Eg - if I want to buy 5 litres at 96.99p it would cost £4.84p.95. This does not exist as currency. Would it be rounded to £4.84 or £4.85? How can this be legal practice? Does any other item retail at a fraction of a penny?
2006-08-02 23:05:39 · 11 answers · asked by M E T 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Advertising & Marketing
If the price is rounded up I am being overcharged from the advertised price. Surely this is illegal. I would have to buy 100 litres before the advertised selling price equated to a unit of currency that exists with which to pay. That is not stated on the petrol forecourt.
2006-08-03 08:05:07 · update #1
It does if you buy 100 litres.
2006-08-02 23:09:19 · answer #1 · answered by JeffE 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Does any other item retail at a fraction of a penny?
Many products have gone to pricing with 3 decimals.
Such as US $2.85 & 9/10, or $2.859 If two decimals were used, it would be $2.86.
When one considers volumne in the millions of units, this becomes an apparent savings in total.
However, in the pricing of petrol, how many minds actually register the 9/10? Everyone is aware that 9/10 is commonly used, and thus we only judge a competitors price by the first whole numbers.
Howevr, I personally am sure that this is not done to give the consumer a "savings". It's a ploy to obtain 9/10 of a cent in additional profit, since the average person usually does not mentally compute it, or just ignores it.
On another vein, I cannot understand the consumer that will pay 15-20 cents more per gallon to a competitor when another, just two blocks away, is that much cheaper. That amounts to $2 or more per tankful.
But, on the other hand, consumers buy millions of gallons in bottled water. $8.00 per gallon! Go figure.
2006-08-02 23:38:29 · answer #2 · answered by ed 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For this sale you will be charged £4.84. Add up the price of all your litres and round down to the penny before any money changes hands (or up if you can get away with it). You can use as many decimal places as you like, but the tenths of a penny only mean something when you sell 10 of something, the hundredths a hundred, thousandths... etc. E.g. Share prices fluctuate in fractions of a penny, which matters to people who own thousands of them.
2006-08-02 23:16:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The companies will round up and it is really just a marketing thing to make you think that it is a penny cheaper than it is. I've never seen petrol at 96.6p for example. Only ever .99p
Also you will never encounter problem of only paying for the fraction as all petrol stations carry stickers warning that the minimum payment is £2. Therefore rounding is possible as the difference in cost would be negligible.
You make a very good point though. Perhaps you should make a stand in a petrol station and demand they return your 0.05p. Would probably get you your ten minutes of fame if you sold the story to a paper and if they changed their practices we would all owe it to you...
2006-08-02 23:15:01 · answer #4 · answered by Elliot H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I like this question! Next time I go to the pumps I will try to stop the pump meter at five litres, and see what the "£'s" indicator says. Though I would expect it's going to be a "rounded up " figure. And I see your point, (I think! lol) I would be being overcharged!. But maybe it's rounded down? Anyway electricity is charged in a similar way, say 11.62p per kw hour. Another one of life's anomalies :-)
2006-08-02 23:31:32 · answer #5 · answered by Dick s 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It gets rounded up and yes it is legal (you can charge whatever you want for your product) and yes other retail outlets do the same.
If you filled up a car/lorry that could take 100 litres then there would be no need for roundings if this example.
2006-08-02 23:12:10 · answer #6 · answered by Pete Sweet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My work buys washers which cost an extremely small fraction of a penny each. The assumption is that you will never buy just one washer.
And yes, things get rounded if there is a fraction left over.
2006-08-02 23:11:23 · answer #7 · answered by Iain T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you serious????? Almost a pound a litre for fuel????
So glad I moved from the UK to Spain, just another reason to lay in the sun, drink cheap booze, smoke cheap fags, eat out 5 times a week, party into the night at free fiestas, make friends with wonderful people, learn a new language..... so sorry I digress....
Are you serious????? Almost a pound a litre for fuel????
2006-08-04 11:17:17 · answer #8 · answered by lady_in_blue_109 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i dare say if you looked around you could find 96.98p
it's to make there price look cheaper then another garage
look on the super market selves
price per item
2006-08-02 23:15:04 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
to avoid tax benefit they are fixing the prices like this. if it is more than 100 pound tax is falling in highter criteria.
2006-08-03 01:16:08 · answer #10 · answered by Ananth P 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋