Not sure if this servo under-paying me my change; please provide your 0.02c

Lxdiep on 08/12/2014 - 10:09
Last edited 08/12/2014 - 16:27

Hi all,

Long time bean counter, first time 'new topic' poster; I know time is money, so I'll keep it short and sweet.

If I poured 59.15L of petrol, at $1.243 per litre, what should the total cost be (i.e. the Tax Invoice Total inc. GST)?

To save you a bit more time (hence saving you a bit more money :) ) I've done the math for you:

53.15 59.15 x 1.243 = $73.52345

What should be displayed on the receipt? How much change should I then get from $100?

Cheers guys; hope you all have a productive week!

Tone

UPDATE: So they had charged me $73.53; the pump had also displayed this amount. They gave me $26.45 change which is correct based on that figure. Mathematically though, I feel ripped off and wonder how long this has been going on for, and for how many customers. Is it worth chasing up for 1c?

Here's my Tax Invoice

Automotive

Related Stores

United Petroleum
United Petroleum

Comments

  • jzdhgkd on 08/12/2014 - 10:17
    +3

    In you first sentence you wrote 59.15L, but in your equation you wrote 53.15L

  • xdiep on 08/12/2014 - 10:37

    Yep - I'm an idiot. it's 59.15.

  • nailsforlunch on 08/12/2014 - 10:51
    +2

    You shouldn't receive a cent because you've just taken $26.48 of my time.

  • 2024 on 08/12/2014 - 10:58

    73.52345 rounded to 2 decimal places would be 73.52
    On eftpos this would be a no brainer - that's what you would pay.

    However in cash, some places round down, some up, and some to the nearest amount either way. So down would be 73.50, nearest would be 73.50 and up would be 73.55

  • djones145 on 08/12/2014 - 11:01
    +2

    although it might show that you poured 59.15L, this might have been a rounded figure (on the display), and really you poured 59.152 or something slightly over 59.15

    leading to a different amount charged
    and different change given!

    maybe

  • Islund on 08/12/2014 - 11:43

    some service stations (especially BP on Hume Highway in Yagoona) round up all the time - even though you are paying cash where conventionally accepting is a rounding down if less that less 3c in the 5 i.e if it is 70.92 you should be paying 70.90 and not 70.95

  • Cheeper on 08/12/2014 - 12:28
    +1

    3c .. ?? Are you guys serious?

    • Islund on 08/12/2014 - 13:04

      Dead right I am serious for the service station is profiteering.

      Assuming he has a 1,000 customers a day and makes that from each one that is $30 , $210 over 7 days, $10,950 over a year.

      • Baysew on 08/12/2014 - 13:42
        -2

        What is your basis of your 1,000 customers per day assumption ?

      • Baysew on 08/12/2014 - 17:07
        -2

        Is there a docket to show this rounding ?

      • Cheeper on 09/12/2014 - 08:41
        +1

        I see your point there … but mine is are you seriously affected by your fuel purchase being 2c more overall?
        I know some people are on a tight budget but if 2c is more than yours can take … well ???
        People waste a 100 times that much every day on many useless things and think nothing of it.

        I have stopped the pump at $??.01 just for the fun of it… whoopee, I got 1c of petrol for free, i'm rich!! LOLL

        It will be a total nightmare for some people when we dispose of the 5c piece…. OMG!!!

        Life is more important.

  • Islund on 08/12/2014 - 14:54

    very busy location and right on edge of school zone - have seen people pull in to get petrol rather than just sit it out in crawling traffic.

    even if he only had 500 customers that is $15 per day, $165 over 7 days, $5,475 over a year of clear profit. no work involved.

    • djones145 on 08/12/2014 - 15:17

      also depends if they pay by cash or cc, in the times I go to service stations, I rarely see people paying cash I must say

  • xdiep on 08/12/2014 - 16:33

    See my original post for an update guys. Spoke to my brother who suggested that there's a possibility that:
    - .01 .02 gets rounded down to 00 cents
    - 03 .04 .05 is rounded to 05 cents
    - .001 gets rounded to 1 cent as it's a fraction of a cent
    - 0.021 gets rounded to 3 cents which gets rounded to 5 cents

    Would love to hear the thoughts of financial professionals to verify if there's any truth to this suggestion.

  • jaxpylon on 08/12/2014 - 19:44

    Simple. You actually poured between 59.152 and 59.1549L. The volume displayed on the bowser will round down to 59.15L, but the total cost will come to >$73.53, thus rounding up to $73.55.

    • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2014 - 22:03

      Probably. My concern is that the OP thinks it's a matter of 1c when it's actually 5 times that.

      Here's another rounding "test". How many times does Woolies/Coles win the rounding war with your own shop when you pay cash? Anecdotally I estimate that Woolies wins 8/10 with mine and I'd love to know just how much they make in total annually due to rounding.

  • whodidthat on 08/12/2014 - 19:54

    Aren't they all ripping us off?

    What other shop charges something like $1.29.9c for anything?

    Do we buy a loaf of bread for $1.29.9c?

  • SaberX on 09/12/2014 - 01:45
    +2

    yeah mathematically they may be profiteering but think of all the shops where 1.62 gets rounded donw to $1.60 etc etc and you gain? I knwo this is ozbargain but in the grand scheme of things, 1c? really? I know that'll bring some down votes but honestly - rounding is a part of life and think about it this way, you may gain elsewhere when purchases are rounded down - you'd also technically owe someone else 1c and so forth.

  • DEvok on 09/12/2014 - 02:02

    If it concerns you to much just pay buy card which never rounds up.

  • Soundwave on 09/12/2014 - 08:20

    Ha ha ha. This makes me laugh. You can do either two things.

    1 - Pay buy card and then be charged the exact amount.

    Or do what I did before getting a company fuel card and . .

    2 - Beat the system back by filling up and stopping at .01,.02,.06,.07 cents and get get that 1-2 cents of fuel more for free when paying cash because the round to the nearest 5 cents.

    I didn't do it to be cheap. Just like being sneaky.

  • djones145 on 09/12/2014 - 08:41

    yes its worth chasing them up for 1 cent
    now drive down there and get your money!

    hopefully by u driving down, it means u'll be too busy to buy any deals that come up in the next hour, making it easier for us to get a bargain

  • goosegog on 09/12/2014 - 18:05
    +3

    OMG - I know we all love a bargain & strive to get the best deals but surely there has to be a limit of how much you will scrape the bottom of the barrel to save a cent & then spend hours of sleepless nights + much time on this site to complain about losing such a pittance. Also wasting all our time having to read your whinging & answering such ridiculous nonsense. Go buy a lotto ticket to see if you can win it back - or will we all have to hear about the money you wasted on that as well!?

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