Nine Tenths of a Cent - Can This Be Legal?

For the longest time, I missed it, too! I am just so conditioned NOT to notice. But, this weekend, my husband, Harlan Mark Vale , played music for the Center for Spiritual Living, Greater Las Vegas . And, on the way home, we stopped for gas in Kingman, Arizona. There are tons of gas stations there, and everyone knows that you buy your gas in Kingman, in order to get the best price.

Sitting in the car, waiting for my husband to return from paying the cashier, I was sort of looking around comparing gas prices up and down the road. At that moment, as I gazed at the signs, I got to thinking about that extra number on the gas prices. (In case you missed it, scroll back up the page and read the prices again, paying attention to the 4th number on the price listed on the sign.

Yup! That's right! 9/10ths of a cent! Now, I'd like to pose a hypothetical situation... If I sold you a tennis racket, for instance, and I set the price as $75.99.9. Would it be legal for me to do that? Would I owe you your 9/10ths of a cent change back? Would the bank take a check for $75.99.9? Or, would you just pay me $76.00, and call it a done deal? Would you even notice the disconnect?

I realize that I have somehow let this kind of situation be OK in my life. But, every time I am faced with this type of transaction, it feels just a little slimy to me. When did it become acceptable in our society to cheat people? And, yes, I do realize that it is only a tenth of a penny.

How about we put some numbers to this little game, OK? Let's say that the population of Phoenix is roughly one million people. Yeah, that sounds about right. And, lets say that each one of those people bought a gallon of gas on June 1st. Just one gallon! Let's not go crazy here and fill the tank! And, lets also postulate that each one of those people paid $1.99.9 for that gallon of gas.

Since we don't have a one-tenth-of-a-cent coin, all of these people who bought their gas are going to overpay for that gallon of gas. You don't really expect the gas stations to make up the difference, do you? Are you with me here, so far? You really should be, because that adds up to $1000.00 that the denizens of Phoenix collectively are going to OVERPAY for that gas! AND they received no services, or products, or anything for that money!

What if we all got together, and demanded our change back? Wouldn't that just be a hoot? Because, legally, I don't really think you can charge a price for something and sell it to the public, if the public cannot obtain the coin with which to pay it! It doesn't make sense!

And whose bright idea was this in the first place? What happened to ethics? You must, by now think I am completely nuts. It's possible that you could be right.

I really don't care if I pay $1.99 or $2.00 for my gas. What I do care about is the integrity of the transaction. Wouldn't it be lovely to do business in a country that respected it's citizens enough to protect them from cheezy little tactics such as this?

This might be a good time for me to look at other ways of transportation. Perhaps, if I don't support the companies that treat me so rudely, they might go away. Maybe, I can start a revolution with this little article, and spark a little interest in the green revolution. You never know!

I know one thing for sure. My bicycle and I are going to become fast friends. And, I will keep more of my one-tenth-of-a-cents in my pocket! Anyone care to join me?

This week, I felt compelled to look into the cash for clunkers program. This is a program designed to get fuel inefficient cars off the road, stimulate the economy, encourage people to buy cars and a whole host of other theoretical goodies.

The further I looked into the situation, the sillier the whole thing looks. You see, I do, indeed have a rusted out old 1992 Subaru station wagon with nearly 300K miles on it. According to the government, this is NOT a clunker, as it gets two miles per gallon more than a clunker should get!

Then, when you look at the cars that qualify on the purchase side of the equation, they don't get very good gas mileage either! It makes me wonder how many American made cars actually do get good gas mileage. And, American made cars are the ONLY cars that you can buy in the Cash for Clunkers Program!

Now, if I could get a Toyota Prius and trade in my dear old Subaru.... THAT would be a DEAL!

And, build my own electric vehicle! Now, there's a great solution!

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