$3.99 Pump Ceiling, and Gas Sells by Half-Gallon

phantom power

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Thu May-29-08 11:38 AM
Original message

$3.99 Pump Ceiling, and Gas Sells by Half-Gallon

For a brief moment on Wednesday morning, the gas pump at Gary Staiano’s Texstar service station in Bellerose, Queens, turned into a time machine. After 11.3 gallons was pumped into a Pontiac Grand Am, the meter read $23, or $2.03 a gallon, a price not seen in more than three years.

Then Mr. Staiano transported his customer back to reality when he doubled the total at the cash register.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/nyregion/29pumps.html?hp

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nichomachus

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Thu May-29-08 11:55 AM
Response to Original message

1. Half-assed solution

As the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in New York City hit a record $4.20 on Wednesday, the State Bureau of Weights and Measures gave station owners like Mr. Staiano the official go-ahead to charge by the half-gallon, provided they can prove that they have ordered new pump computers that can handle prices up to $9.99 a gallon. The new computers cost about $400 each, not including installation fees; Mr. Staiano said his would arrive in about a month.

I hate to be the harbinger of doom, but we are going to blow through $9.99 so fast, they won't even have paid for the new computers yet.

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phantom power

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Thu May-29-08 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. I agree. If you're going to the trouble, at least add another digit.

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hunter

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Thu May-29-08 12:08 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. Let's take bets on when they start selling gas by the tenth gallon.

Price = Ten times the pump price.

Woohoo! Gas around here would be 42 cents.

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nichomachus

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Thu May-29-08 12:15 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. My guess is that they'll start selling by liters

Edited on Thu May-29-08 12:15 PM by nichomachus

They'll put out the story that they've decided to modernize by going metric. It will take most Americans about two years to be able to do liter-gallon conversion in their heads.

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hogwyld

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Thu May-29-08 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. That really threw me for a loop in Germany

when I refilled the rental car recently. 1.49 euro per litre, which works out to around 8.44 per gallon with current exchange rates. Ouch! and yes, it did leave a mark!

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nichomachus

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Thu May-29-08 12:55 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. And just think

When Bush took office, it would only have been about US$5 per gallon.

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