Was no one at Yahoo alive during that time? The practice was well established decades before that. Gasoline in the 1930s commonly sold for 8.9 center per gallon.
When gasoline was ten or twenty cents or so, a single penny increase was several percent -- from 8.9 to 9.9 cents was more than a ten percent increase. In those days, .5 cent pricing was common. The tenths were a reasonable increase, especially in common price competitions between neighboring stations.
But even without competition, the third-digit pricing could increase by a fraction of a percent at a time.
It settled at a consistent .9 when gasoline got a bit more expensive, and could jump a penny at a time. But prior to that, occasionally even .3 or .1 or .7 were used.
By the mid 1950s, gasoline had settled into the .9 pricing we are familiar with, though at about a tenth of the current prices.
Cars, of course, were less than a tenth of current prices -- gasoline's price has been amazingly stable.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 04:20 am (UTC)When in Australia, if you say Gas they'll assume you mean LPG or CNG :P
Our prices also give a decimal point.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 12:26 pm (UTC)A bit like the way the term "Xerox" (for a copy, or the act of making a copy) is being replaced in the US by the simpler (and unbranded) term "copy".
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 08:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 12:24 pm (UTC)When gasoline was ten or twenty cents or so, a single penny increase was several percent -- from 8.9 to 9.9 cents was more than a ten percent increase. In those days, .5 cent pricing was common. The tenths were a reasonable increase, especially in common price competitions between neighboring stations.
But even without competition, the third-digit pricing could increase by a fraction of a percent at a time.
It settled at a consistent .9 when gasoline got a bit more expensive, and could jump a penny at a time. But prior to that, occasionally even .3 or .1 or .7 were used.
By the mid 1950s, gasoline had settled into the .9 pricing we are familiar with, though at about a tenth of the current prices.
Cars, of course, were less than a tenth of current prices -- gasoline's price has been amazingly stable.
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 11:59 pm (UTC)