .9 made some sense.
@Phoenix32890,
I agree with you as well! I would not mind paying the extra .1% of that penny and I could only imagine that the majority of society would not as well just to let the retailers know we think that they are playing a unethical game by pricing the way they do. We will buy it if we need it regardless!
I think we need higher gasoline taxes. First, the government needs the money to balance the budget. Second, it will encourage people to buy fuel-efficient autos. At this time, the USA is shipping its wealth abroad to pay for gasoline. This expenditure is doing great damage to the country.
