decimal points on petrol

specialman

specialman

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Pat MacInnes
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Yes
I may be going mad, but I've never thought about why fuel is always priced with a decimal point (usually .9p) yet we only ever pay for it in full pennies.
 
specialman said:
I may be going mad, but I've never thought about why fuel is always priced with a decimal point (usually .9p) yet we only ever pay for it in full pennies.
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You need to keep out of the sun for a bit! :p
 
You are not the only one on that one! What is it with that silly .9p thing anyway? Maybe it's to fool drivers in thinking petrol is "only" £1.39p per litre whereas in actual fact it's much nearer to £1.40p.
 
Even more interesting is that the pump only has two decimal places. How much then for a litre?

Why is it also that I can hardly ever stop the pump exactly on a full pound? Why does it always 'click-over' to the .01.

It's worse in France - never have been able to hit exactly a 'whole' Euro total:bang::bang::bang:

This and other earth shattering musings come to me while sitting in the sun drinking beer :cool:
 
It's just there to annoy you by showing £75:01 when you stopped the pump at £75. :annoyed:
 
has anyone ever tried asking for the 0.01p change? bet that would stump them.
 
srichards said:
I stop on whole pounds all the time. It's not that tricky :)
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Apart from
1) out local "independent" garage always jumps a penny when I stop on £XX
exactly.
I refuse to pay the extra 1p and threaten to report them to weights and measures the next time it happens ;)
I never do, but I'll be buggered if I am giving them a penny, fuel is expensive enough.
2) I thought that it was ilegal to sell things in amounts that are not tendable
(is that even a word? :shrug:)
You don't get sains-tesc-asada
selling spuds at 99-1/2p / Kg
the 1/2p was decommissioned many years ago because it was "too small" ;)
 
Cobra said:

Apart from
1) out local "independent" garage always jumps a penny when I stop on £XX
exactly.
I refuse to pay the extra 1p and threaten to report them to weights and measures the next time it happens ;)
I never do, but I'll be buggered if I am giving them a penny, fuel is expensive enough.
;)
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So stop on the 99p. Problem solved :D

Local tescos has pay at pump which allows you to put in a whole amount in pounds and it will fill that amount.

I've not had issues with it but I generally use shell or esso.
 
Our local Total garage has a 'penny pot' by the checkout. If the pump jumps that extra penny then you are free to take one from the pot.
 
srichards said:
So stop on the 99p. Problem solved :D
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Yeah but I'm still not giving them the extra 1p :p

Ploddles said:
Our local Total garage has a 'penny pot' by the checkout. If the pump jumps that extra penny then you are free to take one from the pot.
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Cool :) but I bet that no one does :D
Never had a problem with Tesco, just sometimes out local independent is a few p / litre cheaper,
now I know why / how they can afford to do it :D
 
.7 at my local Asda rather than .9
 
Ploddles said:
Our local Total garage has a 'penny pot' by the checkout. If the pump jumps that extra penny then you are free to take one from the pot.
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My local garage does too but I've never done it.. Doesn't feel right somehow :crazy:
 
Ploddles said:
Our local Total garage has a 'penny pot' by the checkout. If the pump jumps that extra penny then you are free to take one from the pot.
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local esso has a 1p pot but its stocked up by the customers who do not want the 1p change when buying goods. You may find its that and not Total being nice.
 
With so many folk buying with plastic - the penny pot also prevents the garages having to give out all their change every time somebody goes over the nearest pound by a few pence.

I tell them to pop my change in it if I'm due back 2 or 3p and as I said earlier - I use the penny pot when I go over by a bit.

Works for all parties concerned.
 
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how much do all these .1 p's add upto in a year
look after the 0.1p's and the millions of pounds will look after themselves
 
gramps said:
It's just there to annoy you by showing £75:01 when you stopped the pump at £75. :annoyed:
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Surely if you stopped on £75. You pay £75. If it says £75.01 your reactions are too slow and you've put in £75.01 worth of fuel. Regardless of how much the cost is per litre, you pay for the amount of fuel you put in. It is possible to trickle feed fuel in without the readout adding another penny to the cost. I just fill my tank to the brim, let it rest for a few seconds the fuel level drops and I fill to the brim again. I prefer to get the amount of fuel put in nearer to full gallons, much quicker to work out my average mpg in my head. Cost is just a consequence.
 
I just fill up till it is full and pay the bill
you lot need to get out more moaning about it going over by 1 p roflol
 
I fill up watching the litres scale. I put 50 or 100 litres in and just pay what ever it comes to. :)
 
Rebel t3i said:
I just fill up till it is full and pay the bill
you lot need to get out more moaning about it going over by 1 p roflol
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I'm just puzzled by the fact that in a day and age where, as someone has already said, half pennies have been phased out then why are we being charged in percentages of a penny when at the tills, it's always rounded up to a penny.

15 litres at 147.9p for example = £22.18.5p..... why not just call it 148p per litres and be done with it :thinking:
 
boliston said:
I can never understand these people who fill up till it clicks then keep trying to put in more and more.
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Because there is room for more. I reckon I can get almost 2 litres more in after the first time it clicks off. Pumps always seem to click off early. Instead of filling to the first click and replacing the cap and rushing off to pay, if you waited a few seconds, you'd hear the fuel level drain down abit (gurgles like a bath draining) and then you can get more fuel in. Means it's longer until next fill up time.
 
dinners said:
I can rarely afford to fill it right up :shrug:
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Surely after the first time, it doesn't matter as it will be longer until you need to put some back in again.

I know a bloke at work who tops his tank up everyday. Even if he's only used a gallon or so he tops it up, so he's running around on practically a full tank all the time.:wacky: I fill up, it lasts me 2.5-3 weeks, I run it until the fuel light is about to come on (50 miles left on comp.) and fill up again.
 
nilagin said:
Surely after the first time, it doesn't matter as it will be longer until you need to put some back in again.
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In theory yes. I'll fill up when I'm paid at the start of the month but by the middle of the month (after another couple of tanks worth) I'm having to think ahead to what journey's I'm going to have to do in the remainder of the month so I don't spend money on petrol and end up not being able to afford other things I'll need.

The 2nd car tends to just get a few litres here and there as it's used.
 
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the only reason I fill up is I hate wasting my life away at petrol shops cueing while some toooser has a coffee and wanders round the isles
so I minimise my visits by filling the tank
 
Rebel t3i said:
the only reason I fill up is I hate wasting my life away at petrol shops cueing while some toooser has a coffee and wanders round the isles
so I minimise my visits by filling the tank
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I can't do this, if I have a full tank I will start driving harder and faster purely because I have fuel to do so. If the tank is permanently half full I behave to make it last the week! :LOL:
 
Having a full tank weighs more so you lose fuel economy from lugging it all around if your fuel station is on a normal route to or from home. If it is out of the way then it is probably more economic to brim and leave it until the noddy light comes on.
 
srichards said:
Having a full tank weighs more so you lose fuel economy from lugging it all around if your fuel station is on a normal route to or from home. If it is out of the way then it is probably more economic to brim and leave it until the noddy light comes on.
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The extra weight means a negligible difference in economy, my car shows no evidence of being more economical as the fuel level drops, it just allows the car to accelerate a bit quicker and brake better but again not by that much that you'd notice. I use one of two garages to fill up one is on my journeys to work but the cheaper one is a 5 mile round trip out of my way. If I have time, I'll use the cheaper one, if not I just use the other when I'm near time for the light to come on.
 
i go down the road of brimming it when it gets down to about 1/4 a tank............ 65mpg... I'll accept that as 4 yr average...
 
srichards said:
Having a full tank weighs more so you lose fuel economy from lugging it all around if your fuel station is on a normal route to or from home. If it is out of the way then it is probably more economic to brim and leave it until the noddy light comes on.
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OK so Petrol weighs 1Litre = 0.711kg
And diesel weighs 1Litre = 0.84Kg

An average tank is around 60L (yeah I know and I did say average :p)

petrol = 42.66Kg per 60L
Diesel = 50.4 Kg per 60L

No one whines about the fuel enconomy when having kids in the car
or do they ?;)
 
Cobra said:
OK so Petrol weighs 1Litre = 0.711kg
And diesel weighs 1Litre = 0.84Kg

An average tank is around 60L (yeah I know and I did say average :p)

petrol = 42.66Kg per 60L
Diesel = 50.4 Kg per 60L

No one whines about the fuel enconomy when having kids in the car
or do they ?;)
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My car only has two seats so that cuts down the ballast :)

All the fuel economy advice always says don't keep a full tank because it weighs more. I guess it's balls basically as it isn't going to make any difference at all. Or not much beyond having a crap before driving anywhere...These days it is meaningless as cars weigh so much more than they used to and even in the old days 20KG off a 700KG car still isn't going to make that much difference.

Annoys me when advice people are expected to take notice of is complete and utter rubbish. Same goes for taking unnecessary junk out of the boot.
 
srichards said:
Having a full tank weighs more so you lose fuel economy from lugging it all around if your fuel station is on a normal route to or from home. If it is out of the way then it is probably more economic to brim and leave it until the noddy light comes on.
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It's the weight of 1/3 of a person (between empty and full, 42L tank). I fill my car up on a once every 2 weeks basis (sometimes 3) so topping it up £10 at a time will mean I am spending unnecessary time at the petrol station when I could do it once every 2 weeks.
 
srichards said:
My car only has two seats so that cuts down the ballast :)
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So your car weighs less than average then,
the increased weight in fuel has a higher impact weight wise than your average car would :LOL:

srichards said:
Annoys me when advice people are expected to take notice of is complete and utter rubbish. Same goes for taking unnecessary junk out of the boot.
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Yep I totally agree, its all testicles (y)
 
Cobra said:
So your car weighs less than average then,
the increased weight in fuel has a higher impact weight wise than your average car would :LOL:



Yep I totally agree, its all testicles (y)
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It still weighs roughly 1400KG though which is a fat git by my standards. 20KG of fuel weight is neither here nor there.
 
srichards said:
My car only has two seats so that cuts down the ballast :)
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Mine too, very useful if there's three of us going to a meeting as I never have to drive ;). Weighs in at 1325kg or so, which while lighter than a lot of other cars of a similar age compares unfavourably with my four seater saloon from 1968 at 720kg .
 
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