Gas used in 2013 for recreational boating

[Rich]

One thing I also notice on the lake, some marinas have their gas pumps set to display the price of gas to 1/10 of a cent, yet their reciepts round to the next penny.

So when the pumps says they are charging you $4.099 per gallon they charge your card $4.10 per gallon.

Granted, if you're purchasing 100 gallons this amounts to only 10 cents (or 1 cent per 10 gallons), but they never seem to round down, do they?

Does anyone else notice this?

I mentioned it to one marina where I noticed it, and they mentioned that their credit card machine wasn't setup to accept costs in 1/10 of a cent increments so they round up the price of fuel on the credit card machine to make up for it. Hmm... this might make sense if they rounded up the total price to the next tenth of a cent, but it doesn't quite make sense to me. If they are going to always charge you to the nearest cent, then they should set their pumps to display that charge.

I wonder if they round up the total for cash customers too?

Automotive road side gas stations have no problems charging you the correct amount, so why do marina's on the lake have a problem?

Am I being too much of cheap yankee here?

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by Rich

Am I being too much of cheap yankee here?

Yes, by far too much. Complaining about 10 cents on $400 worth of gas for your boat is beyond ridiculous. I'm sure the gas station owners aren't paying for their Bentley's on your fraction of a penny.

[Rich]

I guess it's my attention to detail (I'm an engineer nerd by trade).

If I really cared, I could buy my gas somewhere else where they don't do this.

To me it's not about the 10 cents (holding the nozzle for a moment will cost me a lot more than this), but more about the principal of it.

I suppose that since no one notices it, nor complains, they can continue to get away with it.

Now back to the original topic!

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by Rich

I guess it's my attention to detail (I'm an engineer nerd by trade).

I'm similar in terms of background and attention to detail. I also pay attention to another detail: the value of my own time and the ROI on getting wrapped up in low-value crap. I long ago learned I am much happier, and ultimately wealthier, by not killing myself over rounding errors.