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Cost of Gas

I stopped outside Sam's Club on my way to work this morning to get gas.
My tank showed between 1/4 and 1/2 - but I knew this actually meant less than 1/4 of the tank. Why can't car companies come up with a more accurate gas guage? Probably because it would make the car cost an extra $100.
Well, I decided it was a good time to get gas. I'm hoping to pop up to Highlands Ranch (Southern Denver) for robot club tomorrow, so filling up now made sense.

Well, I had noticed the price up the road was $1.81.9. So when I pulled into Sam's, I was happy to see that the price was 6 cents less: $1.75.9. Normally I wouldn't have noticed a slight descrepancy. But this morning I did notice. The price at the pump was $1.76.9! For a moment I wasn't sure if I misread the sign on my way in. I walked a bit and saw that I was right, the price didn't match. I looked around for someone to ask, but noone seemed to be about. So I took some pictures for proof (continued)


2004-07-02 - Sam's Club - Price on the sign



2004-07-02 - Sam's Club - Price at the pump

So after taking the pictures, I went into the customer desk. I asked about it. They called someone to check on the sign and pumps. The woman was very nice at the counter. A penny difference for a little over 12 gallons was only 12 cents. But she gave me a quarter to make up for my having to go inside :) . They definately made me a happy customer this morning. She mentioned that they would probably have to change the signs again, as it seems they get a price at 10am or so from corporate. Interesting.

So afterwards I realized that based on my time, it wasn't really worth my going into get that adjustment. It probably cost me $5-10 in time that I could get paid from work to go in for those few cents.

But I kinda have a philosophy about getting the change right. I figure that in the long run, I'll lose some and occasionally I'll gain some, so normally I don't even worry about counting my change. Unless something doesn't feel right. But I also felt like while it didn't directly pay for me to get the situation taken care of, I feel sort of like I've paid it forward. If everyone once and a while makes sure to help fix things that affects others, we all help each other. I feel like I've made a small payment forward this morning :)

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