fuel prices

[leslock1]

why are gas stations allowed to charge fractions of a penny per litre when no other retailers can use fractions.

[Ethel]

Because you cannot buy one unit, and the condition is that the final total is rounded down to the nearest penny.

You pay a fraction of a fraction of a penny for every bean in your tin of baked beans. You just can't buy one bean.

[leslock1]

but 1 litre is advertised!
1 bean is not

[Ethel]

Yes, but you can buy a fraction of a litre too - as long as you buy the minimum, you don't have to buy whole litres.

[leslock1]

that does not answer the question
all other retailers can not advertise any items for fractions of a penny!

[leslock1]

I know why they do it
WHY are they allowed?

[factor-fiction]

Of course you can sell other things in fractions of penny. Electricity units are for example 9.6 p per unit; simlarly gas. Gold is priced in fractions of a penny per ounce. If a 2 litre bottle of milk costs �1.25 that's 62.5 p a litre. Supermarkets have price labels on the shelf giving price per kilo/100g etc and these can be fractions of a penny. The only difference from petrol is shops use a pack size which results in the price being to a whole penny. Or they decide to charge a roundd price for convenience- eg 20 p a banana, but they could charge 19.5 p a banana, a slong as they round the price down. Fuel is a little different- you take what quantity you want (above the minimum purchase).

[leslock1]

you are missing the point
other retail items are not advertised for sale using fractions nobody sell products in shops for anythingb other than whole pennys and pounds
please answer the question asked.

[terambulan]

Divert from thread a minute?

Is that why 'own brands' in supermarkets have less beans per tin than known brands?

[factor-fiction]

You are missing the point IMO. The question is flawed.

There are some items where prices are quoted as fractions. I gave some examples- gas, electricity.

I don't see it as a case of 'being allowed'. For covenience shops charge in whole numbers of pence for items which can only be bought in a whole number of units. Ethel explained perfectly about petrol.

What benefit would there be anyway in making petrol retailers sell to the nearest penny per litre?

[THECORBYLOON]

The minimum is often two litres so a fraction of a penny would still be payable. I have never had an explanation as to why petrol is selt in frctions. I've seen old photos of Americal pumps and they had fractions of cents showing. It's been the practice for some time but God knows why!!!!

[THECORBYLOON]

Shops show fractions because they are comparing similar products of differing quantities. Beer and the like is selt in pints but you don't see fractions of a penny in its price do you?????

[leslock1]

since when is gas and elec sold in retail shopa with price displayed

[bigboots]

there is also the "con" element fuel is always .9 never .3 or .7. but when you see fuel advertised at 119.9 you think it is less than 120 per litre, the same as items priced at 19.99 are less than 20 quid

[alan-r]

knobs, don't forget to sprnkle some Worcester sauce on your beans

[factor-fiction]

Yes it's highly unusual to quote prices in fractions of penny- but that doesn't mean there's no reason why items like fuel can't be sold at such prices.

For shops/pubs etc there is simply no reason why they would choose to price everyday items in terms of fractions of a penny . This is because in the main the quantity is fixed (you buy one tin, a 1kg pack, a litre bottle, a pint, etc).

Some items are sold loose- eg sliced ham. They could in theory charge for example 1.2 p a gramme. They would be "allowed to" but there's no point: no-one buys a single gram and anyway it's easier for customers to understand a price as �12 a kilo or �1.20 per 100 grammes. If you ask for 100g they give you something close, round down to the nearest penny and ask if you are happy with that quantity. So for example 263.4 p is rounded down to �2.63.

For fuel the price is competitive and people will shop around to save a fraction of a penny per litre so garages charge accordingly- eg 110.9p a litre. If you want , leslock and Corbyloon, you could insist that they round yours up to 111p!

Yes Corbyloon, your garage might have a minimum of 2 litres, and if you went to the trouble of measuring out exactly 2.00 litres they would round price down to nearest penny.

So what's the problem? Why does the issue trouble Leslock and Corbyloon) so much? Where is the 'con'? And what's the alternaive- introduce a law forcing garages to round prices up to the next full penny per litre!