LETTERS

Regarding David Lazarus’ consumer column “Pricing formula at gas stations makes cents, but no sense,” Jan. 7:

Since I base my decision on where to fill up by comparing prices, I don’t think I’m paying an extra nine-tenths of a cent. I think oil companies are cheating themselves out of one-tenth of a cent on each gallon.

If gas retailers were more transparent and went to whole numbers, I would still choose the $1.90 gas station over the $1.93 gas station. By charging me $1.899 they lose one-tenth of a cent on every gallon they sell.

Eric Cooper

Santa Monica

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Much worse than the tenth-of-a-cent silliness on gas pump prices is the advertising of pre-tax retail prices. A $99 item costs the consumer about $108. That’s a pretty big difference.

It’s not considered deceptive advertising because everybody understands sales tax, but it is asinine for everyone to spend their retail shopping lives calculating the sales tax in our heads. All prices marked and advertised should reflect the actual cost incurred by the buyer. And it would be so easy, compared with hard things like achieving world peace.

Andrew Gram

Santa Cruz, Calif.