Why is gas priced at 9 10ths?

Answer 1

I've always assumed that it was due to some weird federal tax. But the truth is, nobody knows for sure. Theories abound, but none are definitive. The Mail Tribune newspaper in Medford, Oregon, quotes Craig Randolph, an oil company's V.P. of retail operations. He says the nine-tenths of a cent is just a marketing gimmick that likely begun during the 1970 "gas wars." Over the years, it became the standard. This site on Arizona gas prices offers a different theory. It argues that the precision of nine-tenths gives motorists a "false sense of accuracy" over their purchase. It goes on to state that this method of pricing "requires that almost all purchases be rounded to the nearest whole cent," which benefits oil companies