Thanks Bill, but if I remember right there were specific reasons for it related to taxes or something of the sort. It's definately a legacy thing completely unrelated to the (very annoying) habit of labelling everything in retail X.99.
There's supposedly a real reason for it, which is what I'm curious about. Anyone know? ---------- Original Message ----------- From: "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 09:34:49 -0700 Subject: [USMA:26457] RE: Fuel in the US > Brian White wrote: > >Speaking of that...does anyone know what the whole 9/10ths thing is about > >with fuel prices in the US? > > It's what I've always called the department store pricing syndrome. > > A department store will price something at $99.98 or $99.99, leading > many people (including my wife) to think of the price as being "not > much more than $90." > > If a competitor priced the same item at $100.00, and it was > something I needed, I would buy from the competitor in appreciation > of their honesty -- and I would let them know that. (Although if > another competitor offered the same item for, say, $85.00 [or even > $84.99], I'd do the rational thing and buy from them.) > > Gas stations are, of course, selling to the same people as the department > stores. > > Bill Potts, CMS > Roseville, CA > http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] ------- End of Original Message -------
